ChrisJsy

For 50 quid the Hobbyzone champ is a steal, and great fun to fly! I would highly reccomend it. I wouldn't say I was a natural, planes are just alot easier then helis! I will stil persist on with the MSR X though. P.s I have no idea why half my original post is in italics.. I have tried editing, but cant sort it on my phone.

Hi Guys, A few months back I was away with work and my mind was wondering in the evenings, I ended up finding myself on this forum with every intention of building a RC Crawler, I was given some good advice from forum members and had the wish list complete and ready to order. For reasons that I cant explain, other then my aparent short attention span I never got round to ordering. What I did order however, on ebay, was a blade MSR X which was waiting for me when I got back. After opening up the box and charging the battery it was time to go! And I instantly remembered how hard helis where to fly! (4 years ago I had a Honeybee FP V2 which I never got off the ground) My MSR X came with 3 batteries and within one day I was holding some sort of hover... progress at last! I had to go back to work for 3 weeks and leave the new toy behind! Being impatient I went on flea bay to look around for a heli to keep at work, but unfortunaterly the 120SR I ordered wasn't in great condition and got returned. In the intrim I kept browsing around online and reading up on RC helis. A recuring piece of advice was to get a simulator and Pheonix kept comming up, for this I would need a new TX, thats the Christmas present from the misses sorted a a nice mew DX6i For some reason I ended up looking at RC planes too, and ended up buying a hobbyzone champ brand new for £55! What an amazing model! I ordered two spare batteries giving me 3 in total and headed out saturday and sunday mornings. Saturday went well, with no prior flying experience there where crashes as to he expected but all in all it went really well. Sunday was even better! 3 batteries with no crashes! I mastered loops and dives, touch and goes the lot! Even managed to throw it into a loop and hold it inverted for some nice inverted flying with a bit of positive elevator! I can easily say that this Champ is the most fun I have ever had with a RC model. My sites are now set on a parkzone micro T-28 to introduce me to 4 channel planes and much further down the line the UMX beast and a UMX EDF Jet. I am a big fan of these micro bind and fly aircraft! I am back into the hobby and loving it.

Great Pics! Looks like a good trial! Cant wait to get my hands on mine.

Maybe a matte finish is what I need after all, I can make that work! Cheers

It does, I'm completely new to this but that should of been obvious to me haha.

Do you think this approach will still work if I want a gloss finish? Just add a clear laquer after?

I've been browsing the forum for a paint guide, but either there isn't one or I've missed it. Poly base layer, any spray paint top layer... Got it! Nice touch having the silver on the inside!

Well I have a plan, that is the product of hours of boredom each evening while being away with work, but I think ill keep it close to my chest until its ready to show to the world! I'd hate to describe it now and see someone else do it before me. I could do with some advice on the actual painting process though. Did I read that you ended up with a poly base layer and then your chosen colour in standard spay paint? Cheers

Hi Zombie, Cheers for the input, strangely enough I spent a good amount of time last night reading your Dingo build page, well I'm 10 pages into 16 and it looks great! I'm going to take a slightly different approach to you in that I am going to build up the kit completely stock and then focus on my bodywork, only improving the mechanics of the truck once out and about using it and noticing its weaknesses. Ill be using your thread as a reference. Cheers Chris

Thanks for all the advice. I think i'm gona head for a DX4S. I cant wait to get back and start the build! Im using my time now to look for inspiration for the bodywork on the dingo. Cheers guys

No dramas, I can see from your threads the quality off your stuff and when im ready I will be contacting you. Your readiness to help people really does do you credit... Ive been on other forums (browsing) and seen newbies such as myself been hounded for asking such questions. Mate, I Dont even know if ill end up with a M.O.A, I'm new to this game, but scale has my attention for the mean while.. with perhaps a wraith or yeti in the near future, so maybe a DX4S Is the radio for me.

