OS's Wendigo kit

[OSRC]

According to legend, a Wendigo is a flesh eating monster. I don't think this truck is going to eat my flesh, but it is a monster!

I'm a sucker for a kit...especially a larger scale truck that has a Bronco/Scout vibe and TSL's so when this was announced, I ordered one immediately. I don't plan on rock racing it, it looks like a nice large trail truck to me so that's the direction I'll be going with it.

Opening the box, everything looks kinda tossed in there... No biggie, as long as nothing is missing!

Everything is in separate bags, labelled in order of assembly from what I can tell.

The body is huge....20" front to rear.

The tires are supposed to be a new compound. I have a set of the 1.9's and after some foam work they are ok tires. Not great, but not terrible either. These feel nice and grippy. Maybe not Alien compound, but they feel pretty good. Frankly, I love the look of them. Very aggressive. Wheels are nice too, though I'll be using beadlocks instead. These will find a home somewhere.

Paging through the instructions, They look pretty clear and easy to follow. The parts used are shown full size for reference...I measured to be sure and they are spot on.

Time to break out the wrenches! "thumbsup"

 

[OSRC]

Starting off with the axles... That's the way every truck should begin. Gears and lockers look pretty good. Beefy for sure, though I'm never sold on aluminum lockers. The gears bolt to the lockers with 2mm screws and tiny, itty bitty 1.27mm heads...huh. Thankfully I had a driver on hand. It's quite an odd size, not sure why they didn't use 1.5mm hex heads.

Metal inserts for the axles, as promised. They press fit in and seems to be a very solid setup.

Whoa.... 5 screws hold on each C-hub (and the rear lockouts) - beefy. There's a lot of beef here (all the better to eat flesh I guess) It's all plastic of course, but there's a lot of it. "thumbsup"

Size comparison...only thing I had handy was a rear OG SCX10 axle. These are big, beefy axles. 240mm from hex to hex in case anyone was wondering.

Hmm....metal joins on the axles, but the shafts are plastic. Not sure how I feel about plastic UJ's...I'm having flashbacks of snapping Stampede shafts back on my crawler after they popped off! Easily swapped out though, I'll run them until something breaks.

No metal gears in the transmission, though the gears seem to be a nylon blend and are mod1 gears I think. They seem pretty solid, not super concerned about it. Coated them with Tamiya Ceramic grease and in they went.

Transmission and T-case assembled. Everything fell together fine, the trans spins super smooth though the t-case is a little crunchy. I'm sure it will wear in after a run or two.

Started on the links before I got called to do some adulting. There's a lot of different rod ends, and I of course assembled them without much thought....and used all the wrong rod ends :shock:. Definitely pay attention here!

That's it for today. So far, I'm pleased with the Redcat kit. It's building as good as anything I've built in the past, and maybe better in some respects. I've had a few of their RTR's in the past and was not a fan at all. Wasn't the parts so much as the tolerances...they were just awful. So far, everything is going together well, the instructions are clear and logical and the parts bags are well labeled and organized per step. "thumbsup"

 

[mikemcE]

Is your alter ego Nicole??

Watched Josh an Nicole last night.


Hang up and Drive

 

[JatoTheRipper]

This is a good looking truck. I love the Deadbolt style body. I like it. And at least you're building something different and giving Redcat another shot.

I'm not a stickler on packaging either. Everything thrown in a box, as long as the parts and hardware are bagged by step or by type, is completely fine. In fact, the worse the packaging the better because then I have no problem throwing it out. If the box is very nice I tend to save them for absolutely no reason.

It's odd they took the time to beef up the axle housings with metal tubes and more than enough screws, but gave them aluminum lockers and spindly screws with non standard head sizes. The axle housings look good though in the fabricated housing style. How's the steering throw? I heard this may be a limiting factor on this truck.

Plastic universals and plastic transmission gears are also head scratchers. Are the pins in the universals at least metal? At least the gears look higher quality than any plastic gear that has ever come out of the Axial factory. Hopefully Redcat offers metal upgrades for both of these items.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of their shocks.

It seems like a mixed bag so far, but I guess that's to be expected for a $260 kit that includes wheels, tires and a body. Hopefully the truck ends up being greater than the sum of its parts.

 

[tuxstang]

I'll never understand that fear of plastic for gears ... it's not like nylon gears are something new, they are in use on fast vehicule since years without any problems.

Universals are not plastic (neither the drive pins, this is not a 1/16 truck), they are metal as on the Gen8, it's the driveshaft shaft and tube that are plastic ... not different from the WB8 and others. You can see it on the photo ... the driveshaft is mate while the universal a bit shiny. May check their phase though ... on the Gen8 driveshafts where out of phase, not huge problem on a crawler, but on a fast truck, it'll be.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I'll never understand that fear of plastic for gears ... it's not like nylon gears are something new, they are in use on fast vehicule since years without any problems.

