First Impressions F18T RTR

[cbr74]

Here are my initial observations, take them for what they are and no more.

The screen printing on the body is gorgeous.

The tires are low profile with a dense micro pin pattern that should give good carpet traction. They have firm foam inserts for reduced sidewall distortion.

The diffs feel tight but smooth which is what I'd want for a BL set-up.

The big bore shocks are awesome. Aluminum anodized, threaded bodies, very smooth action. The shock caps are also aluminum which I like. There's some tool marking on the shock shafts that might prematurely wear on the o-ring seals.. we'll see.

Nice beefy turnbuckles. Thicker than AE FT Ti, thinner than Lunsford Ti.
A turnbuckle wrench would have been a nice item to include.

Love the hex head hardware. The outer hingepins are pin screws like Traxxas uses on the T-Maxx. They simplify the construction and lower the overall parts count. Again, a 1.5mm allen wrench would have been nice to include. (newbies to R/C may not have a 1.5mm hex driver)

The wing fits very loose, slip an o-ring or slice of fuel tubing on top of the wing, under the body clip to take up the slop. You can't remove the body with the wing on, some trimming of the rear of the body fixes that.

The battery holder was also very loose, just needed the screws tightened down a few turns.

The front upper control links, rear upper control links, and rear shocks hit the body when the suspension is compressed. A little trimming with the lexan scissors is required to get full suspension travel without interference.

It suffers from a weak servo saver just like the RC18's but offers the benefit of adjustable spring tension which I adjusted one turn tighter.

I'm not crazy about the stock battery connectors. They don't match anything I have. It isn't a big concern since they'll just get cut off in favor of Dean's micro connectors anyway.

I don't care for the capacitor sticking up from the ESC.

The center brace is separate from the upper diff casings which may reduce chassis rigidity but sure will make maintenance and repair easier.

It has a longer wheel base than the RC18's by ~ 24mm.
Width is about the same as the RC18's.

It's heavier than a FT RC18B, lighter than an RC18MT.

Based on just the initial out of the box impressions, I believe I made a value purchase

That's all I have for now, will have more feedback after races on Wednesday.

[youngie]

thats preety much covers everything that i have come across over the last few weeks i have been running my F18b RTR..
The only other things i recommend doing is to put a 2mm nut on the screw that goes threw the diff as the plastic is a little prone to stripping out...
and if possible get cvd's for the front as the dog bones wear out real fast at the minute i am using mip cvd's for the RC18T( fit perfectley) no sign of wear what so ever yet just waiting for caster to make a set..
would also like to see some differnt servo savers for a the different servos available...
other than that one of the best 1/18 scale cars i have ever used.."ka

[jasonmaxamps.com]

Pretty much all of that has been taken or should have been addressed with the next batch of F18 Pro kits. If all is good with them we'll have one solid little car. Just waiting for them to ship so I can build and test.

Jason

[cbr74]

Maybe I set the servo saver a bit too tight because it only made it 4 minutes on the track before I blew the steering servo. For those 4 minutes it handled very well. The suspension works great and the longer wheelbase is much better in the rough than my RC18MT. I hope to get a replacement servo or an upgrade option before next week's races.

[TAKilla]

what servos fit on this, i will get a better one before i start racing it hopefully.

[cbr74]

I'm hoping to find that out myself. I do know that the stock servo is the same spline as the RC18's, unfortunately Caster doesn't yet have a servo saver with splines for other servos like Hitec.

Since the stock servo in my RC18MT has survived my abuse for quite some time, I'll be putting it in the F18T and upgrading the MT to a Hitec 65MG. The Hitec 65 isn't an exact fit, it requires just minor mods to the mounts but it's very durable; one has survived in my 6 year old's RC18B under race conditions running a Mamba 6800.

The problem I see with the F18T RTR even if they do make a servo saver for different brands is that the chassis has molded in brackets to hold the steering servo that will get in the way of some alternative servos. That leaves the option to either take the Dremel to it or upgrade to the Pro chassis.

[j_blaze14]

wow, i am impresed. out of the box it was cool, but after some tweeking now its awesome. the motor was wired backwards out of the box, it had a tame forward and a crazy fast reverse, easy fix. it ran pretty good with the stock am raio, but i knew there was more. so i threw in a sr3000 receiver and binded it to my dx3r and wow! now we are talking. throttle curve, brakes, steering expo and all are set and the thing handles awesome. battery gives a descent run time, maybe 10 minutes, i'll get a lipo soon if i can find one to fit. only problems i had were the front shocks leaked out on the track, caps came loose on the bottom. also there is a transistor or something on the esc that sticks out and over time i have a feeling its gonna break off or something, the wires run right along it but i zip tied them down as best i could and also bent the transistor looking thing back the other way. my servo saver had to be adjusted cause the car steering would bind turning right. so far i'm very pleased. oh, and the kids liked it a lot too. :&!@:&!@, who i bought it for.

