What to start with

[gokartjon]

When I was younger, I dabbled in RC. Now, all of my equipment is outdated. My chargers and batteries are only good for paperweights. My transmitters aren't much better. For those with personal experience, if you were starting all over and fresh with crawlers, how would you do it?
Would you go micro 1/10th scale?
NiMH or LiPo?

Thanks
Jon

[mikemcE]

1/10 3s lipo
What type of crawling ? Comp ? G6 ? Trail running. Determine where you will be able to run, then pick a rig that will work well there.
When it works well, you enjoy more


Hang up and Drive

[gokartjon]

I am just looking for something to play around with. Nothing more than just a toy/hobby. A little backyard bashing.. And, something to tinker with.

[lzysmrf]

I'm with mikemcE, 1/10 is a great place to start. I would start with 2s Lipo first. The power is good, and run time is great. Start with about 5000mah. Axial scx-10 rtr, or vaterra acesender are your best choices IMHO. Axial has a better aftermarket following. I use a Venom Pro 2 charger which is great for what i need. and it has balance plugs built in(up to 6s).

Welcome Back and enjoy, the RC crawler scene is like none you have experienced before. Prepare to meet a lot of people to help you out everywhere you go to crawl.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by gokartjon

When I was younger, I dabbled in RC. Now, all of my equipment is outdated. My chargers and batteries are only good for paperweights. My transmitters aren't much better. For those with personal experience, if you were starting all over and fresh with crawlers, how would you do it?
Would you go micro 1/10th scale?
NiMH or LiPo?

Thanks
Jon

I did start all over again a little over a year and a half ago.

I started with a 1/18th crawler, got board with it quickly. Then moved on to 1/10 scaler, that satisfied my modeling fix, can run trails and some reasonable rockcrawling. It has held my attention and caused me to go from 1 to 3 scalers in the time I started, plus some micros for inside. Now I am working on a 4th.

Definitely lipos, it took a little bit to switch but it was for the best. Right now I run 3s and have a couple 2s running around for guests to drive.

I would recommend starting with the same types of rigs other guys are running. If it wasn't for having a kid to run with I could see it becoming less attractive. As it is we run 3-5 days a week for at least an hour, when the weather is nice we spend 4 hours a day on the weekends crawling. Granted I have a back yard that is 1/2 acres of just rocks, so between that and the woods we can do trail runs in the back yard.

So what I did to start was:
SCX10 dingo kit
Put a cheap brushed motor, a hobbywing esc, flysky GT3c transmitter and solar servo in to start, total electronics was $90.00.
After that I added winches, and did some electronic upgrades.
All the old electronics became spares.

The moved on to a scx10 deadbolt kit, ran it stock for a while then started upgrading.

Last was a ground up build using what I learned from the first 2.

Each rig is different so none get shelved. I end up having one rig for me, one for my kid and some backup available for guests.

Since you are asking what you should do, I would say identify what you want to get out of it. Buy a RTR enjoy playing, then once you understand how your rig drives either start upgrading it or start building a second rig based on what you learned.

I do not have one, but the axial bomber is a fun mix of go faster and crawler over some rocky terrain. I have enjoyed the few times I played with one. Either way you go you are apt to end up with several rigs to take advantage of different terrain.

But again the biggest draw to crawling(for me) is that it is slower based and provides a ton of time for social interaction when rc'ing.

[Chris81]

For what it's worth I did the exact same thing as you, dabbled in rc cars a lonnnggg time ago, bought an scx10 dingo about a year ago, it was good, but I sold it in the spring...fast forward to now and I have 2 ascenders (one bronco and one blazer) which I really like a lot. I built the blazer kit and found a good deal on the RTR Bronco on ebay.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[gokartjon]

Would something like this be good with a coupon code?

Vaterra 1/10 1972 Ford Bronco 4x4 Ascender RTR Combo w/Charger and LiPo Battery

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by gokartjon

Would something like this be good with a coupon code?

Vaterra 1/10 1972 Ford Bronco 4x4 Ascender RTR Combo w/Charger and LiPo Battery

I lot of people like the ascenders, the yellow pickup is a nice looking truck too, I have fondled it many times wishing it came in a kit.

I happen to like RPPhobby, and have had excellent service from them. Cant beat the coupon either. Used to be nice when it was on axial products, but it isn't available anymore.

[gokartjon]

Are the stock ascender electronics decent?
Or would it be better to buy a kit and hand pick electronics?

[gokartjon]

Thank for the info. And, sorry I originally posted this in the wrong area. I was unsure where it fit best.

[ktm597]

Originally Posted by gokartjon

Are the stock ascender electronics decent?
Or would it be better to buy a kit and hand pick electronics?

