New in RC (Sweden)
 

Hi.

I will soon be active in RC and look into different excavators and have spend a lot of time so far by read in forums. I would appreciate your opinion regarding my first choice of excavator. Shall i buy i RTR (ready to run) or a kit and build my self ? I am in general technical if it helps. I have looked at Volvo 480d and Liebherr 956/960 maybe from Premacon or THS Sleipt.

I would appreciate your thoughts from all of you.

Thanks.

Re: New in RC (Sweden)
 

Hello and welcome to the forum! You can't go wrong with a Premacon or THS excavator, they are fantastic models :cool: You might be interested in looking at Egli CNC Modelltechnik, they are swiss made models :)

http://www.ec-m.ch

Re: New in RC (Sweden)
 

if you can afford a 960 sme than that is the best you can get on the market rtr is best

Re: New in RC (Sweden)
 

Both THS and Premacon comes as RTR and are highly detailed models, which naturally ads a great deal to the price. Uses the same hydraulic systems, high end. Be prepared for about 1 year delivery time, even if their web shops mentions a possiblity as quick as 6 months, which must be considered to be on the more optimistic side of the scale. (THS is e.g at the moment working on 12 off EC480's for the Swedish and US Volvo dealerships, and they are a staff of 6-8 people)
Be aware of that the companies will like to offer you some pretty advanced radios at up to several 1000 dollars, like the Commander series from Scaleart (many attachments are offered for their machines) It's the Germans, very into getting as many small details and functions tru too scale. Things that maybe many modellers other places in the world even not think of or see) Someone locally did get a Premacon with a Commander radio at like 4000 USD just for the radio alone. Way 'overkill' IMO, even though the machine came with some different kind of attachments like a 360 degree grab. Basically on can run the basic excavator functions with a 100 USD 8-10 channel ebay radio. Naturally, when putting 7-10K USD in to a RC excavator, one can find a bit higher end radio that offer more possibilities for a more true to scale operation of the model than a 100 usd ebay version. It's allowed to use some common sence;) but hey, if money is no issue, it does not matter too much if one never use 190 of the 200 setups and functions of a high end radio

If going for a kit, take a look at the Fumotec excavators. A bit less details and a bit less complicated way of construction, still same hydraulics as the other high end German machines, but at a more affordable price as it is a kit naturally. An advantage with some experience from building RC models, but if one have good experience concerning mechanics in general, it's no big task to put one together. Concerning the radio system, one can always ask on forums etc.

Re: New in RC (Sweden)
 

First of all many thanks to all of you spending time to write such detailed answers. I appreciate it very much. From my view I see 3 options:

1. 956/960 from Premacon, RTR, very detailed and realistic model BUT expensive and long delivery time
2. Volvo 480 from THS. RTR, very detailed and realistic as well and long delivery time.
3. Komatsu PC490 from Fumotec. i have heard many positive customers recommending Fumotec. it's not possible to have it RTR so I need to assemble the excavator myself. can be a good learning and the price is half as Premacon and THS

The price is absolutely one factor but not the only. I would like to have a machine which is both strong AND realistic but movements, lights, sound, details etc.