It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote my Remote Controlled blog, but I’ve been having lots of fun with them and have added a few more remote controlled vehicles to my collection!

Let’s start with the additions! I’d ordered a selection of spare parts for my WL Toys 124019 from Banggood, and most were out of stock. It was only when I took stock, that I realised the cost of my spare parts list wasn’t that much less than buying a second car. Ok, a second car was about twice the price at around £75, but I’d end up with far more than twice as many spare parts!

I actually ended up buying a WL Toys 144001 which is the predecessor for the 124019, but very similar in terms of parts. The 124019 is longer so the metal chassis, drive shaft and cover after different, but everything else is pretty much interchangable. It shares the same steering and suspension parts, the same gearing, wheels, tyres and electronics, including the 2S batteries and an identical controller. I now have two lots of spare electronics, as I’ve also made some upgrades to the 124019, but more on that later.

The other new addition was another boat, as I still fancied the idea of playing with two together, even though we don’t get quite the same opportunity. The Eachine EBT02 is very similar to my other boat, and the differences appear to be mainly cosmetic. It also has a slightly different controller, which is a little more game console like, so I thought might be easier for my daughter to pilot. It was only £36, which was the main reason for picking one up!

Now for the biggest purchase, which can only really be described as an upgrade to my 124019! This was the result of watching too many Youtube videos and people converting their brushed RC models to brushless in the quest for more speed. There are quite a few videos of 124019’s doing over 100mph! I’ve not gone quite that mad, and don’t know quite how fast what I’ve built will go as I’ve not splashed out on a GPS unit, but my guess is over 100km per hour, so about 40km per hour more than it was. It’s now blisteringly fast and way faster than I need.

To be honest, it was pretty much fast enough before I made the upgrade, but it became a little project which kind of grew arms and legs. Here’s a list of what’s changed:

OLDNEW
Brushed 550 MotorSurpass Hobby F540 Brushless Motor
Combined ESC/4CH Receiver (2S maximum)60A ESC (3S maximum)
Dumbo RC X6FG 2.4G 6CH Receiver with Gyro
4CH TransmitterDumbo RC 6CH Transmitter
Original Drive ShaftReplacement Drive Shaft with metal gears
Original ServoMetal Gear Servo
Original Motor MountAluminium Motor Mount
Original WheelsRC Foam Tires & Wheels
Original CoverPhat Bodies Hammer Body and Gurt Wing

The original plan was just to replace the motor, ESC, receiver/transmitter and servo, but various Youtube videos suggested removing the motor from the motor mount would be problematic. They also suggested similar problems with the drive shaft, and while the plastic gears might hold up, replacing with metal was strongly recommended. The standard tyres balloon at the increased speeds, and with the rearrange electronics, the original cover doesn’t fit very well, although it actually worked better backwards!

The end result is pretty cool though, with a much more unique RC that looks much better and as mentioned earlier, is about 60% faster than it was when running a 3S battery. To be honest, with a 3S battery and the power dialled up to 100% it’s pretty difficult to control in anything other than a straight line, and even then only on a nice smooth surface.

Anyway, time for some pictures to wrap things up for this blog: