Radio Control! RC trucks, cars, planes, boats, whatever tickles your pickle!

I went to Cattus Island in Toms River, NJ with my Enduro Trailrunner today. I went on the inland trails. The trailblazes for what I wanted to do were hard to see because they're red, and I'm partially colorblind. It was very hard to follow the blazes. There may have also been undocumented alternate but still blazed trails on the red trails. I don't know what was going on there, and it was very weird. I didn't get lost, but I did end up in a couple spots I didn't expect. Besides that, the trails were very easy on the Trailrunner. The leaves obscured roots, though. I tripped and nearly fell on my face a few times. It was almost t-shirt weather except for right by the water. It was a pretty nice day. I want to go back again in the winter and get called a madman by my friend again!








I also went to Unreal RC afterwards which is very, very nearby. I took my TRX4 2021 Bronco there and attempted the course. It's a highly challenging course for 1/10 scale trucks. They run competitions for 1/24 scale trucks there. My Bronco did better than my Trailrunner did last time I tried it, but the Bronco didn't do as much better as I thought it would. In addition, I did some Mini Z car practice there to get ready for Sunday's race, but I didn't take any photos of that. Rich at Unreal RC was super helpful and friendly, and he helped me while I was picking out some supplies for my cars and trucks. As we get to the Friday night indoor season in Aberdeen, I think I'll be hitting Unreal RC more often as long as the Mini Z track remains up.

 

I picked up an Axial SCX24 Jeep Gladiator while at Unreal RC today. I didn't mean to get an SCX24 today, but this is one of the cases of a car choosing you rather than you choosing a car. I can use it at Unreal RC's SCX24 competitions, so that's good. I just saw it on the shelf, and it spoke to me. I liked the blue, and it was pretty unique with the truck Jeep body type. I know the SCX24 is super awesome in the price to performance ratio. Ironically, there was a Jeep being towed near where I parked today. I think it was broken down since it looked like the owner was standing next to it while the tow truck guy was getting it set up to move onto the truck.

I also picked up this Tamiya TT-02 builders kit at Hobbytown. I've got the rest of the week off, so I just want to chill and build. This one comes with the Toyota GR86 body and the Tamiya ESC that's compatible with brushless motors. They also had the Subaru BRZ body, but it came with the Hobbywing 1060 brushed-only ESC and was more expensive. I kind of wanted the BRZ, but the GR86 is pretty much the same thing as the BRZ, so whatever. In any case, I might not be using the body very much. I believe I can use the chassis in the Vintage Trans-Am class at The Hobby Shop in Aberdeen, NJ on Friday nights, so I'll have to get a classic car body for the chassis anyway. And you have to use a brushless motor setup in VTA, so the ESC I got will work for that. In any case, I'm going to build and chill. I have some extra parts like the steering servo and radio equipment that I'd need to complete the kit. They're not the greatest parts, but they can stand in while I'm building and chilling until I get something better.

 

I just ordered an Axial SCX24 Deadbolt (green) from Horizon Hobby on Sunday. Will be arriving any day now. Super excited.

 

Nice! I just unboxed mine and ran it a little bit. It's really fun! Even only running it a little bit, it's better performing than my Mini Z 4X4.

 

From all the videos I have watched the SCX24 is a fantastic little crawler. I am excited to use it around camp. The small scale should be perfect for campsites.

First RC I have bought since I got the original Tamiya Blackfoot when I was a kid

 

I just started getting back into it itoo! I have spent WAY to much money! Haha

 

Yeah I already have my sights set on mods for the deadbolt. Plus have been checking out the 1/18 and 1/10 scale options. Down the rabbit hole we go haha

 

For 1/10, don't forget about the Trailrunner! They also make a 1/24 version, but there's no IFS on that one.

 

Here's my Tamiya TT-02 build as of today. I've got most of the chassis put together. I used an official Tamiya ball bearing kit. I doused the bearings with lighter fluid for over 16 hours then followed up with a bearing oil before installing everything. I also installed the official Tamiya motor heatsink. It saves me a lot of work on plastic parts and screws since you use the heatsink in lieu of that stuff. Tamiya's servo horn setup is weird and confusing, so I just grabbed my original Enduro Trailrunner servo horn and a screw that will thread into that horn to make the steering work.

The kit went together pretty well. It was confusing at first, but once I figured out how to organize my bags of parts and how to understand what the manual was trying to tell me about those bags, things got a lot easier. Except for the Tamiya servo horn. I don't understand that stuff at all. But besides that, things appear to be rolling smoothly. The center shaft rolls smoothly, the differentials feel fine, manually pushing the steering around feels fine, etc.

Up next appears to be installing electronics. I already installed the servo. It's the junky original servo from my Redcat Lightning STK. It'll be fine for getting me started. I'll have to pair my original Enduro Trailrunner's transmitter to a spare receiver that I have, too. The original receiver got damaged, and I never used the transmitter again despite getting some spare receivers afterwards. After I verify everything works, I'll work on getting the tires on the rims and getting a powered rolling chassis going. I don't know when I'm going to paint the body, but considering how I procrastinate every time I have to paint, it'll probably be 2025. I really don't like painting.

 

I definitely have my eye on the Trailrunner. It's a very cool truck.
A really fast buggy would be fun too

 

My TT-02 chassis runs! It has stand-in electronics, and I haven't gotten every little thing stuck down securely yet, but it runs!

 

Fun Stuff
I have been into RC off and on since about 1990ish.
Have to say these scx24 are pretty good all stock, they do seem to have every $cool$ part made so pocketbook watch out!

 

When I just got back into it, I was surprised that my old matching crystals were no longer usable! Hahaha. Things have come a long way and I'm only 40!