The main issue I have now is radio choice. I have known Spektrum to be good from my childhood days and wanted to head that way. I want a radio set to be futureproof, so that it will serve me now for my crawler+winch (3 channel miminum) but i also want it to be able to support future builds which may have 4ws, dig (which i have very little knowledge currently) and any other little tricks. Initially I was looking at a DX4C, But then the DX4S As it had 4ws pre programed but then I read it was impossible to program for dig.... I was directed towards a flysk gt3c and its hackability to 8 channels for a tiny price. This is my current headache.... I do like the look of the DX4S, But i dont want to be needing to upgrade in the future. Do you have any pics of the metal work set you provide in kit form? Its impressive stuff mate. Ah, i thought I read that the wheelbase of the dingo had to be adjusted by 13mm. Again, thanks for your help and support mate.

Gaz, that landy looks amazing! It really is the muts nuts! Good build thread too, an intresting read. You mentioned having to alter the wheel base by 13mm, does that require drilling new holes on the chassis? Nice metal work there too! Do you weld or expoxy that stuff together? I think that thread has sold me on the Dingo, well that and the parts/support available. Thanks for all the help Gaz.

I was just joking Gaz, and 80 bucks sounds very reasonable. I'll have a look at the post now. Can I ask what radio you run?

Hi Gaz, I managed to find only one of your threads, the Dodge Ram turned D90. It looks good man.. couldnt find the thread for the orange one in your profile pic though. Ah, how much is your kit? Is this why you are trying to steer me towards an SCX Thanks for the further advice.

Excellent video! The SCX is growing on me.

Cheers for the advice. Now I am questioning myself on my decision. What I am after is a scale crawler to get into the game, I intend to fit a D90 body at some stage and a winch.... Although I have to look into how these are mounted. Further down the line as a long term goal I may try and fit 4ws. Decisions! Decisions

Some good points there Gaz. Allthough you say more articulation doesnt mean its more capable, it cant be a bad thing... If there where two identical trucks apart from one had more articulation then surely that would be the more capable one. With regards to the steering, it may be an old fashioned steering system, but it works for the Vaterra. Good point about the battery tray while I dont intend to compete it would be good to know I could. Also, the parts situation, that is the one thing that worries me about the Ascender, and there seems to be tons of spares available for the SCX. I see there are loads of different versions of the SCX available, the Dingo being the cheapest and different bodies costing more. Are they mainly cosmetic differences between then (bodys, wheels ect.) Or do they differ with running gear? Cheers

Im away with work for the next 4 weeks so I'm using this time to do some research, but I'm set on an Ascender. My ideal choice would be a Gelande 2, but as its my first build and I also need to buy a radio, batteries and all that jazz the Ascender makes more sense cost wise. Its just my personal preference on the Ascender over the SCX. Ill be going for a kit as the build is as enjoyable (if not more so) then the finished item.

That's good to know. I really want to get a D90 shell, I would go for a Gelande 2 D90 kit but at twice the price of the ascender I can't bring myself to it. I chose the ascender over the SCX10 after watching countless youtube videos on both cars. What are these upgraded shafts you mention?

If anyone has any info on the questions raised on the Ascender it would also benifit me, as I am looking at buying one. Cheers

Is a BEC not inside the ESC I have listed above? Also I have decided radio wise to go for a Fly sky GT3C. Its alot cheaper and so keeps initial costs down, its 3 channels so my initial build can roll straight away and still have a working winch, and the hack-ability opens up 8 possible channels! Which for the price is amazing! enabling me to have 4ws and Dig etc if I do end up going down that road. My only trouble is trying to find a green version as I have read the green is an improvement over the orange. Thanks for all your help guys.

Excellent, thanks to you all for a your help.

Thanks for the info on the motor. What I meant to say, but perhaps wasn't clear enough about was how do you use these extra channels, are they sliding switches with 3 positions, and u set a servo/accessory up to operate in these 3 positions?

Unbelievable, I had that servo in my basket initially but I thought it might be overkill and draw too much current. Is this not the case? As for the radio, can you help explain how the extra channels function? Thanks for the tip about re-buildable motors. As for the 55t motor, I was under the impression the slower the better, seeing a scale truck speed around at high speed looks odd? Is it just that a 27t motor will still be slow, but a 55t horrendously so? Cheers for the heads up on the ESC too. Reference lipos, I will eventually get some, I went Nihm for now to keep costs down, and chose a charger capable of both, but i will check out the hobbyking website mentioned too Thanks for all the help guys.