@Me
I was always interested in planes too, but always had the fear of smashing em to pieces. I hear there are a lot of planes for novices these days with anti-dive technology and altitude measurements to make sure you dont nose dive into the ground, but I do like the convenience of the RC car (anywhere, anytime sorta thing). And yeah, this truck is tough. Push it as hard as you dare.
@Adr
haha mate, I always wanted a nitro when I was younger, so this is kinda like my mid-life crisis, except long before my mid-life. Ahh, whatever. It costs money, and now I can afford it, so I did it.
My truck is the Traxxas Revo, but heavily modified. They're considered one of the best if not the best 1/8th scale on the market. A close competetior is the HPI Savage, but the Revo is much more cat like (lower centre of gravity and wider wheel base) and much more advanced suspension (which as you can see is important). The savage generally comes with a slightly larger spec engine though.
These kits are all Ready2Run, so you pick em up, get some fuel, a fuel bottle, whatever batteries are needed, charge up all the electric gear and then you're outside straight off. They generally have a 2/3 hour break-in procedure where you get outside and run the engine in. It's so fundamental to get that right, as it's the difference in 10mph or so of speed, overheating and engine life. Break it in right, and you have a monster engine that'll run cool and last for a long time.
My truck cost me about £400 when I picked it up, with a deal pack that included a bit of fuel, fuel bottle, batteries for the transmitter, a battery for the EZ start (a little electric starter box which means you dont need a separate glow plug heater and pullstart kit), and a charger. These days I think you can get this same truck for about £350. There are bigger trucks out their with bigger engines that go a bit faster and are heavier etc. but the Revo is considered the best in its class and probably the best handling of all monster truck models.
Overall cost though ... *sharp in-take of breath* ... has been about £1500+ for me. I've upgraded the .15C/Inch engine to a .23C/Inch professional racing engine (£160). My shocks have been upgraded with plenty of titanium. I have upgraded arms, drive shafts, new gear setups, 4 bodyshells in total, different tyres/wheels for different conditions, air intake upgrades, a new 2.4GHz spread spectrum transmitter/receiver, the rollcage you see in the vid ... the list goes on. My mate bought one at the same time though and has hardly upgraded anything, so he's probably not spent more than £600 in total. Basically, you can spend as little or as much as you want, but mine is a proper monster now.
I took a snap earlier to show what kit I took out for that jaunt to Farley Mount. This is where all the cash goes and what you might end up with ...
In that I've got in field chargers, spare differentials, shocks, tools, fuel, wheels, temp guage, my old engine and pipe, clutches, gears etc etc. We were gonna go out to a much harsher site, so all the spares came along for in field repairs.
I can't recommend it enough, but you need to dedicate some time to it. If you pansy about in a carpark, then you can get away with learning the essentials, but when you start taking it out and jumping it and offroading it, things break. So there's a learning curve to understand the engine tuning, problem solving and diagnosis etc. but when you get the truck running well, like mine was yesterday, it's awesome.
If you seriously consider it mate, drop me a line and we can chat. Consider the Revo seriously though, as it's the best on the market in my opinion. Here're a few links if you're interested:
Traxxas Revo site
RC Hop Ups (Hundreds of Revo upgrades)
Pick one up, and we'll get some 3 way racing action going on.
