Friday, January 17, 2014

So I bought a Redcat Racing Twister XTG PR0 .

After posting a lot about  the Zmt-10 / Turnigy stadium
king I got  several  Questions , responses , and opinions On here , on youtube , and on a forum about the Redcat Twister XTG being a competitor and I had to agree for the Average ebay Price of  $125.99 for the brushed version and $189.99 for the pro version (aka brushless) I had to agree it was definitely worth a look .

Well I bought the pro version simply because it offered the most bang for the buck "64 bucks more and its
brushless come on "  Well reality is life gets in the way of some things and it just sat in its box waiting patiently for its chance . So some time in September I  took it for a run in the yard and in the driveway with its included 2000Mah battery pack and pretty much it was about how I expected. it topped out at about  23-25 Mph and didn't really have a lot of viger getting there .  After cruising around for a pack I let the battery cool and then let it cycle a few times on the charger and the next run was
a bit better but nothing to right home about . I do feel the performance was appropriate for a first time buyer . Well then it got put back in its box for a while and I gave the stock battery to my step dad to use in his Ground Pounder .

Round 2 took place about mid December I grabbed a 3800Mah battery pack from my step dad that came with one of his caldera's and went for a spin around the yard . The 3800Mah showed considerably better speed and acceleration and made me really curious as to what improvement I would see with a lipo. but sadly about half way through this run I  ran smack into a parked truck tire and had my first breakage .

I had broke the upper and lower plates that locate the front suspension . Now I will say temperature probably did have role in this breakage as it was below freezing outside but I maybe wrong .

The good news is its already up and running bad news is there is snow outside and its a bit too deep for more driving  at the moment .

My indoor testing has shown that installing a lipo's may make the optional wheelie bar mandatory if you have traction and a twitchy throttle finger .


I will say there is one thing I don't like about the Redcat Twister and that is how the upper shock mounts to the Rear shock tower the aluminum cap ring actually rubs n the tower.



It would have made more sense to me to mount them on the back side of the tower to do that the body would need to be mounted differently.



Right now my only other annoyances if you will are with the transmitter. To be honest I kinda like the transmitter its lightweight well balanced and the adjustment knobs are a good size and easy to get to . What I don't care for is how small the range of movement is for the reverse/ brake side of the trigger range its too small for my taste and will make slowing down a fast model a less controllable experience " aka more wreck's". My second less than like on  this controller is the wheel . Its completely made from hard plastic and doesn't have a foam or rubber grip . I'm sure I can make something work but it just makes the radio feel cheesy . 




The last thing to note on the radio is that it doesn't take 8 AA batteries and guess what It doesn't take 4 AA's either . It takes 3 AA's . 












So as of 01/17/14 I may give it a thumbs up.
Check back and see if I have changed my mind later .

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Places to get parts for your ZD Racing 1/16 th scale 1/12/2014
















Parts that can fit or improve your ZD Racing 1/16 th scale .

http://www.hobbyking.com Many of the part's from there 1/16th scale monster beetle ,1/16  4wd buggy ,1/16 4wd mini rally -extreme edition,1/16 4wd nitro buggy and 1/16 mini trouper / short course truck will fit . 

http://www.gotnitroonline.com/ These guys sell parts for the acme / VXT  Vulcan and Photon this is a great place to get metal diff gears and aluminum parts . Be careful and look at the components before you buy .

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The stuff that has broke on the Redcat Racing Caldera XB SC 10E

This vehicle is not owned by me it is owned my my step father who is new to this hobby and is loving every minute of it. My hope is to keep track his breakages with this post and maybe help a future buyer with their spare parts list.


These where bought used the below is a list of items broke when they were received or it was obvious they had been replaced .




Spur gear  BS909-003
Pinion gear BS909-004







Spur gear  BS909-003
Pinion gear BS909-004
Servo  HX-3CP

Servo saver / bellcrank had been upgrade stock unit was in baggy.








Inner hub bearing mostly missing.

10x15x4mm bearing BS903-016







As of 02/ 05 /14 



lower Pivot screw for front hub loosened and fell out  










One cracked but not broken wheel due to collision . 



lower Pivot screw for front hub loosened and fell out  

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Stuff that has Broke on the Redcat Racing Twister XTG Pro

This vehicle is  owned by me My hope is to keep track my breakages with this post and maybe help a future buyer with their spare parts list. 

Opened September 15 2013

As of  April 2 2014


Two NIMH battery Packs worth of running plus 3 2s lipo packs 





2 Front Top Steering Mount 

Front collision at mild speed with a truck tire running on NIMH. 2nd Was doing some light jumping on the second breakage. 

http://www.redcatracing.com/KB-61004












2 Front Bottom Plate 

Front collision at mild speed with a truck  tire running on NIMH. Was doing some light jumping on the second breakage. 

http://www.redcatracing.com/KB-61002







1 Front / Rear Body Post & Mount.

lots of wrecking and skidding 


http://www.redcatracing.com/KB-62005









1 lansu steering servo 

broke pretty quick took it apart and its not that great probably the cheapest "as far as quality" servo I have torn apart. 




I will no longer being driving this Truck . The cost of operation for my uses is getting to high for my taste and I will be discontinuing my use and will more than likely keep the electronics and part everything else out . 







Thursday, January 2, 2014

Stuff that has broke on the Redcat Racing Ground Pounder Updated 07/18/15

Updated 07/18/15

My personal Ground Pounder

Received 02/13/14

2 spur gears

Burnt through a spur gear my fault as I believed RedCat's description of the stock pinion being mod .6 turns out it is standard 48 pitch .

Second was due to a over tight slipper , a 17 tooth pinion and running a lipo battery. Big hard wheelies are fun but not reccomended with the stock set up. 

