RGT RC4 Ver.3 Bowler (aka FTX/HSP/Barrage)

[gforce13]

So how do you like it so far honchojoe? I'm thinking about getting this as my first rig.

[smokinapankake]

I've just ordered one of these as my first crawler. I was debating between this and the Redcat Gen 7, but a few things pushed me over to this: 1. Price. I got mine for 175.00 shipped. 2. Axles. The axles are about the most scale looking i've seen (not that I have any experience, but have been semi casually surfing rock crawlers online for the past couple of years). 3. Replacement / upgrade parts. Looks like alot of the upgrades and replacements are commonly found in other kits... and at a decent price. 4. Looks. Nothing beats the wierdness of this truck, not even a real Jeep FC! Anyway, I'm excited to begin learning about scalers and crawling in general!

[honchojoe]

Originally Posted by gforce13

So how do you like it so far honchojoe? I'm thinking about getting this as my first rig.

Hey mate. Sorry for the late reply. I've just bought a business selling rc crawler gear and have been snowed under. With the limited abount of time I've spent on this I've loved it. So light and it just goes anywhere once you have good tyres. Just needs a bit of weight over the front axle.

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[smokinapankake]

So I've had mine for a few weeks now and I gotta say - I love this goofy little truck. I replaced the servo with the same one HonchoJoe used and found I had to get a cord extender to reach the receiver, but other than that is is bone stock.

I made a few suspension tweaks that I feel enhance its ability right out of the box: I moved the upper ball studs that the shocks mount to the chassis with down one hole, and found that stops the body from rubbing the tires at full lock. I also removed the spring seat/preload ring to soften up the suspension a bit to gain some sag. The rear is still a little stiff but rather than replace the springs I may just add a little weight to the back of the chassis.

Steering setup on mine is a little funky with only trim and dual rate adjustments. Seems no matter how I try, I cant get the trim centered and have equal throw in both directions. Part of the problem appears to be a steering link that is too long, so I've trimmed the length of the screw-on ball ends just a smidge. This helped a bit but not totally solved the problem. The other thing I noticed was that the front tires appear to be set in a toe-out position. Again, a fixed length link prevents any adjustment, so I again trimmed the ends of the ball joints to effectively shorten the length of the link. It makes more sense to me to have end point adjustments on the steering channel, not the throttle channel. Or EPA's on both channels. I think I'll be upgrading to a FlySky FS-GT3C to accomplish just that.

Being a total newb to crawlers (but not RC - I still have my old Kyosho Optima from 1988!) I have to say that I'm very impressed with what you get for your money these days. I got mine for US $175 delivered and it was here in a week. I use it for trail running - that is, the local hiking and mountain biking trails and am very well pleased with its performance in that capacity. It will take any trail I'm willing to hike with aplomb and I am quite amazed at how capable it is in off-trail side adventures as well!

I do wish it came with a 540 size motor rather than the stock 390, but thats not a deal breaker for me. I don't know how good of quality the battery is but at 2200mah it seems to have sufficient capacity to run longer that I want to hike around behind the truck. Just today I spent an hour and 18 minutes driving and climbing rocks with this thing and still had battery life to go! I'm charging with my Thunder Dual Power AC680 charger so I expect the battery to be well taken care of....

At any rate, if anybody is on the fence about whether or not to spring for this little truck I would say it's definitely money well spent! I'm having a ball and expect to do so for quite a long time to come!

[honchojoe]

Originally Posted by smokinapankake

So I've had mine for a few weeks now and I gotta say - I love this goofy little truck. I replaced the servo with the same one HonchoJoe used and found I had to get a cord extender to reach the receiver, but other than that is is bone stock.

I made a few suspension tweaks that I feel enhance its ability right out of the box: I moved the upper ball studs that the shocks mount to the chassis with down one hole, and found that stops the body from rubbing the tires at full lock. I also removed the spring seat/preload ring to soften up the suspension a bit to gain some sag. The rear is still a little stiff but rather than replace the springs I may just add a little weight to the back of the chassis.

Steering setup on mine is a little funky with only trim and dual rate adjustments. Seems no matter how I try, I cant get the trim centered and have equal throw in both directions. Part of the problem appears to be a steering link that is too long, so I've trimmed the length of the screw-on ball ends just a smidge. This helped a bit but not totally solved the problem. The other thing I noticed was that the front tires appear to be set in a toe-out position. Again, a fixed length link prevents any adjustment, so I again trimmed the ends of the ball joints to effectively shorten the length of the link. It makes more sense to me to have end point adjustments on the steering channel, not the throttle channel. Or EPA's on both channels. I think I'll be upgrading to a FlySky FS-GT3C to accomplish just that.

Being a total newb to crawlers (but not RC - I still have my old Kyosho Optima from 1988!) I have to say that I'm very impressed with what you get for your money these days. I got mine for US $175 delivered and it was here in a week. I use it for trail running - that is, the local hiking and mountain biking trails and am very well pleased with its performance in that capacity. It will take any trail I'm willing to hike with aplomb and I am quite amazed at how capable it is in off-trail side adventures as well!

I do wish it came with a 540 size motor rather than the stock 390, but thats not a deal breaker for me. I don't know how good of quality the battery is but at 2200mah it seems to have sufficient capacity to run longer that I want to hike around behind the truck. Just today I spent an hour and 18 minutes driving and climbing rocks with this thing and still had battery life to go! I'm charging with my Thunder Dual Power AC680 charger so I expect the battery to be well taken care of....

At any rate, if anybody is on the fence about whether or not to spring for this little truck I would say it's definitely money well spent! I'm having a ball and expect to do so for quite a long time to come!

Mine came with this radio. It's also has a 3 position switch for the 3rd ch that might be ok for a winch with the heyok controller.

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[smokinapankake]

Yes, mine came with the same radio. Wish the steering was set up on channel 2 as that is the channel with epa's. Oh well, a little birdy told me that Santa will be bringing a new GT-3C around the end of December.

On another note, I'm amazed at how capable this truck is! No pics but it crawls through the rocks much better than the budget price would have you believe!
For the money you can't beat it and those axles are just beautiful from a scale standpoint. So far I've been very happy with mine.

[NEDan]

Just ordered one. By the time I bought all the upgrades this has to bring my Barrage up to as good as this is I would have probably spent the price of this.
Besides now I'll have 2 crawlers.

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by honchojoe

Pics show unis and max theoretical steering angle. The stock setup (servo and horn etc) can't manage it though. But with some tweaking it will. Also took it for a drive today with smaller wheels. The servo handled that much better.

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That's some great steering angle! Will you use a longer servo arm to attain full throw?

Any plans to configure the existing panhard? You just need a bar the proper length, right? I'm assuming it's not included in the kit. Do they at least tell you what that is eye to eye?

Update: Where'd you find the metal lockers p/n 680010? I couldn't find them on eBay.

[honchojoe]

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

That's some great steering angle! Will you use a longer servo arm to attain full throw?

Any plans to configure the existing panhard? You just need a bar the proper length, right? I'm assuming it's not included in the kit. Do they at least tell you what that is eye to eye?

Update: Where'd you find the metal lockers p/n 680010? I couldn't find them on eBay.

Unfortunately the unis don't allow for that much steering but it's not bad. There is a lot of play in the links etc so I'll add a panhard bar and redo the steering links. The lockers are a HSP part (also redcat) and I found them at a local hobby shop in Australia. They seem to be very hard to find so I've been talking to a guy to see if he can make some. The stock part comes with the gear as well but it will be easy enough to just make the centre spool. It's held on by 3 screws. I run a small online business here in Melbourne and hope to sell the spools. But I think it's a while off yet.

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[honchojoe]

I took this out for a crawl on Sunday and it's a bloody awesome little rig. It out crawled my SCX10.2 in 1 spot. I tried many times to get through this spot and failed with the scx10.2 (on bitbull rb komp compound) while the RGT on 4.19" KLRs went up it twice. I'm sure the tyres might have had something to do with it as well. But this thing is super light which helps a lot.

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[Natedog]

Originally Posted by smokinapankake

Steering setup on mine is a little funky with only trim and dual rate adjustments. Seems no matter how I try, I cant get the trim centered and have equal throw in both directions. Part of the problem appears to be a steering link that is too long, so I've trimmed the length of the screw-on ball ends just a smidge. This helped a bit but not totally solved the problem. The other thing I noticed was that the front tires appear to be set in a toe-out position. Again, a fixed length link prevents any adjustment, so I again trimmed the ends of the ball joints to effectively shorten the length of the link. It makes more sense to me to have end point adjustments on the steering channel, not the throttle channel. Or EPA's on both channels. I think I'll be upgrading to a FlySky FS-GT3C to accomplish just that.

Slight toe out helps it steer tighter, nice little truck. You'll love that radio!

