ya, I'm not ready for race yet... just play around with and get comfortable with building, the flaws, the upgrades, etc... would like el cheapo solution ;-)

 

With electrics, I hear taking proper care of your batteries is essential or you will lose voltage out of them, as well as run time. I know you should discharge them after running them and never overcharge them. I think they should occasionally be slow charged and cycled too I think (charged and discharged). Sorry, I can't help you any more with that as I've actually never run an electric, though I think I should have gotten one. I don't know where to buy Losi products. Tower no longer carries them. www.radiocontrolzone.com has a pretty helpful community. They should be able to help you with battery care. The only thing I don't like about going there is it has too many immature kids on it.
I don't know a good place to shop for Losi products but I'm including links to TC3 kits at Tower.

This is the listing for 1/10 scale on road kits from Tower (no RTRs). It includes all trim levels and available bodies for the TC3:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0093p?&C=CAD

This is the TC3 RTR:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...p?&I=LXAHH0&P=0 $220 RTR ain't bad at all, IMO.

As far as radios go, I'd try to find something with dual rate steering and end point adjustments. Dual rate steering allows you to vary the amount of steering and end point adjustments let you vary how far your servos car travel. I'd try for an FM radio too. They are supposed to be less subceptible to interference. I have the Futaba Magnum Jr. T2PEKA. Another radio you might want to look at is the Hitec Lynx FM. Speed Controllers, again, no electric experience here so I can't help you. Sorry.

 

Wow. This is complicated.. I wonder what I should get!

 

Johnny 5 says, "Need more input." All these choices are confusing!

 

Hmmm, let's say you want a kit.

1. You need the actual kit. I'll use a TC3 as an example:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...p?&I=LX2688&P=0

2. You need a 2 channel radio. Here's a relatively nice one from a company with a good rep. Note that it only comes with one servo, which you'll use for steering.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...0001p?&I=LXASX6**&P=0

3. You'll need a speed controller. I don't know anything about them, so I'm just linking to Tower's listing of every one they carry.

http://www.towerhobbies.com/listings/listescs.html

4. You'll need a battery charger. The one I'm linking to is the cheapest one I can find that is a peak charger (automatically charges the cells to max voltage and then goes into slow charge to prevent overcharging) and also has a discharging feature.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...p?&I=LL6195&P=1

5. You'll need batteries (preferably several packs):

http://www.towerhobbies.com/listings/listbatt.html

Those are the essentials to get you running. You'll need a few things when building your kit like CA glue, which is basically superglue, to glue your tires to your rims. You'll need blue loc-tite for anywhere screws thread into metal. From personal experience, I think you should stick with Loc-tite and avoid other brands of threadlocker. I don't know how many screws an electric car will actually have that thread into metal though. You'll need spray paint. I'm throwing in links to each of the S2000 bodies at Tower. Note they are all 190mm wide bodies. Nitro Touring car bodies are 200mm wide because they are allowed to have a wider track when racing.

HPI S2000 body: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...p?&I=LXRE00&P=7

Kyosho S2000 body: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...p?&I=LXXG48&P=7

Tamiya S2000 body: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...p?&I=LXNT40&P=7

Tamiya bodies are known for being perfectly scale and having details like mirrors the competition lacks. That stuff will likely get torn off if you run the car like I do though.

 

That's really cool Mike! One of these days, I'm going to get a gas powered one. Maybe next Christmas

 

This "RC" thing is like a whole other world....There is way too much stuff!

 

I just want Mindcores >.< I don't like to do stuff myself! I like to buy it straight from the factory (you can see I'm a lazy ass )