RCP at Las Vegas Hobby Convention ~ Pics and info on the Duratrax Crawler

[John]

I just returned home from the NHRSA convention (National Hobby Retail Store Association) held in Las Vegas, Nevada each year. At the show RCP Crawlers and RCP Tracks had on display products for viewing for hobby shops made up from some of the 6000 + stores from around the US. All the big name RC manufacturers and distributors attend and exhibit at the show and in addition to promoting your business to the many store owners, the show gives vendors that chance to talk in person to some of the many RC manufacturers that attend. Such manufacturers that attend include Axial, HPI, Kyosho, Tamiya, MIP, Losi, Horizon Hobby, Great Planes, Proline, Traxxas, Orion, Global, HRP and many more. If you have the opportunity to exhibit next year, I highly recommend it as it gives the smaller RC vendors that chance to reach out to many hobby store owners as well as talking with the large manufacturers about products they currently produce and that may be in the works for future release.

It was well worth the trip for RCP Crawler and RCP Tracks. Since the popularity of RC rock crawling has intensified in the last two years, rock crawling products and the hobby in general where first on the minds of most hobby store owners that visited the booth. RCP Crawlers had the opportunity to talk with the owners about the many upgrade products available to them as well as promoting the idea of in store demo displays and competitions. We also had the opportunity to promote rccrawler.com and to let those know where to find all the information they need on the hobby. The show gave me the opportunity to promote the future release of Link-N-Rocks. (Modular linking rocks for the RC rock crawling industry). Everyone was very excited about RC rock crawling and were looking forward to having a place to demo and display the rock crawling vehicles currently on the market and being sold at their stores. Later this year you will see Link-N-Rock products being displayed by many of the big named manufacturers who are promoting their rock crawling products at shows and events throughout the US. We are working on at least one demonstration for a distributor overseas, later this year.

One note, at the show each exhibitor is allowed only table top type displays. No large backdrops, props or typical displays you would normally see at some of the bigger shows. The fee to exhibit is not very expensive in comparison to what we pay for the large shows. This is another reason the show is good for the smaller vendors. If you want more information on the show and how you can attend next year, send me a PM and I can give you the info.











There were a few manufacturers that were supposed to be at RCX, but pulled out of the show do to unknown reasons. I was hoping that some of them would in fact be at RCX and display their new rock crawling products that I had knowledge were being produced. Great Planes/Hobbico/Duratrax was one company that did not make it to RCX, but did attend and exhibit at the NHRSA show. They brought with them their new Cliff Climber truck for display. Some pics of the truck are below. I have some more and better qualitiy pictures that a friend took and I will post those up, once he sends them my way. I think the truck was new to the reps at the booth, as they could not answer many of the questions I had for them. Great Planes brought along two prototype Cliff Climber crawlers. One was a stock RTR version and the second was an upgraded version with some of the hop up parts that will be available. Below are pictures of the truck with the hop ups. Sorry I didn't get more pics from my camera, but the rep that was in charge of the truck at the time I visited, was a little nervous about me snapping so many shots. I did have the chance to pick it up and get a feel for the overall articulation, weight and feel. I asked if they had a controller, so we could test it out on the portion of RCP Crawler mountain that we brought, but they did not bring the controller to operate the truck.

Sorry, pics coming. I am having a small issue with downloading the pics, but will have them up in a moment along with information and my comments on the Duratrax truck.

[John]

I am working with an overseas source to have a few trucks sent this way



I have friend in the industry who saw this crawler in a Taiwan store a few months ago. It seems to be a popular design coming out of China for a few hobby distributors. The stock RTR version comes with plastic susp. and steering links and had a steering servo on both front and rear axles. The battery is installed inside the chassis on the stock version. The upgrade version had the battery mounted on the front axle as well as in the chassis. You can see a portion of the battery in the chassis on the pic below. The axles cases are injection molded plastic and the chassis side plates are alluminum. The upgraded version was fitted with a carbon fiber sticker kit on many of the plastic parts. The axle width is very close to the TLT axles, possibly a little wider. The truck had some long wheel hexes installed, so making shorter ones could be achieved to narrow it a bit if desired. The wheel base was approx. 10" ~ 10 1/2", best guess, as I wasn't given the opportunity to measure them with a ruler. The truck articulation was descent. Best guess is a "y" harnes will be provided for 4 wheel steer. The reps could not give me any specific details on the motors. The axle thickness did appear to be very small and will most likely be the first part that will have to be improved if people will use these axles for 2.2 competition. No information on the internal gears. The axle cases will be the major component people will seek out and vendors will produce all new internal parts to hold up to the abuse and to convert the truck to 2.2 competition standards.