[jasonmaxamps.com]

If your looking at Li-Po our 2S 1550 will drop right in.

http://www.maxamps.com/Lipo-1550-74-Pack.htm


Jason

[cbr74]

wow, i am impresed. out of the box it was cool, but after some tweeking now its awesome. the motor was wired backwards out of the box, it had a tame forward and a crazy fast reverse, easy fix. it ran pretty good with the stock am raio, but i knew there was more. so i threw in a sr3000 receiver and binded it to my dx3r and wow! now we are talking. throttle curve, brakes, steering expo and all are set and the thing handles awesome. battery gives a descent run time, maybe 10 minutes, i'll get a lipo soon if i can find one to fit. only problems i had were the front shocks leaked out on the track, caps came loose on the bottom. also there is a transistor or something on the esc that sticks out and over time i have a feeling its gonna break off or something, the wires run right along it but i zip tied them down as best i could and also bent the transistor looking thing back the other way. my servo saver had to be adjusted cause the car steering would bind turning right. so far i'm very pleased. oh, and the kids liked it a lot too. :&!@:&!@, who i bought it for.

Never actually got to use the stock radio.. it went wacky from the start. It worked fine until my son turned on his MX3 which shouldn't have been a problem because it is on FM channel 3 and the stock TX was AM ch. 6.. nonetheless, both vehicles went berzerk and I shut mine down. I ditched the stock radio and through in a JR RS300 synth w XS3 transmitter. The RX looks huge on the chassis but it works. I'm hoping the FM RTR radio that Mike is sending me will be better.. we'll see.

I did have the same shock leak problem on one of the front shocks and the steering links were also adjusted wrong out of the box but both easy fixes.

I decided against Li-Po because I don't want my 6 yr old burning the house down. I just ordered (2) 7 cell 1600 NiMh's from MaxAmps which will either drop right into the F18T chassis... or I'll make 'em fit. ;)

[TAKilla]

still waiting on mine to get here but all of you are giving some great info.

[cbr74]

thats preety much covers everything that i have come across over the last few weeks i have been running my F18b RTR..
The only other things i recommend doing is to put a 2mm nut on the screw that goes threw the diff as the plastic is a little prone to stripping out...
and if possible get cvd's for the front as the dog bones wear out real fast at the minute i am using mip cvd's for the RC18T( fit perfectley) no sign of wear what so ever yet just waiting for caster to make a set..
would also like to see some differnt servo savers for a the different servos available...
other than that one of the best 1/18 scale cars i have ever used.."ka

You called it about the diffs. As soon as I put a good connector on the ESC and hooked it up to an Orion 1600.. the rear diff spun and it stripped when I tried to tighten it. Now to find some 2mm locknuts....

[cbr74]

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/2/793/4921/14482460202_large.jpg

That's an F18T outer wheel bearing... not a good choice. The diff and inner wheel bearings are rubber sealed.. why are the outer wheel bearings not even shielded? Those aren't going to last very long at all.

[TAKilla]

got it in today.. which exactly are you all talking about putting a lock nut on the diff?

[cbr74]

The differentials are held together by a 2mm socket head cap screw through the center. that screw threads in to the plastic outdrive which doesn't have sufficient thickness nor strength of material to keep from stripping. The fix is to install an M2 locknut on the end of the screw to to provide a steel on steel (or steel on aluminum) connection that won't strip. I just called up my go-to guy at RcBoyz today to send me some M2 locknuts since my LHS had none. I also had him send me some sealed 4X8 wheel bearings to replace the open stock ones.

The parts won't make it in time for tomorrow's races so in the mean time I'm using a diff half from an RC18 which is thicker where the screw threads into it so will hopefully hold up until the nylocks arrive.

[youngie]

with the 2mm locknuts make sure they dont have a collar that runs around the outside cause there is a good chance it wont fit in the diff..
at the minute i am just running a standard 2mm nut i just have to tighten it back up a little every 2-3 packs(2cell 1850mah 20c)so plenty of run time...?&^

[youngie]

also still running the stock bearings and have yet to have an issue with them..
starting to look for options about servos i can use and how to get the right servo saver??..;);)
?&^

[cbr74]

also still running the stock bearings and have yet to have an issue with them..
starting to look for options about servos i can use and how to get the right servo saver??..;);)
?&^

You running in dirt or on carpet? Open bearings in dirt have a very short lifespan.

