VS-10 Pro - some observations during construction.

[Zondar]

So I bought a VS-10 Pro as my first rock-crawler.

I equipped it with a Castle Mamba X, Castle 1900 kV motor, a 4-series LiPo, and a Hitec HSB-9485SH servo (brushless steel-geared, 360 oz/in stall torque), and Pro-line tires and wheels.

I found the same problem with one of the axles as RCO did here (inadequate threads on two of the bolt holes), but I left it as is for now. This is apparently a genuine problem that Vanquish has with that part.

The ESC and motor seem to be quite capable and a good match to the car. The motor does make a strong whine when under way, but the running-gear noise is about the same loudness anyway. The servo is almost completely silent except under a heavy load, and it seems up to the job so far.

With the 4-S battery, the top speed is arguably much faster than necessary for a crawler. The minimum reasonable crawling speed, which depends more on the motor and gearing than the battery, is a little faster than I'd like, too. I've bought an 11T pinion gear (vs. the stock 15T) that may help due to a 0.73 times reduction that the pinion should provide, but I haven't changed that yet. Update: changed the pinion and I like it better with the lower gearing.

One shock leaked right away, while the kit was still under construction, and the others swiftly had problems too. Several re-tries filling them, etc., have not made them any better. At present, they work, but not well. I'll have to obtain some different shocks (looking for recommendations).

Assembling the stock wheels and tires is an infuriating process, with a billion tiny screws that just don't want to thread into the plastic, while the tires are determined not to stay properly seated long enough to assemble. The plastic wheels are cheap and boring looking, and the tires aren't the stickiest either, so I gave up after one wheel and ordered some Pro-line wheels and tires (4.7" Predator compound BFG-AT style). These assembled with almost trivial ease by comparison, and are stickier, though not as good a match for scale looks. The wheel choice wasn't my first or favorite, though it looks good enough considering my color scheme, and they had the benefit of actually being available to buy.

At first, I didn't feel much love for the body, but after painting and mounting I've come to the opinion that it looks pretty good.

Attaching the two body portions (the main body and the interior/pickup-tray portion) via the door-handles was a "clever" but poor choice due to how insanely fiddly it is, and it doesn't look very strong either. In fact, I still haven't managed to assemble them (low tolerance for frustration), and so I just added some tape to help stabilize the interior after using the stock bolts in the pickup area. Oh well, I didn't assemble all of the "scale" features such as the heavy radiator anyway. I'll put on the handles one day.

Laughably, I thought the decals were transfers rather than stickers, so I put some in water. That didn't work out as expected, naturally, but I only used a few interior ones anyway.

I ran out of black paint during the painting process. Yes, that one singular can that I found after an extensive search, and that I had to pay a scalper more than twice retail for. Grrr! Also: next time I have to remember to get that masking tape down tight!

Oh, and those horrible window stickers! These need to be low-tack so they can be repositioned if necessary. Instead, they immediately curl up and stick to themselves and anything they touch like iron. In the end, I had to do all my own masking.

The truck has a lot of slack in the running gear, resulting in almost an inch of travel before the lash is taken up. But then my real-life 4WD truck has some of that too (clunk!).

I find the truck to be heavy. It has ridiculous amounts of torque and power, so that's not an issue, but I find myself fantasizing about what could be stripped from it to reduce the weight and lower the center of gravity. The battery tray is somewhat heavy and elevated, and the side extensions for the rocker panels are also heavy (but well-made and very strong). Some forward and rear portions of the chassis are also mostly dead weight except for supporting the bumpers. I wonder how long I can resist!?

Over-all, it's a great and fun-to-assemble kit with some known weaknesses that Vanquish no-doubt would like to improve. It seems I have to replace the shocks, for example, which is sad.

It needs a few more details completed, but soon I have to gather up the courage to be a mature adult seen out in public playing with his new toy!

(Pictures follow.)

[Zondar]

[Lashlee]

I agree with the shocks, I've got some GTS shocks that I'm gonna try on my Ultra.

At least the body paint came out looking great!

[Zondar]

Thanks. The paint scheme is a little unusual, but it would be perfect for the Canadian Mounties' trucks.

[RCBrutus]

Originally Posted by Zondar

Thanks. The paint scheme is a little unusual, but it would be perfect for the Canadian Mounties' trucks.

I like it....has an "A-Team" vibe to it

Finished my build a week or so ago. No signs of leaky shocks (yet) but I also have not taken it out for it's first run. Blame COVID for that one....

[Zondar]

A-Team!? Now you have ruined it for me (kidding).