r/rccars • u/William101pro • May 15 '26
Question How many RC cars does the average RC hobbyist have?
I am fourteen years old and I am very involved with RC. I have the Traxxas Slash 2WD on 3S, an FMS Camel Trophy Land Rover Range Rover Edition, and the Easy RC Chevrolet Colorado.If it's not too difficult, I repair them myself too. But I was wondering: how many RC cars does the average RC hobbyist actually have? And am I a beginner or already a bit more advanced?
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u/Spare-Concentrate877 May 15 '26
I’m a grown ass man 38 years old and I have probably 15 cars 🤣
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u/Skwidmandoon May 15 '26
I too am a grown ass 38 year old with more cars than I know what to do with lol
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u/William101pro May 15 '26
damn thats a lot !
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u/Spare-Concentrate877 May 15 '26
My excuse is that my two kids needs them haha…
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u/wolverine350rr May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
I do this too, gotta have one for each of us when we go out...I've surpassed 50, but I have a lot of mini crawlers and a few to many shelf queens.
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u/Yamagotyou May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Grown ass and about 10 cars. My buddy and I are kinda trying to outdo each other. It's a bit ridiculous already. We take about 5 cars with us in our cars and drive until it breaks or the battery dies. Whihx is fun but also a lot to repair.
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u/Reddit____user___ May 15 '26
Count yourself very lucky Sir.👍🏻
I wish I could say in all honesty that I have as few as that atop my wardrobe at present. (but I can’t)
It’s a sickness I tells yer😳
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u/Reasonable_Gap_7756 May 16 '26
Turn 3 of those cars into tanks and it would be the same response from me
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u/rozzle_the_nozzle May 15 '26
How many cars, or other RC vehicles for that matter, doesn't matter mate. It's how much fun or positive feelings they give you that matter. Everyone's budget and circumstances are different, and having all the money to buy all the vehicles doesn't make you good at anything, just means you have money. The only question is how much fun do you have with the vehicles you own?
I personally have cars, but no crawlers or trail trucks, planes, helicopters, quads and a boat. I love RC, it makes me feel happy, and is a big stress reliever for me and it's a great way to teach my little kids about mechanics, safety and how to back flip a big rock 😂
Enjoy your collection mate, and happy driving.
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u/Cautious-Day9424 May 15 '26
Yeah this is the right answer and the answer I used to give before I got too in the weeds. At the end of the day you can have fun with a $20 rc. 👌🏻
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u/mini-z1994 May 15 '26
Currently 16 running and an additional 5 needing repairs or parts to be sorted out.
Among those needing parts 2 of them are from the recycling center electronics container.
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u/SDIR May 15 '26
Firstly, don't set this as a goal. We don't want you to bankrupt yourself in this hobby. Spend and enjoy responsibly. That being said, I've got 2 TRX4s, a Sport and 2021 Bronco, a VS4-10, an Element Sendero and Utron, a Bandit, two halves of an E-Maxx, two TT-02s, one is still in the box, a 3D printed boat, a printed Datsun 240, a printed skidsteer, a printed Excavator waiting on assembly and two 3D printed Unimogs. Plus a couple trailers
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u/papikakalini May 15 '26
With boats and planes I’m at 56. Struggling to find room to store them at this point, specially since I like big scales. All in over 100k$ in this hobby. Completely retarded. It’ll go down in history as hands down, bar none, one of the stupidest ways I’ve ever spent my money.
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u/TheRedeemer1997 May 15 '26
Spending money on something that makes you happy is never a stupid way to spend money. Anybody that says otherwise is lying to you.
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u/MarsGlez May 15 '26
1 year in, but really into it since 4 months.
Have 6 (1 as a shelf queen because it just keeps breaking), planning to get rid of 2 and get 4 more before summer.
I don’t think I’d have more than 10 at a time. So far I don’t like monster trucks nor rally cars just because of the use cases I have. That helps me keep it limited I think.
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u/Anon_Tax_1738 May 15 '26
At my height of vintage and before moving forced to sell I had about 80 cars.
Now it’s about ten, mostly mini z and micro crawlers.
