Thread: Scale crawler options

Looking to get back into r/c stuff, and really taking a close look at the scale r/c stuff. I quit racing a few years back, used to race off-road every weekend in stock truck and buggy, sometimes bring out the nitro (xxx-t mf2, B4, xxx-nt). I'll bring out the E-Maxx once in a while, fun for bmx jumps and general bashing around, but want something more realistic and capable of slower crawling stuff for when I go camping up to Sequoia, etc. I'm leaning toward picking up ax axial scx10 honcho but wanted some opinions on other kits (or rtrs) to look into... what do you guys think?

Next question - as far as electronics, all my old race cars run 7.2 packs and brushed motors, I got out of it before the li-po and brushless stuff came out. would it be worth the investment to switch to li-po now since my old batteries are likely junk by now? I'm guessing I'd need a new charger, etc. Or should I stick with the 7.2 packs since I already have a good charger/power source? (LRP pulsar/novak source)

Thanks for the opinions!

- Eddie

Lol, no opinions? Guess I'll stick with the scx-10 then.

Im no expert but I had a crawler. It was made by HPI and looked like a jeep? lol. Thing was alot of fun. Theres really no need for brushless/lipo unless you want the lightwieght benefit from a lipo pack to get cog down or lower. Since the things are go slow 7.2's last quite a while and provide plenty of torque. I have a rock garden in my backyard, pretty fun.

I like the scale style trucks personally. They just look cool. I dont like the "competition" style crawlers, they look wierd to me with motors on the axles and stuff but you give up some performance for the "real" look. (although the scale ones can work REALLY well too)

Damnit, now I want one again lol.

O and go to hobbyking to order lipos if you go that route. You can get two batteries and a charger for like $100, give or take. The hobby stores are a rip off on those last time I checked.

tamiya makes a few scale trucks, their FJ works pretty well from the vids i saw of it

scx-10= easieat to works on at first and strongest axles stock
tamiya crawlers= fun but really expensive for a first time
wraith= high cog but good ground clearance also mods to lower cg same as scx-10 basically

Thanks for the input! Going to try and make it to the expo this weekend and if anyone has some decent deals I'll pick up an scx-10. I'd like to try the li-po stuff, but I'm thinking it'll be more practical to pick up a couple 7.2 packs since I can use them in all my other trucks too.

Mac - are there itty bitty DR stickers I can throw on this thing? lol

Eddie I too have been wanting to buy a scale truck. A good forum to look around on is RCCrawler.com

I will most likely be getting either a SCX-10 (The land rover looking thing) or the Wraith.

I just finished building the SCX10. Great crawler I think; I was bashing it pretty well yesterday. Only major problem is that the bolt that connects the servo horn to the steering linkage will hit the crossmember at full bump. I think I junked my servo yesterday when I jumped it. Some trimming of that crossmember may help, but a good chunk would have to go. That's my only beef with the kit really. Oh, I also have to be carefull with the slipper clutch shaft's nylock nut (backs off at times, but I think I've fixed the problem)

Kit has lots of available upgrades that seem pretty neat

As for the batteries, my NiCd 7.2's are just fine and prob over 5yrs old. Mine hadn't been used in a long time as well and took a few full charges to "wake" them up. I'd have to charge them about 3 times to get them full, but now they're full in 1 shot. I'd do that to yours. My batts last about 15mins with my dirt and street cars, but last almost an hr with my crawler

I have seen reviews on the Wraith and it seems like a solid crawler as well. Depends if you want the look of a hXc rock crawler buggy, or a weekend warrior crawler look. Plus there are Wraith upgrades that will make it pretty close to an SCX10

If you like to build stuff yourself and have the money, get the kit of the SCX10. I THINK that it has better parts (TR has plastic links, kit has metal links), and have heard people end up switching out most of the electronics anyway

Get one and we'll go crawling, Kevin! lol. I wanted to pick one up at the expo but I broke a couple leafs on my yellow truck so I have to give deaver some $, and ended up getting some lights for my dads heep, so the crawler will wait a little. I'm pretty set on the scx-10 I think. I've been lurking on rccrawler a couple weeks now and really like what I see!