The angle of the front C's was rather extreme, so I would expect a clocked C upgrade will be produced by the vendors rather quickly to gain more steering.





More pics coming

[KRAWLR4life]

Thanks John for taking the time to report this show to us! I know how busy you've the last few weeks so thanks again!
Curious to see what becomes of the Duratrax crawler, pretty intresting!
~John

[extreme]

how much angle could you get out of that knuckle and c combination?, seems like it may have less then normal but im only guessing

[John]

The Steering radius wasn't that bad, but there was room for more. The C portion of the axle reminded me a little of the Twin Force axles, rather beafy. I would expect most will shave them to gain more ground/rock clearance or there will be a Fat Rock style C produced to replace them and incorporate clocking. The angle was pretty extreme, but this did allow the motor to be raised for more rock clearance.

[John]

Originally Posted by KRAWLR4life

Thanks John for taking the time to report this show to us! I know how busy you've the last few weeks so thanks again!
Curious to see what becomes of the Duratrax crawler, pretty intresting!
~John

Thanks John,

Yes, these last few weeks have been crazy with RCX and the Vegas show within days of each other.

I can tell you this is not the ONLY crawler we will see with gear reduction and motors mounted on the axles coming from some of the major RC manufacturers in the near future. I know of at least two more trucks, one being RTR and the other being a kit that are in the works. And from what I have seen, the company designing the RTR version has really done their homework on the designs and are not just producing something already out there.

I have heard rumors that the rules may be changed to not allow these types of trucks in the 2.2 class even if the rear steer was locked out. I hope the rumors are not true.

[Wicked_Jester]

Originally Posted by John

Thanks John,

Yes, these last few weeks have been crazy with RCX and the Vegas show within days of each other.

I can tell you this is not the ONLY crawler we will see with gear reduction and motors mounted on the axles coming from some of the major RC manufacturers in the near future. I know of at least two more trucks, one being RTR and the other being a kit that are in the works. And from what I have seen, the company designing the RTR version has really done their homework on the designs and are not just producing something already out there.

can you give us a hint of who these company's might be??

[John]

Originally Posted by crazy_crawler

can you give us a hint of who these company's might be??

Sorry, I can't. I have some great contacts in the industry and I wouldn't want to ruin a good thing by giving out info before the manufacturers do. I mentioned the future releases as I have heard about the possible rules changes and thought those involved in making the rules should know more crawlers with gear reduction and motor power incorporated in the axles are coming.

[Bart bender]

Kyosho Rock Force, Rock Force, Rock Force...

[John]

Originally Posted by Bart bender

Kyosho Rock Force, Rock Force, Rock Force...

The Kyosho Rock Force will have driveshafts. It is not due out of Japan until September/October of this year.

[Bart bender]

Originally Posted by John

The Kyosho Rock Force will have driveshafts. It is not due out of Japan until September/October of this year.

Great news, Thanks John!

[Xtant3150c]

Originally Posted by Bart bender

Kyosho Rock Force, Rock Force, Rock Force...

http://www.rceasy.com/2008/05/12/kyo...rock-force-22/

The worm-gear axle sounds interesting.

[crazy_kanaka]

John,
Thanks for the good news.

[Speedyboy]

Originally Posted by Xtant3150c

http://www.rceasy.com/2008/05/12/kyo...rock-force-22/

The worm-gear axle sounds interesting.

I hope that works well I just might have to hold off on getting axles for my next project... Just imagine turning as far as your servo can go...without binding up your drivetrain

[GH Racing]

Thanks for all the pics and info John!