Under-Estimated Electric Cars

[Doozer]

Having experience with electric helicopters and planes, I just assumed that cars would be the same. My experience with cars was more than 25 years ago. My brother-in-law was into cars. He had a Plymouth Satellite and a Mustang 5.0 he'd take to Bithlo every weekend an run for times. He went at RC cars with the same purpose... speed. So the amount of time he'd get out of his packs was extremely limited, maybe a couple of minutes or so. 

Because of this experience, I assumed that not much has changed. That's actually why when I discuss cars, I'm usually thinking of gas power. Changing and charging packs is not my idea of a good time. Actually I hate it, and when I look at something electric to purchase, that's almost a deal-breaker. That probably wont change for my air fleet, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised this week by the little Dromida I bought at my LHS. 

I ran it (played with it) for a few hours, and even though the charge time was horrendous, the run time was more than I expected. Honestly, for the first pack I was waiting for the tired battery shoe to drop after the first 5 minutes, but after 10 minutes, when there was no noticeable drop off in power, I just forgot about. 

Now the the heart of my Dromida is brushless. I swapped out the brushed motor, receiver, esc, and servo, for a brushless set-up, a new Tx and rx, and a fast digital servo. I spent a lot of time considering battery size. I thought that if I switched to a brushless 3S set up, surely I'd see only a few minutes of run time. I kept pestering R/C Basher about run times on packs. Well, last night I ran the Dromida for 10 minutes, and no, it wasn't balls out 100% of the time, but I wasn't driving like a granny either. I only pulled off 550 mah from a 30C 3S 1300 pack.

I was amazed at how wrong I was. I had a lot of fun, and the cool thing was I have 5 3S 1100 packs waiting. I'll be tired of driving before I blow through them. So I've changed my mind about buying a 1/5th scale gas. Well not so much changed, but I'm seriously considering an electric set up for something bigger.  I'm sure that there are power eating setups for electrics, but it's not my plan to race or compete. I'm happy sport driving. 

[r/c basher]

Let me know of what you're looking at getting next, I can give you some suggestions. Stay away from Exceed RC and Redcat racing or any off brand Chinese stuff. Most the stuff from Traxxas, Losi, Team Associated, and Hpi are good.

[Doozer]

I just bought a TA RC18 kit from Amazon. The one that comes with the parts to build either a buggy or a truggy. I'm going to do a build thread . Using only one bolt is sketchy, so I'm going to put the Mamba and the 0808 in the new car, and get a sidewinder and buy the Dromida 5300KV brushless motor for the Dromida. 

[r/c basher]

Good choice on the RC18 . I love mine and there are tons of aftermarket parts for it. And it uses standard 1/18 wheels and tires.

[Doozer]

Did you build the kit or was yours RTR? I'm reading and watching you tube videos that say there's an issue with the belt rubbing on the pinion in the Kit version (forum posts as late as Dec. 2013... over a year...). I'm not sure what shimming the differential entails, but most recommend buying extra differential shims, and making sure the motor sits low in the mount. Also some belt tensioning issues. When I get to where I understand what I'm doing I'll probably need some help. I've ordered extra belts just in case. 

[r/c basher]

I bought mine used RTR but it was version 1 which was shaft driven. I didn't know the 2nd version was belt driven. I've never had a car that was belt driven, but I'll try and help as much as I can.

[Doozer]

This video is about 3 1/2 years old, but this issue is described in many other videos and forums as late as Dec/2013 (last year):

The fact that it persisted over a few years is worrisome. My Dromida is shaft driven as well, and it takes a beating. Nothing has broken or stripped (knock on wood), so I guess I'm kind of spoiled in that respect. 
Here is a forum post in another forum, 2 years after the video above, describing the same issues:
www.ultimaterc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182992
There are quite a few video's and posts in between in other forums as well.... but not much I can find after except a couple of Amazon reviews around 12/2013. 
To be honest, if I would have done my homework, I don't think I would have bought this car. It's shipped now, and I have the extra parts coming, so I'm going to take a stab at it. I'm not sure how I'll feel if, after a few years, they've done nothing to address this issue.... anyway, I'll start a build thread when I get everything in. I have tests this week, and I still have to finish covering and installing the electronics in my Ultimate Biplane. Though the fun factor of cars is kind of addicting.