 

Yeh, waaaaaaay beyond tx/rd crystals... what a pain that was, so easy to bind and play now.

 

I preemptively changed my steering servo in my Traxxas 2021 Ford Bronco yesterday to the more durable NSDRC RS500b direct power servo, and I took it out today. Apparently I accidentally enabled the Bronco's gyro system while setting the new servo's end points and was having steering issues. I was only out for a little more than half an hour since the steering was just no fun at all. I eventually found out what was going on and disabled the gyro. I didn't even know that the thing had gyro functionality. I think it's a shared thing since they use the same radio system in faster vehicles. A gyro in a crawler is kind of pointless, though. It reminds me of when Kyosho was all like "buy a gyro for the Mini Z 4X4 today!" and I was like "why?" when I heard about it. Anyway, I took a small handful of photos while out today. It was probably the last nice day we're going to have for a long time, and it's a shame that I messed it up with my steering problems. At least I got the Bronco up the one steep leaf-covered hill. The Bronco is definitely at the top of the hill in that one photo. It's just tiny and in the shade.

 

My SXC24 Deadbolt arrived and I have been playing around with it this weekend. These little trucks sure are capable!! Super fun to play with. First obstacle I took on was a 4 pound bag of sugar which it easily conquered haha

 

Dude, I was just messing around with my SCX24 Gladiator tonight while watching TV, and it's scary how much better the SCX24 is than the Mini Z 4X4. I love the Mini Z cars (I even placed third in today's race event!), but the Mini Z 4X4 is so bad compared to the SCX24. I worked on my Mini Z 4X4 a lot, threw a lot of parts at it, and it's still nowhere close to a box stock SCX24. The only thing the Mini Z 4X4 has going for it is the amazingly detailed hard body.

 

Question for those that have an scx24... Any tips for unplugging the tiny battery connector from the esc?? I can't get my fingers in there to pull it out, and even the smallest needle nose pliers are not working since it has nothing to grip on the connector. Not even tweezers work since the connector has no ridges or grooves to grip. I have just been removing it by pulling on the wires just above the connector. I know that's a terrible solution but nothing else seems to work. Any ideas??

 

I'd recommend a cutter like in the Mr. Hobby Mr. Basic Tool Set. You might find it by the Gundam model kits in Barnes and Noble if they're still carrying those. Yeah, it's a cutter, but if you don't squeeze so hard that you slice the plastic, you can get the cutter to grip under the very top of the plastic and you pull up to lift. You may wish to grind down some of the plastic surrounding the socket on the ESC, too. That'll give you additional room for gripping Yeah, the other connector butts right up against the battery connector, but you can squeeze the cutters in there enough to be effective. https://www.amazon.com/GSI-Creos-Hobby-Toolset-GNZ-BF003/dp/B094YRF6KW

 

I started with the scx24 two years ago and very fun. Looked at the 1/18 Traxxas but went the other way ...SCX6

 

Flew my Pitts for the first time and the Rudder works sporadically... Horizon handled the warranty quick but they are just sending the servo and on a UMX I have to cut it open and split the plane... grrr. We will see how it goes. I hate to cut open a brand new plane (when I am not responsible for wrecking it haha)

 

I do have a set of cutter needle nose pliers and debated using them, but in the end deemed it too risky. The plastic battery connector is pretty soft plastic and I think the cutter would eventually cut through and break it. Still resorting to gently pulling on the wires. How are you disconnecting your battery connector on your gladiator?? Pulling on the wires??

 

Those two deadbolts look awesome!! Highly modified it seems

 

I'm using the cutter. I've seen cables like that go bad by pulling the wires too many times. I do the cutter thing all the time at work. It's fine as long as you don't squeeze too hard. You're not cutting. You're just positioning then lifting. If you don't think you can pull it off then your next best option would probably be to grind down the surrounding plastic on the ESC in order to get more surface area to grip onto with conventional needle nose pliers.

And these aren't pliers. These are, what, angle cutters? They're really good. The Mr. Basic Tool Set is great. I built my Tamiya TT-02 with it. I use the tools a lot more than I thought I would.

 

Success!! I took a look in my toolbox and found these little craft needle nose "pliers". They have rounded tips and are not sharp at all. Perfect to get on the sides of the connector to pop it right out.

 

Check out this new Dungeons and Dragons game that came out?

 

That's not new or RC!

I took the Traxxas 2021 Bronco out today. It was almost t-shirt weather last weekend, and now it's freezing. It's not super freezing, but it was freezing enough that the top layer of puddles was frozen. Just barely the top layer. Not enough to support the weight of the Bronco, but it's a big change from last weekend.

Tamarack Hollow Preserve was today's outing. I mostly hit the unmarked trails. I think I might have seen a bear. Or a deer. Or maybe another person. I don't know. Something was moving moderately fast through the woods and looked kind of upright, but I barely saw it before it went out of my range of vision. The unmarked trails weren't too challenging for the Bronco, but it was fun to take a walk on them. There's a pile of logs at one of the unmarked trails that was fun for the Bronco. I made it almost all the way across the pile which is something I couldn't do with the Trailrunner, but there's a dip that's too large for the Bronco to pass near the end. Still, the winch mount removal is paying off. I hit some marked trails on the way back. It was fun. The leaves cover up some things that I'd rather avoid which led me to having to rescue the Bronco for the second time today. I also got to see some horses!

 

Ok back on topic. Having and RC10/GT, if I were to get another one this Team Associated pre-orderhttps://www.towerhobbies.com/product/rc8t4-team-kit/ASC80947.html

 

Might be someone hunting you should wear bright clothes maybe an orange hat.

 

That seems like a good thing if you're into that nitro thang

It's a no hunting area, and there's no hunting on Sundays. That's only as good as the people following the rules, but whatever.