A lot of people will tell you to buy the kit and I would agree. A kit is the best way to know the ins and outs of your vehicle, no surprises on how to disassemble when something fails. Also most kits include hopup parts out of the box.

People will probably complain about RTR electronics too. With a kit you have fun actually building the truck, and get to select which electronics you want (which in a RTR you'd probably end up replacing anyways down the road)

[hozzerr1]

Newbie here:

started with the SCX10 II RTR - incredible!
quickly realize that it would be so much more fun and a great way to keep my son by my side if he drove one too...so I ran back to the store and got the Bomber ;)

I knew from the get go that I would get the best parts on these two trucks if I went with the Kit versions - and a part of me really wanted/wants that; however, instant gratification out weighted the kits.

as a result I influenced my younger brother whom we meet with at our local trails and spend great quality time acting like kids with our kids.

to get my fix I am building a Yeti kit now. I know there will be more kits to come in the future...

BTW, my son is now interested in robotics and taking his first course in the subject.

[Chris81]

The stock electronics are certainly not a bad place to start, they all work good. That combo kit would be a great starting point!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by gokartjon

Would something like this be good with a coupon code?

Vaterra 1/10 1972 Ford Bronco 4x4 Ascender RTR Combo w/Charger and LiPo Battery

Yes.

Originally Posted by gokartjon

Are the stock ascender electronics decent?
Or would it be better to buy a kit and hand pick electronics?

Yes, the stock RTR electronics are decent, only thing I'd do is start looking for better steering servo, I added an output shaft bearing on mine (in place of the stock bushing) and it was still working when I pulled it last year, prolly ran it hard for about a year.

[RadioFlyer]

I have several Axial models and my favourite for just fooling around and tinkering is my Wraith.

Novak Rooster Crawler turning a 35t motor on 2S. Savox servo, 10,000 mAh of LiPo on-board. Various aluminum axle upgrades, Pro-Line Super Swampers on aluminum beadlock wheels. It's not fast enough to break itself and it will go nearly two hours on a charge. It's just a lot of fun on the trails.

If I lost it all and wanted to start over I would buy a Wraith.



Sean

[Crappie1]

IMHO......the Axial SCX10 II is probably one of the best platforms right now. If you want the better upgraded parts and the experience of building it yourself, the kit is the way to go. That way you can get much better electronics to start with. LiPo is the way to go. A good quality (strong) steering servo, better tires and CI foams and you will be good to go. If you want to upgrade, you can do a lot while you are building or just drive it like you stole it and upgrade as things break.

[icculus]

Buy a kit. Learn how things fit together so that you can replace parts, that building knowledge will also help you make adjustments that will affect the performance of your rig. I have TF2 kit, K5 Ascender kit, Axial Wrangler Rubicon Kit, Toyzuki chassis build and a Krazed unstuck I just started.

[Scttduk]

Originally Posted by hozzerr1

Newbie here:

started with the SCX10 II RTR - incredible!
quickly realize that it would be so much more fun and a great way to keep my son by my side if he drove one too...so I ran back to the store and got the Bomber ;)

I knew from the get go that I would get the best parts on these two trucks if I went with the Kit versions - and a part of me really wanted/wants that; however, instant gratification out weighted the kits.

as a result I influenced my younger brother whom we meet with at our local trails and spend great quality time acting like kids with our kids.

to get my fix I am building a Yeti kit now. I know there will be more kits to come in the future...

BTW, my son is now interested in robotics and taking his first course in the subject.

Question from one newb to another, since you bought the SCX10.2 RTR and have since gone onto doing kits, would you still recommend to a newb (who doesn't yet own a 1/10 scale) to get the scx10.2 RTR or go the kit route?
If I went SCX10, I'd know I'd do upgrades, but with the 10.2 it seems to have all the upgades I'd make.
Thanks

[JatoTheRipper]

Ascender or SCX10 II are great starting points. With the Vaterra the RTR is as well equipped as the kit. With the SCX10 II the kit is better. The RTR is more like an SCX10 1.5 because it doesn't have the new transmission. I'm biased towards the Ascender. Vaterra makes better quality products than Axial in my experience.

If you like to work on RCs get the kit. If you don't get the RTR. It's as simple as that with the Ascender.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Ascender or SCX10 II are great starting points. With the Vaterra the RTR is as well equipped as the kit. With the SCX10 II the kit is better. The RTR is more like an SCX10 1.5 because it doesn't have the new transmission. I'm biased towards the Ascender. Vaterra makes better quality products than Axial in my experience.

If you like to work on RCs get the kit. If you don't get the RTR. It's as simple as that with the Ascender.

X2, half the fun to me is kit building, but these days I have less free time than I used to so, couple of my Ascenders started as RTRs. You can't go wrong either way with Acender kit or RTR.