I first got interested in RC trucks probably like most… I got one as a gift.  It was cheap & poorly constructed.  It didn’t go very fast, nor did the charge last long.  In fact it didn’t take too long before it stopped working all together.  After my mom threw it in the trash I quickly forgot about it.

One day in my mid-thirties I was wandering through a local Radio Shack and there it was – A radio controlled truck.   I remembered how my truck ran as a kid and wondered if they were any better.  After reading the box, talking to the Radio Shack guy I was heading home with a brand spanking new RC truck.

Once home I took it out of the box & had to wait 6 hours while it charged up.  After the truck it was ready to go I took it out in the back yard for its 1st test drive.

A few quick laps around the back yard reminded me how much fun this hobby was.  Here I was roaring through the grass, jumping off the patio, 4-wheeling around & generally having a blast.  You could really put one of those trucks through the ringer & it would just keep right on truck’n.

That was until my wife got involved in the story…

She opened up the back door and let our 90lbs Rhodesian Ridgeback out into the back yard.  He casually wandered into the back yard, and lay down in the grass.  I was worried because Ridgeback’s are sight hunters, with a strong prey instinct.  But, he did nothing… I was relieved.

All that came to an end on the 2nd pass through the back yard.  The Ridgeback got up, and bolted for the truck.  I gave it all the power it had, but all that did was make the chase more fun for Red.  He was on the truck in a few seconds.  The mauling was thorough and complete… he strode away proud of his accomplishments.  It was quick and painless, and I was thankful the poor truck didn’t suffer.

I tried to repair the damaged, but the poor guy never ran right after the incident.  It wasn’t long before the truck was retired to the big junkyard in the sky.

It wasn’t until several years later I thought of getting an RC that could out-run the Ridgeback.  My search led me to gas RC trucks.  Nitro RC Trucks can easily outrun a Ridgeback, and they also run longer than electric.

By then my Ridgeback was gone, but I know he would have given a gas RC truck a run for its money.  And quite possibly he might have been up to the challenge…

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Here is another take on Gas vs. Nitro. Now, it’s primary about cars, but the same points apply to trucks. He covers a couple of points about price of Nitro. And as he says even though Nitro is expensive you do get long runtimes. But, it is cheaper to run gas overall.

Another up side to Nitro is it’s easier to fuel up a nitro truck vs. a gas truck. You see gas RC trucks run off gas. The same you put into your car. However you have to mix the gas with some oil. That’s because the engine for gas RC trucks are usually two-stroke. Very similar to most power engines you see in yard equipment. For some people that can be a put-off, and for others they don’t mind.

At ezine artilces Ian Pennington has this to say about it…

Looking into RC cars as a hobby will be costly, but very worth the time and cost. There are pro’s and con’s to gas and nitro RC cars. Choosing the right RC car you want is something that might take you a while to figure out. For instance you might want to pick a RC car suitable to you. Meaning the level that you can handle. Nitro RC cars might be harder to handle because of the power they have. Gas power cars are also powerful but there lower maintenance.

Nitro gives you more power, and usually you’ll faster speeds. You can expect to run at 50+ mph. So, you are figuring… hey why not just run nitro and go faster. Not so fast – Gas tends to give you more torque. That means you can usually turn a larger drive shaft. Which brings up the torque vs. power debate… one, which I’ll not settle or get into here. I’ll just finish it by saying – It all boils down to your preferences.

You can read the rest of the article Difference Between Nitro Power and Gas Cars. To learn more about nitro power and gas cars, please visit Collecting Electronic Toys Online for current articles and discussions.

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OK, you read about Gas RC Trucks, Nitro RC Trucks and you wonder what is the difference. Well, it depends. You see there is both gas & nitro powered RC trucks. However, most everybody uses the words interchangeably. In fact most when most people are talking about gas powered RC trucks they really mean Nitro trucks. The mix-up is so common it has become accepted.

