Tips for Building your First RC Car (from a kit)

While the joy and passion of RC car building may be new to you, it isn’t for RC Nation, the number one stop for RC cars in Kamloops. RC, or radio controlled- are more than just toys. They are a combination of art and modern ingenuity loved by all ages from young children to retirees. RC Cars are a project, much like woodworking or leather crafting, and can be bought in a kit to get started. RC Nation has five tips for building your first RC Car from a kit.

Lighting and Workspace

The reference to other crafts isn’t by accident. All crafts should be done in a well-lit, well-organized workspace and this includes working with unassembled RC Car kits. Choose a spot that can be occupied by your kit’s parts for a few days. You’re going to be there a while and cleaning up every night runs the risk of losing/breaking parts. The kitchen table wouldn’t be a great example, but a corner room with an office desk would be perfect. Or, if you want to take it up a notch, a workbench in the garage with some overhead lights.

Organization

Your kit will not be a pile of loose parts, but instead will come in a series of bags. Don’t feel the need to open all these bags all at once. Open what you need, grab the part, then reseal the bag.  This idea goes along with what we said earlier that you run the risk of losing small parts by opening all your bags at once.

Manual

Picture your RC Car as an actual car, and someone handed it to you in boxes. Do you just go for it and hope for the best? Hopefully not. Instead, you’re going through the manual. Try to envision the pictures and the corresponding parts. See how they fit together, where the threads lie, where on the body it actually goes. Then, once you’ve got a good mental picture, start putting things together one section at a time.

Assembly Line

Since a lot of what you’re working with will have to be duplicated multiple times, set up an assembly line on your desk of each set of parts, such as those that go to the wheels (there will be 4 copies of the same build sequence). Since you know you’ll be creating the same part several times, save energy, time, and headache hunting for the next piece by having them ready to go.

Power Tools - NO

Power tools may seem like the reasonable next step for saving time and effort putting in screws, but they are a liability to your RC Car build. The kit cars are small, and too fragile to handle the high torque of a power tool, plus, you give up the control of your hand in lieu of speed. In the case of these models, you don’t need speed; you need attention to detail. Drop the drill, pick up your screwdriver and enjoy the process.

RC Nation is ready to provide you with top-notch RC kits, cars, and parts. Check out their online shop today!