RC Car Kit Building Hints

The first thing to do of course is to choose the car kit you want to build.
The main choice is often for a road racer or an offroad car (usually 4x4 !)
There are hundreds for sale on this site (usually at far less than store prices)
It is much more fun to assemble a kit as then you understand how everything works and the cars limitations.

Assembly is not as difficult as you may think Providing you follow the instructions exactly.

You will certainly need :
* Car kit - check the contents against the instruction book to make sure they are all there - this is VERY IMPORTANT !
If they are missing something take the kit back for a replacement - do not try to assemble the kit first as the vendor may refuse to exchange it.

* Instruction Book I always photocopy these as a precaution against spilling coffee/paint over it
( or my dogs putting paw prints all over it !)

Tools - you need :
Electrical screwdriver
Small and medium Phillips Screwdrivers (cross-head)
Small and medium flat headed screwdrivers
Jewellers screwdriver kit may be useful
Needlenose and flat pliers
Slip-joint pliers
Control-lock pliers for grasping flywheels
Pencil and notepad (eventually you will need it !)
Sidecutters
Flush Cutter for oil lines and pieces that need to be close cut (a strong nail cutter might be OK)
Plastic or metal containers to keep small parts safe
An Anglepoise or desk lamp for extra lighting while building
A Table vice might be handy
Some kits may need a soldering Iron and solder.
Decals
Paintbrush
Paint
Sticky tape is great for holding things together when you run out of fingers ! (and you WILL run out of fingers..)

I always build things on a large tray with an old white towel as a base so it can catch any small parts or drips of oil etc.The white towel means I can find bits I drop and they do not bounce around the room.(I Always do that ...)

READ right through the manual and make notes of anything that sounds tricky.
Then lay out parts in the order in which you will need them (thats what the containers were for)
Make a note of the screw settings and positions.
Focus attention on the right,left,front and rear.
The maker may (or may not) have marked standard settings with a dot or mark.
Do not remove those marks - you may need them later to reset your car.

Take it easy and proceed through the instruction manual one step at a time.
This is not a race and doing things slowly and correctly is the top tip on rc car building
A really good idea is to take a break every hour or so aand have a tea or coffee.
When you come back you will be refreshed and ready to go again.
(You might want to look through the instruction book again too...)
Do not try to skip pages or do what seems to be the fun parts. That way disaster lies.
The manual is laid out in that order for a specific reason - to get your kit working properly.
The maker spends thousands of dollars getting it right. Trust them.
Patience is a virtue - and that is certainly true when building a remote control car kit.

The first car kit you build chould be FUN - not frustrating.
If you find it frustrating then you are probably trying to do shortcuts.
Go back to the manual and work your way through it until you solve the problem.
99 percent of all rc car building problems are caused by not following the manual step by step.

Just as you would not build a real car by starting with an exhaust pipe and working forwards ...
the manual instructions are there in a SPECIFIC order because that is the easy way to fit the parts.
I hope that RC Car Kit Building Hints has been useful for you - Have Fun !