DaveDorson

So I was about 11 years old when Tamiya first released the Blitzer Beetle.. friend next door had a Clod Buster, and was a regular visitor to Beatties in Leicester, as such had the Tamiya product catalogues, and I didn't half fawn over those lovely looking Stadium Blitzers and Blitzer Beetles, and being a massive air cooled VW fan boy, I had an awful hankering for the insane looking beetle model! Fast forward to Saturday just gone.. my brother is over from Preston, he's visiting my folks and drops by the workshop.. In the boot of his car there's a 2011 re-release Blitzer Beetle in the boot of his car for me. Queue one happy camper. (Excuse the tear in the sofa, the backing leather for the repair hasn't turned up yet!) Now I need to build the thing, but before I delve into all the bags and lay everything out across a desk that's way too small, I want to shop for some upgrades. I'll probably box art the body and buy some new wheels as well for shelf queen duty, and buy a kamtec body for thrashing around, but the chances are this one will get run on short cut grass and around car parks on loose gravel, and the odd visit to the beach. Not planning to send it off any skate ramps or anything, but I also appreciate the body on these are a bit more fragile than what I usually use. I've got a 60amp Chinese esc and a 4300kv motor, but feel it might be a bit much for one of these, so any cheap brushless recommendations would be good too, plan is to run on 2S. Obligatory bearing kit already ordered, I'll run the flipped front uprights to eliminate the bump steer. The dampers I seem to remember are a bit rubbish, should I be budgeting for some more of these too? I can afford to take my time with this one. I've waited 29 years.

Just as this came out, I sort of got back into the idea of wanting a 1/8 scale truggy; spent a while watching videos of stuff like the Arrma and the Corally ones, a mate of mine runs some 6s Arrma stuff and loves it, and I just wanted something a bit more grown up than the WLToys Chinese basher I've been slowly destroying , now seemed like the time, and I ended up getting a very lightly used Hyper ST Pro from a chap on here that had been e-converted. I've always wondered why we don't see much about the Hobao stuff via the usual suspects, especially given the relative cost of stuff like the Hyper SSTE. You could I guess argue that with something like a Kronos XTR you don't need to buy all the pro upgrades, its just an out the box quick fix ready to go affair, but I'm from a era when it was more common to see kits than RTR stuff and you moved your radio and electronics between cars, the hobby has changed in that respect.

I've ended up with a really low use Hobao Hyper ST Pro nitro converted to accept a battery, brushless motor and ESC.

After getting sucked back into the hobby a while ago, and sucking a few friends in with me :D, I've decided what I really want is something that's 1/8 scale and a truggy, I got here by smashing up an FTX vantage trying to do brushless speed runs, and battering a WLToys 124019 around a local carpark, as well as venturing into crawlers, which I really enjoy, but sometimes you just want to be a hooligan. The chap I share a workshop with has a few 1/8 scale Arrma's, and ideally what I'd like is something of a similar scale. I'm into truggy's, I like the style, I'm a crap driver and they seem fast and forgiving, and I've absolutely no interest in racing, so ideally I guess what I want is a 1/8 truggy... I love the way they look, the way they drive, and I'm not really into monster trucks. I also want to do it cheap.. obviously I've got RX/TX from my crawlers that I can use, I do have under my bench an unused 120amp RaceStar (bangood) ESC with a 2150 sensorless 3670 4 pole motor A friend is looking to move on his brushless converted Hyper 7, obviously that's not a truggy, it's a buggy, but if I wanted to make it into a truggy, what would I need to do that, is it even possible?, it comes with a ton of spares, a decent hobbywing ESC and motor setup, spare shocks and wheels, and a load of CNC upgraded parts Otherwise I'm considering giving something like a Hobao Hyper ST Pro (and brushless converting it) or should I be looking at something like a Corally Shogun XP? I hate doing these "what should I buy" posts, and I have searched, but a lot of the threads I've been looking at are quite old and don't really mention the newer stuff.

I've got what I think is an Injora or Fimondo hardbody for a jeep rubicon here, it's yellow, its got opening doors and full interior. It doesn't fit with a mid mounted gearbox/transfer setup, so it's useless for my 313 Injora cheapo chassis without a significant amount of chopping it up inside. I reckon it'd go on one of the cheap Fimondo front motor setups mind.

