toughest 1/18

[jnev]

I loved my 2 brushless rc18mt's. I sold the first to fund another project. And then I built up another brushless rc18mt. But then I sold that one too to fund another project... and now I really regret selling it. They are such a tough trucks and very fun to mess around with in the back yard, street or wherever you like.

I also only needed to upgrade the diffs maybe 3 or 4 months after installing the brushless system (Mamba 6800 system)... and I bashed it just about every day. however, I haven't tried any other mini's unfortunately to compare it too...

I have a MQ from the first month or so when they were sold here. It was the most frustrating rc I've ever owned. Strg slop was incredible making it almost impossible to drive at anything over a crawl. I even epoxied the servo to the chassis trying to eliminate any play. Finally was advised to try the graphite knucks and whoa! The very early ones plastic was just poor as were the early esc - mine lasted 3wks and the smoke got out. I didn't bother dtx for another, I wouldn't run it, waste of time. MQ been super since then and I've worn out 2 sets of chevron tires I've drive it so much, prob thru 6 or 7 motors. Its getting a mamb2 25 and an align with a FP 3S 1600 as soon as batt shows up. I expect that to kill the orig diffs finally and may need cvd, but I'll wait and see.

rschoi_75 is not the only to benefit from sudden TH unannounced, fire sales - I have enough to build it at least twice over for cheap. I bought my MQ-SE with TH discount code and its been good from the start. Mamba 25 and GH3500. I run with low kv since that doesn't seem to tear up drivetrains.

As big of a pain as my 1st MQ was, the Vendetta buggy has been the opposite in sweet. Its been nearly perfect. I went bl as soon as it arrived, mamba 25, CoolRed 3500kv heli motor (sale - $24.99 shiped) running either 2 or 3s. Only things ever happened - had dog bone pin come out of stock plastic cvd. A little CA for all and its never happened again. Solid yr and half running gear diffs hard before they went, $20 worth of ball diffs (on sale!) and its gone almost as long. Mine are run mainly in the street, mostly wot or near wot. Get 20+ min of fun everytime. Detta has been one of the best rcs I've owned.

[crazyjr]

Originally Posted by Duster_360

I have a MQ from the first month or so when they were sold here. It was the most frustrating rc I've ever owned. Strg slop was incredible making it almost impossible to drive at anything over a crawl. I even epoxied the servo to the chassis trying to eliminate any play. Finally was advised to try the graphite knucks and whoa! The very early ones plastic was just poor as were the early esc - mine lasted 3wks and the smoke got out. I didn't bother dtx for another, I wouldn't run it, waste of time. MQ been super since then and I've worn out 2 sets of chevron tires I've drive it so much, prob thru 6 or 7 motors. Its getting a mamb2 25 and an align with a FP 3S 1600 as soon as batt shows up. I expect that to kill the orig diffs finally and may need cvd, but I'll wait and see.

rschoi_75 is not the only to benefit from sudden TH unannounced, fire sales - I have enough to build it at least twice over for cheap. I bought my MQ-SE with TH discount code and its been good from the start. Mamba 25 and GH3500. I run with low kv since that doesn't seem to tear up drivetrains.

As big of a pain as my 1st MQ was, the Vendetta buggy has been the opposite in sweet. Its been nearly perfect. I went bl as soon as it arrived, mamba 25, CoolRed 3500kv heli motor (sale - $24.99 shiped) running either 2 or 3s. Only things ever happened - had dog bone pin come out of stock plastic cvd. A little CA for all and its never happened again. Solid yr and half running gear diffs hard before they went, $20 worth of ball diffs (on sale!) and its gone almost as long. Mine are run mainly in the street, mostly wot or near wot. Get 20+ min of fun everytime. Detta has been one of the best rcs I've owned.

Was the MQ the RTR or SE? The RTR had some troubles that the SE corrected

Originally Posted by crazyjr

Was the MQ the RTR or SE? The RTR had some troubles that the SE corrected

Sorry been busy at work, but the one I was talking about was the rtr - once you got above 10-12mph, it would take over and fromn there all I could do was try to correct direction it was heading off on. The inertia at that speed and the woefully elastic strg knucks would let it drift badly. Graphite parts fixed all that and I benefited from all the mods done trying to fix strg slop (epoxy servo to chassis, alum bellcranks with brgs, shimmed strg posts to eliminate vertical play, alum shocks, green springs etc). Once it was fixed, I liked it well enough I bought an SE. It never had the probs my rtr did! Made some improvements ther, you're absolutely right!

MQ or buggy Vendetta stock drive train won't live long with motor kvs > 4500 or so. I've tried Hyp 5000long can and I a GH4700. I swapped them in favor of a GH3500 and the CoolRed 3500. If I want stupid fast - 3s until I get over it, lol!

Originally Posted by Sammus

Howdy.. I'm sick of my pathetic weak mini lst diff spider gears. Unless someone can make me some steel gears for the thing I want to get something more durable.. What are the other MT/ST minis out there like?

So far I only really know of the vendetta ST, mini quake, rc18mt (I would just get the factory team 18t and the MT wheels, thats the only real difference), or the trinity now, mini inferno st.

