What got you into RC?

[R_C_hoodlum]

Everybody post how and why you got involved into RC!

My dad had the RC planes and I thought those were really cool but they were expensive and you pretty much HAD to go somewhere to fly it. Then one day I was watchin' the tube and I saw something at an off-road track and there were these dudes drivin' around these little cars and i Thought "WOAH thats cool!!! I want one!!!" so I was gettin' magazines, reading about but I was in sixth grade so I still could get one and then my grandpa passed away and I inherrited 300 big ones and I asked if I could get a RC car and my parents said OK and I got me a stampede and it was the best car I ever had. Been lovin' RC ever since. ;)

[TRF-Inferno]

I enjoy tinkering with electronic and mechanical stuff since I was 10. Also developed a strong liking of cars so I figured Nitro R/Cs fits the bill. Didn't get into it til last year though due to lack of money.

[ososlow]

When I was 13, I was at my cousin's for christmas dinner and he brought out his King Blackfoot to romp in the fresh snow. He gave me the controls and I was intantly hooked. The truck flew through snow like nothing (unlike my radio shacks :rolleyes: ) From that point on, I saved every cent I earned for 18 months and bought a Stampede after reading the 2wd Monster Truck Guide in the March 1999 RCCA a 1000 times and reading about Kevin's 50mph pede in that same issue.
It was the best truck ever. It is old and worn out now though. I miss screwing around with it. Someday I will buy another one :cool:

[thedarkness]

Hmm I was kinda always into rc, from a little kid with toys untill I seen my first hobby grade rc at age 11. I got out around when I was 15 untill when i was 18 and re-joined the forum here and got bit agian and bad haha.

[MikeWz]

I think I was in 9th grade when I first started, I was like 14 or so, and my friend next to me in band knew I was looking into getting an R/C Heli. He said he was selling his e-pede RTR with 2 packs and a charger for like $125 so I bought it. Had a lot of fun with that, got a few small hop-ups and decided I wanted to try nitro. Traded for a Nitro Hawk which was a huge rip-off because the motor was blown and the chassis was bent, so everytime I hit the brakes the spur would fry. It wasn't untill I was almost sixteen that I made a deal with my parents to work at my Dad's store if they got me a T-maxx for my B-day. Finally had a good car and that's when I got bit real hard. Started racing and the bug got even worse. Pretty hooked now, and have a lot of money invested in my stuff. Probably coulda had a nice full size by now if I wanted to :p

[Vato Loco]

Well my brain Farted and well here I'am! No Seriously, I got my Son and I two trucks to run when we went to visit my in-laws. Less time I spen listening to them the less trouble my mouth can get me in;-). It also helps that there is a LHS track less than 3/4 of a mile away from there!

[Rtsbasic]

I always loved the toy ones you get, but didn't drive my first hobby grade one till I was 16 (a HPI rush evo). About 2 weeks after this I found out about my LHS, went up there and brought a RTR Tamiya, ain't stopped since :)

I remeber one time me and a friend made a hybrid of two toy cars when we were about 14. Took the whole rear end off a truck and put it on his astra. It flew with 2 battery packs! This same friend brought the rush evo, and we now bash our T2/T3 trucks most weekends.

[MrB1973]

I got hooked when my best friends got a Super Champ back in the day. I watched as he and his dad built the kit over the course of a couple weeks. It was pretty fascinating, but I didn't have the money for anything like that. So my parents bought me a cheapo RS truck. Not bad, but not what I wanted. This was all back in like junior high, but the bug never disappeared completely, so like most folks, when I got a 'real' job and was forced to sell my big toys, I dove back into RC.

[More Juice]

When I was in high school, about the age of 14, my friend bought an electric rc car and I saw that thing zoom. A month later, I made my mom take me to a LHS and buy a nitro. After that, I was hooked.

[Rain Man]

I have been into RC since I was around 6 years old. I played with Nikko rc cars for years and didn't know there were hobby grade rc cars. Then one day I saw a magazine with a Rc car on the front of it. It was the October 1997 issue of Car Action Magazine. I got my parents to buy it for me and I still have it today. :) After over 3 years of reading car action I got my first hobby grade Rc car, a nitro rustler pro .15. and Ive been inlove with RC ever since.

