Well, after a couple years of getting department store radio control cars for my kids and watching their plastic tires scrabble for traction and things break, I got them 'real' RC cars. The local store ordered a pile of Nitro 1/16th chassis with the British Light Armored Vehicle bodies at some kind of huge quantity discount, so I bought them for $99 ($260 is normal price and ebay has 'em for $169 sometimes).
If, like me, you haven't seen what has happened in RC cars over the last 25 year, you will be blown away. These things have shaft drive 4WD with 3 differentials that have pinion gears, steel coils and real oil damped shocks at each corner, fully adjustable caster, camber and toe, ride height, spring preload, and grippy rubber tires. For $99. That's what I said, too.
Drove them around to be sure there were no issues before breaking them back down and boxing them up. We're going to be in FL for Christmas and I don't want to find out somethings amiss there. Blew me away. Normal RC cars have trouble with a 3/4 inch tall wood molding on our wood floor, but I kept piling magazines higher and higher and this thing would not be denied. If you just floor it, it will spew the magazines around the room but you can delicately wheel your way over them using the same technique as if you were really driving ledges. The suspension travel would be about 18" on a real truck, so pretty impressive.
I made little foam pads for the front as these are a little over their heads at 5 and 8 years old, so this will let them hit a few things during the first day of use until they get some finesse. I also bought some spare Delrin gear sets for the diffs in case they manage to blow something. We'll be on an island and not much resources.
What blew me away were the wheel bearings. It comes with Delrin bushings and the guy in the shop warned me that if the kids get good with AA batteries and I upgrade to the rechargable battery sets I'll have to install ball bearing wheel bearings or the speed will melt them. You're joking, right? Later that night, I was reading through the instructions and it says this in capital letters. Unbelievable. So the next day I stopped back in and bought ball bearing wheel bearings. They look like a shoelace grommet, but somehow there are a dozen little bearings and a race in there for $15 all 4. The kids will have fun helping me install these down there.
Should be a riot, and with two matching cars, lots of open rough terrain and my brother in law there I'm sure we'll be doing matches in no time.
I also bought a full set of suspension arms. You can break them in a severe hit and they are held on with real screws, and bolts so it's simple to replace. The track bar even has heim joints to handle the extreme articulation. The thing's a miniature rock crawler. I can also get a locking diff. Can you believe this stuff?? Anybody else get sucked into RC cars as an adult?
DougM
If, like me, you haven't seen what has happened in RC cars over the last 25 year, you will be blown away. These things have shaft drive 4WD with 3 differentials that have pinion gears, steel coils and real oil damped shocks at each corner, fully adjustable caster, camber and toe, ride height, spring preload, and grippy rubber tires. For $99. That's what I said, too.
Drove them around to be sure there were no issues before breaking them back down and boxing them up. We're going to be in FL for Christmas and I don't want to find out somethings amiss there. Blew me away. Normal RC cars have trouble with a 3/4 inch tall wood molding on our wood floor, but I kept piling magazines higher and higher and this thing would not be denied. If you just floor it, it will spew the magazines around the room but you can delicately wheel your way over them using the same technique as if you were really driving ledges. The suspension travel would be about 18" on a real truck, so pretty impressive.
I made little foam pads for the front as these are a little over their heads at 5 and 8 years old, so this will let them hit a few things during the first day of use until they get some finesse. I also bought some spare Delrin gear sets for the diffs in case they manage to blow something. We'll be on an island and not much resources.
What blew me away were the wheel bearings. It comes with Delrin bushings and the guy in the shop warned me that if the kids get good with AA batteries and I upgrade to the rechargable battery sets I'll have to install ball bearing wheel bearings or the speed will melt them. You're joking, right? Later that night, I was reading through the instructions and it says this in capital letters. Unbelievable. So the next day I stopped back in and bought ball bearing wheel bearings. They look like a shoelace grommet, but somehow there are a dozen little bearings and a race in there for $15 all 4. The kids will have fun helping me install these down there.
Should be a riot, and with two matching cars, lots of open rough terrain and my brother in law there I'm sure we'll be doing matches in no time.
I also bought a full set of suspension arms. You can break them in a severe hit and they are held on with real screws, and bolts so it's simple to replace. The track bar even has heim joints to handle the extreme articulation. The thing's a miniature rock crawler. I can also get a locking diff. Can you believe this stuff?? Anybody else get sucked into RC cars as an adult?
DougM
Beats buying rattles and s*** 
Now thanks to your frickin post I ran out after work and bought my son a ton more crap for Christmas. We'll see how well that Tamiya stuff holds up to a 5 yr old driving them and bashing them. Fkr 
