Well... not counting airplanes back in the 90s...
Anyway, my first foray into building up an RC car kit was the Traxxas TRX4 Chassis Kit. This was the standard TRX4 kit, not the sport version. I already had 2 TRX4s that I had purchased RTR, the Bronco and the Defender, and I really wanted the '79 K5 Bazer also. Instead of buying another RTR, I decided to build this one in order to gain a deeper understanding of the truck and how it was engineered. So even though it was more expensive to do so, I bought the chassis kit and the Blazer body and wheels separately.
The only upgraded components I included were the Traxxas 400oz servo and the complete lighting kit which I was able to incorporate into the build without too much trouble. The instructions for this kit are amazing and I only noticed a couple of typos which were not show stoppers.
The only "gotcha" I had was not realizing that the Bronco and Blazer need the extended length stub axles in order to thread on the decorative center hubs after you attach the wheels. So I had to swap those out after the fact.
This being my first kit, I REALLY took my time with it. I logged each session I spent working on it and when it was finally complete, my total build time was 31 hours, 7 minutes! I've seen builds on YouTube take 4-6 hrs so I know I was probably slower than most you out there who have built this rig. Note that that time included installing the light kit, the BEC for the beefed up servo and all it's extra wiring as well as re-building the portal axles... twice! (the first time was because I put too much grease in them, the second time to swap the axles).
I don't have anything to compare this to, but I REALLY enjoyed building this kit. There were ZERO fit issues. Everything went together perfectly. I had exactly 1 minor quality control issue. One of the 4x15 screw pins in the bumper assembly did not get machined properly and could not be used. Traxxas sent me a whole bag of replacements in less than a week so I have no complaints there. The truck runs great and looks EXACTLY like the RTR version (because it's basically identical) and with the light kit, it's now my best looking model.
My next build, which I'm in the process of collecting the parts for, is going to be the Axial SCX10 III Jeep Wrangler. It looks a little more advanced since you have to source your own electronics and I will also be using a 3rd party light kit. I will post that build in the Axial forum when I start.
Anyway, my first foray into building up an RC car kit was the Traxxas TRX4 Chassis Kit. This was the standard TRX4 kit, not the sport version. I already had 2 TRX4s that I had purchased RTR, the Bronco and the Defender, and I really wanted the '79 K5 Bazer also. Instead of buying another RTR, I decided to build this one in order to gain a deeper understanding of the truck and how it was engineered. So even though it was more expensive to do so, I bought the chassis kit and the Blazer body and wheels separately.
The only upgraded components I included were the Traxxas 400oz servo and the complete lighting kit which I was able to incorporate into the build without too much trouble. The instructions for this kit are amazing and I only noticed a couple of typos which were not show stoppers.
The only "gotcha" I had was not realizing that the Bronco and Blazer need the extended length stub axles in order to thread on the decorative center hubs after you attach the wheels. So I had to swap those out after the fact.
This being my first kit, I REALLY took my time with it. I logged each session I spent working on it and when it was finally complete, my total build time was 31 hours, 7 minutes! I've seen builds on YouTube take 4-6 hrs so I know I was probably slower than most you out there who have built this rig. Note that that time included installing the light kit, the BEC for the beefed up servo and all it's extra wiring as well as re-building the portal axles... twice! (the first time was because I put too much grease in them, the second time to swap the axles).
I don't have anything to compare this to, but I REALLY enjoyed building this kit. There were ZERO fit issues. Everything went together perfectly. I had exactly 1 minor quality control issue. One of the 4x15 screw pins in the bumper assembly did not get machined properly and could not be used. Traxxas sent me a whole bag of replacements in less than a week so I have no complaints there. The truck runs great and looks EXACTLY like the RTR version (because it's basically identical) and with the light kit, it's now my best looking model.
My next build, which I'm in the process of collecting the parts for, is going to be the Axial SCX10 III Jeep Wrangler. It looks a little more advanced since you have to source your own electronics and I will also be using a 3rd party light kit. I will post that build in the Axial forum when I start.
Last edited:
