Advice for a budgeted build (not budget/cheap)

[CodeRed]

Hi,

I've been watching the crawler scene with interest for some time now. I've only ever built Tamiya kits before and now looking to invest in a crawler. Rather than waiting/saving I'm thinking of buying a few parts each month and treating it as a long term project. This should also help avoid rushing into buying something cheap and only ending up replacing parts later.

My main question is around the Axial Builders Kit. If I used this as a base, would it be a good place to start? Is this a too complex approach for someone who has only done a couple of tamiya easy builds?

If I'm building like this, I assume I need to make some important decisions upfront about wheelbase length etc, knowing what body etc to go for?

My other alternative is to go for a RTR later, but not as appealing to me.

Any advice on my approach appreciated, thanks.

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[new2rocks]

Welcome. If you’ve built Tamiya kits, building a scaler/crawler should be no problem for you. The Axial SBK is a good starting point. Apart from the rod ends, which I’d suggest replacing right away with SSD or Boom Racing, you can build it stock and have a good truck to start with. The TRX-4 Sport kit is another very good starting point (no durability mods needed out of the box). But as I recently posted in another thread in this section, regardless of what you choose, I’d recommend building it and running it stock for a while before trying to figure out what modifications you want to make. Until you have a solid base of driving experience, it’s unlikely that you’ll end up sticking with whatever modifications you may choose based on research alone.

[CodeRed]

Thanks for the advice.

If I'm building it stock should I collect stock axial parts as I go, or do you mean stick with the stock chassis and choose my other parts as I wish?

I guess early decisions like what esc, radio gear and motor can be made. I wouldn't mind affordable basic choices of axial parts to begin with and learn as I go.







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[new2rocks]

I’m not sure what other Axial parts you’d need to collect. The RBK includes everything you need other than body, wheels/tires and electronics, none of which have to be Axial. The only components to replace from the kit straight away would be rod ends (SSD and Boom Racing make much better replacements) and shocks (I like SSD and Traxxas GTS in the 90mm size). For the body, you can pick pretty much whatever you like within the wheelbase range supported by the 10.2. For simplicity to start, I’d suggest sticking with a 12” or 12.3” body, and there are plenty of choices from Axial, Pro-Line, Traxxas and others. For wheels and tires, there are also tons of choices. I’d suggest starting with a good set of 1.9 wheels with tires in the 4.4”-4.75” range (that size range works best on most Lexan bodies). There are plenty of good tire choices in that range from Pit Bull (Alien or Komp compounds), RC4WD (X2S(3) or X2SS compounds) and Pro-Line (G8 or Predator). That leaves electronics, where there are also plenty of good choices.

[CodeRed]

Brilliant thanks for clarifying.

You mention the 1.9 wheels. Am I right in thinking that is a more accurate scale? Axials usually came with 2.2s on this build? Anything need to be done to compensate the smaller ones?

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[ferp420]

i do alot of scratch builds i usaly start with a body then figure it out from there
the up side is you only buy what you want or need
the down side is it can take years to finnish a project

there are alot of builders kits being offered right now and you realy cant go wrong with any of them but you only get stock parts and the scale builders kits might leave you in a upgrade loop and end up replacing 90% of the kit anyway

[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by CodeRed

Brilliant thanks for clarifying.

You mention the 1.9 wheels. Am I right in thinking that is a more accurate scale? Axials usually came with 2.2s on this build? Anything need to be done to compensate the smaller ones?

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The only Axial trucks that come stock with 2.2s are the Bomber and Wraith. Most 10.2 based builds use 1.9s, and those look good under most Lexan bodies. I have used 1.7s and even 1.55s under the right bodies. 2.2 wheels (esp with 2.2 tires that usually fall in the 5”-5.75” range) usually look cartoonish. Based on your questions, I would suggest looking first for a body you like, then look up builds using that body and reference pix of 1:1s. That will give you much better reference points for planning your build.


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[CodeRed]

Excellent, thanks. I have a plan for now. Builders kit seems a great launchpad for me.

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[CodeRed]

Originally Posted by ferp420

i do alot of scratch builds i usaly start with a body then figure it out from there
the up side is you only buy what you want or need
the down side is it can take years to finnish a project

there are alot of builders kits being offered right now and you realy cant go wrong with any of them but you only get stock parts and the scale builders kits might leave you in a upgrade loop and end up replacing 90% of the kit anyway

Useful, thank you.

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[Discohair]

I would start with the SSD Trail King chassis


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[themountain]

Budget or next to nothing??? I would get a used redcat everest and build it in the going...so you can enjoy crawling and change things to the better if they break! ;)