New To The Forum

[joeman37]

Hi everybody, just joined up after some lurker status for a couple of years. The re-release of the RC10 finally made me decide to join and post up. I am pretty excited about it since I was never able to build the original from kit form back in the day.

My history in the hobby:
My first hobby grade RC was a Kyosho Turbo Raider back in fall of 1990 if I remember correctly. I had a friend in high school and he had an RC10, Blackfoot, and Optima of some sort. He introduced me to the hobby and RCCA and that led me to the Tower ads that led to my picking the Turbo Raider. The Raider was not a bad car but just did not hold it's own against his RC10.

After about a year I ended up finding a used RC10 in the local paper (back pre internet remember?) and scooped it up pretty cheap. It had a two stick Futaba radio of some sort and a Novak T4 ESC. I can't remember ever having it to the track but it got a lot of bashing. Shortly after that I got a part time job that was actually about 30 hours a week and the flood gates opened up. Over the period of a year I bought and assembled my next three kits. I snagged an original RC10L with the fiberglass chassis and replaced it right away with a graphite LTO chassis and went oval racing, then I got the need for some offroad landrocket speed and picked up a Lazer ZXR that I bought from Canada since I found a shop there selling it at a good price and with the exchange rate back then heavily favoring the US I was all over it. It was my first 4wd and my first mod motor. It had a Novak T1x and I also bought my most expensive batteries to date when I picked up 3 7 cell saddle packs for it. That car absolutely flew! I never actually raced it and it got retired after a practice day at the track when some kid with a blackfoot decided it would be cool to do a 180 at the end of the long front stretch and start driving the wrong way. I hit him head on at full speed and shattered the front and rear shock towers and bent the front shock shafts and all around was genuinely pissed about the whole deal.

About the same time I ordered the ZXR I also built my first Associated offroad kit, the original RC10T. I had one of the early ones with the white parts and the skinny fronts. That truck was so much fun to build and run, I've always had a soft spot for stadium trucks. I think I probably put more run time on that truck than anything else I have ever owned. It was the only RC that made the trip with me to college and it got some street paws and became a basher because I had no time to race it and being in a new town could not find any tracks. I still have that truck but the pieces are scattered hell and gone around my shop.

After sophomore year in college I got out of the hobby for about 10 years. Got back into it kind of serious with nitro after I landed a decent job and had some money to spend. I never got the knack for tuning nitro engines though and was hit or miss with being able to dial them in. I did have a FT RC10GT though and had some fun with that.

I gave up the nitro stuff and got into racing full sized stock cars. Then about 2 years ago I got back into electrics because I wanted to give my son a real RC for his 5th birthday. After coming back in I was sad to see damn near everything was RTR. What I really wanted was a kit to build with him and have that experience with him. I ended up going with a Midnight Pumpkin for him and a Lunchbox for me. I built both kits and he did try to help. He loves running his Pumpkin and I found the LB to be lots of fun to beat on. We have had a blast for about 2 years running the snot out of both of them. This year he is getting a Traxxas Grinder for his birthday (I got a Gravedigger for myself) and I can't wait to see him run something faster and more stable.

Of course building those 2 Tamiya's was like a returning to the flock moment for me and I decided I wanted to try and get back into racing...so I picked up a FTB4.1 and a FTSC10. I still haven't raced either because life stuff has gotten in the way but the buggy is put together and waiting for me to decide on electronics. The SC10 will be coming out to be assembled soon because I have an itch to build another kit. I've also been bitten by a nostalgia bug of sorts and have built a bunch more Tamiya kits that I used to turn my nose up at back in the day. It's amazing how much your attitude can change on some things. I've also gathered up several Losi products that I never owned back when because I was an Associated kind of guy. The re-re of the RC10 makes me wish for the same for the JRx2 or JRxT. I have never built a Losi kit and if I ever did I would want it to be one of those. I did score a really clean JRxT off eBay a while back and want to do a box art body for it but my painting skills suck.

OK That is really long winded, I still have a ton to learn about modern electronics. I bought a couple different brushless setups and LiPo batteries and charger but haven't installed any of it into a car yet...I have a 35a Hobbywing and mild motor I think might find it's way into the B4.1 just to get it on the track and turn some laps again. I took my son to the local track last weekend and he wants a Slash to run in their stock class. I just got the itch to turn some laps on a real track again. They really only run SC trucks in several classes and when I asked about buggies they said they never get any.

-Joe

[kaiser]

welcome to the nut house joe!

[Coelacanth]

Welcome, and great story. Thanks for sharing!

[THUNDERSTRIKE1]

welcome aboard !! The madness train called the RC10 EXPRESS LMAO.DON

[joeman37]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Right now I still have my RC10L, the RC10T, FT RC10GT (this is another one that was a kit that I never finished), an eBay Team car that was a spur of the moment purchase because it was cheap, FT SC10 (need to get around to building it) and a FT B4.1. Unfortunately none of them are running because I have to figure out electronics for them all.

When I got back into the hobby I went nuts on monster trucks and Tamiya stuff which is odd because in my racer days I turned up my nose at MTs and anything Tamiya. I have to admit I have had a HUGE amount of fun with my little Lunchbox and Midnight Pumpkin, but that might be because of my son more than anything. By the end of the summer I hope to be racing again though, probably the SC10 since that seems to be the most popular class here.

-Joe