An improved proline gladiator body? Or maybe just longer...

[Topher Builds]

After all the polarizing reactions to the crawler gladiator body I’ve been curious about finding a better option. Part of the perceived issues with the crawler body is how much they had to squish it to get it to a 12.3” wb.

Well, proline also makes a gladiator body for the slash 4x4 which is a bit longer. They list it at a 13.0 wb but in the side profile photo on slash 4x4 you can see the rear wheel sits pretty far back in the wheel well. So I went and measured my traxxas rally car (basically same thing as a slash 4x4) and sure enough the wb hex to hex was 13.0 so this made me think the proper wheelbase for this body is a bit shorter than advertised. Decided to roll the dice and order one up.

https://www.prolineracing.com/bodies...body-sc-mt.asp

Only have it roughly mocked up now but it seems to fit okay on the trx10.2 which is sitting around 12.6” wb. May get it painted up tonight. Either way I’ll take some side by side pics with the crawler body to show a more clear comparison. From rough comparisons the cabs are nearly identical.

[soze]

Nice! Can't wait to see the the differences!

[svt923]

Yeah, the SC version is much better looking and the fact it is cheaper doesn't hurt either.

[Topher Builds]

I didn’t even realize that it was cheaper. Considering it’s larger and uses thicker lexan that’s interesting. They may have done so by figuring they’d sell more for the crawler than slash.

Anyway, haven’t gotten to paint yet but here are some comparison pics. As you can see, the cabs are basically identical.

[Col_Sanders]

Hurry up and paint it already!

My problem with the body is how squished the cab is and the shape of the fenders. If they had left it a 12.3" wheelbase but gave it a longer bed, it would have looked much more scale. Obviously that would have really made the departure angle suck though.

[austexk5]

Wow! Good idea, thanks for trying this out! I am not in love with my Gladiator body, and the slash version looks so MUCH better! Do over time for me

[boldfin]

I also had my eye on the Slash version of the Gladiator, but when I saw it in person at the local hobby shop, I decided to go with the 12.3" WB version for crawlers. For me the issue is the overly narrow cab and that doesn't appear to be much better on the Slash body. I also think the wheel wells are gargantuan, but that's pretty typical of most bodies these days.

My solution for making the Gladiator look a little more attractive was to use a set of narrowed AR44 axles. I had a set that I bought from Beeftubes, which I had been running on a 10" WB Tamiya Bronco-bodied rig. Here's my SCX10-II with the narrow AR44's and 12.3" Gladiator body.







Took this rig out for it's maiden run today, and it did very well. Definitely doesn't sidehill as well as a rig with normal-width AR44's, and it does tend to drag the rear bumper a tiny bit - but that's to be expected with 3.85" tires. Departure angle with the longer bed on the Slash body would be even worse.







Overall, I like this setup. It works for me... The Gladiator is just a weirdly-proportioned body.

[mulchman]

Could you give the axle width dimensions please?

Your rig looks badass. The axle width is spot on.

Wayne

[boldfin]

Originally Posted by mulchman

Could you give the axle width dimensions please?

Your rig looks badass. The axle width is spot on.

Wayne

The narrowed Beeftubes AR44 axles are right around 6.75" (172mm). They are advertised as being about 1/4 narrower (per side).

A quick comparison to normal-width (SSD Diamond Pro) AR44's on the left and narrowed Beeftubes AR44's on the right.



Not a great photo, sorry. But it's a pretty minimal difference. The Beeftubes narrowed axles are a very nice piece, but are not cheap. In some cases, you could make up the difference by simply choosing with wheels with more positive offset.

Here is a good comparison shot showing how narrow the Gladiator body is compared to an Axial G6 Wrangler body.

[boldfin]

Sorry if I was hijacking your thread, Topher. I do appreciate your sharing your adventures with the Gladiator SC/Slash body. It has actually gotten me started thinking about ways to use it on a future build.

[Topher Builds]

You’re all good sir Boldfin, nothing to apologize for. Activity is a good thing . I really like that color on your gladiator btw.

I don’t have any updates to share on this project on my end yet, but work should settle down this week so I’ll probably get some paint on there as soon as I settle on a scheme with the colors I have available.

[JatoTheRipper]

Nice find. The body sizes look so close that it's almost like why bother making two molds? Interesting. Looking forward to how it looks when mounted up. The 1:1 Gladiator has odd proportions to begin with so when scaling it down there's a lot that can go wrong.

[Topher Builds]

Finally got around to painting this... simple one just to get it done.

[Col_Sanders]

Greg will be proud of your color choice.

[Topher Builds]

Haha. Maybe I’ll give this one to him as a spare if he likes it, I just used a color I didn’t think I’d have much use for later since I had two cans. I don’t think I’ll ever actually run it, just wanted to see how it looks but I’ll stick with the ram for this chassis.

[Col_Sanders]

Is the other one the normal 12.3"? I kinda think it looks better around the cab, especially windshield area but I guess it could just be color or slightly different mask placement? The grey one just looks a bit more squared in that area and not quite as squished looking? The Axial JL body is definitely more scale and properly proportioned IMO.

I missed out on Saturday morning. Damn FB sometimes doesnt show stuff until its too late. I need to get out but I'm fat and hate this heat lol.

[Topher Builds]

The gray one is the 12.3 body, just on a 12.5 wb. Now that you mention it the top does look a little boxier up there but I’m not sure if it’s just my eyes or not since I cut the mask differently to separate the tiny rear window.

The axial JL body is one of my favorites as well, by far. I have it on a vs410 now.

Saturday I wasn’t out too long because I ripped a servo wire up in my spur gear on the gspeed A few others stayed out a while but it was so hot. No shade or breeze. I was sweating my arse off by 7am. I miss crawling but this summer heat has been no joke this year.

[smog]

Personally, all I can see is the difference in length. I also think both bodies look good. Nice paint work fellas! Certainly being so narrow, the body design gives the rig a particularly juiced appearance. While I get the draw to the narrow bodies for their lighter weight/performance benefits, I do prefer a less aggressive looking wheel offset/backspacing on my scalers hence like my shells a bit wider ; Something that gives the wheel/tire set an appearance that is more proportional to the body.

[Topher Builds]

It is not easy to see the differences and has taken me some time having them in front of my face to see any.

The hood is a little longer, I think? The fender flares on the slash body are a bit narrower too, which I prefer to the 12.3”. It’s hard to tell without looking close at the pics but easy to tell on the decal sheet because the front side marker lights for the slash body are cut shorter, from the same sticker sheet as the crawler body.

Otherwise the bed area is a little different as well. Still not positive if there’s differences in the windows of the cab. Might measure later today.

And thanks for the compliment on the paint. It was a quick one just to get it done but glad you dig it.

[B-MOW71]

Both Gladiator's look great TB!

Not sure which one I like better, but I like them!