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The Slash is 1/10 scale as advertised, but it is actually larger, closer to most 1/8 scale models. I wanted something almost half of that, like 1/16 or 1/18 scale. I initially looked at the 1/18 scale Dromida Wasteland Truck, with its ability to shoot a Nerf dart:

Those were top of the list until I found out they have a hybrid (combined) ESC/receiver – which would not allow me to replace the receiver with the Arrma one bound to the left-handed radio.

Why not Traxxas?

As I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of Traxxas’ Training Mode. All of the LaTrax vehicles are made by Traxxas and have the same legendary durability plus training mode. Also at 1/18 scale, the cars & trucks are about half the size of a Slash.

Desert Prerunner

I got her a LaTrax Desert Prerunner which comes in an awesome “Color Burst” paint scheme. They’re a miniature short-course truck, so no one feels left out.

It comes with literally everything you need to run, even the 4AA batteries for the transmitter. But the first thing I did was remove the included receiver and replace it with the Arrma one so it can be driven left-handed. I had to remove the water-proof case for the traxxas receiver – so we’ll just have to be careful not to drive into any lakes. Otherwise installation was a snap using some 3M mounting tape.

NiMH is good enough to start

It comes with a NiMH battery and charger, which initially was somewhat of a disappointment, However I understand it due to the cost, simplicity of charging, and no-brainer safety.

However, after seeing this thing go several times I’m convinced that the included NiMH battery is perfect. This little truck rips! Even on 50% power it is fast, and with the reduced top speed the battery will last a good 25 minutes. It is super easy to charge a NiMH battery with the included charger and there’s really no way to screw it up.

Sure it would be cool if they instead included a LiPo battery and a B3 charger. Those upgrades can come later and the LaTrax is LiPo ready. Plus you won’t need the extra power or runtime until your kid has mastered control at 50% power.

Extras

The only thing I’ve had to purchase so far is extra body clips. Kids will lose them. Also if you have other RC cars, one will eventually run over this small-scale truck and the tires will quickly remove the body clips for you. Guarantee we lost one when this E-Maxx ran over the Prerunner:

Our friends here in town at Dollar Hobbyz made a great video about upgrades for these fun little trucks:

Stay tuned to the end where they cover a free upgrade of flipping the shocks for better durability. Sure beats the shock upgrade option which is half the cost of the truck itself.

The post Best First R/C Car for Kids appeared first on Meatball Racing.

There are a few convertible left/right transmitters out there – some more affordable than others. Hopefully this list is a good place to start looking. If I’m missing anything that is widely available (even through eBay or other used markets), comment below. Let’s give lefties the experience they should have right from the start!

Available New

Recommending a $500 transmitter to someone starting in RC would be bonkers. However, if you are left handed and know you love RC – check out the Hitec Lynx 4S. It is an oft-overlooked transmitter that looks great and has great features including flexible wheel position and ultra-low latency (for almost half the cost of its competitors). Otherwise the clear entry-level winner is the Graupner at $100.

• Graupner X-4S – $100
• Hitec Lynx 4S – $250
• Graupner 8-XN – $290
• Spektrum DX6R – $400
• Graupner 8-XE – $420
• Sanwa/Airtronics M12 and M12S – $530

Available Used

Many of these radios were at the time “high-end” but are currently discontinued so they’re only available used, but for mid-range prices.

• Arrma ATX-300
• Spektrum DX3R Pro
• Spektrum DX4R Pro
• Futaba 4PK
• Futaba 4PX
• (Older) Sanwa/Airtronics M11

The Ugly Truth

For my daughter I bought an Arrma ATX-300 off of eBay. They frequently show up there and you can usually get one with a receiver (Rx) for around $50. You will likely need to reserve judgement about it’s looks – it is quite possibly the ugliest radio ever made:

For $50 I can put it in my kids hands and not worry about it. Since it’s so ugly, I worry even less The killer feature is you just hold a button on top to release the wheel angle, and you can flip the wheel all the way around to the other side.

So it doesn’t look great, but it works fantastic and it’s not huge and heavy. My 5 year-old can work it perfectly.

I myself have a Spektrum DX3R Pro – I made sure when I bought it second hand that it included all the parts to switch to left-handed mode. If my daughter ever gets serious, I’m ready and willing to pass the DX3R Pro down to her.

The post Left Handed Transmitters appeared first on Meatball Racing.

Speed

When I first started racing as an adult, I just wanted to rip around the track as fast as possible – walls, parts, and competitors be damned! I had to slow down before I could speed up. I switched my touring car from USGT to a VTA spec car where speed is easier to keep under control. I was steadily seeing my best lap times improve as I got better, but I was still at the back of the pack.

