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It's hard to look at an old R/C car and not cringe at some of the modifications that've been done over the years. Drilled out chassis, epoxied on servos, CA glued diffs...

We're all guilty of one atrocity or another against the cars in our past... I remember getting tired of Team Losi rear hinge pins breaking so I replaced them with hardened shock shafts. Sure, the pin was designed to break, but it always took the arm out with it. Never broke a shock shaft, or an arm, after that. Looking back however that could have been coincidence and I'm sure if someone spotted the "mod" they'd surely ask, "Who would do a thing like that??"

If I were picking on other peoples cars... it'd be tire glue. The hair on my neck stands up when I see a wheel bead that looks like Stevie Wonder spooged all over it.

How about you? What're some of the mods you've done that makes you cringe when you look back?

Oh sweet, sweet baby Jesus. I could go on for days about some of the stuff that drives me up the walls in the world of R/C.

- Painted chassis parts would have to be my biggest. Why? WHY????? Ugh.

- Botched hardware replacement? I've seen ppl rebuild with giant, oversized self-tapping screws?? Argh!

- Different-sized tires on a 4WD vehicle. Just stop it already. Oy vey!

- Gigantic Alum rims (w/rubber band tires). It looks sh*tty on 1:1 cars, it looks sh*tty on your scaled one, too. SMH

This seems like a thread with a lot of regret items in it:

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?t=2329

XXWoodmanXX wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 2:10 pm - Painted chassis parts would have to be my biggest. Why? WHY????? Ugh.

I'm not sure why people did it but I am always happy to see it when I buy a used car . It protects the plastic underneath and is easily removed from rc10 nylon.

I can't necessarily pick one thing off the top of my head, but I get why some horrendous "modifications" were done. When R/C vehicles broke back in the days before online ordering existed you had few options. Traveling to a hobby shop to see if they had either a replacement, could order one, something that would work, or you fixed it yourself. Generally using what you had around your home like door hinges, wood screws, and lamp cord for example. The problem was compounded if you were young as you didn't have many options of getting your R/C back in action.

My biggest offense that I can recall was in my mid teens wrecking several different nitro powered models that had absolutely nothing to do with each other in an attempt to make my own homemade monster truck using some plate steel. Needless to say it ultimately didn't work out.

Faded dyed nylon parts , your only choice is to dye them again , forces you in a direction , very annoying to the point I won't buy an otherwise nice car .

...as a 13 y/o in 1991, I spent three days drilling out all the webbing in my Kyosho Raider suspension arms. I left the ribs intact, but removed the webbing. I was convinced that I'd be reducing weight and increasing run times.

Later that year I trimmed the nose tubes and rear motor mount on my new RC10 CE with the same thought.

I wore out my team car chassis and bought a worlds chassis to replace it, then I decided to dye all the nylon blue. Man that car ended up with some miles on it but boy did the blue look horrendous after a few years.

I also bought a brand new 12LS and dyed all the nylon black even before I built the car, looking back that was a face palm thing to do.

Cutting down body posts to make them the minimal height needed. Oh they're just cheap body posts. Just replace them if a different body ever needs them to be longer.

Frankentruck wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 9:49 am Cutting down body posts to make them the minimal height needed. Oh they're just cheap body posts. Just replace them if a different body ever needs them to be longer.

I normally do not cut posts on my builds but i did cut a set on my current build. they needed to be cut down so they were just about an inch tall. here is how much got cut off.

...not so much a "mod"

BUT... for whatever reason, it drives me nuts when I see trucks/buggies where every single spacer the person could get their hands on, is
jammed onto the shock bodies (or the collars are down as far as they'll possibly go), so it's just sitting there with all four corners at maximum
extension.


...a more MAJOR "peeve" of mine, that's been said already, is drilled/cut chassis!! ..or chassis that WERE nice, until someone tried to remove the anodize with what looked
(judging by it's appearance) to be a 2" cookie on a die grinder, in hopes of polishing it. ...just like the chassis for the otherwise mint T2 I'm currently restoring!


One more I can think of, atm, that I've recently experienced - body post holes that are off center/crooked! I bought a GT off the bay and it was a 7077 team kit (with the "brand new at the time" wide rear tower and the new body to match), and the back half of the body was painted with a brush (which I could fix)... however: the front post holes drilled in the hood are off SO SEVERELY, it looks like a circle track modified! Such a shame. I just wonder what some people are thinking when I see stuff like that!

Frankentruck wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 9:49 am Cutting down body posts to make them the minimal height needed. Oh they're just cheap body posts. Just replace them if a different body ever needs them to be longer.

Only my personal preference...

I always cut my posts down to fit the body. I just can't stand the way it looks when people leave them long. If/when there is a case where I have more than one body for the same vehicle, I just buy and extra set of posts specifically for that and keep them together.

That said, leaving an "extra" set of holes doesn't really bother me, and I've done it myself, on touring cars and stuff. It's the one's that stick up like a full inch or more that make me wanna take the dremel to them! ...and if it's an off road vehicle that will likely flip over from time to time, I'd be worried about long ones getting busted off (or breaking something else.... Hello, Mr Blackfoot!)

It's the 10L, DS, TC3, etc body posts that are now rare and expensive because they are rare. Being unable to mount a body because the posts were butchered is frustrating. No I'm not currently in need of posts, but I've passed up some otherwise nice cars because of mangled and missing body posts.

Frankentruck wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 10:53 am It's the 10L, DS, TC3, etc body posts that are now rare and expensive because they are rare. Being unable to mount a body because the posts were butchered is frustrating. No I'm not currently in need of posts, but I've passed up some otherwise nice cars because of mangled and missing body posts.

Ah yes... looking from that angle- That is indeed, VERY frustrating!

fwiw
I'd NEVER cut up something like that. I was more talking about the "generic" ones earlier.

Frankentruck wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2024 10:53 am It's the 10L, DS, TC3, etc body posts that are now rare and expensive because they are rare. Being unable to mount a body because the posts were butchered is frustrating. No I'm not currently in need of posts, but I've passed up some otherwise nice cars because of mangled and missing body posts.

TC6 body post are a direct fit, just metric screw size
https://www.amainhobbies.com/team-associated-tc6.2-body-post-set-asc31625/p273161