RS10 + Gmade R1 = FC 1 HYBRID (FRANKEN CRAWLER VER. 1)

[Draculeos]

I've been lurking in the forum for about 4 months. I love all the great threads and all the info you guys exchange.
I've been wanting to dive into the Crawler Experience but couldn't make up my mind between the RTC RS10 and the piece of art on four wheels known as the Gmade R1.

I'm not new to RC. I've done nitro and electric Monster Trucks, Drag Racers, On road Nitro and Electric four channel Airplanes. I got the crawler bug about 4 months ago and have logged on daily and read up on every aspect of Crawling.

Right now I don't have the money to spend on an R1 kit. $280 plus the cost of a Crawler ESC and a TX & RX Combo plus the battery. By my estimates at least close to $500.

On Ebay I found the R1 Tube Chassis and the Gmade R1 Tires and Rims. I know the tires suck and I would love some White dot HB rovers but I like the look of the Gmade tires . The Chassis was $50. Tires, all four- $17 and rims $25. I also ordered the R1 heavy duty links.

I figured I'd buy the kit piece by piece so I wouldn't break the bank.

Then I had a bright idea, why not use the R1 parts I ordered and combine them with an RS10?

The RS10 has a decent ESC and TX/RX combo.
The axles are MOA and the thought of MOA axles on a rig that has a transmission and driveshafts made me excited to combine these 2 Crawlers and see what would happen.

I ordered from Ebay and had it in 3 days on sale, $149.99.

R1 parts total Chassis, Wheels, Links= $120
RS10 RTC = $150
Total - $270

Behold...

FRANKEN CRAWLER VERSION 1 HYBRID

FC-1




I've been working on this since about 10pm. It's 7:45 am here in Texas. It took me a while to figure out how to place the links where they would have the proper movement. I finished at about 7am and had nowhere to crawl so I crawled on my sleeping wife!

(Plenty of hills and bumps to test the articulation).

It worked really nice, more photos later.

Tell me what you think. This is the poor man's R1...




This is my first attempt at KIT-BASHING anything and I think it came out alot better than expected.

I'll paint the body panels and apply decals after I get some sleep.

Thank you everyone for all the great tips. I learned alot and my successful hybrid crawler has been dancing in my head for weeks.

Please tell me what you think.

[Oso787]

Great job man, it looks awsome. I am not sure about geometry since Im not an expert but it sure looks good! I ordered my R1 yesterday, cant wait!

[Mayze]

Very creative! Nice work!

[helistyles]

That does pretty sick.you a brave man though, my wife would freak if tried to crawl my rig on her hill and bumps..Haha

[minisaba]

Your hybrid looks great for a low budget build. Go and test it out and update us with some video.

[2500hdon37s]

defnitly not the worst link geometry, defnitly a cool rig

you will probaly want to look into new tires, i havent herd good about those

[jsowens]

Looks pretty awesome. Definitely post up a video of it if you can.

[rc_pimp]

Nice build bro . I never would have thought of something like this . Cant wait to see it with panels . Keep us updated on performance as you try different terrain .

[bsn]

Personally, I hate it. Mostly because I haven't ordered my R1 cage yet so I can't put my RS10 axles on it and you got your pictures up first so I will look like a copy cat. Other than it looks pretty good. I would get rid of the wing. Not that I think they look bad but it doesn't look like you have enough triangulation on your upper links.

Best of luck, when I get mine, I will post pic also.

[norbyx]

Well you classify it as the poor mens R1 I say it's the inteligent men R1. I like the idea and I admire your inventive. Hope it crawls good.

[DISTURBIN' tha PEACE]

Originally Posted by Draculeos

I crawled on my sleeping wife!

(Plenty of hills and bumps to test the articulation).

It worked really nice, more photos later..

Who cares about the crawler. More pics of this.

[rc_pimp]

I never liked the wings myself but they really seem to complete the look on this rig . If you do have problems from a lack of triangulation you could try running a cross link between the mounting posts and then run the uppers from that . All you would need is some allthread , 3 spacers , a few ball ends , and some nuts . Then add the ball ends to the screws going through the wing so that they are coming straight down from the wing . Then run allthread from one ball end to the other using the spacers between the ball ends to locate the links . Nut,ball end -----link---link----- ball end,nut . This will bring the links inward . That is unless the gearbox gets in the way .

[jacks766]

Looks awesome, and $50 for a tube chassis is a good deal.... btw, what part of tx are you in????

[Grizzly4x4]

Good on you for going out on a limb and trying something different right out of the gate. Necessity is the mother of invention and a lack of cash will force you to get creative sometimes.

The link angles look decent, as far as triangulation goes it looks minimal but let us know how it works for you.