My Family's R/C Cars

As a kid, in the 1990s I had a 1/10 scale Tamiya Falcon. My main focus was on my R/C boats, so when the Falcon finally "died" I didn't buy another R/C car.

Fast forward to 2018 — my kids got into R/C cars, and now we have a few. Between us, we have:

• Two (2) 1/10 scale Horizon Hobby ECX AMP MTs, 2WD, brushed motor drivetrains (image below was when they were new)
  • Both of these have been upgraded with: brushless powertrains, metal gears, some metal components, new bodies, and others
  • See the videos about the upgrades on our YouTube channel, Handful Of Hobbies, linked below and above
  
• A 1/10 scale Horizon Hobby AMP CRUSH MT, 2WD (brushed motor drivetrain)
  • The Crush has been upgraded with: brushless powertrain, metal gears and some metal components.
  
• A 1/12 scale 4WD WLToys 124019 with brushed motor (shown with all the OPTIONAL purple aluminum upgrade parts)
• A 1/18 scale 4WD Traxxas TRX-4M Hight Trail Edition crawler (Ford F150 Ranger XLT version)
• A 1/18 scale 4WD Dromida Rally Car (brushed motor drivetrain)
• A 1/18 scale 4WD Dromida Touring Car (brushed motor drivetrain)

• Two 1/18 scale 4WD Dromida MT4.18 Monster Trucks (brushed motor drivetrain)

On this page we embed running videos, repair videos, and upgrade videos.

Our YouTube channel: Handful Of Hobbies (formerly Generation of Gaming) has a lot more videos so be sure to check that out and subscribe.

To charge all the batteries for our R/C boats and cars, we use two chargers. Details are on the Other R/C Info page.

Cold January Run

We took the ECX AMP MTs and Dromida Rally/Touring cars out for a short run on a cold January day:

NiMH vs LiPo Race

With new bodies installed, we raced two ECX AMP MTs with identical drivetrains — the only difference was the battery type.

Suspension Setup Comparison

In the below video, with 2 identical trucks, BEFORE any upgrades, we were able to do a side-by-side comparison of how the trucks handled under different conditions (on-road, off-road and jumps) with different shock setups. The trucks were stock, out of the box and all components, electronics, etc. were the same between the two. The only change we made to the trucks was to move the mounting positions of the shocks themselves. One truck was set with the shocks mounted more vertical and the other truck had the shocks mounted more horizontal.

We go into detail about the setups and anticipated results and then we run the trucks on-road, off-road and off a jump. The differences in handling characteristics on the different terrain becomes pretty obvious with the different settings. It was a fun exploration and hopefully viewers will learn something useful!

Detailed explanation of suspension setting changes and side-by-side runs of the ECX AMP MTs to demonstrate the differences:

Updated: January 2023

If you have any comments or questions, email me at sv_design@frontier.com