Great for kids! Revell "Beastie Bug"

[romulus22]

For the Lipo's? You need a new charger as well, correct?
I assume so, but thought I'd ask. Thanks!

Anytime you are charging a Lipo a good charger is ideal. I always balance charge my batteries and the auto shutoff at correct voltage is one less thing to worry about. But technically you can charge a Lipo with a non Lipo charger. Just not the best idea.

[Scoutx]

Thanks for the great review. I found it searching for info on these before purchasing. I have a four year old that I was looking to get into rc cars. Woot had these for I think 39 and I bought two, total was under 90$. I gave the newly four year old the beastie buggy you have there and got myself the mad machine truggy, same thing but a different shell and tires and a few changed plastic mounting parts. Same chassis and controller though.

I grew up on tamiya stuff, but have been away for about twenty years. I put a little trigger stop in so he had to drive it slow, warned him that the curbs would destroy it etc...he did great.

He had it for about a month with no catastrophic crashes when I "got mine for Christmas". He was really getting the hang of it, doing laps of the culdesac, follow the leader etc.. He was really excited to wrap mine up and give it to me. (I was too!).

Well it lasted a day

I was doing some high speed laps and he drove right across in front of me, I thought I could easily turn in and go behind him, when he did the unexpected correct thing I had told him to do, he stopped. I nailed his rear wheel dead on and spun his car about 4 full revolutions.

Broke what I would call the rear spindle, basically the circle where I would expect a bearing to carry the wheel and attach to the dog bone axle shaft. I tried gluing and clamping with some zip ties, but it was never going to work.

I feel horrible, and we'll buy a new one if I need to, he's being a great sport about it.

I have tried to call revell near here in elk grove village, but no one was answering. I am going to email next, but thought you might be able to point me in the right direction.

tl;dr
I'd be very grateful if any one could point me to where I can buy a rear spindle, and axle shaft. A parts list would be great.

I am going to look into the LiPo too, thanks again.

Cheapest I can find them now is here: http://www.big5sportinggoods.com/store/details/Revell%2520Control+1-16-Scale-Beastie-Bug-Radio-Controlled-Buggy/3742149446800/_/A-5191168?#.VKIMkvkAIE

[davef]

I also got two through Woot and they were $45 each. My son had it for a few days and crashed his Mad Machine into the curb. The front steering knuckle broke and the steering rod can no longer connect to it. I tried to call Hobbico technical suport (217-398-8970) after searching the internet for parts with no luck. I got a guy on the phone who said that even though Revell had them priced at a hobby grade price point they are supported as a toy RC car ie no parts support. Hobbico can't get any parts. He recommended that I buy another one as a parts car.

Since that's not happening, especially for $100, I've been trying to find buggies of similar scale that may have similar enough parts that I can make something work. I got a knuckle set for a Losi mini 8ight for a few bucks but it's too big. I think the best chance is to go to a Local Hobby Shop and try to match the Mad Machine parts to a RC vehicle they have there and then order the parts.

By the way there's a seller on Ebay selling thme for $95 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-Revell-1-16-Scale-2-4Ghz-Mad-Machine-Truggy-4WD-RC-Vehicle-/291317082729?pt=Radio_Control_Vehicles&hash=item43d3d9ea69

Good luck and post up here if you make progress. I'll do the same.

Dave

[Scoutx]

I emailed Hobbico too, no response yet. I was going to call Revell next. I have a few hobby shops I might run into to as well. It sounded like SixtySixDuece was changing out bearings and the like, and he knows way more than me about this topic, I thought he might have some sage advice.

I'll fix it somehow if I have to fab something out of steel, but was hoping to not spend a lot of time.

Thanks!

oh and in case it helps a search, the mad machine and beastie buggy appear to have >90% the same parts. The only real difference are the bumper, and body pin mount posts (for lack of the technical description)

[Scoutx]

These look close.. but not exact.

http://www.revell-control.de/fileadmin/products/Ersatzteile/1210/RC-Ersatzteilliste-24515-Truggy-4x4-M-Mad-Machine_20110421.pdf

this part looks close: 45262, but....

http://www.revell-control.de/fileadmin/products/Ersatzteile/1210/RC-Ersatzteilliste-24508-Buggy-4x4-M_20110330.pdf

Anyone want to help me identify this part I think what I'm calling a spindle is maybe the hub / hub carrier?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/201061391254?lpid=82&chn=ps something like that?

My pictures, having trouble attaching likely size.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwIns-4oL-wZcHFudERYZVNtRUk&authuser=0

[davef]

It looks like you're on the right track with 45262 for the rear of your car. I need 45296, it looks pretty close and the stub axle 45264. I'm sure the axles are the same as the ones we have.

And I think its called a hub. In my case it's the steering hub. I've also heard the term steering knuckle.

[davef]

Scout, do you have a way to order any of those parts? I guess I can try to call Hobbico if there's no online ordering site.

[Scoutx]

No, but eBay seemed to have some on their foreign sites, that'll be fun

I think those are the same front axles, but the rears are double dog bone... I'll look again when I can get in front of a computer.

[davef]

So I found a new number to call 866 462 2426. This is Revell's remote control service line. Chris answered the call and he said that no parts for the Mad Machine are available because it's been discontinued. I asked if there were ever any parts available and he waffled around the question. Bottom line is, no parts can be ordered. I'm glad I didn't spend too much on these things because one of two is now useless. None of the parts at my LHS will work. I got my son a ECX Ruckus used off Ebay to bash around with. At least I can get parts for that.

[Scoutx]

So I found a new number to call 866 462 2426. This is Revell's remote control service line. Chris answered the call and he said that no parts for the Mad Machine are available because it's been discontinued. I asked if there were ever any parts available and he waffled around the question. Bottom line is, no parts can be ordered. I'm glad I didn't spend too much on these things because one of two is now useless. None of the parts at my LHS will work. I got my son a ECX Ruckus used off Ebay to bash around with. At least I can get parts for that.

What's weird is they've had two versions of both the "beastie bug" and "mad machine". They look similar, but the ones on woot were the more toy grade it appears. I've fixed mine for the time being with superglue and some reinforced it with some sheet metal I cut out and bent.

Thanks for the followup. I think you made the right choice with a more well known ruckus.

[davef]

The other versions of the trucks that you linked above looked like they were sold in Europe not here. If I could muddle through the langauge on those websites maybe I could order a possible replacement part...

If not I can just hold out for a cheap car to use as parts.

[Scoutx]

The other versions of the trucks that you linked above looked like they were sold in Europe not here. If I could muddle through the langauge on those websites maybe I could order a possible replacement part...

If not I can just hold out for a cheap car to use as parts.

Yes, I used chrome and hit the translate button I can't read it.