[hakmazter]

Nopics

[TAKilla]

Just a few passes on the road but seems like I have a box competitor for my races. Wish the tires were a little better grade though. Also need to get into it and put a nut on those diffs, any pics?

[cbr74]

What do you want pics of?

[TAKilla]

which bolt in the diff you all are talking about so I know what to take apart.

[cbr74]

There's only one bolt in the differential. Open your manual and turn to page 9 and refer to step 5 for the exploded view of the diff. F18-020 is the diff bolt that needs a locknut on it.

[TAKilla]

Thank you

[FlatwaterMG]

talking about your F-18. Here I am, just took the Diff's out of mine, found some locknuts and you know what, it was much easier than I would have guessed. Tightened it up and now both front and rear diff's are butter smooth. Thanks again. By the way, I'm an old new rookie at this R/C thing.

[TAKilla]

Off to the hobby shop tomarrow to hopefully get some nuts and tires got first race this weekend.

[TAKilla]

Oh and some sealed bearings

[cbr74]

I just got home from the weekly races. I took 2nd, 2nd, 1st on a totally unfamiliar track layout in reverse rotation and only 10 minutes of practice.

I would have had the second race too but got caught in lap traffic on the back straight on the final lap.

The F18 handled beautifully. I had to make a few tweaks after the first race because I traction rolled about 8 times. After dialing in some negative rear camber abd reducing the front toe in, it was much better. The longer wheelbase makes it so much easier to drive than my RC18. It's much less twitchy and more stable over the rough. I was running stock shock oil, stock shock positions and springs adjusted to sit the a-arms level.

[hakmazter]

CBR74 is going to be our go to guy for the 1/18. I am making him moderator of this section and he will be a great asset. I forwarded an email to Mikey about some things he mentioned and Mikey was impressed. So expect some running changes in the future to make the 1/18 the best 1/18 out there.

I have had enough and I think I have finally pushed Mikey into trying to make the best products in rc......we have made phenominal leaps and bounds over the last 2 years and I think that with all the recommendations that we get from you guys, we will be the next xray only more affordable.

[cbr74]

Does this mean I get a flashy sig too?

[hakmazter]

If you know who to ask. Not me though.

[jasonmaxamps.com]

That pretty cool we need someone else tweaking besides just me. Any word on the Pro's?? I left all my 1/18th scale stuff un packed so I can build it.

Jason

[cbr74]

The word is soon.. were hoping they'd arrive last Friday but they didn't. One will be headed my direction as soon as they dock. I've got a 2.4 GHz radio waiting for it.

[hakmazter]

They are leaving today......from Asia that is.

[cbr74]

On a plane or a boat?

[jasonmaxamps.com]

Cool thanks for the update Mike. Hey did Mikey give you a list or any info on what was changed? Or do we just wait and see?

Jason

[cbr74]

Mikey hasn't exactly been Johnny Forthcoming on rolling changes, I'm betting we won't know much of what's new until we open the box.

[pfontaine]

Raced mine this week. Out of the box w/exception...never bothered w/the stock radio. Used my Spektrum from the get go.

Put nuts on the diffs...took a chance on the servo...was fine.

Racing indoors on carpet (its winter after all)...limited the shocks to arms level/40wt oil and trimmed the spikes (made slicks) and soaked in tire sauce/zip lock baggie.

-1.5 camber all around...all else stock.

Takeaway raced mostly associated's (5), 1 xray (mini touring car), 1 vendetta, and 2 mini slash/revo type trucks.

Easy to drive is/was an understatement...takeaways.

I am ordering MIP CVD's all around/Assoc outdrives...I want to run foams so I have to make the change. I am going to need an alum chassis...I want to go to a better servo/don't like crossing my fingers and hoping. I am guessing the chassis upgrade will open the possibilities of many,many servos (right?).

Results = 1st! Let my son drive in a qual...to see how a novice would do...he did great (He has one in the closet/wrapped waiting till christmas...he has no idea, but wants one bad)!

Paul

Team Caster/New Mexico

[pfontaine]

OK practice night and a true thrash test w/my 5yr old driving his box stock F18. Result\broken chassis (at the front) and c hub...I have the technology to repair him...I'd recommend the pro kit over the stock for kiddies as it is much beefier as his wil look alot like mine this weekend.

For those who don't mind having spares I'd really recomend an rtr and a pro that way you have a pretty full parts box on day 1 and a brushless combo.

Servo has to go too...won't center and is chattering.

Paul