Well, OK, so it's not some kind of sugar-based car you've not heard of, but a plastic/metal based Nitro Car that I bought off a friend, that when impacts with *any* object crumbles like the flakey'st of flakey bars.
I got it for a good price based on a 'get it working and pay £50, or return' deal, which seemed a deal at the time. However, after throwing a further £50 on it to get it starting and running well and since a further £30 in parts to fix it a couple of times now... I do wonder!
The car is an ACME (as in roadrunner) Condor Pro, I say Pro, but it might be just a standard version with some extras thrown on. I was told it was a Pro anyway. When it's not broken, it starts and drives nicely now, although I need to make a baby alignment kit to get the wheels pointing in the right place. So far it's been a hoot, even when being fixed, it's like thrashing a real car around but with 1/100th of the price compared to fixing the real thing.
So far I have damaged:
- Front shock: Top eyelit split, but strapped up with a sexy cable tie.
- Snapped rear toe-end: replaced, but the arm is actually a bit bent, doh!
- Snapped front hub: Luckily I got a spare with the car, it snapped just where the steering arm connects to the hub.
I've also, quite impressively, managed to seize the engine once too, just before I bought the car from the person! I was running fuel through the car to break the engine in correctly - the third time it ran dry of fuel the pull cord seized. You have to take the engine out to fix this, but as it happened the cord wasn't jammed, but the piston inside the engine has jammed in the metal cylinder sleeve.
With a quick call to James (an experienced nitro-plane owner/flyer) and some dismantling, he walked into my kitchen as I was primed with a rachet extension bar and a big hammer. "Shall I?" I asked.. he replied "might as well if it's stuck". With that there was a dull thud and free came the piston! Hoorah!
So, with a bit of fuel in as lube and re-assembly the engine burst into life again - phew!!
Soon, possibly this weekend (26th Feb) I'll get it over the park to see just how fast it goes, it certainly seems fast in my small-ish garden!