[4wdmt]

I still remember so vividly, just as if it was yesterday, lol. OK, Im old already and it was around 5 years ago when i saw a group of people playing "this" little things that are sooo loud and fast. Getting closer I realize they were remote control cars that are so fast and have this kind of "smoke"?! coming out. My further investigation amazed me. A small engine?! drinking pink fuel? I was afraid to ask the people controlling them. Now, the one thing that caught my eye amongst the group is this "green" bodied pick up electric monster truck. From that day, I started researching through internet, magazine and hobby shops. Thats it, a very happy ending.

[z-man280]

always had the "toy" ones, as far back as i can remember......maybe 5 or 6 yrs. old. it was in 89' tho, my buddy had a traxxas trx-10 bullet. i seen it run, and he let me drive it.the stability and control, and power, was so much more than anything i had driven before! ( even with a trinity monster horsepower stock motor in it) it wasn t long, and i bought my first rc car action, and found tower hobbies.ordered a sledgehammer.....and fro mthat point on, have owned several models, makes, and styles.....my TB-01 is still a tutorial car for people who see me run, i let them drive it, and try to get as many invloved as i can.............

[DTL]

When I was a in my early tens, I often went to the local model air strip in my village to watch the model airplanes. Since then I have always been interested in RC-models.
Because the airplanes were way above my budget, I started with small speedboat constructed from balsa-wood with a mabuchi 540 motor with 6 1200maH cells.
After a try-out without any remoted control, which ended in a big crash within a few seconds ( I had no idea, how fast it would go) , I bought my first Remote control set. This was 1977. After a couple of boats, I constructed my first race car with parts of those early Tamiya's (1/12 scale) I even managed to win a clubrace with it.
After a few years I lost interest , (got married , had kids and so on)
A couple of years ago, when my son was old enough, we both bought a Tamiya Baja Champ and raced it in our backyard . Since then I have been racing mostly with electric TC's

[Tamiya4ever]

When I was 15 my friend had a Turbo Hopper. I seen it run and I was like "oh I got to get me one". I got a buggy, but not the Tyco Turbo Hopper it was something else but pretty much the same. Then I met another guy and he had a Tamiya Lancia Delta Rally, it was based on the Frog Chassis, after I seen him with that, I got my parents to get me a Nichimo Exceed from Boscovs, my 1st ever kit. It was pretty good, but the plate speed controler shorted out a few times, then I broke the front mono shock mounts and bumper running it out in the cold, wich I never knew would make the plastic really brittle. So after that, I got a Falcon, after that I was hooked. I got the RC10, Blackfoot, BigBear, a used Cat and Predator pan car, and more though the years, now I am back with the RC18T :p

[TBone77]

I was about 13 years old and I had a little Radio Shack Camaro that I loved running around the house. One time I plugged it into the wall to charge it but used the wrong charger and I absolutely fried the car and everything around it (including the molded oak ledge in the Family Room on which it was sitting).

Anyway, a few months later I told my Dad that I wanted another R/C car to play with for Christmas. He took me to the hobby shop and introduced me to the real world of R/C... a world that he had only heard of and one that I didn't even know existed. I was absolutely blown away right from the start and was instantly addicted.

Of course, it sucks being 13 and addicted to a relatively expensive hobby (for a 13 year old) ;) . I had one battery pack (NiCd 1200's IIRC), the stock motor that came with the kit, a Futaba Magnum Sport, a timed charger with no peak detection, and a mechanical speed control that gave me more problems than all of my ex-girlfriends combined.

[edit]

And you can bet your butt that as soon as my son (2 1/2 years old) is able to hold a screwdriver (without hurting himself or someone else, of course), I whet his appetite with an RTR ;) . I'm thinking around 8 or 9... younger if my wife will let me get away with it :P .

[Bigedmond]

Wow, it was probably 12 years ago, when i was 12, my first hobby grade rc was the rc10, with the gold chassis. put every dime i could make mowing lawns into that thing. Then one christmas my parents got my an Team Losi jrx1 buggy. I built it and started racing at the local track. A year later i got my Team losi XX when it first came out. I have only bought losi off road cars since.

Just bought my first onroad car last week. waiting for it to get here.

[Giant655]

when I was 10 was when it started proper, because for as long as I can remember, I always had a little nikko piece of crap, then when I was 10 my neighbor moved in and had a futaba stadium truck ( dont ask me where he got it, I DONT KNOW!!!!) and by that christmas I had a tamiya super hornet, that was 10 years ago, now I work at a hobby shop fixing the bad boys so it is a labor of love (SOMETIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[DaveG]

I was flying line controled nitro planes when I was 8. Dad wouldn't let me fly his rc planes then. That was in 1963. I've played with Nitro and electric rc off and on ever since. I've got planes, boats, on road cars, 3 mt's and if everything goes right a heli in a couple weeks.

[BluBamBoo]

Hello,
Here's my story:
As a kid, I was out with my mom and decided to stay in the car while she went shopping. A guy that was parked next to me opened his cars trunk and took out an onroad car that made a lot of noise. It sounded like a real 1:1 scale race car. I got out and watched him play. He asked if I had one and I said no and never seen one like that before. For about a good 20 min I watched him play and then he went back to the trunk and asked me to come over. I went and saw a lot of cars and trucks. He took out one and said if I was intersted in playing with it. I said no, because I never played with one before. He laughed and said not to worry. So, I played with the truck while he played with the race car. Mom came back from shopping and it was time to go. I handed everything back and he said keep it. I said I couldn't and he insisted. He even told my mom to take it. She offered to pay for it, but he wouldn't take the cash. I was sooooooooo happy and didn't know how to act. He gave me the truck, battery in the truck and controller.
Well, years later, I still have the truck. Throughout the years it has been damaged beyond recognition. Some of the parts been replaced with hopups and home made fabrications (by me LOL!) I recently found ebay and the truck is now fully restored. Of all the r/c kits I have, this is truely my favorite and always will be. Not only because it was my first, but because it was given to me from a kind fella. It's also my favorite because it survived all these years and moved when I moved out of State. The truck is called the Blackfoot made by Tamiya. The sad thing is that I never got the guys name or number to further thank him. R/C is now a very huge part of my life. I collect and restore them. I'll spend hours working on them. I'll even save my lunch money just to buy the next newest kit LOL! And if that's not bad enough...I even started a hobby shop that never got off! I got my business license and all, but that was the end of it. ROTFLMAO! I still fill out a quarterly tax form and claim zeros :D It's all good! The hobby will always be here and I hope to pass it on to my nieces and nephews. I promise to even give a kit away to a kid that's deserving just as it was done to me way back then. Don't know who you are that gave me my first R/C truck but if you read this and think you're the one, then I thank you!
Aloha,
DJ

[Fat Old-Guy]

It was 1985 and I was doing my second tour of duty in the Republic of South Korea, as a member of the USAF. :eek:

The base hobby shop had scads of Tamiya kits, cheap! I built a Hornet first, and then a Wild Willy, and then found out about the RC-10. I built a pair of those and really had a blast!

[st_dragn_wagen]

a 6 pack :D lol, nah,
it was a buddy back in high school with an issue of RCCA (April 98 issue to be exact) there was an add for the kyosho stadium baja. i was already into VW's so i had to have it. before i bothered to do research or anything i was at the hobby shop dropping almost every dollar i had.
i should have done some research, cause that kit turned out to be a real peace of crap. it held up great for about 4 months then started going to hell (i stuck a 12 turn mod motor in there with a duratrax streak esc. it was just to much for that thing to handle, fast as hell though!) a year later it was undrivable (the trans took a dump, the suspension was just used up, and it needed tires that i couldn't find rims for.)

[TRXrevoRacerOS18]

My neighbor had one and i was like dang thats fast and i asked what it was and it was a rs4 3 evo, and went out and bought that, didnt really like onroad, and bought a jato and a revo and really love those 2 along with my jammin!

[4W4K3]

I still don't have my first RC :(

But what got me interested was actually pretty indirect. As far as I can remember I've always been interested in cars. Then, because I was too young to have a car, I picked up computers. I overclock, mod, build, fix/repair, troubleshoot, play with, computers, and I have been since I was...hmm...13? (I'm 17 now) So i started learning about electronics, and alot of odds and ends with technology. Then I saw someone on a computer forum who ALSO was into RC racing, and i thought, "Hey, that's cool...I could do both, there are so many similiarities."