[NEDan]

I just received mine and began accessorizing it .
Of course after a test run.
It out climbed my other crawlers in my small back yard test .
It's larger than my Barrage and in every way better.
Oddly his crawler is clearly stated RGT Bowler on the box it comes in.
I don't know why any US retailer is calling it the Bowler. Maybe because it's a ridiculous name.
Still in my opinion it's probably one of the best $ to Quality crawlers available. Fortunately it doesn't say Bowler anywhere on the truck.
It's an Incredibly capable crawler and so well built it continually surprises me in spite of it's low cost and cheap looking but efficient radio.
I don't know why it climbs so well, maybe it's width, wheelbase, awesome tires, well controlled slow speed gearing? I'm not sure, perhaps it's a combination of all of these fine points.
I did also find the easily serviceable front and rear end gears lacking grease but 4 screws, grease and a few minuets took care of that.
Yes it can be found cheaper $169, without Amazons $219 quick delivery and return policy if you want to take a chance for a few dollars less, but even at Amazons prices this rig is a steal in my opinion.
Buy it before they start asking Axial prices.
Accessories are endless too. A lot of comparative research but they're out there.

before personalizing.


painted shackles, winch, painted fender flairs, vent side windows, rear view mirrors, etc

[Mongol Pete]

Originally Posted by NEDan

I just received mine and began accessorizing it .
Of course after a test run.
It out climbed my other crawlers in my small back yard test .
It's larger than my Barrage and in every way better.
Oddly his crawler is clearly stated RGT Bowler on the box it comes in.
I don't know why any US retailer is calling it the Bowler. Maybe because it's a ridiculous name.
Still in my opinion it's probably one of the best $ to Quality crawlers available. Fortunately it doesn't say Bowler anywhere on the truck.
It's an Incredibly capable crawler and so well built it continually surprises me in spite of it's low cost and cheap looking but efficient radio.
I don't know why it climbs so well, maybe it's width, wheelbase, awesome tires, well controlled slow speed gearing? I'm not sure, perhaps it's a combination of all of these fine points.
I did also find the easily serviceable front and rear end gears lacking grease but 4 screws, grease and a few minuets took care of that.
Yes it can be found cheaper $169, without Amazons $219 quick delivery and return policy if you want to take a chance for a few dollars less, but even at Amazons prices this rig is a steal in my opinion.
Buy it before they start asking Axial prices.
Accessories are endless too. A lot of comparative research but they're out there.

before personalizing.


painted shackles, winch, painted fender flairs, vent side windows, rear view mirrors, etc

Merry Christmas Dan,

I am picking up what you are putting down with this Bowler truck. It is on my short list of crawlers to get for my son to crawl with my Barrage kit that Santa will kindly put under our tree tomorrow night. I too think it is one of the best values for the money in the crawling RC world. I am comparing the RTR Bowler (orange) with the nearly identical FTX Outback 2 rolling chassis ($172.50 w/o electronics), and the Redcat Gen 7 Sport or Pro. My concern about the Gen 7 though, is that is will be too different to the Barrage, so I will likely go with one of the other 2. The FTX roller is my favorite for now, mostly because I don't like the 2-in-1 ESC/RX that comes with the Bowler.

Happy crawling,
MP

[NEDan]

Pete you mentioned you don't like the 2-in-1 ESC/RX that comes with the Bowler. Just to let you know , it doesn't. It is a normal separate 40A esc and 3 channel receiver. Some of he specs on the web are wrong. For instance it's a 390 motor not 360 or 80 like I've read. Maybe they sell different versions in different countries but the one I bought from Walmart is as I've described above.
I guarantee if you buy it you will trade with your son and he'll end up with the Barrage. I have both, its a Barrage under the Ford Pickup above.

[Mongol Pete]

Originally Posted by honchojoe

280mm wheelbase. 180mm hex to hex. I replaced the plastic spools with the alloy version. It came with knockoff TSL Super Swampers. Pic shows genuine swampers on left. Knockoffs on right.

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Hi guys,

Does anyone have a link to share for where I MIGHT FIND THIS HSP METAL GEAR??

Thanks,
MP

[Traildriver]

I would only search for the Bowler axels on german ebay.Surprise i found an offer for the RTR Bowler with Led front light and battery for 149 Euro.Damned i cant with stand ,now i am a Bowler owner too ha ha!

I am surprised how the bowler here performs.I want these axels because of there small pumpkin, bigger ground clearance .

[Brake Weight]

Are there any US vendors for these outside of eBay?

[honchojoe]

Originally Posted by Mongol Pete

Hi guys,

Does anyone have a link to share for where I MIGHT FIND THIS HSP METAL GEAR??

Thanks,
MP

They seem hard to find. Just try googling the part number. 680010.

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[Brake Weight]

I saw some of fleaBay last night but they’d come from Australia. These must be popular down under.

[honchojoe]

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

I saw some of fleaBay last night but they’d come from Australia. These must be popular down under.

I think they surfaced down here first then started popping up in Europe then a few in the USA.

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