I did it... Dromida BX418

[r/c basher]

I'm glad you're having fun with it. Cars are a lot of fun. Now days brushless and lipos are really the only way to go.

Have you ever heard of the paper method on setting gear mesh? Take a standard piece of printer paper and roll it between the spur and pinion gear and mesh them together. When I first started in rc cars thats what I used, but that was on a 1/10 scale vehicle so I'm not for sure if it will work or not on your Dromida.

All this talk about rc cars is making me get the itch again to start tinkering with them. But now there's 2 feet of snow on the ground. A few years back I did put paddle tires and locked the diff on my Traxxas Stampede and had some fun in the snow.

[Doozer]

The don't crash and explode into a billion pieces that's for sure. I guess if you drove one off of a cliff, then probably the outcome would be the same, but I'm not so sure... the molded plastic is pretty tough. I think the best part about it is that I can step outside my front door and play in the street without having to worry about one eye one the plane/heli and one eye watching for people or cars. It's the least stressful out of the air and surface disciplines. 

Yep, I've heard of the paper method, but honestly, I've never used it nor tried it. I'll try it next time I set the mesh. I'd like to change the camber on the wheels. I've got one wheel that 's going bald on one side, but what's weird is that it's in the same spot. It's not like it goes the entire circumference of the tire, just about two inches. 





this is what the other side looks like all the way around:

[r/c basher]

That tire is really weird, I've never had that happen before. I have no idea what that could be from.

[Doozer]

The only thing I can think of is that was a high spot in the tire. I rotated it to the opposite side rear. Actually, I rotated all the tires. Now I can see wear on all but the right front. When I showed my son, he said that's because the battery is on the left side. It made sense, what do you think?

On a fun note, my son (he's 26) and I played with the car outside during Katy Perry's performance at half time (not a fan). He's now stoked. At first he was kind of making fun of me for playing with cars, but when he saw how fast it was, he asked to drive it. He smacked it into a square curb at just about WOT, and nothing broke or came loose... just bounced and carried on. We beat on it pretty hard well into the 3rd quarter, probably about 15 minutes or so. He's getting one now, but he's going for a brushless RTR. He's not into building.

[r/c basher]

The tire wear caused from the battery makes sense, especially if your camber is set different.

Cars are pretty durable, before I was jumping my stampede 20 ft. in distance, 5 ft. high and didn't break anything but a beat up body.

That's sweet that your son is interested in them, I ended up muting the TV when Katy Perry came on.

[akphill]

looks to me you need to adjust the camber on that tire
looks to be leaning in
Adjust the rod so that it pushes the top of the tire out a little

[Doozer]

Thanks phil!!! I was wondering how to do that, and i made an accidental discovery that the dog bones come out and I can oil the bearings from the inside. Having the dogbones disconnected makes rotating the tire A LOT easier.

[Doozer]

Broke a dogbone and an axle. I was zippin' right along and and I see a wheel rolling beside the car  Luckily that aluminum drive train kit came today or I'd be dead in the water  

[Doozer]

I'm not sure they intended this car to go 3S. The front end plastic pieces seem to be breaking piece by piece now. They sell a 5300KV motor for this car, but they recommend and sell a 7.4V lipo with no mention of 3S... even though the motor is rated for 11.1V. Maybe I missed it, but I broke the front wheels last night. Not all the way from one side to the other, but several large cracks that can be seen from the inside only. So I bought the 12mm hex adapters for each axle and ordered RC18 wheels for it. I still think it's a fun car out of the box, but I think they intended for it to stay brushed. Oh well....

I'm going to put the dromida brushless motor in it when I change to the metal spur. That way I can mount in as intended by the manufacturer.  I have the Dromida Brushless rx that I ordered but didn't use and I'm going to throw that in it too. It's going to be an organ donor to my RC18B2 and then I'm going to give it to my son, brushless, but with all Dromida parts including the Tx, but not the ESC. I'm going to use the Castle Micro Sidewinder. I like the size of 1/18th, but it seems that most of those cars are RTR except the RC18TB2 kit that is... but if that doesn't work out either, I don't want another RTR, so I may have to jump up a weight class or two :/

I know this post is a little bit different that those of a few days ago, but time has a way of exploiting weaknesses.  

