The Hobby Guy » R/C Cars

xMod RC Cars Are Great Party Fun

TheHobbyGuy — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:45:56 +0000

When you have two boys who are nine years apart in age and have the same birth month, planning birthday parties can be a challenge. The older son is not into Blues Clues and the younger one just wants to jump in on his brothers Xbox360 Party. So how do to make both happy and entertain the adults and children coming to our house?

I thought about it and thought “RC Cars” and all I have to do is buy ten of them and everyone could play. Well, ten ready to run nitro powered RC cars would have been great but at around $300 each I was not about to drop $3000 on them. Then I remembered xMods which are the perfect size to run indoors and are reasonably priced. Between the sale that was running at Radio Shack and the deals I found on E-Bay, I was able to pick up eight xMods for a total of about $350.00. I then added some rechargeable batteries and PVC pipe to build a track and the total came to just under $400.00.

Before my wife freaked out that I spent $400 on RC Cars for our kids birthday party I reminded her that the entertainer she was going to hire cost $375.00 for two hours. At least now we had something the kids could play for a long time and I could always sell them on E-Bay to get some money back. Besides this was more fun.

The track was setup in our family room and to keep the theme I put a “Fast A Furious” DVD movie on the TV. The kids and adults had a blast, everyone was racing, crashing, and burning up the track. It was fun watching the adults (many who never really drove an RC car) try to keep up with the kids.

Now all I need to do is top this next year, maybe some battle bots or something.

RCX 2007

TheHobbyGuy — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:14:44 +0000

Hi all. I posted pictures from RCX 2007 on Flickr. I will follow up with a write up and some video. Enjoy the pictures for now.

Nitro Soccer!

TheHobbyGuy — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:03:10 +0000

This past weekend the boys had their R/C cars out and after running around a bit they started hitting the soccer ball around with the cars. A new idea was born – Lets play soccer and use the RC cars. We all had a blast and I think we will play this a lot. Here is the result:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Traxxas Nitro Sport R/C Stadium Truck = FUN!

TheHobbyGuy — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:04:07 +0000

One of the Christmas gifts my wife and I gave our oldest son was a Traxxas Nitro Sport R/C car. It came all ready to run, we only had to add fuel, a 7.2v battery for the on board starter, and AA batteries for the radio and receiver.

I was a bit hesitant to get a Nitro car as a gift as for many years I did not like Nitro r/c cars at all, I was a big fan of electric R/C cars. Traxxas has definitely made a Nitro fan of me with this stadium truck. I was really expecting difficulty getting the engine started, a long break in period, and a host of bad memories of Nitro cars 15 years ago. None of that was here. Nice job Traxxas.

As I said, It came out of the box almost ready to go and on Christmas day we had it running in our backyard. Realizing we needed more room we hopped in the car and went to the local park behind the school. My son had a ball rippin’ it up with that car. It started to rain, but that did not stop us. We had blast!

Today we headed back out to the park and after a few tanks of fuel, we eyed up the empty skate park. Ramps, jumps, half-pipes – nice! This truck can really fly! Wow!
On the last run my son took it up the large ramp and the car flew about 20 feet in the air and landed hard. When I saw a wheel go left and the car go right, I figured the damage was going to be bad. After taking a closer look it was not bad at all, only one piece broke, the rear axle carrier.

I already called over to GS Hobbies, and they have the piece in stock. I am headed there now, so tomorrow we can be back at the park. This R/C truck is too much fun.

Hydrogen Powered R/C Car

TheHobbyGuy — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:37:34 +0000

Gizmag: Hobby R/C racing enthusiasts will soon operate 1/10th scale radio controlled competition grade vehicles on clean hydrogen fuel cell power. The innovative power unit created by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies follows the commercial launch of its H-racer miniature fuel cell car and solar powered hydrogen refueling station in June this year. Recently named as one of the Best Inventions of 2006 by Time Magazine, the H-racer is now the best selling fuel cell product in the world, and Horizon’s first step in bringing the world a tangible vision for a viable hydrogen economy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Via Link]

Retro R/C is Back in Full Swing

TheHobbyGuy — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:01:25 +0000

Just like a hot fashion trend of the past, retro R/C is back in full swing. A few weeks a ago I reported how Tamiya has re-released The Frog.

Now, videos of retro R/C are hot on the scene. These are a few favorites, complete with 70’s Japanese Disco Music. All that is missing is John Travolta in white bellbottoms. My favorite is the Tamiya Commercial.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Leave some comments about your retro R/C experiences. I am going to dig up some videos of when I duct taped the video camera to my Tamiya Frog.

Return of The Frog

TheHobbyGuy — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:46:42 +0000

On a recent trip into one of my local hobby shops I noticed that they had the Tamiya Frog R/C Car on display, new in the box. Tamiya has re-released the Frog.
The Tamiya Frog was originally released in 1983 and it was one of the catalysts for the mainstream popularity of electric R/C cars. ClassicTamiyaRC.com describes the Frog as truly one of the first raceable R/C cars from Tamiya. I can agree with that, my Frog won me a lot of races over the years, even after all the original Team Associated RC10 came out. Of course it was not just the car, it was the driver that won the race. At least I like to think so.

The Tamiya Frog was my first R/C car and is still my favorite. I walked to Bruckner Hobbies everyday for a year to look at the kit. I still think the guy in the store thought I was trying to rob them. Everyday I would ask to see the box,then I would look around, say thanks and leave. My dad made me save to get that car, and I am glad he did. Everyday I looked and everyday I was more determined to put more money away to get it.

When I finally did get the Frog, I didn’t sleep for two days. I put the kit together overnight and was out in the morning running it around the street. I ran the car so much that the tires were worn out before the weekend was over.

I will have to dig the Frog out of storage and get it running again, or maybe I should get a new one and run it stock for nostalgic sake. If any of you still have you original Tamiya RC car, whether its a Frog or Not, I would love to hear your story. Leave some comments, lets see how many Tamiya RC fans there are.