How would the car do in a desert environment?

[macdeez]

Hey everyone, I live in the UAE so I'm ways away from everyone here. We don't have much natural areas around here other than the desert and some rocky areas which are a 3 hour drive away!

Been getting into offroading with my Jeep (Actual Car) and I wanted to buy an RC car as well to enjoy in the desert. I know there are much better cars which are better suited for desert driving, but I can't stand the way they look. I won't be able to buy anything other than a scale model of an actual car and I like the way the SCX10 ii looks.

I'm planning on buying the kit to build myself (complete newbie btw), so if you could also give me some advice on the best way to build this. I want to be able to go fast with this car so any advice on motors, esc, servos and other mechanical components which I would need to manage high speeds with would be much appreciated. I've been doing research all day about this, starting to get the hang of it but all the different parts confuse me because I'm not sure what's compatible with what...

Thanks for reading

[IVIaarten]

I'm guessing for a desert racer (more speed than crawl) you will probably want to look into a brushless setup (motor / ESC). I'm running a 3000KV brushless setup myself, which already has decent speed on 2S, on 3S it should be more than fast enough. If you're really going for dunes, then you might want to consider some different tires. Look into some 1:1 jeepspeed vehicles for inspiration.
Servo wise I think you won't need anything special. Won't really need a load of torque since you won't be caught on rocks, and wouldn't need to be waterproof because hey desert. A faster servo might be nice. The kit already has full metal gearing in the gear-box / transfer case to handle the brushless power, so no real upgrades needed there.

[macdeez]

As long as the stock parts can handle the high RPMs what's keeping me from going higher than 3000KV in order to gain more power? I'd like to buy quality high performance parts from the get-go, do you have any recommendations for an esc/motor combo?

And you're right the sand is really soft so it won't be putting too much strain on the car, even when I'm in my actual car driving on sand feels like driving on a cloud.

As for tires I'll probably be looking to upgrade once I actually test the car out on the field and figure out what I need most.

[IVIaarten]

keep in mind that the SCX10-II has locked front and rear diffs. I think this might be your biggest problem when going higher KV mechanically, especially at full steering lock. I'm guessing heat will be your biggest problem in the desert. Not sure if higher KV motors have a tendency to run hotter.
as for motor/esc combo's; There's probably people with more experience on the matter, but from what I hear you can't really go wrong with Castle or Holmes Hobbies.

[Jeepy84]

Running dunes won't require the full steering ability anyway, he can just turn down his endpoints.

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[macdeez]

Right now my cart on towerhobbies.com looks something like this:

Axial SCX10 II - $349.99
Castle Creations 1/10 SV3 Sidewinder WP 4600kV system (Motor ESC Combo) - $94.99
Tactic TSX55 Standard Ultra-Torque Metal Gear 2BB Servo - $22.99
Tactic TTX300 3-Channel SLT System - $39.99

Total - $517.96

Now with a high KV motor like the 4600, is it advisable to change the stock spur and pinion in order to better deliver power to the wheels?

And is there anything on that list that I should possibly change or add? I'm not trying to spend big but I'd like to have a very well functioning car so if I need to spend a bit more its fine with me.

Appreciate all the help

[crockins]

I know you said you want to build a scale version of a real car, but from the way you are describing what you want out of the RC I'm not sure the SCX10 II is the right truck. It's a fantastic truck! But it's not designed to go fast. You can put a fast motor in it and add a sway bar and mess with suspension and whatnot and you can get it to go fast but that's really really not what it's designed for and it'll show. It'll take a lot of work to turn the SCX10 into a moderately good go fast truck. From what you're describing I'd at least seriously consider a Yeti TT or maybe a Bomber. Neither of them are vehicles you'd see driving on the street but they are both scale versions of actual off road race vehicles. Maybe with a little creative license. From your description of how you want to drive and the terrain you plan to drive in, I'd say the Yeti TT kit fits the bill just about perfectly.

Axial Racing - Yeti

[Skyjacker56]

i hear the scx10 2 loves turban power

[DeviledEggs]

^^ I agree. While the SCX II is a great first truck, your goals and environment probably probably call for something a bit bigger and faster. The Yeti TT still looks pretty realistic and the potential for fun in the dunes is much better.

[macdeez]

Originally Posted by crockins

I know you said you want to build a scale version of a real car, but from the way you are describing what you want out of the RC I'm not sure the SCX10 II is the right truck. It's a fantastic truck! But it's not designed to go fast. You can put a fast motor in it and add a sway bar and mess with suspension and whatnot and you can get it to go fast but that's really really not what it's designed for and it'll show. It'll take a lot of work to turn the SCX10 into a moderately good go fast truck. From what you're describing I'd at least seriously consider a Yeti TT or maybe a Bomber. Neither of them are vehicles you'd see driving on the street but they are both scale versions of actual off road race vehicles. Maybe with a little creative license. From your description of how you want to drive and the terrain you plan to drive in, I'd say the Yeti TT kit fits the bill just about perfectly.

Axial Racing - Yeti

I know the other options like the ones you've listed are probably better at what I want to do with the car, but for me personally half the fun is in figuring out how to get the best performance out of this car for a desert landscape. Tinkering with all the mechanical aspects of the car is part of the reason I want the SCX10, as I find it very appealing due to the fact that it looks almost like the real thing. I feel like I have my mind made up, and till now I haven't seen an offroad rc car that looks better to me than the SCX10.

I'm not looking for crazy high speeds, I would also need torque to be able to clear high dunes (20m or so) but speed is always fun especially considering that the car is less likely to be damaged in the sand.

[crockins]

Originally Posted by macdeez

I know the other options like the ones you've listed are probably better at what I want to do with the car, but for me personally half the fun is in figuring out how to get the best performance out of this car for a desert landscape. Tinkering with all the mechanical aspects of the car is part of the reason I want the SCX10, as I find it very appealing due to the fact that it looks almost like the real thing. I feel like I have my mind made up, and till now I haven't seen an offroad rc car that looks better to me than the SCX10.

I'm not looking for crazy high speeds, I would also need torque to be able to clear high dunes (20m or so) but speed is always fun especially considering that the car is less likely to be damaged in the sand.

I hear ya. All I'm saying is take a look at the Yeti TT before you buy. Watch a couple of videos, read a review or two. I don't mean to be pushy about it but I've been down the path before of getting stuck on the idea of something and finding out later (after spending a bunch of money) that it just really wasn't what I wanted. The SCX10 II is designed very well and very thoroughly to be extremely good at going slow over rough terrain. That's what it's made for. It can be changed and made to go faster but it will never be great at it.
I can tell you from experience that the TT is blast in the desert! That's what it's made for. Even with the stock tires it'll tear it up, but put some more aggressive tires or even sand paddles on there and a decent brushless motor and you'll have a monster dune climber! It also looks very scale for what it is. Just look at videos or photos of real Trophy Trucks and compare to the TT.
The TT will leave plenty of room for tinkering as well, but you'll be starting with something that's much more appropriate for the environment and driving style and I suspect you'll have a lot more fun driving it.

[Jeepy84]

I get the feeling you're going to discover you need another truck's load of parts to modify the SCX to be good at what you want to do with it.
To go fast and turn in sand you need
Low CoG
Wide stance
Laterally stiff suspension (swaybars, trailing arms, etc.)

You can modify the SCX with Axial, Vaterra, or other aftermarket versions of pieces to do that, but you're looking at about a $1000 rig by going this route IMO.

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[Col_Sanders]

These trucks aren't meant for that type of terrain and they will never perform as well as something that is designed for it. Losi has a Ten SCBE that looks like a real buggy and would be much better for dunes. Also Vaterra had a couple Glamis buggies that have been discontinued but you may be able to find one sitting around somewhere. The suspension, weight balance, and drivetrain on those are FAR better for that type of driving.

If you insist on using the SCX10 II platform, you will definitely want different tires than what they come with. Those BFG tires are not very good in soft sand. Obviously paddle tires would be the best choice but I don't know how easy they are to find in a size that would look scale. I have a 3100kv motor on one of my builds and its pretty fast for a scale truck, but I think making it up a steep 20 meter dune would be asking too much of it.

[Pabust]

I build an SCX10 for sand and mud (i've never used it in mud though), i used a Castle 3800 motor/ESC and run it with a 3S battery, and a 54/17 32P spur/pinion ratio, it runs pretty well and can climb any dune but not very fast but fast enough to beat gravity and dune steepness, i know it would handle better with open diffs instead of the FI spools it has but isn't that bad, take a look at the video after minute 1:21 so you can get an idea:



The tires are Proline Sand Paws in 2.8 size and the SCX10 axles are narrow, that doesn't help in stability at the time but now it has some Currie F9 in XR10 width which should help a lot with stability, haven't tested them yet. I also installed a Wraith sway bar in the rear to control body roll and helps a lot, the SCX10-2 has more body roll so you should check availability of a sway bar for the front and/or rear, that and a spur/pinion ratio around 2.2 to 3:1, brushless motor and 3s battery should make it perform pretty well