This will a first in a series of posts discussing the difference between Gas & Nitro powered RC trucks.

So, what are the differences?

Well the 1st thing is size…

Gas RC Trucks are usually 1:5 or 1:6 scale. That is a pretty big RC vehicle. They are typically 2 feet long. In comparison to Nitro RC Trucks which are usually 1:10 up to 1:18 scale. They are much smaller anywhere from 14-19”. You can see the size difference between the two at RC Hobby Universe.

Plus he discusses another advantage of gas vs. nitro…

One of the first great advantages to a gasoline powered RC Truck, Car, or Buggy, is that one tank of gasoline can last for over 45 minutes. You don’t have to worry about short run times like you do with nitro and electric powered RC vehicles…

Getting longer run times is always funnier than messing around recharging or refilling. After all we are out there to enjoy the driving, jumping & rock climbing.

So, as you can see there are trade offs with gas vs. nitro. Gas gives you longer run times, but you have a much larger vehicle. You just have to figure out what your needs & wants are in a truck.

Next time we will go over the differences between the engines & talk about the types of fuel.

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In life you get what you pay for. You can go out and look for the cheapest brand and in some cases you end up okay. However, what happens when something breaks? Are they going to be around to support their product?

I know you could search, and probably find an off brand or really cheap gas RC truck. But is it really a bargain? You know, you take these trucks out and run them hard. And it’s not uncommon to need replacement parts having half the fun of only one of these is being able to put it through the paces. Some extreme driving check out this video below…

That’s the real fun of owning a RC nitro truck. The video shows that running these trucks you are eventually need some new parts, or at least regular maintenance. So what happens when you turn around and need those parts? Can even order them? Are they available online? In many cases they’re not. And then you have a truck does not work right, Or maybe even broke.

So what do you have now? A very expensive paperweight!

So, not only do you have a broken truck… you didn’t get to have any fun with it! Most people now have to chalk it up in the loss column. Then they go out and buy another truck. They’ve learned their lesson and a get one the’s made by a reputable manufacturer, and of course the prices will more but at least they know they will get support. Plus a guarantee.

What did that cheap off brand truck really cost? Did they save money? Nope, it really cost about 150% more than a top brand. How? Well, they paid for an off brand truck that was about half of the top brands. Eventually the cheaper one just bombed out, and no longer runs. Now they turn around and buy the more reputable brand. This one will work, has replacement parts and actually has customer support. So in the long run it actually saves money.

So the moral the story is…

Save yourself some money in the long run and get a brand that will last longer, run better and ultimately make your RC hobby more enjoyable.

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That question is not as easy to answer now as it used to be. For many people starting out, it was recommended to get an electric RC truck. They were easier to take care of, ran quiet and were usually ready to go right out-of-the-box.

Many gas RC trucks used to come unassembled as kits. That required you to do quite a bit of assembly work before you could hit the road. Many time it resembled a complicated model. There were body parts, engine parts, and transmissions… all requiring some assembly. Then after assembly many times you had to do decal & body painting.

So to run your first race… it usually required a pretty knowledgeable hobbyist to a gas RC truck on the road.

The higher level of hobby skill use to be a natural barrier.

However things have changed in the past few years. More and more manufacturers are making trucks, ready to run right out a box. You don’t have to do the assembly anymore. You don’t have to do any painting can. You just pull it out. Gas up and go

The hobby has seen a lot of changes for the good. I remember my first truck was electric truck. It was a toy compared to today’s standards. It lacked the power of a good Nitro RC truck. And even though it was slower than its gas-powered cousin, I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it and had a lot of fun.

I stayed with that electric powered truck for many years. I have to admit one of the reasons was because I was intimidated to go get a gas-powered truck. I wasn’t sure if my skill level was good enough to assemble and maintain one. However that’s just not the case anymore.

Now don’t get me wrong, you still have to maintain and take care of your gas-powered truck. If you don’t maintain your truck you will a performance dip, or even break down. But it’s much easier than what it used to be.

