PutAwayWet

iTrader: (1)

That's solid list to choose from. Having built many different kits from various brands over the years, and from years of watching racers succeed and struggle with everything that's out there, I will say we've never had it so good. Modern cars perform well out of the box and are durable. The days of fast but fragile flyers seem (mostly) well behind us.

It's interesting to read your comments on the manuals. Agreed on the Schuie. The Schuie kits I've built had great manuals. Worth putting in the pit bag for sure. On the negative manual side you've missed one. The Awesomatix - while fast AF we all know - even the fanboys will admit the "manual" is a farce. But quick, my goodness, in the right hands the A-car is A+.

So, of those choices on your list, Schumacher is the most OG of the lot, and OG period. Maybe second only to Tamiya for longevity. You won't go wrong there. I've seen ARC treat racers VERY well over the years. They are durable, tunable, and seem to expire slowly. ARC also has a friendly way with the conversion kits to keep cars up to date. Express is new on the block, though it looks promising as of Wednesday night. Not many Mugens on our scene, which doesn't mean it's no good.

Flip a coin between Schuie and ARC and don't fret beyond that. The balance of the experience will be on you.

skypilot

iTrader: (14)

you're welcome on the car. you did really well with it.
on the xpress xq10 i am not familiar with that chassis but Mike and I do have the XQ11 and we like them a lot. one thing about ordering from Michaels, free shipping and NO tax. 450 is what you will pay, and shipping is really fast with them if you have stuff shipped usps. I ordered a couple things Thursday morning and it's arriving this afternoon. downside, no one else has one. so, what the car likes and doesn't like will be up to you to figure out.
the Mi8 has a couple of guys running them and it's a very good car. heck they're all good, I'd probably chose the Mi8 if I was in your shoes. Mike has a used Futabu radio in the case at TRCR in Tacoma with a receiver that would be good for you. TRCR would is also a good place to pick up a few tools, I found a set of setup wheels and a camber gauge you can have.
Not sure of your work schedule but we'll be at TRCR on Monday from 10 to around 1

gwhiz

iTrader: (1)

Jpro60 For years I've always heard great advice from the fellas who've already answered your question. You're in good hands here.
The only thing I would add is to inspect the suspension arm design:
With the XQ10 you get a c-hub design and you select the c-hub that has the caster angle you like. Some prefer this.
With the others on your list you've got to rack the car to set your own caster angles. Some prefer that.
Seems like the c-hub designs are being replaced by some form of pillow ball design.
One other knock-on effect of a pillow ball design is less freedom to change wheelbase independent of caster.
GLHF

Allkair

Just wanted to mention that Hobby Square is local. They are just in Bellevue, so anything you order arrives super quick.

bshookup

iTrader: (21)

Todd, you are of course right that Schumacher is the OG, but let's not sell short the illustrious history of the other brands. I don't know when Mugen started making RC cars, but I know my first ever RC race was behind the wheel of a mid motor two belt Mugen in 1987. Also, ten years later in 1997 I bought my first 4wd sedan, and I chose an Xpress because my RC car action magazine told me they won some big national race in1996. I wouldn't call Xpress a newcomer 😊. Although the Xpress was one of the best cars of the era, I have to admit, I was scarred for life by it's pivot ball, double turnbuckle upper link setup that's all the rage again in the current era. I had so much trouble back then dialing in the camber and castor, and although I know I could handle it now, I've shied away from that style of suspension ever since.

So enough of me highjacking this thread with meaningless history. All the current cars are great. Can't make a bad choice. One cool thing about the Schumacher is that it comes with both fixed upper links and also the double turnbuckle links. You could build it first with the easier to set up fixed links, and then if you later wanted to adjust castor or rear wheelbase you could throw on the double turnbuckles.

Happy racing to you all .

- Brian

malkiy

iTrader: (10)

I have good memories of my Xpress Roadrunner. Was a fast car but fragile. Then again most cars from the late 90s were fragile. Yokomo dog bones use to bend from glancing blows off track barriers.