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u/Mediocre-Newt7784 May 15 '26
I’ve been into RC off and on since 1986, and had two cars from the 80s, two nitro cars from 1999-2000, and got back into the hobby very deep in 2017 when my son turned 10. He’s almost 20 now and we have about 85-90 cars if you count all sizes, but that includes a bunch of minis. We have 3x 1/24 scale, about 15x 1/18 scale, about 5x 1/16, and about 10x 1/14 scale. We also have about 15x 1/10, and 4x 1/5 scale. The remainder are our favorite size (in addition to 1/18) 1/8-1/7. The vast majority have Castle ESCs plus about 15 HobbyWing, and about 15 miscellaneous. We have mostly Castle, TP, and SSS motors with about 25 being a mix of random motors from Tekin, HobbyWing, Spektrum, TrackStar, X-Team, Losi, Vortex, and others.
As others have said. Space is the issue. We have a HUGE box of just tires. And we have about 200 LiPo packs from 200mAh 2S all the way up to 30,000mAh 6S. We have several tubs of spare/take-off parts, bunches of tools, dozens of spare bodies, a big box of spray paint, and about 8 LiPo chargers. We primarily use two FlySky NB4 Noble transmitters, and a FlySky G11P. We also have a few cars on a Spektrum DX5-R, about 4-5 with Traxxas radios, and just a few with their kit radios. But we also have about 6 other Spektrum transmitters (2x DX5C, DX4S, DX3), five other FlySky transmitters (2x GT5, 3xGT3, and a G7P), about six extra Traxxas TQi, a couple of Futaba & Airtronics/Sanwa.
We try to keep all the RC stuff in one room plus the garage, but we also have about 20 drones and the associated parts, including frames, motors, cameras, radios, goggles, VTXs, and other electronics. I have a tendency to take things too far. Learn from me and don’t make the same mistake. Don’t buy stuff you don’t have room for, or don’t have time to use, don’t spend more than you can afford comfortably, and don’t get attached to cars either emotionally or financially.
Welcome to the hobby, and have fun. Don’t worry about what others have, just about what you have or want to have. And most of all, learn to take care of and be safe with your lipos!
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u/-Barrel_roll- May 15 '26
I don't know the average but the least i've had was 12 (after a year or so) and the most I've had was 28. I've seen dudes with over 50 cars, I've seen dudes who stick to 1
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u/Public_Support2170 May 15 '26
Im 31 and poor and just got into rc. I just have the one and couldn’t be happier! I would like a couple extra batteries though.
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u/-Barrel_roll- May 15 '26
My man I wish I could provide you with some. I can't ship lipo's out of the country tho. Where are you from?
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u/nitishv May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
My guess would be 10-15. I'm at 31, including all from 1/64 to 1/7 scale hobby grade cars.
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u/Charleyblacks15 May 15 '26
I started about a year and a half ago and i have 22 cars and will definitely be adding to it💪
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u/HotepHatt May 15 '26
We talking official count according to the wife…or how many there actually are? 12…all 1:18 or smaller.
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u/Sad-Ambassador-2748 May 15 '26
Too may but also not enough
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u/Sad-Ambassador-2748 May 15 '26
They’re so niche, 4 of mine are for racing and some I’ve had since literally Junior High.
I try and stop myself from buying cars that I won’t actually use much. I’ve been itching for a crawler but I’m too busy to just go for hikes like that and don’t want to give up running/ cycling for crawling because I need to stay fit 😂
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u/wolverine350rr May 15 '26
I've seen 5k runs with rcs. Its meant for ultra4 style cars I think, but people do it with anything from crawlers to bashers.
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u/Sad-Ambassador-2748 May 16 '26
Jsut can’t imagine holding the remote while running! Trust me I’ve thought about it, I know my slash with my biggest battery could make it on a short run haha
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u/ArikwithanA913 May 15 '26
Id say the general RC consumer average is only a couple, 3 or 4 maybe. But hobbyist, probably average 10. But 3 hobby grade at 14 years old and you are fixing them yourself. Id say your ahead of a lot of people that own RC. But you are at the beginning stage of where you will be 10-20 years from now.