Universals are not plastic (neither the drive pins, this is not a 1/16 truck), they are metal as on the Gen8, it's the driveshaft shaft and tube that are plastic ... not different from the WB8 and others. You can see it on the photo ... the driveshaft is mate while the universal a bit shiny. May check their phase though ... on the Gen8 driveshafts where out of phase, not huge problem on a crawler, but on a fast truck, it'll be.

Plastic gears in a fast on-road vehicle hold up fine. I've destroyed plastic gears in go-fast off roaders and scale crawlers. But quality plastic gears can be completely fine. My two Sawbacks are still going strong on plastic gears, even after using fast brushless power, but who doesn't prefer metal? I sure do.

Oh I see that now. I re-read his statement and he said plastic UJ's, but before that he explained metal joints and plastic shafts which I missed. I even looked up the universals on Redcat's site after reading it as plastic UJ's and it's difficult to tell because the photo is so blurry! :lmao:

https://www.redcatracing.com/products/rer12659?variant=31764564181082

 

[OSRC]

I don't know Josh and Nicole? My alter ego is a rich, muscular, handsome guy but unfortunately he's trapped in an overweight, out of shape form.

The gears should be fine...they are beefy. Hell, my E-Revo had plastic gears and it never had a problem. Has a slipper in the trans as well, I always tune it to give slightly if the drivetrain is bound up. They usually run much quieter too which I like. I believe the fear of plastic gears come from some transmissions (cough...Axial...cough) that used to use poorly molded 48p internal gears.

Steering is so-so. We'll see what it looks like when the wheels are on, but i don't think it's quite 45d.

Ordered a 1080 and a Brood 550 5 slot 10t for this truck.

 

[tuxstang]

Josh and Nicole -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBrtdhSa-mA

Seeing how noisy my Gen8 is with nylon gears, I wouldn't want metal gears on a fast one.

Steering may not be on par with Gen8 or others, but we must remember the Wendigo is not sold as a crawler, you don't need/want 45+ steering on a U4 with locked diffs. Actually you don't need it either on crawler ... you just want it so you don't have to think twice before turning. Hopefully there'll be aftermarket knuckles to solve the "issue" I guess for those who'd like to use these axles at a slow pace.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I like metal gears and vanilla, but it probably is Axial that gave me my personal fear of plastic gears. :ror:

That motor looks nice. I didn't know Brood made a 550 sealed can.

 

[Dave B crawln]

Great build thread! I get mine tomorrow I hope mine goes as easy as yours looks. Ha ha, I hope you post more I’ll be following:shock:

 

[OSRC]

Josh and Nicole -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBrtdhSa-mA

Ha! No, not me though we might be related. Building 2 lego kits along with my RC's "thumbsup" I never watch vids of people building tiny trucks. I'd rather build them myself.

Anyway, moving right along.... I don't know what it is about the LED lighting, but ever since I put it in my pictures look like crap. Especially anything black. Anyway...

Axles built.... anyone notice anything wrong?

After fixing my noob mistake, I got the links together. Huge pivot balls and nice steel links. The steel links flare into the rod ends. I like that.. Meanwhile, my fingers looked like bacon after getting all those links together. holy cow! My normal link took was a bit too small so I had to do it the old fashioned way.

Steering angle shot...didn't measure, but I don't think it's quite 45d

Starting on the chassis... Lots of plastic. LOTS of it. Skid alone is 92g of molded goodness. Very beefy. This is a standard Gen8 chassis IIRC. Got the t-case bolted in and it's ready to go.

Shock towers are also beefy - 6mm thick or so. Rock solid.

Transmission in (sans motor) and the shock towers key together with a brace... there's a fan mount molded in the brace. Nice touch.

Starting to look like something here! Chassis seems pretty rigid overall, and it's got some real heft to it. I'll weigh it all out later. The t-case gears are crunchy even more now that I bolted them to the t-case, I'll have to dig into that. I'm not a fan of crunchy gears.

 

[OSRC]

Redcat throws in some servo extensions and a metal servo horn...good stuff.

The side tray/sliders key into the radio tray parts, and then bolt to the chassis. Once on, there are pass through openings to get to all the screws and adjust the WB without removing the sliders. Pretty well thought out here.

First spot I had an issue...the battery tray did not line up with the rear 2 holes - it was off by a MM or two. I managed to get it screwed down fully, but it's just a tiny bit bowed. Going to remove the rear 2 screws and cut it down anyway for my shorty packs but so far it's the only fitment issue I've run across.

My cheap servo doesn't quite fit in the servo mount. 3 light passes with the dremel and it dropped right in. Plenty of material there, I had no qualms about shaving it just a hair.

