Fat Freddy

Interesting. I got the Carnage front bumper and a hobbywing esc. They just seemed obvious improvements. I have the carbon top plate on order. I had planned to get a steel spur/pinion set here.... https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/djwrctransmissions And I asked about a heatsink at my local model shop but they said it won’t fit under the Vantage body shell. Other “Improvements” I have made are.... Sway bars Carbon shock towers A slightly better steering servo (9kg vs the stock 3.5kg) Carnage wheels (and after my motor overheated, a carnage pinion) I already realise the Carnage wheels were a mistake. I wanted extra ground clearance but although they are fun in their way, the tyres are too vague and bouncy. I plan to replace them with some truggy wheels with stiffer low profile tyres.... or fit low profile tyres on carnage rims?? Hopefully get back to more precise steering? So, in your humble opinions.... bearing in mind I am currently running a stock brushed motor (although will inevitably switch to brushless eventually).... Is a steel spur set overkill? Will the cheaper acetal one do fine? Does the heatsink fit under the shell, or did you cut a hole to accommodate it? Were my other “improvements” a waste of money? I do waffle on don’t I? If you’ve been arsed to read this far thanks. Any advice or suggestions would be very welcome.

I remember that first RC car feeling very well. Envy you a little that you get to share it with your lad. After 30 years away from RC, my lads are fully grown. They Secretly enjoy it but are mortified at the prospect of being spotted “playing with their Dads toy car” by anyone they know.

Enjoy. Hope it arrives tomorrow for you👍

“Four Wheel Deive” ?? What manner of technological advancement is this?

Fitted carbon shock towers and a new steering servo. Just waiting on new motor so I can test it all. Was going to post a pic but close up camera revealed how dirty the car is! Especially with shiny new bits as a contrast. Cleaning duty later.

You can still get the grasshopper but not sure it’d be very competitive, unless the club you mentioned has a “vintage” class. There lots of options depending on budget and how seriously you want to take the racing. As a noob myself on here I wouldn’t want to advise a specific car. Probably an idea to go along on a race day and see what cars they run.

Hi again Gaz, I’ve ridden bikes for over 40 yrs now and have no intention of giving up until I just physically can’t sling my leg over one. But I must admit, I am becoming a bit obsessive about RC though. There is so much to learn and so many options and possibilities. As I said, I have a list of stuff I want to do to my Vantage yet somehow I doubt I will ever consider it “finished”. Despite that, I already find myself wondering about my next project. Who knew RC was so addictive? Have fun, and let us know what you finally choose to build eh? cheers Fred

I’m not saying this one is any good. It’s just the cheapest option they had in the shop on the day, but it is DEFINITELY much quicker than the one supplied. It’s an “Overlander NX-20”. Whether it’s any good, I’m not really qualified to say. Don’t have anything to compare it with but it’s simple to use and has worked fine for me so far. I’m sure there are folk on here who’d know if there were better value options available. I reckon a 5000mah would take a good couple of hours on this one but you’d probably be waiting another 10 hours for the FTX one to catch up.

I’m pretty sure someone at the beginning of this thread talked about sharing CAD files. Can’t remember who though, and as it was started some 7 yrs ago, they may not still have them but I reckon it’s worth you taking a look.

Carnage has longer suspension arms,(and associated parts, turnbuckles etc) and I think a slightly longer chassis (with no separate front bit) and a smaller pinion to accommodate larger wheels. I think pretty much everything else is interchangeable.

@Hardcore I heard the alu chassis plate prone to bending in a crash but can’t remember where I read it so prob best to ignore me. And I hope you are wrong about the carbon shock towers @BashingBrian as I’ve just fitted em on mine. (No chance to test them yet as I managed to fry my motor on Friday, grrrr!) Mind you, from the look of what you did to that SCT body shell Brian, you are pretty hard on your cars, little wonder you broke the shock towers too. (You didn’t tell me, how DID you manage to smash that shell into so many pieces?)

Blimey, I do rabbit on don’t I?