Armistice - Thanks for the feedback and tips! Good to know you were able to salvage your batteries! I'm gonna cycle my old race packs and see if I can bring them back or not. I was leaning more toward the kit since my old JR transmitter can save 3 or 5 cars I think? gonna pull a servo and scavenge other stuff from the others I have. Cool some others on here are into these!

Plans are to pick up a kit soon and get a 4dr jk body to match dads heep and a '73 bronco body to match my bronco =)

Originally Posted by oorracing

Eddie I too have been wanting to buy a scale truck. A good forum to look around on is RCCrawler.com

I will most likely be getting either a SCX-10 (The land rover looking thing) or the Wraith.

Note that the Wraith is geared higher and it technically labeled as a Rock Racer. I'm not sure if the Wraith is able to be geared lower for crawling. If you want to crawl, go for the SCX10

Also, the LOSI Night Crawler is a pretty BA looking crawler as well. I was actually about to get that until I discovered the SCX10 came in a kit form: UKRCRC :: View topic - losi night crawler first outing



YellowRanger- Welcome. I have Venom 1800's. In my street and dirt truck, they last about 15mins. In the crawler, I prob had close to an hr out of them. If you're strapped for cash, and have a NiCd charger, just get the best NiCd batts you can find and you'll get enough run time out of them for crawling

I have the Trail Honcho and its a blast! have a video down a few post. Also have the Losi Night Crawler which is really fun. Not a RC nut, so I just put some wheel weights in and go at it

Looks awesome! I'm waiting on paint from HobbyTown

So I picked up a honcho this weekend, and ran a couple batteries through it... too much fun. I'm used to my race trucks, so this thing is completely different to drive, but the darn thing goes everywhere! Cant wait to get my jeep and bronco bodies! This thing will be a blast when we go camping out to Sequoia/Big Bear!

I'm debating on getting a second crawler, the Axial Dingo. Pretty much the same platform as the SCX10. However, I don't feel like spending another $500+ on a crawler, lol

Any pics of the crawler now, YellowRanger?

I had my bro machine some bumper relocation brackets and the bumper looks a lot better than in the stock position

RC4WD - The Ultimate RC Products has everything ....

Ohhhhhhh man, big into crawlers/scalers.

SCX10 I built, started out as a RTR, then slowly transformed into a all custom hilux scaler







All 100% waterproof, made for some awesome times when it was raining.





Learned how to wire in resistors and LED's, was rad having functional lighting.





New toy - Axial Wraith. Went all out and have been throwing the best of the best on it. Thing is a blast and a lot more fun then the scaler.

4 wheel steer is legit on the rocks









Past weekend back behind blow sand

Armistice - I'll put up a picture tonight, it looks stock right now, Just added aluminum links and switched to 4 link in the rear and it has custom rock rash all over it, lol. I picked up a Pro-Line 4 door jk body I'm going to paint to match my dads heep, I'm just trying different color combos till I get it right. Its a weird color, 2007 year "rescue green." Also going to order a narrowed Bronco body from Dynamic Concepts and some RC4WD Iroks with Walker Evans wheels as a Christmas gift to myself, lol. I need to waterproof this thing because the riverbed I play in is full of the wet stuff now.

ATS Yota - Those are some sweet rigs! The Hilux bodies are cool! Are those stock Axial wheels with different rings? The Wraiths looks like a blast... I've seen peoples SCX-10 builds with Wraith axles on rccrawler. I've been thinking about that, but it would lose some of the scale look which is why I love the thing so much... Or maybe I could just get axles with a complete Wraith on them? lol. This could get expensive.

Sweet. Just bought a new battery. Went from an 1800NiCd to 4500mAh. I should be able to roll for a while... maybe make it up and down my local trail without switching out batts, lol

Kyle, are you on RC Crawlers? The pic of the SCX on the beer can looked familiar (like no one else has used a beer can for that though, lol)

Here's a pic of mine since I haven't put one up... actually, a vid. Have since done a bumper relocation bracket and new gearing- 10/96



EDIT: Why's the aspect ratio off? It's fine on my comp(widescreen), but YT made it square and crap

Yeah I'm on RCC, don't post very often though

Haha, awesome. I have my build thread in the SCX10 section "The Box build", though it's been renamed Gumby. Nothing crazy, just updates here and there

Here's a quick picture of mine. Nothing special yet, the windows are masked off in the pic because I was getting ready to add some "body work" from the inside, you can kind of see some in the lower corner on that side. Going to get the pro line body painted asap, and likely narrow the bumper. I'm running some 4500 nimh battery packs and easily get 1hr + out of them, plenty of fun! I'm on rcc too, no build threat or anything though, just soaking up the info. Have you guys seen "headquake's" builds on there??

- Eddie

He makes a bunch of his own bodies and interiors out of wood, and puts together some really cool videos!

Headquake's RC - 66 Bronco Aug 16 2011 - YouTube

Headquake's RC - 57 Ford first ride - YouTube

Can't say I've seen him around on there

DR crawler meet? lol

Haha, DR crawler meet, I'll bring it out with me to the next desert (or even parking lot) get together. Haven't had to much time for the axial the past few weeks, but I ordered some Pit Bull tires and pro-line bead locks today. I want to get this thing out more over the holiday! Trying to decide between a narrowed/bobbed bronco body, or a narrowed/bobbed hard Hilux body. All in due time I guess...

Here's a couple shots of mine in the riverbed. The place is huge, lots of different terrain, sand, gravel, mud, small rock - boulders.

You can see the waterline in the first pic... gotta work on waterproofing!

Got a new body for the SCX-10. Its a Dynamic Concepts Bronco crawler body. Going to take it to the rocks tomorrow.

WOW THESE R AMAAAZING!!! Really nice cars

Had too much fun at King of the Hammers.

As soon as I sell my F-150 Kingpin kit I'll be buying either the Honcho kit, SCX-10, or the Wraith. I already have the Proline FlatIrons mounted to Proline Beadlocks and a few other goodies.

Owned them all, nothing beats the wraith in crawling capability and fun factor. You can crawl, jump, haul ass, beat the shit out of it and it asks for more. All other RC's haven't been used since I bought mine.

Where can i buy one of these realistic machines??

The only reason I want an Scx based truck is the scale factor.. Ideally I would own both but given my finances currently that's not going to happen lol

i wanna get a scx10 and make it brushless, then get 1.55 wheels and tires, a jeep body, then build an i-beam set up and theme it off a jeep speed... just an idea iv had for awhile


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Wraiths look like a blast, these things are addicting as all hell. Picked up a 55 turn motor to slow it waaaay down, and might get a 20 turn for when I want some more speed out of it. I lost track of how many hours I've put on my SCX-10 so far, each battery gets me a bit over 1.5hrs of run time, haven't had any breakage yet and I beat the heck out of it in the rocks. All I've had to do so far is loctite some set screws on the drivelines.

Originally Posted by yellowranger1

This truck's mini me?






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This one is more of a tacoma body, but pretty close!

Looking for the SCX-10 Dingo kit. Can't find one at my local hobby shops lol

Sweet pic! you should send that to axial!... I might have to use it as a new wallpaper, too.

Kevin - Order one online? I try to find the smaller mom n pop stores but Hobby People usually has one or two, I'm sure they could transfer store to store, and they'll match prices. I just found out there's a pretty good shop in simi. Going to check em out this weekend, I think they had something to do with a KOH car. Called Race prep Hobbies

I just ordered the Axial SCX-10 Dingo kit, with some gnarly Hitek steering servo. I plan on slowly building it at night when I'm not working on my actual truck. What is a good ESC/Motor combo? Looking to spend around $150 for both. Brushless or not I dont mind. I also need a decent Radio/Receiver as well. I'm already in the hole $almost four bills lol