B-MOW's Ascent-18 New Look

[B-MOW71]

Time for my Redcat Ascent-18 to get its very own place to show off its makeover and overhaul.

The Ascent-18 did make an appearance in my B-MOW's TRX-4m Mini Blue Bronco thread back when I first purchased it. At the time I really had no plans on doing any major upgrades to it. But now is the time for it to get some love!

It'll be getting the Meus MB24 treatment. More to come later.

 

[B-MOW71]

Back at the lil' Ascent.

First off, I have to say, I've never been a fan of Redcat. I never liked the design of the earlier versions of the 1/10 rigs and the durability didn't seem to be there. BUT, with this new little Ascent, I think Redcat has finally made a winner! This lil' guy is a great performer right out of the box. It's put together well, is durable and the price is hard to beat too. I purchased this right when they were released and I believe the total price was around $80 bucks shipped from Amain.

Here's a look at how she's starting out. I did move around the electronics when I first took it out of the box to help get some weight in the right places. Besides the tires and wheels, everything else is stock. Great little leak free (so far) shocks and low and forward trans/motor. The steering servo is really strong for its size and seems to be the best one I've seen to come stock.


On with more building. I put together the Meus chassis and cage. Super simple. Not much to it, but man them screws are tiny!

 

[B-MOW71]

On to the body. I decided to pick up a new Ascent-18 body to hack up and keep the original body in tac for future use.

These bodies are fairly cheap for the amount of lexan that they come with. They are very thick for their size!



Started chopping and trimming. Cut the windows out and cut out the back of the bed and grille area to fit it to the tube chassis.





Here's how she sits with the new carbon fiber chassis. I installed a set of Injora TRX4m high clearance links to give more clearance underneath.
Also, picked up a set of Injora brass portal covers. This guy needed a little more weight up front.


Stock portal weight.


Injora brass portal weight.

 

[hnoroian]

That chassis does look good! And those screws sure are tiny…

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Very cool build so far. Don't make me want one of these trucks!

 

[Speedy-Triple]

Ascent looking really good B-mow ... good to see you building again... Looking forward to see the chassis and how it changes the ascent.


Jato you know you need one of these.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Ascent looking really good B-mow ... good to see you building again... Looking forward to see the chassis and how it changes the ascent.


Jato you know you need one of these.

I really don't. My micros and minis just set idly around the house. That includes my TRX-4M.

 

[hnoroian]

Jato - you need an indoor crawling course set up.

 

[B-MOW71]

That chassis does look good! And those screws sure are tiny…

For the money, the chassis is nice. And yeah, the screws are microscopic. Very easy to fumble these onto the floor and disappear forever!

Very cool build so far. Don't make me want one of these trucks!

Oh, your gonna want one of these! This little Redcat is by far the most capable mini I have. It's gonna be fun to run this indoor once the winter chill sets in.

Ascent looking really good B-mow ... good to see you building again... Looking forward to see the chassis and how it changes the ascent.


Jato you know you need one of these.

Thanks Speedy! Glad to finally have some time to tinker with the rigs again!

Jato - you need an indoor crawling course set up.

Me too!

 

[hnoroian]

Quite a few out there. Gramps has a nice course but his pics are not showing up, at-least not on my end.

A pic of one of my sheets is in this Thread

Kyosho had some nice stacking to store terrain.

3D printing ones with interlocking tiles are pretty awesome now. Enlarging “war gaming” terrain and the like make great obstacles…

 

[JatoTheRipper]

For the money, the chassis is nice. And yeah, the screws are microscopic. Very easy to fumble these onto the floor and disappear forever!


Oh, your gonna want one of these! This little Redcat is by far the most capable mini I have. It's gonna be fun to run this indoor once the winter chill sets in.

How small are the screws? What's the thread diameter and the hex size?

I don't think it'll happen. I saw OSRC's super-capable mini Injora "Bomber" or whatever they call it. That thing was glued to the rocks. But I'd just rather spend the money on larger stuff.

 

[soze]

Looking good! I really need to start posting my builds here again. I drove my pretty much stock except for wheels and tires Ascent18 at proline, and also had a chance to look and drive RCSteve710's Ascent18 with the Orange Crawlers Juice chassis with Injora hardbody. It's got me really going down the road to putting some work into my Ascent18 now. He's been pushing me to seriously get into micros for years, and I think they're at a point where I'm more interested and ready to jump in now.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I really need to start posting my builds here again.

YES!

Where can one find the Orange chassis? I'm not familiar with those.

 

[soze]

YES!

Where can one find the Orange chassis? I'm not familiar with those.

Only reason I stopped posting was because the site looked like it was going to die at one point. Didn't want to put too much effort into a site that was going to disappear.

The Juice chassis is kind of pricey. I probably won't be picking one up. I can't justify the cost for a micro chassis, but it definitely performs very well from what I experienced.

You can find the Orange Crawlers Juice Chassis on eBay - Titanium, low cg chassis for Ascent 18. 10° skid, integral sliders, body mounts. | eBay

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Only reason I stopped posting was because the site looked like it was going to die at one point. Didn't want to put too much effort into a site that was going to disappear.

The Juice chassis is kind of pricey. I probably won't be picking one up. I can't justify the cost for a micro chassis, but it definitely performs very well from what I experienced.

You can find the Orange Crawlers Juice Chassis on eBay - Titanium, low cg chassis for Ascent 18. 10° skid, integral sliders, body mounts. | eBay

I totally understand. Sometimes I feel like I'm typing to myself when I type out a long post and get no responses. But there seem to be a very small group of diehards here.

Thanks for the link!

 

[B-MOW71]

How small are the screws? What's the thread diameter and the hex size?

I don't think it'll happen. I saw OSRC's super-capable mini Injora "Bomber" or whatever they call it. That thing was glued to the rocks. But I'd just rather spend the money on larger stuff.

Tiny! Very tiny! Some are M2, but most are smaller than that.

Looking good! I really need to start posting my builds here again. I drove my pretty much stock except for wheels and tires Ascent18 at proline, and also had a chance to look and drive RCSteve710's Ascent18 with the Orange Crawlers Juice chassis with Injora hardbody. It's got me really going down the road to putting some work into my Ascent18 now. He's been pushing me to seriously get into micros for years, and I think they're at a point where I'm more interested and ready to jump in now.

Would be great to see some new post of your recent builds. I’ve been MIA for the past couple months and haven’t been able to post anything new.

Cool you got to drive RCSteves rig. He has some awesome builds.

Lately I’ve been full throttle into the mini’s. I need to get my newest builds posted up.