Mostly I took a load of bits from China and from some stuff a mate bought and didn't end up using so I bought, and chopped up a childens toy to make a start on something absolutely ridiculous that will most likely never work as well as I want it to..but it's fun right?

That's nice!

Paint and Weller style Chinese wheels. Still some stuff to do but quite happy with how the first kit I've built since the 1990s is coming along.

You're fairly local to me then 🙂

I thought so, which is why I went that route, but you might not. Depends what's important to you. I also wanted a kit, wanted to decide what motor to put in, what ESC and what radio to use, so it was worth it for me.

I was in the same situation and ended up buying Chinese radio and a Carisma Coyote kit. To be honest it'd be cheaper to do a RTR though, but for me the build is a part of the experience and I don't have to compromise on what goes into it.

Sent back the cheap ESC and Motor for my Vantage as they're .. well let's say sub par. It's a goolRC clone made my Yofuly. (Should be woefully). Motor was fine, but the supposed 60amp ESC was entirely useless, huge lag and cogging. Ordered a GoolRC one instead which ended up costing me less. Ordered the paint for my Coyote, and looked over some axles that arrived to make sure they weren't junk. Then I ran over some of the flower beds with my WPL small scales and got shouted at by the Mrs for doing so.

I got an X6AG RX and TX for something like £28 delivered from Banggood. I went for this one because I prefer the red to the blue, and the plastic is a sort of ruberised soft touch and feels nice. Range is obscene, gyro just does what I want it to, and I've got 6 channels to mess about with. I also bought an X6DC RX (light outputs without using the other channels) for my SCA-1E build, and it's been absolutely fine as well, bound to the TX with no drama, just worked.

it's in a very similar vein to my charge plug. To be honest, for most people who buy bikes, they're all the bike they'll ever need, and really can do a bit of everything fairly well.

That's a good idea.. I was going to mount my electronics on the rear tray in my Coyote but I think I like there better. Might get some project boxes and see if I can do something similar.

I ride, my brother @drewd rides, and @walkbythesea does too, I've got a Kona Unit single speed rigid 27.5x3.0 tyre bike, an old Charge Plug 3 Gravel bike, a 26" GT that I need to collect from a friend (sorry H!), and a Stanton Slackline NextGen. There's actually a bike for every budget and every rider, the trickiest thing is actually deciding what sort of riding you're really likely to do.. that's why I have a couple of bikes, because one doesn't do all, but if I had to have just one, it'd be my Stanton. The Orange is a good choice for what you're talking about wanting to ride. The important thing is riding it.. I don't do that enough with any of mine.

Hello!

I might have some axles you can have soon Drew. I'll drop you a line later. If you're insistent on new though, I'd be buying a cheap Chinese set and upgrading only if you break them.

If the old kit needs a home, drop me a message 🙂

You got a bargain with that 🙂

Driving a jacked up, swing axle car off road at any sort of speed will do that to a man.

I know the answer is going to be get a Holmes Hobby that does what you want it to, but UK supply isn't amazing for them. Basically, my kit says I need a 35T 540. I like wheel speed but I want good resolution and torque as I live near some quarries and muddy trails and want to play in both. I want to run it 3S, with a 1080 HW ESC, 1.9 wheels/tyres combo, with a bit of weight to them, but not loads, and battery life is important to me as well. The Carisma is a Coyote Kit, (without the ATT transmission) and is stock at the moment. I hate the whole throw away sealed can motors idea, ideally something I can service when required rather than just throwing it away. Anyone got any recommendations for me? Finally, I've not bought the ESC or the Motor yet, but I'm leaning at brushed as I understand it's better for my needs.. but if you tell me differently, I'd consider going brushless if it's less than £150.00 and will perform as well.

Hey mate. As you know I'm not adverse to buying cheap imported stuff, but brushed motors are an area I'd probably not do that in. The issue I have is that I can't test them accurately, as such I don't know whether the clocking is good, whether they draw more than they said they would in terms of amps etc. From my limited reading, and youtube viewage, they're a bit hit and miss I'm also still head scratching about how I'm going to go motor wise with my Carisma.

I'd be keen to know what you think of this setup once you're up and running. My kit doesn't have the ATT, but then the idea of it lifting a wheel under hard acceleration makes the hooligan in me smirk a bit.

Ah go on then. I'll PM you.