Johnny's Big Little Guy builds a Barrage

[JohnnyAnguish]

My older son is the age I was when I built my first RC. It was a Tamiya Falcon and it kicked it's dog bones like nobody's business. Anyway...

With some experience helping me build a Bomber (and to a lesser extent, a Yeti) under his belt, Big Little Guy was itching for a kit of his own. We were at our LHS* and the Barrage caught his eye. After a quick call to the wife for approval (who, bless her heart, realized she was also signing up for a kit for Little Little Guy (who was dying for an on road car)) we walked out with the kit and a couple of cans of Tamiya spray paint.

Given how long the Bomber took to build with Big Little Guy's on-again-off-again approach, I expected the kit to keep him occupied for a while. After all, he was building this one on his own. I wasn't going to be "reminding" him to work on it.

I think I underestimated the draw of having his own RC car. This was the state shortly after we got home...


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr

*RC Excitement in Fitchburg, MA. Place rules. The shop even runs a build camp where they assemble the Barrage with the kids.

 

[hillbillyrc]

I'm going to watch this build.

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

I'm going to watch this build.

There won't be a whole lot to watch, because I woke up the next morning to find the kid had already finished up the kit!

We spent the day painting the body. I helped him mask it up and put on the decals. We took turns spraying coats of paint. I gave him a left over jerry can I had from my Scrap Dingo build, some stickers from my CFX Bronco build and some Axial plastic D-Rings I had laying around.

He's got a few more ideas for detailing, but at this point he couldn't wait any longer to get it dirty. I was amazed he paused long enough to let me take these pictures.


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr

 

[alexleblanc]

That’s awesome! My 9yo daughter helped me build her own tamiya Grasshopper a while back but in another year i’ll Get her to do the same. How old is your young fella?

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

That’s awesome! My 9yo daughter helped me build her own tamiya Grasshopper a while back but in another year i’ll Get her to do the same. How old is your young fella?

He's 12. Some of the hardware in the Barrage kit is really tiny. That's the only thing that ever really gave him trouble on this build. It can be tricky getting some of those little screw started into hard plastic. He helped me build my Bomber last year. The hardware is a better size on that, but it's a more complicated build.

My younger guy is 9. He's obsessed with super cars. We just built a Tamiya TT-02 Acura NSX together that is now "his" car. It won't be long until he's capable of tackling a kit all on his own. That's gonna be a bittersweet moment, 'cause I had a lot of fun building it with him.

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

A couple of shots from the tiny truck's first trip out in the yard. This might have been the only two moments the truck wasn't moving...


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

Here are a few pics I managed to sneak during the Barrage's first couple of trail runs. So far so good. The kid digs it!


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr

 

[Shinchu]

I LOVE THIS!!!
I have been an advocate for the barrage being the perfect kids first truck since day 1. My 10 year old son got one for his 9th birthday (he just turned 10 last week) and his learning curve was incredible.
His only rc experience before that was the $20 Wal-Mart newbrights. When he learned to slow down and watch the truck articulate and pick good lines... The kid is a natural! And tje barrage is perfect for a beginner with its large tires and light overall weight. Even the powertrain is perfect. Not fast at all but just enough to teach throttle control.
He staryed off with throttle trim all the way down but now he can regulate his trigger finger as well as any adult on the trail.

Lots of proud moments ahead for you, Mr Anguish!
Putting together his own kit is a big step! And your little(er) guy has good taste in the tt02
I handed down my tt01 drifter to my son last year and he loves that too.

My sons twin sister who is on the autistic spectrum has tried her brothers older trucks and did great too. Big smiles as the truck bounced around on the nearly flat dirt lol so now that Andrew has a CODYBOY donated rig, I consider the barrage Tina's rig. And when my little Tyler due in October is old enough, the barrage will be his first rig too.

I really do love this rig as a beginner truck. And it seems I am not the only one!

GET OUT THERE AND BRING THE KIDS!!!!!

*Also mr anguish maybe post pics somewhere of that tt02?

**couldn't resist posting this pic my my sons rig next to mine at proline by the fire 2018 scale town

 

[Xrayray]

It's great how he woke up super early the next day and didn't need your help to finish it! Looks awesome!!

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

I LOVE THIS!!

I really do love this rig as a beginner truck. And it seems I am not the only one!

*Also mr anguish maybe post pics somewhere of that tt02?

