RC World 101: Choosing Your First Rig

Welcome to RC. The hobby is huge, the jargon is thick, and it is easy to overspend on the wrong thing. Here is the plain-English version of what actually matters for your first rig.

RTR vs kit. RTR means "Ready To Run" — the rig comes built, with the electronics installed and a radio in the box. You add a battery and charger and go. A kit is a box of parts you build yourself; it teaches you how everything works but it is a project, not a first drive. For your first rig, buy RTR. You will learn plenty just by driving, crashing, and fixing.

Brushed vs brushless. This is the motor. A brushed motor is cheap, simple, and forgiving — perfect for learning, and easy on batteries and your wallet. A brushless motor is more powerful, more efficient, and lasts far longer, but it is faster and less forgiving of a beginner's throttle finger. Plenty of great first rigs are brushed; a mild brushless "ready to bash" rig is fine too if you respect the speed.

Scale, explained. Scale is the size of the model relative to a real vehicle. 1/10 scale is the sweet spot for beginners — big enough to be tough and to find parts for anywhere, small enough to run in a park or backyard. 1/8 is bigger, faster, and hungrier. 1/18 and 1/24 are small and great for running indoors or in tight spaces. Start around 1/10 and you will not go wrong.

Basher vs racer vs crawler. This is the biggest decision, because it decides where and how you have fun:

- A basher (monster truck, stadium truck, short-course truck) is built to jump, hit curbs, and take abuse. Durable, forgiving, and a blast in a parking lot or field. This is what most people should start with.
- A racer (touring car, 2WD buggy) is low, fast, and tuned for grip and lap times on smooth or prepared surfaces. Rewarding, but less tolerant of rough ground and rookie crashes.
- A crawler is slow and torquey, built to climb rocks and crawl technical terrain. No jumping, no speed — it is about precision and looks. Super fun and very beginner-friendly because the low speed means low-damage crashes.

What you actually need to start. The rig is only part of the bill. Budget for:

- A battery (often not included — check whether it is NiMH or LiPo; see our battery guides).
- A charger that matches your battery chemistry. Get a decent balance charger if you run LiPo.
- AA batteries for the transmitter (many radios still use them).
- Basic hand tools — a set of hex/nut drivers in the sizes your rig uses. Most kits list them.
- A few spare parts for the things that break first: driveshafts, A-arms, and body clips. You will break them, and running out mid-session is the worst.

One piece of advice that saves beginners the most grief: pick a rig from a well-known brand with easy parts availability in your region. A slightly less flashy rig you can get parts for beats a fancy one you have to wait three weeks to repair. Buy tough, run it hard, and learn on it. Welcome to the crew.