Crawler for my 6yo son

[AK KRAWLER]

So I am new to this site and crawlers in general, not so new to the whole RC scene. I just joined this site for some help on picking a crawer for my 6yo son for Christmas. This will not be used for any comps, just running around the house and in the backyard. I will even give him some supplies to build himself a few crawling obsticles.

At first, I was thinking of the Exceed MaxStone 10, then started wondering if it would be too big to have fun in the house when the weather is too cold to play outside. I then turned to the Exceed 1/16th MaxStone. Looks like a decent little crawler for the money and there is a few good threads on here for mods on them.

After doing a little research for a little better cralwer, I came across the Losi Mini Crawler and that looked like a nice little rig until I found out they were not made anymore.. So, I turned to eBay and found a few used ones for sale, but they were few and far between and were fairly expensive. While looking for the Losi I ran across the Vaterra Slickrock. This little guy looks pretty impressive. While it's over double the cost of the Exceed 1/16th scale I was looking at, it really looks like a nice rig.

While the Slickrock is above my original budget, I have no problem spending a little more money for a quality item.

Just looking for a little feedback and experiences from the crawler crowd.

[crockins]

I don't know what your budget is but I'd recommend an Axial SCX10. I haven't driven a Slickrock and it does look pretty good for what it is. However, at 1/18 scale it is pretty small and therefore pretty limited. I feel like the scx10 is a really good mid size. It's not as big and cumbersome as the 2.2 1/10 scale rigs or 1/8 scale but it's still big enough to be impressive and be able to drive most places. The parts support and availability is excellent compared to the others you mentioned so if/when you need to replace or upgrade things you won't have any trouble getting the parts.
My kids are 4 and 6. They each have an SCX10 and they love them! They drive them in the house, the yard, and it is clearly the most important piece of camping equipment in their eyes. I think they would be less disappointed about forgetting the tent then forgetting the batteries to the trucks! We started with a collection of 1/24 scale micros, moved up to a very short lived run with a losi mini, and then I got a Wraith. After that they were not interested in the little ones at all!
There are several versions of the SCX10 but the best deal is clearly the Deadbolt (the SCX10 Deadbolt, not the AX10 Deadbolt!). The fact that it isn't a licensed body helps reduce the price next to the jeep models. It can be had for less than $300 from Tower Hobbies. I think they have the best price on it.

[AK KRAWLER]

Thanks for the input, I'll take a look at those as well. $300 is starting to push the envelope, but may be doable.

[Nappy]

My 6 year old loves his scx10. I keep it pretty much stock with a couple beefed up parts like beef tubes, links, and driveshafts. Never once has he broke anything besides the link mounts that come with a bunch of spares anyways if you buy a 10 dollar parts tree.

[crockins]

For what it's worth, through Tower Hobbies the Deadbolt would be about $270 shipped. It's listed as 299 but they have a $33 off coupon code for $299 purchase and free shipping for orders over $100.
*edit* I'll also add that my kids are not careful with their trucks and after many packs and several camping trips they haven't broken any parts. If you stick with stock electronics it will be a pretty durable truck for a long time.

[AK KRAWLER]

Thanks for all the responses. Not sure if I'll take the Axial plunge or not. Jumping up to the $250 mark for the Slickrock was hard enough to convince the wife on, not sure how she'll take to $300+ once battery and charger are bought.

The jury is still out though.

[crockins]

I hear ya on convincing the spouse. Imagine the conversation I had selling my wife on two of them! And we went the kit route which upped the price tag by a few hundred each! Lucky for me and the kids she had just bought herself a new ipad and I got a pretty large project bonus at work so I managed to convince her. I'll have to wait for the next big bonus to convince her I need a Yeti XL.

[AK KRAWLER]

Is this an 1st Gen Axial Scorpion?



This is for sale on my local Craigslist. He said it needs servos, radio, transmitter and battery. Obviously a body. $300 obo

I don't get home from work till Dec 9th and I would have to have this all finished up by Christmas so Santa can deliver it. Is this a good start, or too much over my head under a tight timeline?

I either need to order something while I'm at work, or build like the dickens when I get home.

[willeh_ca]

I've got the scx10, and would say unless you have a house with a large open area, that the scx10 is too big for inside. I'd go with something a bit smaller if they are going to be used inside much. If it is mostly going to be used outside you can't go wrong with the scx10. That's just my opinion though.

[AK KRAWLER]

Ok, while I have changed my mind, for what it seems... by the minute. I spoke with the wife last night and she agreed that for the difference in price, the SCX10 seemed like a better deal. Good wifey!!!!

I see that I can get either the Deadbolt for $270'ish or the Honcho for $50 more.
First off, is the Honcho a better buy for what it comes with?
Secondly, should I start to upgrade my charger and batteries to LiPo now or just have him stick with NiMh for now. This is not a cost issue, because it will be my charger. I have an old Hobby Co charger I can give him if I have him stay with NiMh for now and just pick him up a fresh battery.

Sorry for all the nwebie questions....

**Edit**
And to resolve the indoor running issue, this will just push me to fix the little Mini Losi I have. Heck, I'm not even sure what model it is... It's the little one on the right.

[crockins]

I'm not just trying to be contradictory here but my kids play with their SCX10s in the house a lot. Our house is 850 sq ft (LA house prices are a b!@#h) sooo, there are no large spaces open or otherwise. It's almost better that way! They get super into navigating in, around, under, and over all the obstacles in our living room. Anyway I think you guys will have a blast with the SCX10. As far as the honcho vs deadbolt version goes, each has pros and cons. The Deadbolt is much newer and has some different electronics and some upgrades over the honcho. The deadbolt has 32p gears as opposed to 48p and it has the new HD drive shafts which are quite a bit more durable. It also has a new slipper clutch that's supposed to be better. All that stuff is nice but honestly won't make that much difference unless you upgrade the power. The old style drive shaft, slipper clutch, and the 48p gears will hold up to the stock motor just fine. If you start adding a lot of weight with aftermarket parts and start upgrading the motor then those parts might not be up to the task any more. The deadbolt also has a new servo and esc. From what I can tell the servo is better and the esc is worse. They are both "water proof" which is kinda nice but the esc is much less adjustable and just generally not quite as good. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's half the price of the old one and you can tell why if you try them both.
Now for the Honcho. It has the the old versions of the parts I mentioned before. It has the older esc which is better and the old servo which is worse but only marginally. It also comes with working lights which the deadbolt does not and a spare tire. Also the Honcho performs better straight out of the box. This is mostly because of the battery being located up front right out of the box. That's an easy mod for the deadbolt though. It even comes with all the required spacers in the box. All you need is a few extra screws. The honcho also has a slightly longer wheelbase compared to the deadbolt. If I'm not mistaken both trucks come with sticky R35 tires, just in different tread patterns. They are both good tires. The treps on the deadbolt are great, that's what we have on both our SCXs and I like them a lot. Plus they have a nice scale look. I haven't used the 1.9 ripsaws but I have the 2.2 ripsaws on my Wraith and they are also great so I'm sure the 1.9s would be good as well. They have very good grip on a variety of surfaces.
Either truck would be great. If you plan to do any upgrading down the road then the Deadbolt is probably a better deal because of the stronger drive line components but if you plan to keep it stock (more or less) then it really just comes down to which one you like the looks of better. Of course this is all just one man's opinion so take it with a grain of salt!

[AK KRAWLER]

Thanks for taking the time to give your opinion.

I am kind of leaning towards the Honcho even though it is the more expensive of the two. I think it's top speed is a little slower as well and I might even end up installing an even slower, more tourqe motor at some point.

Both platforms will leave a lot of room for upgrades as his vision evolves, that is going to be half the fun.

[AK KRAWLER]

So, the wife likes the Deadbolt better (only due to looks...)

In stock form, is there a way to slow it down a bit? Would a motor swap or gear swap be a better option?

[willeh_ca]

Swap gears. Much cheaper and easier to do. Nimh will slower to begin with if that is the way you go.

[GodSpeed999]

Be careful. It is NOT hard to get these things to add up in a hurry. I can already see it in you going from the Maxstone to now the SCX10, and then asking about LiPo vs. NiMh and then onto potential upgrades in the future.

I bought my 4yr old an SCX10 G6 Recon kit for Christmas and didn't do anything crazy at all, but have a look at this spreadsheet and see how things can add up.

This also does not include a battery, charger or a soldering station, all of which I bought for another RC project this past summer. It too reached over $1000 and I already had the car.



*Sorry the font is so small. I had to zoom out to capture at all in a screen shot. Probably a bad sign to begin with. haha

There's about $50 in shipping and exchange rates you likely wouldn't have to deal with. Blame Canada

[tgh117]

It will start him well in stock form. The deadbolt has all the latest offerings from Axial, some which are better, and some maybe not so much. Overall its probably the better way to start off at this point. As far as slowing it down you can swap to a 93t spur and 14t pinion with little effort and get it slowed down real well.

I started my son with a crawler king at 3 yrs old and he is very good at driving them now. Should be lots of fun.

[AK KRAWLER]

Pretty much what I figured. I'll run it completely stock, oops, I mean I'll have him run it completely stock.... and see where we go from there. If he can control the throttle decent, than stock is probably ok. I will only try to interject when I see there being a problem

And GodSpeed999 - Yes, I have caught the bug again
I have an XTM X-Factor that is still nitro that runs like crud (I'm not good at tuning them...) and I figured that would be a decent place to start for my own toy by converting it to a slow electric crawler. For speed I have a little 4wd stadiun truck (can't remember what make and model), and for a mini, I have a little Losi Mini LST. I've got too many places do dump my cash...

[johnnyh66]

FYI, the Losi MRC is now the Vetarra SlickRock. Same main components.

I love all my upgraded Axial rigs, near indestructible...
But, I also love my less upgraded (but still some) Losi mini crawler... it's a champ. Lot's of fun for the price of admission.

[AK KRAWLER]

Thanks for the heads up Johnny. I found that out during my research as well. It looks like the Losi MRC with a few small upgrades. I started to second guess myself because of its size and not wanting to get my son something that he would not be happy with. Oh well, I think he will be super stoked with the SCX10, now I just have to decide on the Honcho or Deadbolt. I was leaning towards the Honcho and when my wife saw the picture of the two of them, she said she liked the Deadbolt better. I will probably go with the Deadbolt because she was very accommodating when it came to running the cost of this christmas present for a 6yo past her. I know for a fact that my parents never made a purchase like this for myself, nor any of my brothers and sisters. I already have an inexpensive charger for NiMh batteries, so I will probably just pick him up a fresh stick or two and make the LiPo switch once he has some time under his belt.

On the "price of admission" thing, that was part of the driver for the SCX10, it's only $50 more than the Slickrock. I still think the Slickrock looks like a fun rig, but we'll save that one for another day.

Thank you everyone for your input.

[MCW24]

I would go with the honcho, my five year old got one for his birthday and he can drive his better then his older brothers. cant go wrong with it. keep everything plastic that way things won't break as easily.