Thanks! It's pretty great for a first time builder. Aside from the tiny screws it's about as simple as they come.

I have a few pics of the TT-02 being built. Maybe I'll throw them in the non-crawler section at some point.

It's great how he woke up super early the next day and didn't need your help to finish it! Looks awesome!!

In fairness, the kid us up before the sun every day. Still pretty great that he went straight to the truck instead of Netflix or video games.

 

[Shinchu]

Yeah mine is the same. In his defense he cant crawl his ascender right now because of a transfer case problem and its in the middle of a blazer body build. Oh and its been stupid hot in San Diego.

Yeah post that tt02 up! We love tamiya on road stuff on the non crawler section!

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

License plate making time!


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

Yeah post that tt02 up! We love tamiya on road stuff on the non crawler section!

Nothing fancy, but here ya go: Johnny and his Little Little Guy build a Tamiya TT-02 NSX

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

ECX Barrage as mud truck?

I took Big Little Guy over to RC Excitement to play on their crawler course. We've had lots of rain, so there was goopy mud everywhere.

Then Big Little Guy noticed the mud pit they set up for their Tough Truck event coming up this weekend...

I gotta say the little blue truck did much better than I imagined it would. Surprisingly, it never got stuck. It bogged down pretty good at the deepest, dirtiest spots, but it pulled through. I'm impressed.

We gave it a good hose down when we got home. I've been squeezing brown water out of the tires ever since.


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


Axial SCX-10 Jeep Wrangler G6 and ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

While the little Barrage held its own on the trails, a bashing session with a couple of 12 year-olds in tall, wet grass was too much for it to handle. A quick tear down showed a gear failure.

ECX only sells the complete gearbox, so I picked up a set of the FTX gears from across the pond.


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr

 

[indybama]

I LOVE THIS!!!
I have been an advocate for the barrage being the perfect kids first truck since day 1. My 10 year old son got one for his 9th birthday (he just turned 10 last week) and his learning curve was incredible.
His only rc experience before that was the $20 Wal-Mart newbrights. When he learned to slow down and watch the truck articulate and pick good lines... The kid is a natural! And tje barrage is perfect for a beginner with its large tires and light overall weight. Even the powertrain is perfect. Not fast at all but just enough to teach throttle control.
He staryed off with throttle trim all the way down but now he can regulate his trigger finger as well as any adult on the trail.

Lots of proud moments ahead for you, Mr Anguish!
Putting together his own kit is a big step! And your little(er) guy has good taste in the tt02
I handed down my tt01 drifter to my son last year and he loves that too.

My sons twin sister who is on the autistic spectrum has tried her brothers older trucks and did great too. Big smiles as the truck bounced around on the nearly flat dirt lol so now that Andrew has a CODYBOY donated rig, I consider the barrage Tina's rig. And when my little Tyler due in October is old enough, the barrage will be his first rig too.

I really do love this rig as a beginner truck. And it seems I am not the only one!

GET OUT THERE AND BRING THE KIDS!!!!!

*Also mr anguish maybe post pics somewhere of that tt02?

**couldn't resist posting this pic my my sons rig next to mine at proline by the fire 2018 scale town

Wat ford body is that?

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

 

[indybama]

Always great to see young kids get into such a great hobby! Keeps them out of trouble, out in the fresh air, alot of fun hands on

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

With the transmission back in action we had the Barrage out on the trails. I got to drive it a bit more this time. It's a fun truck! It does, however, desperately need a better steering servo. We'll install that when we add some of the accessories Big Little Guy got for Christmas.


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage by johnny anguish, on Flickr

 

[Gator-J]

Thats awesome. I got my 7yro a 1st Gen Barrage for X-mas since they were on sale here. I wish I would have gotten the kit now. He is a lego nut and would of loved building it as well.


For my youngest it will be a kit.

 

[JohnnyAnguish]

Time for a few quick upgrades! I picked up this Gear Head recovery rope in one of his favorite colors for him as a Christmas present. We finally got around to getting it on the rig.


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr

Another Christmas pick up was the Gear Head Six Shooter light bar. This one is blue on the outside and white in the middle because I knew that's what Big Little One would like. I let him pick where to mount it. Roof it is!


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr

Lastly, after getting a chance to drive the tiny truck for a bit I knew the servo had to go. I figured we'd do a cheap servo upgrade while we were doing the rest of the work.


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr


ECX Barrage Build by johnny anguish, on Flickr