BM Hobby FLD AE86 (Review)

This is very likely the best small scale RTR drift car that I've tested so far, and a product that fills a huge hole in the mini drifting market. You don't want to miss out on this one!

Quick Specs

• Scale: 1/28
• Motor: Brushed
• Battery: 350mah Lipo
• Price $148.99

Whats in the Box?

In the box you will receive the car, a dumbo RC style radio, a 350mah Lipo battery, a usb charger and an adapter for other batteries to connect to the ESC. There is also a separate parts bag including a dummy chassis with dummy axles that you can use to display the included body or likely any Kyosho Autoscale body. Another parts bag is included that contains some steering knuckles for "Touring mode" (less steering), some rubber tires, and an additional motor. I didn't test the other motor because it looked basically the same as the one that was installed on the car, so I just assumed it was a replacement if/when you ever need it.

Overview

The BM Hobby FLD AE86 is a 1/28th RC Drift car with that is surprisingly full featured and much different than a lot of RTR drifters in this scale. The AE86 body that it comes with is a hard body and stylized in a cartoonish manner. Some people will love the squished cartoony look and others will not – personally, I like it! There is also an insert that you can pop into the body that has a little bobble head figure in there that looks like a lot like the Stig from Top Gear. Another interesting thing has to do with the way the body is mounted. It's mounted exactly like the Kyosho Mini-Z and can accept the front clips used on Mini Z bodies. That gives you access to a lot of VERY good looking bodies if you're ever trying to change things up.

The FLD chassis is fully hobby grade and includes regular hobby grade electronics that can be upgraded however you choose. Suspension is handled in all four corners with a spring/kingpin style suspension with no dampening. It is similar design to what you'd find on the Kyosho Mini Z AWD and works great in this application. The motor is mounted towards the rear of the chassis just inward of the rear wheels, and its mounted up high, meshing with the spur gear from the top. This is a typical design seen on RC drift cars that I would imagine is to help the rear end swing around more easily.

The FLD was very thoughtfully designed and its very apparent no matter what part of the kit you're looking at. They just did an extra good job here and included a lot of extra "Nice to have" and "Oh that's cool" things. It seems like BM Hobby tried to give us as much as possible for the money versus simply getting a product out that is merely "acceptable" for the price.

First Pack

I chose to drift the FLD on my carpet track because it seemed to provide the perfect traction to slip ratio with my Kyosho Mini Z AWD, and I feel like I made the right choice. It didn't take too long for me to get some nice, controlled slides around the corners, and before I knew it I was completing nice clean laps with ease. The gyro in this car is adjustable from the transmitter and I found the sweet spot to be around a quarter turn, or slightly less from zero. On a slick hardwood or tile surface, more is better but I don't think you'll ever need to reach the 1/2 turn point on the gyro.

Fifth Pack

After a few laps and accidental collisions with my track barriers I knocked off the rear bumper which was hilarious and realistic in a novel way. It wasn't super easy to knock off so I don't think anyone is going to get annoyed by this, but to me it was cool because it made me feel like the car sustained some actual damage from the crash. I also started to get a little better at drifting the FLD at this point and started to realize that I could actually get a lot more angle in my drift than I had originally assumed was possible! I wasn't very good at nailing these high angle drifts, but with some additional practice I think I will get the hang of it and be able to complete a pretty impressive looking lap.

I chose to mount a Kyosho Mini Z body to the FLD just to test how well it would work. I borrowed the body and front clip from My Mini Z AWD, and it mounted right up to the FLD only requiring a small wheelbase adjustment to fit. The car continued to perform admirably with the Kyosho lid on it, and although it handled differently, it didn't really handle any better or worse. This is a really nice handling, and easy to drive little drift car, that I can see myself spending a lot of time with sliding around impromptu obstacles in my living room.

I chose not to test the car with the rubber tires and shorter throw knuckles because I was having far too much fun driving the car in a drifting configuration, and don't see myself or many people relying on it for a grip/racing style setup. It's marketed as a drifter, and mainly intended for drifting, so I drifted it.

Durability/Issues

No real durability probems or issues to be found on the FLD except for one thing that I'll mention, even though it was my fault. Be careful while mounting the body because if you handle the chassis like a gorilla you may be able to flex it enough to let one of the dogbones fall out. It was simple to put it back in, but not so simple to find after it fell out. I don't think a lot of people will have this issue, but either way I think its good to know about.

Final Word

I think the FLD AE86 is a really great product that BM Hobby obviously spent a lot of time desigining. It really feels like they tried to think of everything when putting this kit together, and it fills a gap in the market for a 2wd hobby grade RTR drifter. There are real drift chassis available in the 1/28 scale, but they're all quite high end, and come as kits. That means you'll have to source your own electronics, and even your own body and wheels depending on the kit. The FLD puts everything you need in one box to start drifting at this scale and they offer it at a pretty good price when compared with other 1/28 scale cars.

I noticed that BM Hobby offers a nice array of upgrades for the FLD so I'm excited to try and build one up as a project car in the near future. I'm even more excited that they designed it in such a way that I have access to ton of bodies which will give my project a truly custom look. At the end of the day, if you're trying to get into 1/28th scale drifting I think the FLD is the easiest, and most economical way to get started. I'm impressed!

If you're interested you can pick one up from Banggood Here!