Slight introduction from myself: I've wanted to get into RC scale crawlers for a long time, probably going back 10+ years. I guess the SCX10 and possibly the TRX4 were new. They looked awesome, but high school student couldn't afford one of those. Then ever couple of years I'd find myself looking at them again but never biting the bullet.
That all changed a couple of months ago, funnily enough I started looking at cheap RC cars to annoy the cat with. And I ended up looking at cheap crawlers, and ended up buying one of the WPL C34KM 1/12 FJ40 kit. The instructions were pretty crap and the fasteners all felt like they'd melt if you looked at them funny. But I really enjoyed building the thing, then taking it apart and painting it.
This was my first time doing this sort of stuff. I used a Tamiya Primer and paint and semi-gloss clearI was pretty pleased with how it came out and I think I got the bug. I've also enjoyed driving the thing.
The next step was obviously to go bigger, go for the scale that stuff is actually made in. I spent a good few weeks looking at and researching all of the builders kits, I came very close to getting the Element or SCX10.2 raw kit, but the price was still quite hard to justify. That's when I came across the Injora/Austar 313mm chassis being sold on ebay and amazon. This price was easily justified and I'd more happily tell my partner how much I spent on my toy truck :lmao:
Enough waffle, a few days later I had a parcel waiting for me. I opened it up and there it was, the chassis, some wheels and a front bumper. I'd bought the version that came with wheels and tyres; "Rocks Tyre Super Swampers". I would've preferred to have a complete in pieces kit to build and you would've thought possibly cheaper. But then I guess the cost of actually producing and making intelligible instructions would cost more than just paying some guys to assemble it.
Here he is assembled next to the WPL FJ40:
Seeing as this is my first 1/10 I won't be able to give any meaningful insights or comparisons. It feels fairly sturdy, although the front wheels have a bit of slop in them.
First job is sourcing electronics, I already have a transmitter and receiver so I could reuse those. For ESC I went with a Hobbywing 1060, the 1080 would've been nice but I'm trying to get this running on a budget. For the servo I've gone with a DS3225, again I know budget servos are to be avoided but if I get a few months use out of it I'll be happy. I don't plan on doing anything too hardcore. I had a panic with the battery, and ended getting a massive 5200 2s lipo, I feel a couple of 2200mah might have been better I suspect the cheap charger will bite me on the arse when I have to wait 5 hours for a full charge.
Electronics fitted; the receiver is stuffed into a little box on the rock slider and the ESC is super velcroed™ (3m dual lock)
Now at this point I have a shameful confession, my friend came round and convinced me to take the chassis out for a spin. And worse he convinced me to make a temporary body out of cardboard. I don't have any pictures of this. But we did take it for a spin, we took it on a fairly walk. And that's when trail driving really clicked, the truck was able to go where we go and handled pretty much everything we tried to put it through.
Next job is sorting a body. I wasn't sure what I wanted to go for, but I knew I didn't want to spend a fortune. I went for a Hilux like body. It was being sold as an Absima CB006, it appears to be the same model as the Proline Hilux SR5 but cost half as much and doesn't have any of the Toyota licencing. Even more confusingly the packaging when I arrived was branded as Team-C. I don't really know what any of this means.
But it looks like this:
Wait, I think something is off here.
That's better
This is just after cutting, I wasn't looking forward to this. I don't have the steadiest hands in the world, and I'm not even that good at cutting paper with scissors. Luckily, it came out looking okay.
A quick note for anyone planning on using one of these chassis, if you've watching Dezfan's Lo-do thread you might have seen. The body mounting points have flat sides, I used OG SCX10 body posts Axial part AX80031. It's sheer dumb luck that I bought those posts rather than any other ones, it didn't even occur to me there would be much difference between posts.
No more pics right now, this afternoon I plan getting it masked up and sprayed. I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about painting as I've never painted lexan before. For colour I'm going for a very original black, mostly because in my mind this will be an easier job. I'd like to get this body done so I have something to play with while I have a longer term plan for something nicer.
I'm thinking about some different tyres, something a bit less aggressive, a bit more road like. Happy to hear any suggestions
Oh and with a bit of luck I'll remember to charge my camera so the pics won't have to look so crappy
That all changed a couple of months ago, funnily enough I started looking at cheap RC cars to annoy the cat with. And I ended up looking at cheap crawlers, and ended up buying one of the WPL C34KM 1/12 FJ40 kit. The instructions were pretty crap and the fasteners all felt like they'd melt if you looked at them funny. But I really enjoyed building the thing, then taking it apart and painting it.
This was my first time doing this sort of stuff. I used a Tamiya Primer and paint and semi-gloss clearI was pretty pleased with how it came out and I think I got the bug. I've also enjoyed driving the thing.
The next step was obviously to go bigger, go for the scale that stuff is actually made in. I spent a good few weeks looking at and researching all of the builders kits, I came very close to getting the Element or SCX10.2 raw kit, but the price was still quite hard to justify. That's when I came across the Injora/Austar 313mm chassis being sold on ebay and amazon. This price was easily justified and I'd more happily tell my partner how much I spent on my toy truck :lmao:
Enough waffle, a few days later I had a parcel waiting for me. I opened it up and there it was, the chassis, some wheels and a front bumper. I'd bought the version that came with wheels and tyres; "Rocks Tyre Super Swampers". I would've preferred to have a complete in pieces kit to build and you would've thought possibly cheaper. But then I guess the cost of actually producing and making intelligible instructions would cost more than just paying some guys to assemble it.
Here he is assembled next to the WPL FJ40:
Seeing as this is my first 1/10 I won't be able to give any meaningful insights or comparisons. It feels fairly sturdy, although the front wheels have a bit of slop in them.
First job is sourcing electronics, I already have a transmitter and receiver so I could reuse those. For ESC I went with a Hobbywing 1060, the 1080 would've been nice but I'm trying to get this running on a budget. For the servo I've gone with a DS3225, again I know budget servos are to be avoided but if I get a few months use out of it I'll be happy. I don't plan on doing anything too hardcore. I had a panic with the battery, and ended getting a massive 5200 2s lipo, I feel a couple of 2200mah might have been better I suspect the cheap charger will bite me on the arse when I have to wait 5 hours for a full charge.
Electronics fitted; the receiver is stuffed into a little box on the rock slider and the ESC is super velcroed™ (3m dual lock)
Now at this point I have a shameful confession, my friend came round and convinced me to take the chassis out for a spin. And worse he convinced me to make a temporary body out of cardboard. I don't have any pictures of this. But we did take it for a spin, we took it on a fairly walk. And that's when trail driving really clicked, the truck was able to go where we go and handled pretty much everything we tried to put it through.
Next job is sorting a body. I wasn't sure what I wanted to go for, but I knew I didn't want to spend a fortune. I went for a Hilux like body. It was being sold as an Absima CB006, it appears to be the same model as the Proline Hilux SR5 but cost half as much and doesn't have any of the Toyota licencing. Even more confusingly the packaging when I arrived was branded as Team-C. I don't really know what any of this means.
But it looks like this:
Wait, I think something is off here.
That's better
This is just after cutting, I wasn't looking forward to this. I don't have the steadiest hands in the world, and I'm not even that good at cutting paper with scissors. Luckily, it came out looking okay.
A quick note for anyone planning on using one of these chassis, if you've watching Dezfan's Lo-do thread you might have seen. The body mounting points have flat sides, I used OG SCX10 body posts Axial part AX80031. It's sheer dumb luck that I bought those posts rather than any other ones, it didn't even occur to me there would be much difference between posts.
No more pics right now, this afternoon I plan getting it masked up and sprayed. I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about painting as I've never painted lexan before. For colour I'm going for a very original black, mostly because in my mind this will be an easier job. I'd like to get this body done so I have something to play with while I have a longer term plan for something nicer.
I'm thinking about some different tyres, something a bit less aggressive, a bit more road like. Happy to hear any suggestions
Oh and with a bit of luck I'll remember to charge my camera so the pics won't have to look so crappy
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