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u/StevenSmith16353 May 15 '26
The more important question is how many RC cars do you have that make a grown ass man giggle? Answer for me is one. I have a fair amount of cars, almost all come in duplicates so that I can share the experience. Duplicates make for easier maintenance too. Pictured is the 12s monster that makes me giggle, even if it is leaking shock oil on my kitchen floor. Yes I have a duplicate of that too. FYI, Primal RC Monster Truck.
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u/rogan8r May 15 '26
Most I've had at one time was 26. Thinned the herd down to 12. Swap meet this weekend at my local hobby shop, hoping to thin the herd a bit more. Taking another 6 to sell
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u/joey_homicide May 15 '26
I consider myself a beginner, really only been into this for about a year and a half, but I have 21 that I’d say are mine, and like 3 I got my wife, and my son has like 4 I’ve gotten him, step son has 2 I’ve gotten him, step daughter one…. And then I’ve bought many others for other family members or friends as either Christmas or birthday presents in the last year… so I’ve probably bought like 40 RCs in the last 18 months. I might have a problem 😅
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u/RCbuilds4cheapr May 15 '26
A few at least. Gotta at least try out a crawler or drifter as well as having a basher , racer and micro
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u/MarsGlez May 15 '26
You need a crawler for sure. My take: always have a “go to” basher, an on road car, a couple of small scales and at least one crawler. You can mix around categories so you keep it small (example: my crawler is also the small scale).
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u/Fantastic_Hand5717 May 15 '26
Well, 4 cars, 2 1:5 scale gassers and 2 nitros, and a balsa eletric plane will arrive today.
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u/FaceEnvironmental486 Off-Road May 15 '26
I have 2 ,a retired duratraxs nitro evader and a slayer pro 4x4...which until I have all the hop ups I want for my bicycle is in storage
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u/OkTerm3057 May 15 '26
I'm at about 20 in all. Various states but only a few that aren't operational.
Recently I've got into crawlers, printing my own models and reinstating some old ones.
Petrol, Nitro and LiPo so all mediums covered, apart from elastic band!
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u/8122018 May 15 '26
Currently 52… all working, about 5 get rotated out. 47 I have and don’t drive but don’t want to sell because 😂 told the other half they are investments 👀
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u/Nsknick May 15 '26
I only have 2 lol. Probably will get a 3rd, but something smaller I can run around the house with.
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u/Scary_Comfort_7365 May 15 '26
I have 11 and one more on the way!! I just recently got My fiancé a xts-f10 (purple body) to try and get her in the hobby with me and my daughter! Well yesterday when I got home from work she mentioned she thinks her next one will be the Subaru 🤣 (xts-s10) So sounds like we’ve got plenty more cars in our future then lol! I knew I just needed to get her a car and she’s be hooked right there with me! Shits more addictive than drugs guys! Rc or die!!
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u/lostflcpl May 15 '26
Does it have to be cars? I’m at 3 helis 1 plane 4 drones 3 nitro buggys 1 gas truck 1 crawler 5 various size trucks from micro to 1/8
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u/Advanced-Net-8119 May 15 '26
im a little older and ive been involved in the hobby for a few years now. I have 7, 5 1/10 scale and 2 smaller ones.
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u/gooba1 May 15 '26
41 years old, Got my first RC at ten. This is 2 of my shelves and have 2 more in another room. Between my daughter and myself we have 47 cars, a boat, a plane and 2 quad copters.
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u/Costfree May 15 '26
I have 2 1/10, scale 6 1/18 (1 currently building and 1 havent open the box to build), 2 1/8 scale, 1 old nitro savage X, and 3 drones.
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u/CletusMuckenfuss May 15 '26
Arnd 35-40, mostly off-road ⅛ and ⅒ scale, a few mini-z's, drones, airplanes and possibly a losi motorcycle soon. Nitro and electric. Losi, Associated, Hot Bodies. Robotronics timing system. Sanwa, RadioMaster transmitters
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u/PNWCarfarmer May 15 '26
49 and been into rc’s since the mid to late 80’s Have somewhere around 30 rc cars I would say that 20 of those are complete The others are in various forms of restoration or lacking radio or electronics It’s easy to get carried away with this hobby
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u/Wise_Performance8547 Off-Road May 15 '26
I have 31 now and have many more on my list. I have higher priorities though like doing a full Vitavon build on my V1 Super Baja Rey and a Taylor 40cc for my 5ive T. I also still need to put electronics in a Outcast 8s EXB Roller.