So now I'm here, still deciding on what buggy/truck to get. :D

[ahab]

One day at the hobby shop I saw a lexan body, an Associated 1/8 Ferrari 365B. Still the most gorgeous body shell ever made even up against HPI's latest. After I bought it and painted it it just made sense to get a chassis to go underneath.

[DJ1978]

In the late 80's I hear this noise outside of my door... I look out and my neighbor is running an OLD pan car on the side walk. I go out to take a look and I was hooked.
Don't know what make.. But it was OLD and had front A arms made out of nails brazed together because he couldn't get parts any more. I made him some new arms out and nylon and within a couple of weeks I had my first car. A new Tamiya Falcon, then I got a used and broken Blackfoot. $10 of parts and that was up and running.
We raced and raced and raced them. Down the sidewalk out my driveway and in his driveway.
Then I met a guy at the place I worked that was involved in organized racing...
My First race was with a Dual Sport he loaned me and a XXT on a carpet oval.
That was a LONG time ago.
Now I run an Indoor Dirt track in the winter in Michigan, Washtenaw RC Raceway.
We average over 150 entries per race.
I also run an annual On Road Night race once a year in Ypsilanti, MI. This year was the 6th annual.
I have designed a conversion kit and started my own small RC Business and and sell it on the web. RC Product Designs TC3 "O".
All of this because my old neighbor Jerry Black got his car out of his closet and let me drive it too.

[Troy Lyman]

My earliest memory is chasing my mother around the kitchen with a remote controlled police car at the age of 2. From then on I was always interested in toy cars and Radio or Remote controlled ones especially. I had a Firefox which, at the time, seemed to be the hottest RC Car I had ever seen.

Then one day my friend across the street comes out with this car that is just INCREADIBLY fast. His dad was into R/C Gliders and had gotten him this car for his birthday. It was black, sleek, went off road, and made my Firefox look like it was going backwards. It was a Tamiya Hornet. I HAD to get one. So saving my pennies until I had about half of what I needed my parents helped my by matching my funds and I got a Tamiya Grasshopper. Of course the Grasshopper came with a 360 motor rather than the Hornet's 540 so I HAD to upgrade that.

It was shortly after that when my buddy and I took our cars to a local racetrack. This was in the early to mid '80s and at that time most of the racers ran Frogs, Hornets, or Grasshoppers. We were hooked and I took my Grasshopper out to race. The mechanical speed control (electrics were just starting to come on the scene and were going for a TON of money) kept breaking and when that managed to stay together my pinion gear would come off. It wasn't long before a new car came on the scene and just started kicking the crud out of anything else on the track, the RC10.

But I'll never forget those early days of R/C...it's what keeps me in the hobby today.

[nitrous]

Im 13 and i got hooked like crazy when my LITTLE Brother got a nitro truck so i went on ebay {my dad lets me use his ebay account** and got my self a saleen car it really rocks also how come there is no young people around 12-16 people racing around?

[jokesta55]

When i was in 2nd grade i was at the hobby shop, and my dad and i heard a noise and went looking to see what was making such a loud noise inside of a hobby shop. we saw someone trying to start a nitro engine. then, we started asking questions about it. we went home with a copy of RC Car Action and RC Nitro and for the next few months continued to come to the hobby shop to learn more about rc. a coupla months later my older brother got an Hpi nitro mt, and my dad, brother and i were fasinated with how it worked and how blazing fast is. 2 months later my brother started it up and forgot to put the reciever on! it left the parking lot we were in and got run over by a pick up truck. of course we got another and we never forgot to turn the reciever on ever again. I got a Nitro RS4 the next year when i was only in third grade!! soon to follow my father got a nitro rs4 racer kit and we were converted to rc maniacs!!

[ososlow]

I have been into RC since I was around 6 years old. I played with Nikko rc cars for years and didn't know there were hobby grade rc cars. Then one day I saw a magazine with a Rc car on the front of it. It was the October 1997 issue of Car Action Magazine. I got my parents to buy it for me and I still have it today. :) After over 3 years of reading car action I got my first hobby grade Rc car, a nitro rustler pro .15. and Ive been inlove with RC ever since.

