I am Nicolai from Denmark, my German is not so good -so I'll write in English. I am in my midforties and want to restart my old passion for RC cars. I used to have a large portable commercial track for stockcars. But have always been fascinated in small cars and now I found 1:87. I cant wait to get started. I want to build a normal car, not a truck. Which car maker can you recommend to a new starter? How a nice day Nicolai
I think Olivier, aka kniffo01, aka der theoretiker, has some great youtube videos with also recommendations regarding this.
But here goes my comment: I am Theo, from the Netherlands. I count myself still a starter, I have finished one basic model in the not so far past, after initially trying the 1:87 scale rc when they were still using the 40MHz receivers. That first attempt did not go very well for me, and I stopped for a while. For my re-entry in this rc-hobby, I set myself some simple goals: Easy to build Easy to drive; for me that translated to normal speeds and to have a good turning circle
I bought a Herpa model, of a short wheelbase truck with a closed box structure on the back. The model cost me about 10 euros in Dortmund. I looked at other manufacturers as well, but I would say Herpa would be my choice for a beginner. Large selection, plastic is easy to cut and glue, and also a large selection of spare and replacement parts make it easy to make a first model. My biggest recommendation would be to start with a truck model with a single rear-axle and a box on the back: lot of room inside, and simple to convert because of the single rear axle right under the box. For myself, I chose a truck with a short wheelbase, and made sure the steering wheels had a large range to steer, so I would be able to make the relatively tight turns that exist on most model railroad layouts :-) But that depends on your own preferences, I rolled into this hobby from the modeltrains side, for you this is different so your choice can very well be different. One last thing to consider: I could take out all the materials I put into this 10 euro model, and that is all it would have cost to make simple start that provided me with a lot of learnings and an opening to the future, and to re-use the materials like servo, motor and gearbox, receiver, everything. As things are right now the model survives, and I have not been able to spend time on a next model yet. But this simple one works, it fulfilled all the goals I had set, and I celebrated it by driving it on a few model railroad layouts as well as the modules of the mikromodellbau people like Olivier when they were in Dortmund (not in the same year that I bought the model of course :-) )
Thanks for the good answer, I think that it is a very good idea to build something and then reuse it as you get more experienced. So maybe it is a truck starting out. The people I have written to, also says Herpa....So maybe I should go with Herpa :-).