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At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:31 am
by Wicked6
I have been recently re-introduced back into the sport. Dug out my stored rc10 and getting all hyped up to get her back on the road. I am super excited to get my son into it but he will only be 3 in January . Obviously a little young yet.lol. At what age did you guys get your kids involved? Share your stories.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 12:27 pm
by Hcp22
I think my son was around 9 years old and quit six years later...

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 1:28 pm
by Halgar
I have found that just about all kids are interested, the difficulty is having the coordination skills it takes to drive. I say if your kid is showing interest, then get something for him to learn on, not necessarily a hobby grade RC, but certainly something that requires hand/eye coordination to operate, even the tethered remote controlled toys would be good. When they're not running into everything in sight, then you can start giving them something more substantial to drive.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 2:48 pm
by teman
Joe was 8 when he started driving a hobby grade RC. The cars were governed as needed and slowly stepped him up as his skills improved. It took a couple years before he was capable of driving a car with any kind of power. He's now 11, currently driving a B3 with a Reedy 3300 and does quite well if I do say so myself :mrgreen:

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 2:56 pm
by Y'ernat Al
I let my 3 yo drive, but only steer. I kept hold of the transmitter and the throttle, so I could hit the brakes when necessary.

He's 5 now, but unfortunately, (because of the first 5 minutes of the Cars movie imo), he has yet to develop a strong enough aversion to crashing. So with daddy's cars, it's still the steering wheel only.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 4:54 pm
by Groomi
I built up an old Hornet from a box of bits for my boy when he was 3. With a lanyard around his neck he was able to just hold the old Futaba Atack stick controller and drive it around large open car parks OK. Although he struggled with the sticks, he did enjoy it and the runtime from the old Nicads pretty much matched his concentration span.

He's five now and I've just built up a stock Schumacher Cougar SV from old, spare parts and bought a cheapo FlySky trigger radio - hoping to find out how he gets on with it next weekend. :)

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 4:57 pm
by Coelacanth
I think kids of just about any age over 6 will love to drive RC cars. Building, fixing and maintaining, on the other hand...that's another story.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 5:29 pm
by LTO_Dave
Coelacanth wrote:I think kids of just about any age over 6 will love to drive RC cars. Building, fixing and maintaining, on the other hand...that's another story.

That's the job for the older kids like us. :mrgreen:

I got my brother's three step kids into RC crawling last year at the ages of 5, 6 and 7. They share, or at least try to share, a stock RTR Axial Honcho that I waterproofed. I charge the LiPo and do any maintenance that needs done so that they can just have fun. I added a camera wrist strap to the controller so they don't drop it as much. They've only managed to destroy the front bumper and strip the servo horn so far. :mrgreen:

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 5:32 pm
by Charlie don't surf
Started my son @ 4- he's still at it-

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:29 pm
by MelvinsArmy
My nephew started at 4 too.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:57 pm
by FlyinGN
Our Son started at about 10 and it lasted a year or two,. Now at 19 hes getting back into it

Re: At what age?

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 10:03 am
by Wicked6
Cool, thanks for the feedback. gives me a little insight on what to expect. I'm pretty sure he will love it as all he plays with is cars,cars and more cars. I'll start him out cheap and throw away I am sure he will be very hard on it.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 10:41 am
by GreenHell
Here's another thread on the same subject.
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=29081

We got my son started at age two with a Losi Micro-T and at three he was driving a Traxxas Grave Digger with the throttle EPA turned down, and doing very well with it (no broken parts yet). This summer I took him racing with me a couple times, he raced my SC10 in the beginner class (again with the throttle turned down slightly) and did amazingly well. Now he's five and wants a short course truck of his own.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 10:46 am
by kaiser
i built my boy a grasshopper for his 4th birthday, that was this past july.
he picked it up fast and always wants the drive his buggy.

Re: At what age?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:37 am
by Sixtysixdeuce
My girls are 3-1/2 now. They don't fully grasp the concept, but they like them, and they enjoy running them with adult help. Will they continue to have an interest as they get older? I'm giving it 50/50 until they discover makeup, boys and gossip. Then all bets are off.

My son will be born in Feb, and he will be introduced even earlier.