RC Noob.. into crawler world

[Gompapa]

Hello everyone,

New RC noob here, and would love to hear some suggestions.
I have been enjoying RC with my 5yrs old little one, mostly indoor.
Got my tt02 drift setting, and my son is running Latrax Rally on our wooden floor and garage surface. Lots of fun drifting around together.

Now I am really looking for our second kits as crawler.
Thinking about making some fun indoor random crawler tracks using forms, books, tapes, furniture parts etc.. (It's too hot to go outside in Florida lol)

Prefer to have something with good detail/hop ups/parts availability.
1/24 seems too small to do any modifying, and 1/10 sounds too big to play in the house unless any of you don't think it is. (scx 10 ii looks very cool tho.. love jeep with details)

I did some research, and see lots of different opinions. However, still can't really make my decision.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated. BTW, budget can be flexible.
somewhere $200-300 each.

Sorry for the long post.:ror:

 

[cabron]

depending on your interests and ability, install a wireless cam on the crawler and you can crawl
outside while you sit inside on the pc. haha

on a more serious note. consider what you want out of the hobby. is the main interest in building the car,
puttering around with the kids, develop crawling technique, ending up with a realistic car (a scaler).

for detail 200 - 300 bucks might get you started. the realistic look is currently very popular.

the vattera ascender is a fairly good vehicle. a kit runs about 320 - already built about 400.
Vaterra 1/10 1986 Chevrolet K-5 Blazer Ascender 4WD RC Rock Crawler Kit | Horizon Hobby

if you shop around there might be cheaper prices, at horizon it will be free shipping, I did not look at amazon.

the axials are most popular but what you get stock really needs a few upgrades to make them hardier (in my opinion)
the kits are more fun (to me at least) and allow you to pick +motor esc servo and radio/receiver.
the ready to run has everything but the batteries. again in my opinion, a 3 or 4 channel radio will be more useful than
the 2 channel that comes with the rtr. but the 80 dollar difference will not cover motor esc servo radio receiver that you would
need if you got the kit.

axials are similar in the differences between kits and rtrs but at a higher cost and not as beefy from the outset.

either way welcome to the madness. ask. and soon start posting pictures. haha


p.s. by the time you get it built it will be late fall/winter so the heat wont be a problem.
p.p.s. the ultimate in indoor challenges is climbing the stairs. sofa cushions, pillows, books, shoes
are all fair game and beware to whoever falls asleep on the floor.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Mini or micro crawlers get old fast in my opinion, especially if you take them outside. But 1/10 is too big for indoors. So you have to decide where you're going to use it the most.

Here are some options to ponder:

1/10
Axial SCX10 II
Vaterra Ascender

1/19
ECX Temper
Vaterra Slick Rock

1/25
ProLine Ambush

 

[Gompapa]

Thank you guys.
We will spend most of our time indoor, and that sofa, furniture adventure sounds real fun to do.
Well, I am looking at more videos of Gelande II, and it seems not bad as 1/18.
Anyone experienced lately or running it as a primary crawler?

Cabron//I love kits more than RTR. I have 2 3pv 3ch transmitters, and prolly will get 2 extra receivers to use our same transmitter.

I am sure there are some more posts talk about Gelande II here, and I will search more about it tonight. Thank you for the inputs.

 

[Natedog]

Welcome to RCC, indoor mostly I'd go for Proline Ambush over the RC4WD 1/18, Proline already announced they are coming out with option parts, plus imo it's more durable and more easily modded. "thumbsup"

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Thank you guys.
We will spend most of our time indoor, and that sofa, furniture adventure sounds real fun to do.
Well, I am looking at more videos of Gelande II, and it seems not bad as 1/18.
Anyone experienced lately or running it as a primary crawler?

Cabron//I love kits more than RTR. I have 2 3pv 3ch transmitters, and prolly will get 2 extra receivers to use our same transmitter.

I am sure there are some more posts talk about Gelande II here, and I will search more about it tonight. Thank you for the inputs.

Then a mini or micro is definitely your best bet.

I'm not impressed by the Gelande 1/18. It looks awesome, but if you read these forums there are a lot of people disappointed with the stock Gelande.

 

[Gompapa]

Then a mini or micro is definitely your best bet.

I'm not impressed by the Gelande 1/18. It looks awesome, but if you read these forums there are a lot of people disappointed with the stock Gelande.

As I see many good/positive reviews on Rocksta, I ended up ordering 2 Basher Rocksta with metal gears and some little upgrades on servo.
I believe this would be a good start before I move on to 1/10 scale with my little one. 8)

One thing I changed my mind is order a RTR instead Kit version.
I was afraid to spend too much time find right Dual ESCs and make my 3 ch transmitter works with this. The RTR transmitter has easy mode change buttons, and I don't know if I can set up a same functions with my Futaba 3PV. So... yeah.. just went RTR. (Even price was only $20 different with some discount)

Anyway, thank you guys. Hope I can enjoy this on the weekends with my son, and will post some pics/stories to share soon.

Best,
"thumbsup"