As I mentioned last week I picked up a Tamiya 502x race buggy to review for the blog. It’s been nearly a week now and I’ve been working on the car every night for a few hours trying to get it built. Currently I would say I am more than 90% done with the build. I have mostly electric stuff I need to work out and then cutting up and painting the body.
The build was fairly easy although there were some difficult moments. The car frame and a large chunk of the parts are in carbon fiber with a lot of metal parts as well which is expected since this buggy is race ready. But, for the price and purpose of this car I would have expected even more metal parts at least for example when it came to the steering parts which are currently mostly plastic. Tonight I’m gonna try and get the electrics done so I could then prep the body for painting and if everything goes smoothly I might have the car up and running by Saturday.
By the way for those of you who’ve never built a radio controlled car before you need to try it since it’s really a lot of fun. I always compare it to Lego and IKEA, if you like building and putting stuff together then you’ll really enjoy building these cars specially since you get to drive them afterwards. They’re a lot more challenging than building a Lego police station or an IKEA cabinet as well as more rewarding.
23 replies on “The 502x Build”
Awesome well done! finished mine and painted it though still picking radio and motor
I’m using my Futaba 2.4ghz 3-channel receiver and the Novak 13.5t brushless motor with esc
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0014SDLBW/2406d-20
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001LOYHTE/2406d-20
nice pic for the motor and the remote…
just only check the mode of your transmitter, if your using digital servo, be sure your in HRS system… if analog PPM system… for you not to burn the receiver, servo, or both of them….
have fun…
Why did you go with Novak? I’ve had their old GTB systems when they first came out. Their sensored systems seem to heat up quite a bit in Kuwait’s heat even with the fan running all the time. Anyhow, great build, their top of the line race vehicles are very high quality stuff. Unfortunately I’ve owned everything except Tamiya lol
It’s what they gave me. This car is just a loaner, once I am done I’ve got to give it back. But, I’ve got the Novak Rooster Crawler ESC and 45T Brushed Motor for my Crawler and never had any issues with that so I like the brand.
Nice! I wanna build one as my next project as soon as I clear the backlog in my model kit list. 🙂
Your last paragraph is very encouraging. I did not want to buy a car which I have no clue about building / modelling.
So starts my shopping! Thanks Mark.
Tamiya’s come with detailed step by step installation instructions and all the tools needed to put things together
Tamiya are great cars, but the spare parts in kuwait is a big problem and the orders take months. The old dealer which was less famous, with smaller show room was much better for spare parts service. Beware buyers.
I build mostly static models so I don’t know all the r/c model parts but have you tired the hobby shop in Dajeej? I’ve been there a couple of times looking for decals and tools and they seem to have a lot of spare parts.
I’m a huge fan of Hobby Time and Pro Hobbies, if u search the blog u should find posts on them
have you tried them lately ?
correction : *tried*
lol I like the way your compared it with IKEA 😛
I do the same thing.. just with a real car.
dear Mr,KUWAITI aka (k.AL-s) aka Team Durango …
lets make it public ,the hobby store owner will not sell to you no matter what you try to do or say to put it down, here or anywhere else. your bs about parts is out of this world .the store is still the biggest and best hobby store in kuwait with all the parts and stuff ,and has a track too!!
now this is from an older post where you started your bs.
https://248am.com/mark/rc/indoor-rc-track-in-kuwait/
ps have some guts to call me and complain , about race rules or anything at MTCRC.
oh by the way , tamiya officials did visite MyToyCo and thought it was really good … thanks for making them come to kuwait and see for them selves. lol
@ bobader
First of all I have the right to complain about anything like everyone else. I’m not sure why you think I’m trying to put Tamiya down.
I used to complain about some other shops and dealers in kuwait and gave good feed back to the good ones in many blogs and forums. Mark also faced problem with the owner of a restaurant and things went to court. Most of the blog readers did not like how the owner reacted, because Mark has the right to say.
Also u said the store will not sell me no matter what! I don’t think so because I used to buy stuff from Tamiya till this day.
Yes the store is one of the largest in kuwait, but not all the parts are available that’s because not every one owns a TT-01 or only TT-01.
I’m very happy to hear that Tamiya officials came for inspection, I think they received my message and I wish Tamiya will countinue the good service and improve every day.
Oh can u tell me what is “aka k al-s”?
Cheers
more of mr kuwaiti from dewan360 https://www.360dewan.com/?p=7098
@kuwaiti ,the mytoyco shop sells the products to all its customers, but the owners will not sell the company to you !! lets not twist words to try to be clean.
Oh really
I never thought to buy a hobby store, It will never be as successful as real stat business or something similar. Why would I bother my self with ” do much to get little” I’d better work less and get more.
I understand now that Tamiya owner(s) had some issues with some one and you think that I am the guy him self. You’re wrong.
You better concentrate on improving Tamiya for the customers and beat your opponents for your benefit rather than fighting on dirty business.
bs
I feel sorry for you bro. You don’t have to accuse me because you’re malignant.
lol