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2677/.f






1 Motor

The arm that hold and applies pressure to one of the brushes broke . Turns out the stock setup has the motor rotating backward to its intended design I blame this falure on this strange choice .   

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2655/.f





3 shock mount

Landed right rear wheel coming off a jump . 
I don't recommend landing with the nose of the truck pointed straight up.

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2667/.f
http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2668/.f









7 plastic ball cup

Collision with in movable object

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2698/.f







1 spring cup 

Lost one.

http://www.redcatracing.com/BS702-050gm





2 lower link suspension link

Was doing a little jumping pretty much slammed full speed into  part of the jump with it .


http://www.redcatracing.com/BS704-011gm










4 drive shafts 

After installing the Brushless system from the Twister XTG I promptly destroyed both the front and the Rear driveshafts since I left all the ESC setting at default driveshaft upgrade is planned.


http://www.redcatracing.com/BS702-055








This vehicle is not owned by me it is owned my my step father who is new to this hobby and is loving every minute of it. My hope is to keep track his breakages with this post and maybe help a future buyer with their spare parts list. 
As of  09/19/14


Original purchase September 1, 2013




1 spring cup 

Lost one a run spring tension must have been low sadly only available when buying new shocks currently using one swiped from a  Caldera .

http://www.redcatracing.com/BS702-050gm






1 axle / differential housing 

Broke while performing back flips off the fence. 

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2664/.f
http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2665/.f






3 plastic ball cups

Collision with in movable objects

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2698/.f










2 shock mount's

Collision with in movable objects

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2667/.f
http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2668/.f







1 Motor

Seems driving in deep snow pulls to many amps 
through the brushes and burnt the com up . Upgrade is being pondered .  Correction by using polishing compound on the com to clean it up a bit and then following the water break 'in method the motor is back in action .

http://www.redcatracing.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2655/.f










Redcat Racing updated the Caldera xb sc 10e but they haven't updated the spec's on the website ?



Once again Redcat has made some improvements to a existing model they have sold for some time but haven't updated their website to show this and they really should .

As in my last post by step dad picked up a couple of  Redcat Racing Caldera's and low and behold Redcat made a few improvements .   


First up they changed the ESC .

Before they were using a HobbyWing 35 amp EZRUN .

 Spec's :
EZRUN-35A: Continuous 35A, burst 190A
Input: 4-9 cells NiMH/NiCd or 2-3S LiPo.  
 EZRUN-35A: 0.0015 Ohm.
With 4-6 cells NiMH/NiCd or 2S Lipo: On-Road≥9T, Off-Road≥12T;
With 6-9 cells NiMH/NiCd or 3S Lipo: On-Road≥12T, Off-Road≥18T;





Now they are using a HobbyWing WP-S10E-RTR speed control which seems to be a OEM only unit .

Spec's
WATER PROOF ESC 45A BRUSHLESS.
CONSTANT CURRENT: 45A
BURST CURRENT:            220A
RESISTANTS:                    0,0012ohm
MOTOR LIMIT ON ROAD 2 cell lipo   > 9T
MOTOR LIMIT OFF ROAD 2 cell lipo > 12T
2 cell lipo    -  3650 motor
MOTOR LIMIT ON ROAD 3 cell lipo > 12T
MOTOR LIMIT OFF ROAD 3 cell lipo > 18T
3 cell lipo - 3650 motor
BATTERY 4 - 9 Cells NiMh or 2 - 3 cells LIPO



They also changed the motor it is no longer a deeply finned can now it just has very shallow fin's .
























The  Receiver is now rated as Water Resistant or splash proof .The servo should be like the rest of the HexFly Servo's as it is sealed like the more powerful models.http://www.redcatracing.com/receiver
http://www.redcatracing.com/3KG-SERVO_2

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Well its been awhile

I haven't made a post on there in a bit so felt it was time to write something . Past few months have been hectic and I haven't really felt like setting down and typing . 

So here are some updates in no particular order.

My step dads ground pounder is still kicking but and has suffered a few broken parts here and there but overall it holding up quite well despite many wrecks plus and lots of other interesting abuse .




My stepdad has also bought a few other RC's . The rest are also all Redcat Racing products and essentially are all the same car but there parts compatibility means that his spare parts inventory can remain fairly small .












The ZD Racing ZMT-10 / Turnigy stadium king 2wd truggy is wired up with brushless power again and has been proving to the Redcats that i need to install a wheelie bar or turn the punch down on the esc. Now thats it been on its roof just as much as its wheels the body has made its way to the trash .



The green bodied clodbuster is still kicking but it was sidelined for a while with a broken steering bellcrank but its fixed up and just waiting for more snow.

My cut up Rustler is wired up again with a Trinity 15 turn Speed Gem Pro and showing that brushed power vs brushless power isn't as clear cut as some people think . Thinking of adding a wheelie bar to it as well.

My brother had the Idea over the holiday season that Me , Him and my stepdad should do a spec class of sorts between us since we were all talking about building a track and racing this summer . After a bit of thought and discussion I think we decided that the chassis's will be a Traxxas 2wd Stampede and that we will be using 20 turn brushed motors and require the use of chevron / v bar pattern  tires . 



Started to play with a Redcat Twister XTG pro since some suggested it may be a better value than the Turnigy stadium king  / ZMT-10 but So far I haven't been thrilled with it . I have seen the XB or buggy version take some serious punishment but the longer control arms of the stadium truck seem to have to much leverage on the chassis but I'm not ready to condemn it just yet . I need more time with it before I can fully develop my opinion.

So look forward to lots of Redcat madness it looks like I'm going to start a page just for keeping track of vehicle breakages so be sure to check it out once its done.