BaldyMan

Double post for some reason

Well I've pulled the trigger on a brushless FTX Vantage, should arrive by Friday. I've picked up a set of Fastrax Arrow Road wheels and tyres as well as 2 more 2S, 5200mAh batteries so hopefully that'll get me up and running with it. Is there any immediate maintenance issues I should be aware of before I put the batteries in and blast it about the street?

There's a few videos on YouTube of people using sealant tape or butyl tape. Considering the costs and time involved in doing the whole scrim tape and shoe goo thing it's probably a smarter option. You just have to weigh up how much damage you expect your body to take. I've seen people spray truck bed liner on to their shells but I think you're supposed to prime them first.

So did you end up getting the Rustler? I was going to say that the Stampede, being a monster truck, would probably be better suited to 4WD. How about a Bandit? Something completely different?

Put the Maverick Quantum+ XT Flux in its box to be shipped out to it's new owner. Hopefully they have better luck with it than I did.

Never been interested in nitro, can't be bothered with the noise, the smell, the faffing about. Just want to stick a battery in and drive the car around and have fun. People see your RC car flying around at 40mph now and ask "is that nitro?" It shows how far battery power has come along.

I live the profile of the back wing, just looks really slick. I honestly think Traxxas have taken notice of some of their competitors and have knocked out a few good products recently.

Sorry mate, mine is all packed up and ready for whoever wins the bidding. I haven't had a look at the drive shafts on mine

The washers are to stop the hex nut from bending the axle under load. Since the supplied shims are tiny then when you land a heavy jump or anything like that then the hex will bend into the space. By installing larger washers you are filling the gap and stopping the 14mm hex from bending in and ruining the axles. So the 15mm washers are fine. They should look like the image when installed.

There are some differences out of the box between the Neo Fighter buggy and the Racing fighter buggy. The Neo Fighter comes with friction shocks, whereas the Racing Fighter gets oil filled shocks in the box. They have different front tyres too with the Neo Fighter having the 'better' wider front tyres and the Racing Fighter having the really skinny ones. Personally I'd be looking at the Racing Fighter and getting an extra seto seto and tyres for messing around on pavement, it'd be cheaper than buying a set of oil shocks for the Neo Fighter.

Can anyone tell me if this can take the bigger 3S batter packs? I've got one of the 6000mAh batteries and would like to pick up this buggy and use what I currently have besides buying another.

Looks awesome. How about the Corally Radix? Supposedly a better "racer" than the Typhon

Maverick are owned by HPI who are currently having a bit of fall from grace. I've just put a Maverick Quantum Flux up for sale as I'm sick of repairing it.

The esc can take 3S but I'd be conscious of overheating. Additionally I've had a truck that was "3S ready" and whilst the esc and motor were capable, the rest of the truck wasn't really. Just don't crash

Added the HD rear wing mount, wheelie bar and larger washers to the Maverick Quantum today. Now it's getting slung on eBay because I'm done buying parts for it.

Ordered a pack of 42 marking flags for the garden to set up a little race track. The kids' Rising Fighter blips around it pretty well but I'm now thinking about picking up a couple of smaller FTX Comets or something similar to race around with. The wife has discarded 2 radiator drying racks and I'm going to put a sheet of ply over them to make 2 ramps. The little hangers are useful for digging into the grass and holding them still. I'll post pics when it's all down if anyone's interested

So I'm undecided now whether to strip the electronics and put them in something like the Hobao Hyper TT or to sell it as parts and pick up a 1/10 buggy. I want something smaller I can put in a backpack and take for a walk with the kids

Maverick are HPI and it's looking like they're the budget toy brand. On paper it looks great but I've barely put a dozen battery packs through it and am looking at around £100 of repairs. I'm done with it, the electronics are decent but the rest of the truck isn't. They're selling you a 3S powered truck with entry level components that just buckle and break under that load.

Definitely. I could replace both of them with universal drive shafts for £20 but there's no guarantee that will improve the issue. All of the drive cups are looking chewed up where the pins contact so that'll be another point of failure.

What is it with FTX and putting holes in the chassis around the motor or servo or any other bit of electronics? Do they like bits of gravel flying in and destroying parts? I guess it keeps the spares/repairs trade booming.

Took the Quantum+ Flux out for a spin at the park. There are no skate park jumps or anything to destroy the car on so I just jumped it out of the old dried up paddling pool and the thing wrecked again. So far it has suffered bent shock shafts, bent drive shafts, bent axle shafts, snapped suspension arms, snapped rear wing mount and smashed body shell. All this from little more than blipping around in parks you can hardly call "bashing". I don't know what this truck is for. It has no handling so you can't race it anywhere, it is made of glass so you can't bash it about. They claim it is 3S capable and whilst the ESC and motor are certainly fine the rest of the chassis just can't deal with the power and disintegrates. The wife is fuming that I've already spent money on repairing it before and now more repairs are needed I'm putting it up for sale as scrap and just going to buy a buggy instead. My daughter has a Tamiya Rising Fighter and it's bomb proof, well apart from needing to solder a wire back on the motor after snagging it on a tree stump

Right, I'm officially done with this truck, took it to the park and did a few mild jumps out of a dried out paddling pool and it's totally destroyed. I'll be stripping it for parts and sticking it on ebay, it handles like junk so it can't race around on pavement, it can't race around in gravel or dirt, it just gets clogged up on grass, it can be bashed as it will break into pieces at the first tumble. It says it's rated for 3S but the chassis just can't handle the power. My daughter, on the other hand, just blipped her little Tamiya Rising Fighter round and had a blast.

I do think they are the HD axle cups but they're still bent. I've just bashed them back into shape with a hammer for the time being, I'll probably swap them out with the HD universal drive shafts at the rear where they broke, front seems fine.

There are loads of parts that break, you'll be busy. It's cost me £20+ just to get the rear wing mount from Portugal. I'm still undecided as to whether I continue to work on the truck or to just get it driving again and sell it.

I managed to snap the rear wing mount and, as sure as night follows day, this is a part that isn't in stock anywhere. Luckily I've been able to order a HD one from Portugal of all places. Other problem is that the rear axles have bent and the wheels wobble everywhere, I've managed to bend them back into shape but am resigned to buying the HD universal shaft and axle for both the rear wheels. I've also ordered some larger M5 washers as the shims behind the 14mm hex are supposedly the reason the axles bend so easily. There isn't much support for 14mm hex wheel sets so I think I'm going to drop it down to 12mm and get some different wheel and tyre sets to try. I've also noticed that all of my drive shaft cups are starting to get warped so they'll be another upgrade down the line. It isn't a terrible truck but there are a few points of failure and there are just not many upgrades available. I'd have bought aluminium suspension arms if they were available but it seems nobody produces any.