TC3 vs. newer TC5/6/7 or others

[OldSchoolGuy]

Greetings all! I've been having fun lately with my recently resurrected Factory Team TC3 that I've had since it was new in '92 or so? I think the TC3 is a great car. Very adjustable, light, works great, etc, etc. Enjoyed it so much that I bought a second TC3 for my son to drive with me. It's his first RC car. When I first bought my original, new at the time, I was running a Novak Tempest ESC with a Big Jim Racing brushed motor, and it was really quick. When Novak came out with their first brushless ESC/motor combo, the Super Sport 5800, I jumped on it. Although it was just ever so slightly slower than the brushed setup, I think the nearly maintenance free brushless motor setup is well worth the slight speed hit. I am interested in getting something faster however, something like a 3.5T or so motor, but my Super Sport ESC is pretty much maxed out in the wattage department with the 5800Kv motor it came with. But that's another topic I'll leave for a different thread...

Anyways, I really like the touring car format and running in parking lots. I also have an original RPM Ultra Molded chassis RC10 that is fun too, but several people are telling me it may be too valuable to run much anymore. Dirt is OK, but I like the speed of the touring cars. So looking to Associated's on road offerings, it looks like the only thing they make for on road besides drag cars now is the APEX2. All plastic and only RTR. Doesn't excite me much, and the RTR is a total turn off. (I want to build the damn thing! Are you listening Associated?!) So what about the older TC's? I know the TC4 was an incremental upgrade of the TC3 but not too different. Not different enough to make it worth upgrading from a TC3. The TC5 made the huge technological jump to belt drive, with the TC6 and 7 seemingly just further evolution of the TC5. I could definitely go for one of the newer cars from TC5 or newer. My TC3 has been a blast but one good accidental hit and I'm replacing half the front end! TC3 parts are mostly from eBay and I've been lucky so far in finding what I need. I guess what I'm asking is how the belt drive cars compare to the original TC3 in both driving performance, reliability and parts availability. Or alternatively, are there any other manufacturers making a non-RTR, other than all plastic, kick ass touring car? Except for Tamiya and one Trinity Evolution 10, I've only run Associated's, so not very familiar with the other brands.

[Elkcycles]

3Racing Sakura S64 is a solid bet for a cheap kit with good parts support. You'll be out about $150 and can find parts and upgrades cheap.

As much as I dislike th*t company, the 4Tec 2.0 is a great parking lot basher as well.

[OldSchoolGuy]

OK, thanks for the suggestions. I'll check those out.

[limestang]

Team Associated Apex may be worth a look. I loved my TC3 and NTC3 back in the day.

- limestang

[OldSchoolGuy]

Thanks for the suggestion. I know next to nothing about the original APEX series. Were they better in any way than the APEX 2's? Better built? Less plastic? More tunable? I do like that Associated is an American company, and as far as I know, their products are made In USA. Always a good thing.

@Elkcycles- I checked out the 3Racing website. I had to search engine to find it though. Their website is https://3racing.shop Looks to be based out of Hong Kong and they look big in Asia. They have pictures from a lot of races and meets in China, Japan, Malaysia and Australia. The website is a bit rough on the English translation, but they do have some cool looking cars. Not super expensive either. I liked that they have their manuals available for download so you can see what's involved in the cars. They seem to list all of the cars they've ever made on their website, but I'm not clear on what is still available. A lot of the cars or parts are listed as "Sold Out". Does that mean they are discontinued or just temporarily unavailable until they make more? Some of them are inexpensive enough that I may just buy one for curiosity's sake!

[RogueIV]

Greetings all! I've been having fun lately with my recently resurrected Factory Team TC3 that I've had since it was new in '92 or so? I think the TC3 is a great car. Very adjustable, light, works great, etc, etc. Enjoyed it so much that I bought a second TC3 for my son to drive with me. It's his first RC car. When I first bought my original, new at the time, I was running a Novak Tempest ESC with a Big Jim Racing brushed motor, and it was really quick. When Novak came out with their first brushless ESC/motor combo, the Super Sport 5800, I jumped on it. Although it was just ever so slightly slower than the brushed setup, I think the nearly maintenance free brushless motor setup is well worth the slight speed hit. I am interested in getting something faster however, something like a 3.5T or so motor, but my Super Sport ESC is pretty much maxed out in the wattage department with the 5800Kv motor it came with. But that's another topic I'll leave for a different thread...

TC3 was released in '99. I do miss having mine. I was always impressed how free the drivetrain was in it back in the day.

I wouldn't even try using that Novak with any other motors, they already have a problem with the mosfets desoldering themselves from heat and shifting off of their pads. Personally i'd go with hobbywing or tekin for a esc.

[OldSchoolGuy]

I remember Tekin from back in the day but have never used their products before. So I went to their website and was surprised to find they had gone out of business years ago, only to be bought and resurrected by an American family who now run it as a family business. And they are still in the USA and as far as I can tell, are still made in USA. So that's a BIG plus in my book! That was one of the things I really liked about Novak and why I was a loyal customer of theirs. So there may be a Tekin ESC/motor combo in my future!

[klavy69]

As much as I dislike th*t company, the 4Tec 2.0 is a great parking lot basher as well.

The good thing about this one is parts will be the same for the next 20-30 years and makes it hard for flippers to want extreme $$ for them.

Todd

[JosephS]

I remember Tekin from back in the day but have never used their products before. So I went to their website and was surprised to find they had gone out of business years ago, only to be bought and resurrected by an American family who now run it as a family business. And they are still in the USA and as far as I can tell, are still made in USA. So that's a BIG plus in my book! That was one of the things I really liked about Novak and why I was a loyal customer of theirs. So there may be a Tekin ESC/motor combo in my future!

That interesting to me. Designed in the USA is easy to find. Actually manufactured in the USA is hard to find. I'd pay the difference to get made in the USA electronics.

[JosephS]

\I do like that Associated is an American company, and as far as I know, their products are made In USA. Always a good thing.

Sorry to have to tell you but Team Associated is a Taiwanese company. As a rough rule of thumb. Cars with older imperial hardware were USA made. Metric hardware on the cars indicates when the switch happened.

As far as I know customworks is still US based for design and (some)manufacture.

RPM may be the last major USA plastic manufacturer in the hobby.

[OldSchoolGuy]

Well that's a bummer to find out. Still, I'd take Taiwan made any day over mainland China. Most of the high end gaming computer motherboards are sourced from Taiwan.