Hello all, :wave: i'm looking to get into rc racing. I've bashed around for a couples of years, and right now I own a losi mini t that i'm looking to get rid of. I plan on buying a duratrax evader pro, because the price caught my eye, i'll be swapping out the esc for a duratrax 8t pro esc, and either a team orion core stock motor or a trinty p2k stock. I'm never done any racing before, and I would start out in the stock class. The closest track to me is napa ca, which is 20 or 30 min away (i'm in petaluma, ca). And I have some questions

1) What kind of tool boxes does everyone use? I use a little stack on 13" that hardly holds my stuff. I want one that can hold batteries, a charger, and spare parts.

2) Should I upgrade my charger? I own a dynamite prophet plus, I plan on swapping the plugs to deans. Which brings me to my next question.

3) What soildering iron does everyone use? I heard that you need at least a 60 watt iron to get the best joint.

and last but not least, what servo should I use in the vader? I plan on upgrading to a stronger servo.

Thanks for helping a newb out

1. I use and I see alot of people using a plano tackle box, can be found at walmart. just find one that fits your needs
3. weller is a good soldering gun
4. again budget wise, something on the fast side

as far as a charger goes, i'm new, but I have a novak millenium pro...
I hope I helped you some, I am sure you will get some more reccomendations
good luck
check the for sale areas on here, you can usually pick stuff up at a reasonable price

If your charger is a peak charger, you'll be ok. I'm not familiar with that one.

I don't believe in super fast servos for beginning racers. There are some servos from JR & Futaba that have lots of torque but not very fast in the $50 range. The stock servos just can't handle the learning curve of a new racer. New racers won't make an evasive move in less than .2 seconds, so a fast servo won't help anyway.


Stay patient & practice, practice, practice.

1) What kind of tool boxes does everyone use? I use a little stack on 13" that hardly holds my stuff. I want one that can hold batteries, a charger, and spare parts.
Check Wal-Mart, they have a couple nice stackable tool boxes. I personally use a Stanley stackable box that is on wheels. Another thing you might want to consider is big plastic storage boxes that Wal-Mart carries. Along with my tool box, I have discrete boxes for buggy tires, truck tires, bodies, a battery box, duffle bag and a cardboard box.

2) Should I upgrade my charger? I own a dynamite prophet plus, I plan on swapping the plugs to deans. Which brings me to my next question.
Higher end chargers are very nice to have. Choose one that has an adjustable voltage threshold detection. A good charger will keep your batteries in decent shape. Check out the Duratrax ICE charger if you want a super competition ready charger. Very reasonably priced.

3) What soildering iron does everyone use? I heard that you need at least a 60 watt iron to get the best joint.
I use a Weller soldering station that I got at Lowes. I believe it was around $25 for the station and about $20 for the high watt iron. I may upgrade to a Hakko soon.

and last but not least, what servo should I use in the vader? I plan on upgrading to a stronger servo.
I would upgrade to a high speed with a metal gear to start out with. JR makes some excellent priced HS metal geared servos.

Another thing you may want to consider; does your track have a healthy supply of Evader parts? At most tracks, you will find a well stocked hobby shop that carries parts for competition level machines from Associated and Losi.

Another highly important factor would be tires. To make your experience enjoyable, ask the locals at your track what are the hot tires. Tires is 80% of the game.

Last but not least, check with your track to see what you need to bring with you. Most tracks provide the electricity, but you may need to bring an extension cord, power strip and a portable table and chair.

On the soldering iron end. I've had great dealing with HMC electronics (http://www.hmcelectronics.com/) for decent prices with excellent service. That Hakko 936 for $78.00 plus ship is a great unit that will cover all your needs for years to come.

I'll second the "check the track" for what trucks people are running and more importantly what parts are stocked. I chose Associated for that reason. I race with three guys and we all have T4's and the LHS has plenty of parts for them. A few dollars extra spent on the "right" truck can make keeping it up that much easier.

Chargers: As a basher I started with a dynamite twin peak charger. I'll rate that as a very weak charger that wasn't worth my dollars. Then I upgraded to a superbrain 969 charger which served me well for the last 3 years. Once I started racing I picked up a used LRP Competition charger that does much better than my 969 at keeping my batteries in perfect shape with no false peaks. I'm in the process of unloading my 969 and picking up one of the above mentioned ICE chargers as for the money that charger looks like a great deal.

Toolboxes: Walmart tool and fishing box's galore. I spend about $30-35 on a flambeau tackle box with 4 drawers.

Servo's: Totally your call on how high end you want to go. Make sure it's metal gear.

NOTE Feel free to check out some of the used goodies on the swap and sell forum. If you've never done any trading make sure and check up on feedback. (Do a search on username in the trader feedback index) Also, don't be afraid to ask for phone numbers and make a call to the person. Get a verified address so you know who's getting your money. If you have a funny feeling about the deal as your working things out just end it and move on.

All in all, get out there and race.. have some fun!!!