I don't think I could ever go back to a c-hub suspension car again. You would like to believe you are getting 4 degrees of caster, when the caster block says 4, but in reality it was more like 2-6.

hanulec

iTrader: (28)

to throw my TC knowledge into the "ring" -- across the country there are two major brands being run at the highest level (aka, racers in the A-main) -- Awesomatix and XRay. these brands aren't necessary to win at the local level, but from a re-sale / future support perspective these two will be found most everywhere.

Lence

I have had some good luck with the ARC cars, they take a pounding and are very x-ray-like.

I have been running the older R12 but have the upgrade kit to move it to the R12.1 once I have some time to do some real work on it.

Hobby Squary has the older ARC R12.1 on sale with both different chassis for $300
ARC - Car Kit - Hobby Square (hobby-square.com)
Special Edition ARC R12.1 Car Kit (Aluminum Chassis + Carbon Chassis) (Final Sale) - Hobby Square (hobby-square.com)

In theory, the newer A10-23 or the Xray X4-24 both should handle a little better once setup correctly, but the R12.1 is still a good car and I'm not good enough with TC yet to gain the full value from the newer kits.

Hobby Square has always been very good at getting me needed parts quickly.

Jpro60

I've got all the stuff coming in the mail to put together a Schumacher Mi-8. With the holiday causing shipping delays there's no chance of me having it ready for Wednesday night, but Richie has offered to let me run his extra car again, so I'll be there. I'm wondering if anyone might have a "setup station" that I could borrow to help put the initial setup on my new car, and return it at the next race?
Thanks,
Mike

shudson

This is great news! The Schuie camp has officially doubled in size!

I wouldn't worry about setup too much. Use the kit Mi7 upper wishbone conversion (p.23). You can measure out the turnbuckles with a caliper or ruler for now. I've got a setup station and Mi8 caster blocks, bring your car by my pit table and I can help get the droop, camber and toe dialed.



As others mentioned the Mi8 manual is fantastic but I'd skip the optional "E" shims in the diff. They are to remove play/slop but I found it to be too tight and accidentally grooved/coned the "C" washer.




Follow pretty much all the "race tips" including this one for the shock collar:

Except you can probably skip venting the shock bladder for now. Use that to tune down the road.


A few other notes:

I pre-thread the plastic hub carriers. Just a few threads but its much easier to do when they are not attached to a suspension arm.

I only run one upgrade from the kit setup and that is for the carbon fiber battery hooks. The kit plastic hooks are pretty easy to break and a battery breach could cause a fair amount of damage. Part number U8323.
edit: I lied, servo savers are pretty important too: U4328.

Let the thread lock on the shock pistons dry before adding shock oil. Kit says overnight but I think I only gave it an hour which actually held up.

Kit mentions it but install the turnbuckles in the same orientation for both sides of the car. There is a notch on one side of the turn buckle (all notches facing the same direction). This makes setup/tuning much easier.

Amain doesn't stock Mi8 parts, just the base kits. Our best bet is https://www.discountrcstore.com which is in the mid west. Quick shipping to the west coast.


Sam

Nortran11

Pro tip......Hobby Square is based out of Bellevue

tnbigdawg

iTrader: (5)

Great choice. Can’t wait to see you get this up and running!

See y’all tonight!

malkiy

iTrader: (10)

So far it’s been a very impressive showing by Stuart at 1/12th scale worlds. Currently qualified in 6th ahead of a few big name fully sponsored drivers.

PutAwayWet

iTrader: (1)

That’s right, Mike! Stuart is 6th in the grid at 1/12 Worlds. It’s been a journey I can tell you. Ask Stuart. If what you need to do is show up and get fast in a hurry on a track that’s coming at you, then the Hangar is your place to train! Get after it!

WooHoo

iTrader: (2)

GIve em hell!