Then, as I was marshalling one day, I came to a realization that the top finishers always give themselves a buffer. They carefully pass, and give themselves extra space around corners. Are they leaving an extra 1/10th of a second on the table? Probably. Is it worth it? No. The time it take to recover from even tapping a board is going to be at least a tenth of a second. The time it would take to get marshalled is more like 10 seconds.

I watched one racer (who was not the top qualifier), slowly and steadily climb from 3rd to 1st in the main – not by having the fastest lap times, but through a total lack of crashing.

Consistency

I had somewhat plateaued in my lap times, but I’m not quite ready to go out and buy a $100 motor. I needed something to work personally to claw my way up – consistency. I started playing Virtual R/C when I couldn’t get to the track. You know what’s annoying (purposely) in VRC? Having to press the spacebar to marshall yourself back onto the track. So I slowed down and gave myself more of a buffer.

When I went back to the track I set a personal goal:

Race an entire qualifying heat or main without needing a marshall.

The first night I told myself this, I managed to put in a session needing only one marshall. It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you just put your mind to it.

Results

So how did I wind up in 2nd? I’m going to be honest, in a few cases guys who were faster than me did not start due to mechanical issues. So in theory I should have been fighting for 3rd place. But there’s something to be said about being consistent – if you’re hitting fewer things, you’re breaking fewer parts so you can show up to race in the main.

In this race, you can see the 3rd place finisher clearly can turn faster laps than I can. His fastest lap was almost a full second faster than my fastest – he was even faster over his top 15 average. But we didn’t race 15 laps, we raced for over 30 and consistency allowed me to go ahead.

With a top driver in this race (actually the TQ driver) not starting, I should have at least finished 3rd since I qualified 4th. But by being consistent throughout the race and minimizing my marshalling needs, I was able to earn a higher spot on the podium.

In this last race my fastest lap time was 5th out of 7 the competitors. But, out of 15 laps I managed to put in, 10 of them were 30 or 31 second laps. That’s still not fast, but by being consistent I was able to pass several people that were waiting to get marshalled after crashing. This allowed me to move up from my 5th place qualifying spot into 2nd.

Mental Setup

The next time you’re feeling frustrated about how you’re driving (and placing), take a race day to only focus on the mental aspect of driving. Make sure your car is set up good enough to drive, but don’t obsess over it. Instead, put your energy into your driving. Set a goal of only getting marshalled a few times in a heat, then one, then none. You’ll be surprised how your driving habits will change and how going a little slower will actually make you faster.

The post Speed vs. Consistency appeared first on Meatball Racing.

Mmm.. Candy Canes

That day I discovered what it means to “candy cane” a CVD – there’s a groove in the inner shaft that allows it to telescope with the outer shaft. Abuse the axles too much and axle will twist, sometimes a full revolution before breaking. Making the groove create a candy-cane like appearance:

CVD Upgrade

Rather than looking for old 3906-spec CVDs, we opted to upgrade to the latest E-Maxx CVDs, which also require some supporting parts. We followed the recommendations from this excellent 3906 upgrade guide.

From that guide we ordered:

• Traxxas 5451X CVDs
• Traxxas 5143 & 5141 Turnbuckles (get them on eBay with ends and linkage balls included)
• Traxxas 5334 Axle Carriers and supporting parts (get them complete on eBay with bearings included)

Additions that were needed to complete the installation:

• Traxxas 5131R Upper Arms & 5132R Lower Arms (you can get them as a set on eBay)
• Traxxas 5134 Spacers/Shims
• Traxxas 2580 3x20mm Button Head Cap Screw

You can sometimes find parts bundled on eBay such as this set with arms, axle carriers, turnbuckles, and screws. Then you just need to add CVDs and shims.

Tiny Arms

After purchasing the first set of parts, I went to install everything and discovered the arms were way too short. There were apparently two arm-length options in the 3906 series alone, wide and narrow. If you don’t know what you’re running, here are the specs:

• 110mm Narrow Arms
• 127mm Wide Arm (no need to upgrade)

But that’s not the full story. I did some research using the E-Maxx 3903 front and rear exploded views to see what else is different. Notice how the longer arms have narrower hinges where they connect to the bulkhead? This is for adjustability, and that’s where the 5134 Spacers/Shims come in. Use the removable C-clips in front (so you can adjust the camber):

Install the circular spacers in back:

The shorter 5141 turnbuckles used for steering linkages come with offset ball mounts. Make sure the extra space faces up:

Attach the turnbuckle to the new style Axle carrier using the longer Traxxas 2580 screws. That’s it for assembly, time to adjust everything before putting it back on the road.