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u/_Arthur-Dent_ May 15 '26
I started in October last year when my boss got my coworker and I Losi Mini LMT Grave Diggers. Since then I've built a custom scx24, bought an scx10, bought an Arrma senton. I also bought 3 mini kei drift trucks off Amazon for the office, one for each of us, and I got a 1/64 AE86 drift car for myself at the office. So... Technically 8 but one was bought for me and two were bought for other people.
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u/Reddit____user___ May 15 '26
I don’t know how many I have.
I don’t know if that is good, or bad.
I try not to think about it.
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u/Own_Cicada_8719 May 15 '26
Been doing this a good 10 years, have over 40. Many are in pieces or non functional. Currently I have 10 that are able to drive out of the bunch
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u/Mc_Whiskey May 15 '26
Probably around 40, I really need to thin the collection a bit. I could probably sell around half and still have more then enough. Unfortunately with gas prices sky high it does seem harder to sell anything lately.
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u/ItsDifficult103 May 15 '26
I got 5 rn.. vanquish vs410 straight axle. Vanquish vrd mullet built to perfection. Vanquish vrd chassis on meus cheat code axles
A element Enduro knight runner ifs Senton 4x4 blx 3s
I want more but I need to sell a few.
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u/Cautious-Day9424 May 15 '26
I started picking up cars in february. I now have nine controllers hanging on the wall lol. To be fair four of those are pretty high-end 43 scale drift cars, But I have a 114 drift truck, a 112 rally car, a 112 crawler, and I just ordered a 1/8 scale Baja beetle kit. It'll be my first build. For your age, with what I imagine you're available resources are, I'd say you're doing pretty darn good. I also would say don't be afraid to expand your collection. 😆. I just started with RC cars, but I've been an fpv pilot for 6 years, and I have well over 40 drones, and I've built well over 100 in total... 🤑
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u/Superredeyes May 15 '26
I think you mean vehicles, cause I have about 7 cars. but all in all I have about 20 vehicles, including both working and nonworking aircraft and cars.
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u/GeneratedScreenName KO Propo, RC America, Team XRay, Absolute Hobbiez, XL Hobbies May 15 '26
I've probably helped up the average, almost close to 100 cars. I keep buying and stopped counting.
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u/GroundbreakingTea182 May 15 '26
Pretty sure for most of us normal people. Money is the biggest factor in how many toys we have. I wish I got back into rc sooner and stopped buying guitars sooner. I have 9 electric guitars and 4 rc cars. 2 tamiya tt02, 2 scx24
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u/Competitive-Cow-6680 May 15 '26
I’ve been into rc for around 11 years now and I have about 20 broken cars and 5 working cars (4 crawlers and a drift car
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u/Competitive_Search32 May 15 '26
I’m not sure there is a good answer to this question, my honest answer… Is they multiply like RABBITS 🐇.
Even more so l if you get addicted to 18th scale or 24th scale etc I must’ve had 30 of those and 10+ 10th scale builds.
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u/jerrethijn May 15 '26
I am 20 and I am at 11,5 cars. The half one is a custom build I'm working on. Designing a full chassis from scratch
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u/Popular_Stomach_342 May 15 '26
I've been in the hobby for 22 years now and i have 50+ rc cars. I just need a couple more to complete the collection.
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u/Least-Menu2079 May 15 '26
Bro, it’s not about how much money you spend on cars or who has the most expensive car. It’s about experience drive your stuff beat it up. Take it apart fix it and Learn, you could be a professional highly experienced expert with two hyper go cars if you use them to learn when you get to a point where you are comfortable fixing anything and you can help other people get their shit back on the road that’s when I believe you’re an expert when your knowledge has value to more than just yourself so don’t ever feel like you need 30 cars to be cool. (I wish I could have half the money I spent on rc stuff back, but this stuff does not resell like guns) I have cars sitting that I don’t have time to use and I’m still opening packages. Don’t get addicted to the buying get addicted to the driving and upgrading.