Hey, that was my very first issue of RCCA too :eek: I still have it in my collection of magazines. :D

I could say I have been into rc since I was 7 months old. I have a picture of me somewhere holding a corded rc that I got for my first christmas.
I used to go into my hobbyshop to buy models all the time. I find it kind of funny that I was never even interested in looking at the rc's until I drove my cousin's. Though I did look at all the airplanes since that's what I originally wanted to buy :D

[fs454]

I remember having this "really fast", digital proportional radioshack RC top of the line of what they had, and was looking around online for RC stuff because I was bored. I laid my eyes upon a review of the "new" T-maxx (Right when it came out...the Pro 15 version)..I was set on it...I had to have it.

My dad bought one and we shared it for a while, learning stuff about it, then he went out and bought his own, and it all blew up from there, he still has his original T-maxx today...but with a Hyper .21 8 port, full .21 conversion and the Proline suspension set with titanium shocks. I sold mine and have moved on, but i still do own a t-maxx...Trying to get into boats with a Villain EX or something better soon too, or maybe a heli.

[lazydel]

When I was a kid all these old married dudes on my street had rc's, lunchboxes, tamiya frogs, rc10 buggies and associated pan cars it was like 1988 or so. Anyway we had a neighborhood yard sale and one of the guys was selling his cars. I couldnt afford a to buy one of the cars being like 13. Long story short the guy sold me a box of RC odds and ends for the promise that I'd mow his lawn for like 4 weeks... Hell of a deal in my opinion. He told me that I would need to get some more stuff to complete a car. Anyway I managed to build a blackfoot, slash frog, slash really ugly rc car and loved it to death. It had a midnight pumpkin body blackfoot back tires, and frog sand rail fronts. Got away from the whole scene until I got married bought myself a tamiay f1 car for christmas built it in one sitting and never looked back.

[tadium54]

I had this idea for world domination involving MTs. It was wild- 4wd, dual shocks/wheel. I called it the Maxx....
opps, that was traxxas idea lol. I was tired of all the crap nikkos and radio shack ones i had. got a tamiya wild willy 2 and was hooked

[novakman5800]

I started with off the shelf tyco and simmilar cars. would take them home and mod them to make them go faster. then i got a towercatalog. say a car that was RTR figured why the h*ll not. ordered it and have been loving the hobby ever since. that was about 2-3 years ago, now i have 4 cars.

[CAMIII_Al]

In the early 80's I wanted an airplane. My father was always going into hobby shops for model railroad stuff and I would dream of the airplanes. Then for Christmas my father baught my little brother and I a couple tamiya rc cars. A Grasshopper for my brother, and a Pajero stunt rally truck for me :cool: . I still have my Pajero and had an offer to trade it for a TC3 (before the TC4 came out). Just can't part with it too many fond memories. :)

[Troy Lyman]

Oh man, I remember the Pajero!!! I wouldn't blame you for ever letting that thing go.

[Interceptor]

My first nice RC car was a Nikko Rhino. I got it by selling those cards for the sales leadership company that you could send off for in the back of comic books in the mid- late 80s. My first kit was a Tamiya Striker, and that same Christmas, my friend got a Tamiya Lunchbox. I later got a Bolink Eliminator, which wasn't so good for neighborhood street racing (though it was the fastest thing in the neighborhood). I took the motor from it and put in my Striker, and was the fastest still. The other kids had the Tycos, and just couldn't hang with us. I have been off and on ever since. I'll be back, I can see it now. I still have a Striker in my closet.

[desfjr1300]

You guys remember the old Cox control line cars? My parents bought one each for my brother and I, and naturally they only stayed on the lines for one run. They were replicas of funny cars, and it sure was funny to chase them down the street. I knew there just had to be a better way........
......and the obsession was born :D

[CAMIII_Al]

Oh man, I remember the Pajero!!! I wouldn't blame you for ever letting that thing go.