I like the inferno st with its hardened steel diff gear option, but getting parts is a hassle, a lot of sites I've seen them on say they're discontinued... not something I want to start to get into

Are any of these others able to take serious brushless power? I have got the the point where I really dont like team losi anymore, I'm sick of persisting with their absolutely sh!t customer service and poorly designed minis.

this forum might be useful

http://www.one18th.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=171

[Sammus]

Guh, I can't stand that forum. No offence to the people on it (or maybe it is?) but any other RC forum I've been on just seems to be filled with the biggest morons... it just frustrates me so much sifting through the useless crap some of them go on with... Kind of like traxxas or nk forum lol...
I hope noone takes that as me being too much of an elitist... it was semi toungue in cheek :P

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by Sammus

Guh, I can't stand that forum. No offence to the people on it (or maybe it is?) but any other RC forum I've been on just seems to be filled with the biggest morons... it just frustrates me so much sifting through the useless crap some of them go on with... Kind of like traxxas or nk forum lol...
I hope noone takes that as me being too much of an elitist... it was semi toungue in cheek :P

Damn Australian elitists! I understand about the mini forum, they have a few decent members, but the bulk of the posts are crap. The NK and Traxxas forums seem to have quite a few newbs, Neil will atest to that!

[rschoi_75]

Originally Posted by Sammus

Guh, I can't stand that forum. No offence to the people on it (or maybe it is?) but any other RC forum I've been on just seems to be filled with the biggest morons... it just frustrates me so much sifting through the useless crap some of them go on with... Kind of like traxxas or nk forum lol...
I hope noone takes that as me being too much of an elitist... it was semi toungue in cheek :P

I still try to be helpful on that forum ... .... even though it does get a bit frustrating trying to sift through all the useless info. But I guess that's like any forum... for every good thread, there are 10 useless ones. And since its a dedicated mini only forum, you're bound to get more beginners on that site. Like any online forum, I try to learn what I can, and leave the arguing to the other members.... (unless I get screwed on a trade/deal, but that's another topic all together)...


On another note...

Linc, I'm surprised you don't have any mini's left. I'd expect you of all people to have at least two or three of them. There's a place and time for all scales of rc, and I still like playing with mini's from time to time. They come in real handy when you're waiting for your lipo's to charge, or to chase the dog around.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by rschoi_75

I still try to be helpful on that forum ... .... even though it does get a bit frustrating trying to sift through all the useless info. But I guess that's like any forum... for every good thread, there are 10 useless ones. And since its a dedicated mini only forum, you're bound to get more beginners on that site. Like any online forum, I try to learn what I can, and leave the arguing to the other members.... (unless I get screwed on a trade/deal, but that's another topic all together)...


On another note...

Linc, I'm surprised you don't have any mini's left. I'd expect you of all people to have at least two or three of them. There's a place and time for all scales of rc, and I still like playing with mini's from time to time. They come in real handy when you're waiting for your lipo's to charge, or to chase the dog around.

I just sold the mq, and the NIB mq that I had. I have a tamiya m03 fwd suzuki swift that I like to play with. It is small and alot of fun, plus it holds up alot better than the mini vehicles. I may buy an xray, but we will see.

[skellyo]

I'm with you guys on your opinion of one18th.com. Aside from a handful of folks on there, of which, most of those are members here too, the forum is pretty sad. I would have to say though that this forum and rccrawler.com are the most informative forums I read. Rctech.net isn't bad for some things, but it's easy to run across guys on there that think that if you don't race, you don't know anything.

I quit visiting one18th.com some time ago after a bunch of posts. I finally got tired of what I term that race attitude. Most of the folks with that attitude need to grow up a little. I've watched long enough to see them wind up by themselves after turning everyone else off.

I check the BST (I've gotten some good deals there) over there from time to time, but will not be wasting my time posting.

[crazyjr]

I have to fourth the Mini Quake SE, I put mine through 7 levels of hades and it has survived well. I was running a 4700 golden horizions motor w/ a mamba 25 and 6 cells of NIMH (1400) and it would run and jump like a bigger truck. Our track at that time, had a dirt mound with a step type ramp to leap over it, distance to landing was about 15 feet and most buggies and truggies (1/8) would go 20+ feet. My MQ could come within a few feet and land, as though it were a bigger truck. The tumbles it took while trying to land that and many backflips (From 8+feet in the air) Gave it the name of the scud, As in the Iraqi missle that almost never landed where it should, it never broke in nearly a year of punishment. I do recomend that you tighten the diffs, they will loosen from time to time. I currently have a Neu 1107/2Y (3400kv) on a Mamba 25 esc W/1800 3s lipo, That setup is like a 2250 in a Emaxx on 6s Lipo, Just too much, The diffs are slipping but the Drivetrain is holding other wise

Not 1/18th, but close... I want this guy

http://www.cenracing.com/censports/me16mt.html

1/16th using 1/10th pieces and parts. Should be pretty tough. Looks abit goofy, but the standard batt, and 1/10th tranny should help it out a bit. I like :).

J.

[dadgummit]

Originally Posted by 83gt

Not 1/18th, but close... I want this guy

http://www.cenracing.com/censports/me16mt.html

1/16th using 1/10th pieces and parts. Should be pretty tough. Looks abit goofy, but the standard batt, and 1/10th tranny should help it out a bit. I like :).

J.

I was looking at those too. The biggest downside is they weigh about 5 pounds... Heavier than a 1/10th t-4, XXX-t etc so it is going to have a hard time keeping up with most things out there. It is also about the size of a crt.5, they absolutely dwarf the other 1/16 mini's out there. On the other hand looks like a really fun platform and if they prove to be durable and start getting a decent amount of hopups I am going to get one.

I also think they look really cool. I swear if I get another stadium truck bodied rc I am going to scream..... Not that they look bad but they all look the same.

[tashpop]

i also loved my miniquake se, but it liked to strip diffs on me. i was running a venom 4980kv v20 on 1100mah 3cell. very stable truck for straight line speed runs. i would just eat diffs too often so i sent it to ebay land.

i just need to add that i would easily rate it over a rc18 series.