This opens up the hobby to a lot more people. And also opens up the hobby to one of the big reasons of owning one. Is to get out there and have fun drive in and around

There are still some factors a new hobbyist has to consider before getting a nitro RC truck. Some factors, such as the noise level. Gas powered truck is loud, and you might annoy the neighbors. So you have to consider, are you far enough away from your neighbors that they won’t be bothered by the noise? Or do you have a place you can take your truck were the noise level is not in issue?

Another factor is the speed. In most cases, gas trucks go faster than a lecture. Are sure you will be able to handle driving something that goes so fast? Today’s trucks handle much better than they used to. So this is not as critical of a factor as it use to be.

Personally I think many beginning RC hobbyists can go right to a gas powered RC truck. The barriers aren’t there like they used to be in the past. Which is nice, because I believe a gas powered RC trucks will give you much more enjoyment and you have a much better time than regardless of your skill level.

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I probably have a similar story to many who get into this hobby. As a kid I got a radio controlled car for Christmas. You know the type… an inexpensive model from the local toy store. It was battery operated with a cheap pistol grip control. The range was very limited – maybe 100′ on a clear day. It was a small car, and looked like it would belong in a Speed Racer episode.

It didn’t go very fast, but did have a high pitch whine. I’d imagine it would have gone much faster if it didn’t run off of 6 D batteries. It did chew through batteries like a buzz saw, and made it a very expensive hobby for a 10 year old. In spite of all that, I did get hours of enjoyment with my very own radio controlled car. That is until one day a few months later the car stopped working.

OK, fast forward to my early 30’s. I decided it would be fun to get a RC Truck. So I headed down to the local Radio Shack and bought one of their top of the line electric RC 4X4 Trucks. Man I was happy as a clam. I got home tore it out of the box, charged up the batteries & about 4 hours later was ready to roll.

I took my new truck out into the back yard for its 1st road test. My wife called out the kitchen window to not trample her flower bed. But that was OK… trampling flower beds was for amateurs. I proceeded to have a couple hours of good fun racing my new truck around the yard & around the street. It went much faster that my old RC car & had better controls.

The next day I took the truck out for another romp around the yard. However this time my wife let our dog Red out. At first everything went fine. I drove my truck around & Red sat in the middle of the yard watching. Red was a 90lbs Rhodesian Ridgeback & Ridgebacks were breed to hunt Lions in Africa. That means they are big, fast, strong & brave.

On the 3rd trip through the yard Red casually got up & started watching the truck intently.  Suddenly Red was off like a shot making a bee-line for the truck.  At that point I made a huge mistake… Instead of stopping the truck, I floored the accelerator.  Red just looked at that as more of a challenge & took it up a notch.  He ran down the truck within a few seconds & attacked.

I had to run from the front yard to the end of the back yard.  By the time I got there the damage was done.  Red chewed up the antenna, & was hard at work shredding a 2nd tire.  I forgot to mention when he first caught the truck he flung it pretty high up in the air.

It took awhile to repair it & it never ran the same after the “incident”.  Red’s fascination with the truck limited the time I could drive it around.  I ended up selling it in a yard sale a few years later.

Here we are today.  Red after a long healthy 15 years is gone (RIP buddy).  I got the bug again to get into RC Trucks.  This time I took an interest in gas RC trucks.  I really like the speed & power they have.  Plus, you can now get them ready to run out of the box.  No assembly required.  I’m more interested in driving them around, not building them.

While doing my research I realized one thing.  The information for the beginner is scattered & fragmented all over the place.  So, I decided to bring everything I could find for the beginner into one location.   This blog will be a resource for the beginning gas RC truck hobbyist.

I’ll bring as much information as I can find to help you get into this hobby.  It is my hope you find this helpful, fun and informative.  If there are any subjects you’d like to see covered, feel free to leave a comment below.

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