[r/c basher]

That's one of the major disadvantages of brushless and 3S, or just more power in general, stuff starts to break. On my Losi Mini-T which is also 1/18, just 2wd I usually run on 2s. 3S is just overkill and in my dirt driveway it isn't much fun. I'm glad your having fun with the cars! One good thing about buying a car like a 1/10 scale over the 1/18 is they tend to be more durable and there's more hop ups available. Also they go more places and in the grass a lot better, which doesn't seem to be an issue for you living in Arizona.

[Doozer]

You're right man. Another thing about 3S and this Dromida is that you HAVE to upgrade to metal in some areas (Drive Train, Shocks...), or keep a cache of spare plastic parts. Either way, you might as buy something a little more expensive that can handle the load. However, $99 isn't exactly cheap considering Losi and Team Associated make RTR's in 1/18th that are sort of near that price point. I still think the Dromida is great entry level fun, and worth every penny as long as you leave it alone (funny how hindsight works huh?). I wasn't sure I'd like cars, so I didn't want to drop tons of cash on something that might just end up sitting in the box along with the heli bones. So I think it was a good deal. I just wish now I would have not tried to mod it, and spent the money on something designed to handle the power.

Edit: Spent the money used to upgrade from brushed to 3S, that is.

From the RC Bible:
"Thou shall be taught expensive lessons that increase thy knowledge, but lighten thy purse."  

[Doozer]

I couldn't find any 1/18th scale wheels with 8mm hex or 12mm hex, so I bought some Losi Mini 8ight (1/14th) wheels and used the Dromida 12mm adapters and this is what happened:


Dromida 12mm hex adapters


Losi Mini 8ight Wheels. There's a front and rear.

[r/c basher]

Can someone say monster buggy haha. Looks nice. All this talk about cars has gotten me interested again. I started cleaning out the shop last weekend and am charging the battery for my quad as I type.

Also if you want another complete dromida bx418 cheap look in Towerhobbies scratch and dent section. Right now they have a bx418 for $40 with a damaged rx/esc, missing manual and body clips. You have to be a club member which costs $10 but you can buy that at the same time you buy the buggy. Towerhobbies scratch and dent section is great, I've bought several planes, helis and cars for half price there. And there definition of slightly used is an opened box.

www3.towerhobbies.com/listings/listdent.html

[Doozer]

Yeah, It drives different with the larger wheels. I can take larger rocks, wheelies forward and reverse with just a flick of the trigger and is fast, but, the motor is getting hotter, and the driving mechanics have changed since it sits higher off the ground. Overall I like it, but it would be nice to have decent wheels at scale.
 
You nearly got me to pull the trigger, and I was on my way and then I thought... hmmm, brushed motor, crappy wheels no esc,. Might be nice for spares.... If it's still there in a day or two I'll snatch it up. 

Anyway, took three days for my bench conversion. I'm watching the paint dry on the new shelves now. As soon as all that's done, I'm going to finish my bipe, then build the RC18. 

Right to left:





Shelf brackets are up, and I'm just waiting on the paint. The bench is 3ft. X 8ft. Used 2X4's and 3/4" plywood on both decks. The working surface is crossbraced diagonally with a 2X4. I also extended the peg board to 4X8. I'm going to install masonite sliding doors on the bottom. For the shelves I'm using the left over 1'X8' from both sheets of 3/4" plywood, and I've painted them white semi-gloss. I'm going to stain the bench then polyurethane it, but some time in the next month. I'm over this project as of this morning.

[r/c basher]

You have a really nice shop! Over the past year I've been slowly getting rid of stuff and my shops starting to look a little better. Having 12 years worth of rc stuff in my shop had become a problem. I have a hard time getting rid of old technology, mostly brushed escs and motors and nimh batteries, that no one wants. I've started selling off my rc cars that I don't use anymore which has helped too.