RC Cars- Cost of making.

  • Thread starter Thread starter ExigeEvan
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ExigeEvan

ExigeEvan

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How here's the low down.

I've started College and one of my options was Design and Technology. Basically, wood/metal/plastic work-shop. Now our project is based on the making of an item, which we design, make and pay for ourselves. And then take home.

Basically one of teh ideas I've had was to make a small offroad RC (Maybe petrol driven) car. But I have no idea of the costs involved. I understand the most expensive items will be the Radio controller and reciever. The motor and such I reckon can be salvaged. However I have no idea what these will cost and what brands are reputable, but not neccesarily top quality.
 
I don't know much about RC cars either, but I'm fair sure the costs of these things can go into the thousands, so watch out!
 
Well when i did A level Design Technology you get marked on the things you make not the things you put together. I don't think its wise to buy parts and put them together as your project. You will be sacrificing a lot of your marks right from the start. Have you spoken to your teacher about this??
The reason is that for my friends DT project he wanted to make a go-kart but my teacher said it wouldn't work because he would only be able to make some of it not all and the bits he would have to buy would not be marked.



Anyway you could be looking at £150 all the way up to £500 for decent parts and/or if your unlucky :lol:. Remember its ALOT more expensive buying parts seperate, its much better buying kits because their cheaper and more likely to fit together lol.
It would be easier and i would recommend you make a RC car which is electric motor driven not gas powered because of the power involved its likely to rattle itself apart lol! and maybe not an off road buggy, a road car would be a bit easier and you wouldn't have to worry about strength as much. But then again it all depends on how much time you've got.

A reasonable radio control and receiver should be from £50-£80 and two servos(one for throttle/braking and one for steering) should be £5-10 each. Try a model shop, you might be able to buy it all as a package and save some mooney.
A decent engine should be around £50 and then the muffle which would be another £20. You could get a smaller(and considerably weaker:indiff:) engine for around £20. And then you have to start them up which could be a problem. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if you spent all that time on building your car and then not being able to start it to show your teacher that your car actually runs.
Don't know too much about electric motors but i would definately go for an electric powered car.
Then you've got your chassis which you can make at college I'm sure and your suspension which you can probably make the wishbones yourself but may need to buy the springs and shocks. Finally you have your transmission and driveshafts to worry about which you can just pinch from a scraped car along with some wheels and adapt it onto your chassis and around your suspension. The transmission usually has a brake fitted to it.

As for brands, i would recommend Kyosho, Ripmax and Tamiya parts.

......I think thats it, hope it helps
 
Ok, thanks for the info Slick Rick.

I was just thinking of this as starting idea, hadn't even put it to my teacher yet. However when I did he immediatley dismissed it as a Systems and Control project which makes it inelligible for D&T. Still without an idea for my project, but this'l certainly be an idea for the future.
 
Sorry to hear the project idea won't work for your course. If you decide to revisit the idea at a later date, I favor Tower Hobbies for all my r/c purchasing needs. I have no affiliation with them or anything of the like, I just find their prices are always competitive if not the cheapest.
 
Yeah except you live in the US, and shipping will probably kill me.

(I think it's time I changed my location back to normal.)
 

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