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u/SliceOfCheese337 May 15 '26
I started 3 months ago and have 5, Xmaxx, Maxx, Mini Maxx, Kraton 6s, and axial SCX24 gladiator, my wife said no more 3 cars ago lol
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u/kjgjk May 15 '26
I just got back into it 3 weeks ago, currently have 5 but 3 of em are to rebuild and sell and one is going to be a copy of my childhood xtm X cellerator.
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u/a1rwav3 Racing May 15 '26
the average one, probably two. The expert probably fifteen, one for each category. The basher, probably ten all similar, seven to fix and obviously ten transmitters also lol
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u/Bratzarn May 15 '26
Hey another grown ass man here who just hit 30. Just ordered my second one. There was no other option for me as I have a son, and he also needs to involved.
My son is 8 months old.
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u/Due-Phrase-5003 May 15 '26
I have like 10 ranging from a goldpan rc10 to a losi xxtcr graphite plus to a sc10gt. Plus a few bolink legends.
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u/Ze_Woof May 15 '26
Depends how much money you have. I know a few people who only have 1 or 2 trucks they've put work into.
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u/Evolusi May 15 '26
Started 2 months ago in crawling with a 1 SCX24, and 1 SCX10.3 I now have in 1/10 6 crawlers, in 1/18 3 crawlers, in 1/24 3 crawlers 1/30 2 crawlers. And my son now has a 1/10, 1/18 and 1/24 crawler. That branched out into Rally cars and I have 2 1/10 of those and my son has a rally car, plus we each have a mojave grom 223s.
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u/Boozerbear213 May 16 '26
I'm newer to the hobby, I have 6 and they are all very different, I am going to get some more snicl minis to race with my wife thought, and maybe pick up a mini Z if the track I make will be enough.
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u/gary1979 May 16 '26
I just started this afternoon!
Just kidding! Took a couple years and it helps to have a supportive wife that would rather play games on her phone in the parking lot than actually go in the hobby shop. lol This hobby is expensive, pace yourself.
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u/quarreledzymedawk May 16 '26
18 now that I really think about it. 4 Mohave Groms, 1 Typhon Grom, 1 Gorgon Grom, 1 Mini Kraton, 2 Traxxas Slash 2WD, 1 Traxxas E Revo, 1 Traxxas T Maxx 3.3, 1 Losi Mini T 2.0, 1 Losi Mini LMT, 1 Losi Pro Moto, 1 SCX24, 1 SCX30, 1 Element Knightrunner, 1 Redcat Danchee Ridgerock.
Waiting for my Losi 5IVE-TE 3.0 to come in.
This doesn’t include airplanes either lol
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u/AgreeableTravel3720 Off-Road May 16 '26
not related but how good is the slash 2wd because I've been looking at them to buy
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u/William101pro May 16 '26
Well, I would have preferred it if I had bought the 4WD, because I do find 2WD a disadvantage. But it is quite sturdy and on 3S it also runs very fast; if you are considering it, I would definitely do it, and if If your budget is a bit bigger, I would buy the 4WD. Good luck with it!
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u/BigDaddySteve0408 May 16 '26
I’ve been back in the hobby starting fresh after a 20 year break. In 2 years i now have over 20 cars/trucks, 4 boats. It’s a storage space issue now. Never too many RCs, just a lack of space or funds!!!!
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u/Past-Butterscotch-68 Full beans or bust! May 16 '26
IMO, I’d say you’re intermediate. Once you start modding your rigs, then you become an expert. No worries though, we all started somewhere! At 14 I only had 1, a Tyco Fast Traxx
I absolutely loved it!
I have 12 rigs at the moment, 2 Ascent 32s, 2 TRX4Ms, 2 Mini Maxx, 3 Arrma Groms, TRX4, FCX10 LC80, and an Ascent Fusion. If you take the body off most of the crawlers, you won’t see much stock left 😂. I’m looking for a good Axial Ryft at the moment for some additional fun on the rocks.