Hi Gaz I’m fairly new on here myself so don’t take anything I might say as advice, just my opinions/experience so far. I’m returning to RC after a 30+ yr gap. Was a bit of an impulse buy tbh. I saw a kit car I used to own back in the day (a Tamiya Hornet) in a model shop window and went in to enquire. Somehow I came out with a RTR (ready to run) FTX Vantage under my arm. After a brief twinge of buyers regret that.... a) I hadn’t gone down memory lane and bought the hornet, and b) I hadn’t done more research and maybe spent a little more on a “better” car, or c) bought a kit instead of a RTR, I have come to the conclusion that the guy in the shop guided me in the right direction. Reasons being..... The Vantage is cheap as chips (I paid £107 for the brushed version) and you can have fun with it and maybe decide if RC is for you straight out of the box. Things have moved on since I was last into RC, and although the Hornet was the budget option at the time, the Vantage is actually a better car for less money (Tamiya are just cashing in on us old fellers nostalgia). However, the Vantage IS made to a budget and it WILL break, which ironically leads you into a world of fun. Parts for it are surprisingly cheap and there are SO many upgrades for it. I have had nearly as much fun repairing, rebuilding and upgrading it as I have driving it. I have a list of tweaks, upgrades and modifications I plan to do which are going to keep me occupied for ages. I didn’t buy a toy car (as my wife calls it) I bought a hobby. Now I’m hooked and I will no doubt own other RC’s but I reckon this is a good way to dip your toe in the water without breaking the bank. Others may well disagree and of course it depends what you want out of your RC project. Out of curiosity, why are your biking days over? I’m 55 and a biker. I combine my two hobbies by sticking the Vantage in my panniers and going for a spin whilst keeping half an eye open for interesting places to drive it. I’m in Lancashire too btw. Anyways, have fun with yr new hobby, cheers Fred

@Always wanted an Avante... Hi there, I’m a noob here too and am really enjoying my new Vantage. A few things I’d say to a new vantage owner are.... Get a better charger than the one supplied. For £15 quid you’ll get a much better one and massively reduce charging times. Get another battery, the 1800 supplied only lasts about 10-15 mins. (I have 2 x 3000’s and get 40 mins to an hour depending on how fast I’m going) Prepare yourself that it WILL break, but luckily parts are cheap as chips (just order new pinion and spur gears now), and repairing it is quite satisfying.

Thanks @BashingBrian, that is sort of the look I was aiming for.... I also saw the “oops” pic. What happened? Maybe I should steer clear of that particular body shell if it’s fragile??

I shall watch this space....... pics please😀

cheers @Fly In My Soup 👍

Something @mydoddy69 said about buggy bodies fitting like gloves made me think. with a larger body, the esc etc will be more exposed, (from below) to the elements. Is this likely to cause any issues?

@BashingBrian, nice one, thanks. That’s the kind of “lead me by the hand” advice I was after 😀

@mydoddy69 Thanks, I think I realised it was short course truck moments before your post. Yes, I do want a new look, I quite like the idea of how much physically larger the car would look with an SCT or rally car shell on it. I also quite fancy having a go at painting my own shell, but want any other mods I do to make the bodyshell fit to be reversible so I can go back to the original look if/when I want to. Thats why I was hoping someone on here could tell me “I did this, with this, and it looked like this” Just wanted to save myself the hassle and expense of going down any dead ends and thought that, as vantages have been around for SO long, someone must have done it.

Ah, hold on SCT = short course truck doesn’t it?! You remember what make it was @BashingBrian ? What mods did you have to make to make it fit?

Thanks @BashingBrian , I had a quick scan but couldn’t find it. I’ll look again later, this is a BIG thread, easy to miss stuff. How did you do the body mounts? Any problems to watch out for? SCT, is that a brand name?

Thanks @Snfu I’ll give em another look. I have already checked em out but not all of them have wheelbase measurements etc. Emailed em for a list of products with 280mm wheelbase but they never replied. I’m sure I’ll find something soon. Anybody else already done this? Maybe even have pics?

Hi there, Apologies, I’m sure this has been discussed before ( And I have started similar threads elsewhere on here) but..... Have you ever fitted a different body shell on a Vantage ( or similar)? And if so... What did you fit? Where did you get it? How did you do it? What problems did you have? How’d it work out? Was it worth it? Got any pics?  Thanks in advance, Fred

Hi there, Apologies, I’m sure this has been discussed before (and I have left the same/or similar thread elsewhere on MSUKForum) but..... Have you ever fitted a different body shell on a Vantage (or similar)? And if so... What did you fit? Where did you get it? How did you do it? What problems did you have? How’d it work out? Was it worth it? Got any pics?  Thanks in advance, Fred