Yeah it's a blast. Just finished puttin it back to gether. :cool:

[CAMIII_Al]

You guys remember the old Cox control line cars? My parents bought one each for my brother and I, and naturally they only stayed on the lines for one run. They were replicas of funny cars, and it sure was funny to chase them down the street. I knew there just had to be a better way........
......and the obsession was born :D

I had one of them too. The needle valve broke after a few runs. Could never find a new one. Ahhhh the good ol days. :D

[P8ntballer]

I remember hobby grade cars being the first RCs I ever saw. My uncle had a Tamiya Hornet with a Reedy MVP stock motor. That thing was awesome at the time since I was 6 years old. When I was 15, I got a tamiya TL01. I have fond memories of driving that thing. I was always searching for something better, and yet I had no money and couldn't find a job. I finally got a Mini-t recently, and while it's not the best, it is fun. I haven't even broken it yet despite ramming it full speed into a garage door. The durability won't be tested much more since I am going to replace it with a Mini-LST when that comes out. Also, 1/8 Buggys and truggies are on the agenda as soon as I can afford them. As for right now, the RC hobby is quite fun.

The cost is the only reason my friends aren't into RC. They still justify $400 paintball guns (I have one myself) without any comparison to RCs. In my opinion they are both fun and expensive toys, especially those $1000 paintslingers. Paintball got phased out for me, especially since they are finally building a hobby shop in our area, and I am helping out with the purchase list for the shop. No Nitro around here yet. The kids around here won't shell out much more than $250 and the good nitros are all $300 or more, monster trucks, $450. Nitro fuel is cheaper and longer lasting than a case of paint will ever be, but everyone around here compares RCs are like their little brother's Radioshack car.

[Noob33]

i saw some kids playin then i saw home alone 3 after seeing that car in the movie i was like shittttttt thats hot lol i cant lie

[Madmann135]

My story is a bit weird.

My mom's friend went to a hobby expo, I didn't go with him. Somehow he won an airplane body, that got him started in the hoby. For a while I wanted an airplane (still do to a degree) but could not afford the money. I went with him to the field where he flies his aircraft and talked to some of the people there, whi directed me to Tower hobbies.com.

I went to tower hobbies.com that night and looked around, not in particular for anything. I saw a few of the land's and said, "Those are nice," but I was still intrested into the air craft. After that day I didn't go to tower hobbies for a while.

When I went to the grocery store one day I saw a Raido Controled Car magazine and got it. The artical was on a T-Maxx. Before I got the magazine I tried to get a traxxas stadium truck but the credit card would not go through so I cancled the order, something to do with the high price of the item in question so I saved the money for later.

After I got the magazine I went onto E-Bay, looking for T-Maxx trucks. I found one used for about 200 bucks and went for it. I got a few things From Tower and that was about 3 years ago. (Still have the T-Maxx)


When I saw 1/8 scale buggies I wanted one but I quickly fell out of the fad after seeing an On-Road Sadan on the internet. I first got a Duratrax Axis buggy, modified from E-Bay but I sold it to pay for a New Assocated NTC3.

I really used my buggy for On-Road, I sold it and got a NTC3.

After Ofna made their CD3 I wanted one, When they came out with the Pro version kit I wanted it even more. I went to E-Bay again and looked around after serching on this site for a while. The CD3 is not very popular on E-Bay yet so When I found a CD3 pro I placed my bid for it and won the auction. Right now the CD3 is in my room with no engine, no throttle servo and no support equipment. It does have a Steering servo and a battery (the battey came in the auction).

And that's my story about my cars

[viper2002]

This magazine :D :D

[Legend_Car]

had a plane didnt want to crash it and lose my invest ment bought a TC3 rtr with the money now i have around 11 rc cars/trucks

[theseeker411]

I'd always had the radioshack/tyco r/c cars when I was little. When I was around 12 or 13 this kid named Zack moved into our neighborhood and he had a couple of Kyosho cars. We got to be pretty good friends and after a while I bought a Panda Stadium Truck. Raced that around with him till he moved on to an RC10GT. Later on he moved away but I stuck with the hobby and eventually got a Bolink Digger, MRC MT10M, Tamiya Mini Cooper, Traxxas Nitro Hawk, and I'm now back in the hobby with a Losi XXX-T after nearly 5 years of being out of it.

[Moondoggie]

I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when a tree fell on my head. When I woke up, I had an uncontrollable desire to spend all my money on radio control vehicles.

[teamlosiracer]

I got into rc in 2001 with a T-maxx fun first truck. Bashed tell last year when i got into racing and bought a xxx, xxx-t, xxx-nt, xxx-s, jrxs soon to come
but i have always been into cars all my life.