Whoever came up with this design should be fired. Swaybar is so janky, I didn't even bother installing it. I'm not ever sure how it holds together when assembled. I'll use the mount later if I need it and find something of a bit more substance. Not sure why we need a fancy 5 piece swaybar. Give me a bent wire and 2 ball ends that bolt on it (like touring and 1/8 buggies) and call it a day. Simple design that works perfectly.

And finally, axles mounted. Pinion angles are off both front and rear. Everything is mounted in the correct holes, and I double checked my link lengths (uppers are slightly shorter per the manual - 147mm up top and 153 for the lowers) Almost like the rear uppers should be the lowers and vice versa. I moved the rear uppers back a hole and I still don't like the angle. Hmm... There's enough adjustment to move the links around so I'm sure I'll get it sorted, just odd that they are off somewhat. Probably end up swapping the upper and lower links as it looks like it will solve the issue completely. The front is not nearly as bad, just need to move the upper link out a hole and it'll be perfect.

 

[OSRC]

I couldn't stand it, I got the links sorted out. I moved the front axle upper link out 1 hole - perfect. In the back, I swapped uppers and lowers and it worked out perfect. Think that's a misprint on Redcat's part... Note the bowed battery tray. I removed the rear screws after this pic, it was driving me nuts.

I ended up going a hole back after this pic to rotate the pinion up a bit, but at least it was in the ballpark now!

Directions clearly showing 147mm link as the uppers... trust me, swap them. The 147mm go on the bottom and the 153mm go on the top.

Moving on...shocks. I'm shocked at how big these are! These are like 1/8 scale shocks. T-nitride coated shafts, all aluminum. Pretty nice units. Compared to an SCX10 shock...I think it would fit inside.

All is not well however, I was missing one of the lower spring retainers. Wasn't on the sprue and wasn't loose in the bag. Rather than call Redcat, I had a few that fit laying around, so I swapped them on and kept building.

YUGE.... I like it. I measure about 112 on the fronts and 125mm on the rears. I'm sure it has larger shocks on the rear for basher duty, I'll most likely swap them out for something in the 120mm range all around. Very nice and plush shocks though.

Now we're getting somewhere! Rear has a ton more drop out due to the longer rear shocks.

Put the stock tires on some beadlocks I had laying around and we're rolling

Comparison shot with my TRX4 Sport chassis. It's very similar to a Wroncho build.

Steering angle. Ugh. Great for bashing, not so much for crawling. No big deal...hells bells, I drive CR01's and CC01's - I'm used to not having a lot of steering.

Body rough trimmed and installed. Has a giant Deadbolt vibe to it. I like it!

 

[Bob_in az]

Pretty good looking kit. Redcat posted about the the link misprint on their facebook page, but you got it figured out. With your build, I only see that one mistake in the manual. Pretty good if you ask me. Nothing like the mess of a manual when the scx10.3 kit came out. With regards to the plastic gears, I'm pretty sure the trans/t-case gearing is the same as the Gen8 so the steel Gen8 gears should work as an upgrade. I think the axles are the star of this show though. I hope they're working on a new gen8 kit now.

 

[OSRC]

Pretty good looking kit. Redcat posted about the the link misprint on their facebook page, but you got it figured out.

Aha! Good to know! First few kits out of the door usually have some issues, so I was expecting a few hiccups. "thumbsup"

 

[tuxstang]

How can it be normal for manuals to have issues ? Can't they (not only Redcat, they're all in the same boat) find someone in house to do an assembly following the manual step-by-step before giving the go for production ?

Steering is a bit on the short side for crawling, but nothing some high-clearance knuckles can't solve ... hope some aftermarket will jump on it if Redcat doesn't.

 

[mikemcE]

How can it be normal for manuals to have issues ? Can't they (not only Redcat, they're all in the same boat) find someone in house to do an assembly following the manual step-by-step before giving the go for production ?

.

The common issue is time and language. Rush to produce and deliver products, made overseas. Then poor or sloppy translation, and designers too overworked. I think my VS4 manual was the only one w/o issues.


Hang up and Drive

 

[FormallySkullking]

Just put mine together, I've got the Crunchy TCase also. Doesn't seem to cause any issues running though. I'm still in the testing phase.

For $259 this kit is a No Brainer Though. I'm digging it.

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[OSRC]

^^ Nice!! Figured I wasn't the only RC nut all over this one..... I agree, for the price it's a pretty solid kit.

 

[FormallySkullking]

^^ Nice!! Figured I wasn't the only RC nut all over this one..... I agree, for the price it's a pretty solid kit.

Hell Yeah, I'm probably getting another. If they come out with servo on axle and a new link mount along with open diff option....these axles with Dethrone the AR60's in the MT World.

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