Set Toe & Camber

Camber is adjusted using the pivot ball screws that connect the axle carrier to the arms. According to the manual, the top screw is normally all the way in, meaning the camber adjustment is made primarily through the bottom screw. Stock camber angle is one degree of negative camber.

Toe is adjusted with the turnbuckles and stock adjustments are one degree of toe-in at the rear and zero degrees at the front. I adjusted the front to 1 degree out to soften the turn-in.

With the wider stance you can probably go a little nutty on your wheel/tire options. But mostly you have a more robust platform that will be easier to replace and repair with more widely-available parts.

I have a feeling something upstream in the drivetrain will fail next: driveshafts, slipper clutch, spur gear, etc. But until then, we’ll just enjoy the ride.

The post 3906 E-Maxx CVD Upgrades appeared first on Meatball Racing.

Batteries

I know the old NiMH batteries were going to suck and what really impressed me when I came back to RC was how awesome Lithium batteries were. But do we need to get everything that goes along with it – like the newer EVX-2 electronic speed control that has low voltage cut-off? Heck no, we’re just trying to get it running. A simple low voltage alarm will do just fine.

So we’re going to get only batteries, but the 3906 chassis is sort of particular about fitment. Each battery sits (snugly) in a tray, and there’s battery strap that goes directly across the center of the battery. I found these 2S lipos that have the power and balance leads coming off of opposite corners, so they can sit in the tray nicely and have the strap close them in without crimping any wires.

But when it came time to put them in, we needed to trim one more piece. The old NiMH battery packs have rounded edges, where LiPos are square and about 2mm taller. The edges of the battery were getting hung up on part of the gear cover. The solution was to remove the gear cover and cut off the wire routing slots using a side-cutter:

Re-install the gear cover and the batteries will now snap into place. They’ll be snug, but they’ll fit. You’ll need to loosen the metal battery clip screw & post a couple turns to accommodate the LiPos thicker profile. Then you can use the original battery strap to hold everything in.

Here they are installed. The low voltage alarm is just zip-tied to the rear shock tower:

That’s it! Now go have fun 

I will warn you that the 1st Generation 3906 E-Maxx is capable of doing a backflip with some backwards/forwards throttle – but the old drivetrain is not up to the task. Next time we’ll tackle CVD upgrades to the newer E-Maxx units for better durability.

The post E-Maxx 3906 LiPo Battery Upgrade appeared first on Meatball Racing.

Tips for recovery after a crash

My son, now age 9, is an excellent spotter. The only problem is getting him motivated to come with me to the flight line. He probably knows that a crash and a long “walk of shame” are inevitable when I’m the pilot. So he’s content to make friends his age and help locate the YouTube stars for selfies – more on that later.

This means without my expert spotter by my side, I recruited some random passersby to help. They weren’t as adept at helping with crash location, but luckily I had a trick up my sleeve.

Even if your plane is bright pink, it’s easy to get lost in the bean field at Flite Fest in Malvern. The beans aren’t as thick as you’d think from the photographs. Planes tend to slip past the top cover of leaves and find their way to the ground. Now they’re covered by a canopy of bean leaves AND if you have a plane made of water-resistant foam board like this:

It’s likely sitting on the dirt that is approximately the same color 

You could buy a beeper for your model, but I suggest a simpler solution: add a streamer. The streamers are more likely to stay above the leaves. If you choose a color that is not green, it will make spotting your downed plane much easier:

YouTube Stars

So while Jules didn’t accompany me often to the flight line, he was keen at finding several of our favorite YouTube personalities so we could snap a pic.

 

 

 

FT STEM build

I did manage to get Jules to do the FT STEM build. It was a free-form challenge to build and test a plane design using a pizza delivery box.

Our guys decided to go with a tried-and-true Nutball design they dubbed “The Pepperoni Plane.” As a coincidence I had built a Nutball just weeks before so the build details were fresh in my brain. I was able to give them tips – at least how the Flite Test guys do it – and let them do all of the labor.

Out of the entire class only two planes actually flew and this was one of them. Here’s Jules (blue hat) buddy boxed with an expert pilot/volunteer during the maiden flight:

Take a break from flying

Also, Flite Fest doesn’t have just flying enthusiasts. We brought our Slash trucks to drive if the flying (or crashing) was getting frustrating. These kids made the best of a giant Nutball carcass by turning it into a jump:

I think Flite Fest fully embraces the RC mantra: JUST SEND IT!

The post Flite Fest Ohio 2018 appeared first on Meatball Racing.