First Rig...and down the rabbit hole I go!

[SertRC]

Wanted to introduce myself. The day after Christmas I bought the ‘RTR’ SCX10-3 JLU on a whim. Didn’t know anything about rock crawling besides what the 1:1 rigs can do. But it looked fun and I needed something to do when I take the family out to a 5 acre ranch we have access to.

I then went down the YouTube rabbit hole and watched hours of crawling videos. Based on those videos, I ordered the following parts:
- Vanquish Method 1.9 Wheel 105
- Pro-Line Hyrax Predator compound
- Pro-Line dual foam inserts
- Vitavon Brass portal covers
- Vitavon Panhard mount
- TGH Mild Overdrive gears
- Knight Customs front and rear fenders, rock sliders, door hinges, and grill insert.


First things first: I burned the stock dig servo within the first 5 minutes of running the car in the house. After a quick search, I see this is a common problem with the SCX10.3. I’m going to run without dig for now.

With the new wheels and tires mounted I hit the trails. The ranch has several different kinds of terrain: a long gully that the ground squirrels have burrowed into creating all sort of steps and ruts on the hillside. I climbed the banks with the stock tires and it was very challenging for a beginner. The performance increase with the new tires was a real eye opener! Those same hard lines now turned into just mild lines. I quickly experienced the rush of a proven performance part followed by the realization that I needed to find more thrills elsewhere.

Enter the rock garden! I fired up the weed wacker then the tractor. The property has a small outcropping of boulders, two of them waist high. I cleared the brush, moved a few of the smaller rocks around and this is what I came up with:





The best line is the drop onto the little bridge I made using a just barely wide enough flat rock.

I got hung up on the bridge in the weirdest way:





I thought that was going to be a once in a lifetime save, until my very next run!



There is still a lot of work to be done with the rock garden, but so far this provided me with a couple of hours of entertainment.

Edit: images resized

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Looks great! Looking forward to seeing what else you do with it!

Side note, Please resize your pictures, they are way to big and you can't see much of the picture.

[rkj__]

Sounds like you’re having fun!

[Phildirt]

Looks good, welcome to RC crawling. Need to move this thread to the Axial SCX10 iii sub forum

[B-MOW71]

Congrats on getting the JLU and welcome to RCC!

Nice list of upgrades! Great looking rock garden you've put together to have some fun on!

I too have fell down that same rabbit hole and have yet to find a way out! But it's not all that bad stuck in the R/C hole! Great times tiny truckin'!

Following along to see what else you have planned for the JLU!

[meatmonkey]

Welcome to the addiction, I mean Fold.

Your off to a good start. Get a couple strong and reliable servos in there and you should be set for a while.

Isnt it crazy how crawling courses are sometimes in our backyard just waiting to be uncovered.

Great pics dangling off the bridge. It's like those Hyrax just wont let go of the rock.

[Inspector86]

Welcome to the hobby and RCC. We have a great group of RC enthusiasts here who will never give you bogus information unlike the Fakebook groups tend to do.

[smog]

Welcome to the site. There is something really neat about your rock crop. Has it been moved there or is it some sort of glacial deposit from way back when?

Anyway cool rig dude and welcome to the ride, it is indeed a rabbit hole and an addictive one too boot

[ferp420]

Originally Posted by SertRC

First things first: I burned the stock dig servo within the first 5 minutes of running the car in the house. After a quick search, I see this is a common problem with the SCX10.3. I’m going to run without dig for now.

sounds like you need another rig you broke that one already your gona need a back up

[SertRC]

Originally Posted by ScaleLifeNewbie

Looks great! Looking forward to seeing what else you do with it!

So about that...I made the mistake of watching almost all the belly dragger videos on YouTube. Their crawling abilities are mesmerizing. So much so that I placed a big order with GSpeed/Team Garage Hack/Super Shafty over the weekend. Looks like I’ll be working on my first build shortly!

Like I said, I’ve really fallen down the rabbit hole here.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by SertRC

So about that...I made the mistake of watching almost all the belly dragger videos on YouTube. Their crawling abilities are mesmerizing. So much so that I placed a big order with GSpeed/Team Garage Hack/Super Shafty over the weekend. Looks like I’ll be working on my first build shortly!

Like I said, I’ve really fallen down the rabbit hole here.

Sounds awesome man! I want to do a Gspeed rig one day.

Talk about the rabbit hole, I’ve bought two rigs within 7 months. Not as extreme as you, but I’ve definitely been bit by the crawler bug.




_________________
SCX10 ii
TRX4

[SertRC]

Originally Posted by ferp420

sounds like you need another rig you broke that one already your gona need a back up

Haha! I recognize the logic. It’s the same kind I’ve used in the past with other hobbies.

[SertRC]

So check out my dumb luck. I started a new job six month ago and have been walking past this sculpture in the building’s courtyard every day since without paying any attention to it. Well I sat down to have some lunch today and realized I’ve got a sweet rock garden right at work! I’ll be out here, wearing a suit, crawling those rocks tomorrow. Can’t wait!

[SertRC]

The rock garden at work was a bust. Very smooth river rocks provided almost no traction. Plus they were all very round and all just the right size to high center on. It was frustrating. I don’t want frustrating at work, I want relaxing. I’ll try again, but I’m not excited about it.