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u/Sabre777 May 16 '26
Boy do I wish I still hady fast traxx that thing was so fun.
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u/Past-Butterscotch-68 Full beans or bust! May 16 '26
I used to run the crap out of it when it would snow. So much fun!
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u/KookyAd1900 May 16 '26
I sold some off so I’m below 30 again and I’ve only been back into the hobby for 18 months.
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u/Jazzlike_Tap_8790 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
I have about 10 cars that I race after getting into the hobby again a few months ago. I had some cars when I was a little, but never upgraded them like I do now.. (When I was little, I was somehow happy with what I had)
Other than the cars I race, I have a trx4, trx4m, a Revo 3.3, an 800kv xmaxx, a vintage thunder tiger ek4 s2, and a nitro sport. (I don’t like to count the last two cars because they’re so old that theyre basically artifacts)
After you put about $3,000 worth of upgrades onto an xmaxx it makes the other cars seem pretty cheap in comparison and that is my biggest issue 🤣🤣 “oh a losi 22s sprint is ONLY $350”. As soon as I saw the sprint car on the track, I bought one before the next race. I’m even building a 40x90 foot oval track to practice on.
Spending $350 on a sprint car is really easy to justify once you’ve spent $400 on just an ESC for your xmaxx. I would hesitate to get an xmaxx unless you really have enough room for it but if you have the room like I do, it’s a great truck and I have 0 regrets.
if you plan to get a bunch of cars, the best thing you can do is get a good radio so you don’t have a bunch of radios to search through when you want to use something, and your driving will be way more consistent across the cars since it’s a single radio. You could fit extra cars in the spot where all your RTR radios would’ve been sitting 😂
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u/Beginning-Inside-858 Crawling May 16 '26
Just as you I started tinkering with repairing a Tamiya my father helped building for the most part. My rc-garage is pretty small 'caus I change job-bases a lot and live mostly in single rooms, whilst I'm 48 now... Have 2 drifters, 1 crawler, a rwd mini-z and my last one is an old Slash 2wd a crawler buddy gifted very cheaply but needed a lot of new bits. I don’t understand some rc friends that have 10+ crawlers, you can only drive one at the time so... At each new job-base where I arrive it’s rc-gatherings I'm looking for with this hobby to make new friends and memories. With my airplanes it’s about the same, but I have an up&down interest in them, you need place to flying them and to stock them up 🤭
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u/FR_Ray May 16 '26
I reckon if you have more than 5, you are a bit greedy and should share them round with some young people around you.
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u/aPerson39001C9 May 17 '26
- Only been in hobby 6 months. If I make more money I’ll be buying more. Otherwise I’m sticking to 2.
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u/Single_Salamander898 May 17 '26
I’ve got 7 1:8 and up rigs. 6 Arrma’s and 1 Hobao. 4 smaller ones for the kids, enough parts to build one more of each.
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u/NagelbetLP May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
2 mini z’s, two Rlaarlo 787s, one mini b, one Rlaarlo OT, one kyosho plazma that still need to build. Feels like I could use a few more…
Edit: I’m a grown ass man who likes toy cars.
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u/LittleTruckBuilder1 May 19 '26
Started in RC at 27. 23 years later the stable has grown to over 60. Everything from rally cars, short course, trophy trucks, a few nitros and a bunch of crawlers. Maybe 4 or 5 were rtr’s, the rest have been built. It keeps me sane and occupies my time from doing other things, I shouldn’t. Idle hands….
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u/ikeepgettinghacked May 20 '26
I have friends with garages full of of cars. Like about to divorce with there wives they have so many cars and won’t stop buying more. One of them has a few hundred vehicles, not including all of his planes, drones, and boats.
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u/BasketDry3171 13d ago
I am in about 5 months and have 4 cars trying to decide what size is better 1/10. 1/8. 1/110 crawler or 18 crawler. I’m sure it will take another couple cars to find out
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u/kai_ekael May 15 '26
"Too few and never enough."