atunink

Hey guys.. I have decided to add a crawler to my arsenal of rc's. I have been researching for several days now.. I have been looking at Redcat's Rockslide 1/8 scale super crawler. I like the fact that its huge! The 4ws looks pretty sweet too! Just looking for any advice, pros, cons, etc about this truck. I know you guys know your stuff and thought I should just check in before I decide to spend the money.. Thanks guys..

nitrosportsandrunner

i just bought one. should be here next friday!

the 4ws is sweet. the rs10XT is a 1/10 crawler that has the same 4ws setup. i love mine.

squirel has a review on youtube of the rockslide 1/8. he gave it a pretty good review.

the only weak spot i know of.....there is a drive pin in the gearbox. it can shear off if the wheels get stuck really bad in between some rocks and you keep trying to hammer the throttle.
the same is true of the rs10XT. i had it happen to mine. the drive pin that is used is a soft metal. i put harden pins(can be found at any hobby store) and havent had another issue with the drivetrain. others have used some JB weld or other methods to "lock" the 2 parts togther that the drive pin holds.
again, not an issue if you pay attention to what you are doing. but if you swap out that pin for a stronger one you wont have an issue no matter what.

as with any RTR crawler, the servos could be stronger. but i believe they are metal geared, and hold up well.

4ws allows these crawlers to get through alot of stuff that a normal 2ws crawler would get stuck in!

once i get mine i am sure i will do some mods. and im gonna try some different bodies as well.

atunink

Thanks for the info nitro.. I watched squirrels review video yesterday. Looked good. Other than the obvious servo upgrades, I thought about upgrading some of the chassis parts (bumpers, sideplates, links, etc.) from the plastic to aluminum. May not be necessary but sure would look sweet! Probably a different body too. What about the motors and the esc.. are they something that will last, or should they be upgraded to? What about battery? It comes with a 2000mAH, which battery would you recommend to give me longer run time?

nitrosportsandrunner

there is a bunch of alloy upgrades that redcat has.

the motors are very tough. they will last a long time. the ESC is a pretty decent unit. it has drag brake and a no-delay reverse(both good for crawling)
there is a outcry duel motor ESC that can be run on 3s lipo and has an external BEC. it would make a nice upgrade. they run about $60.
but the stock ESC will work good.

the battery is OK. but i higher MAH battery will give you longer runtimes.

look at the redcat page for the rockslide. on the right side is shows a bunch of the optional alloy upgrades.
LMK what parts you would be interested and i can quote you a price. you can save alot of $$$ by buying the upgrades along with the truck.
http://www.redcatracing.com/RC-Cars/...lers/Rockslide

atunink

Cool.. thanks. I don't know a whole lot about electric rc's, everything I have is nitro. Not really up to speed with battery types and ESC's. I don't really plan on upgrading the ESC right away if the stock one is good, but the longer run times will be a must. I think squirrel was running a 4500mAH in place of the stock 2000mAH. I searched Tower Hobbies and they had a few of the 4500 but they were all LiPo and the stock is Ni-MH.. what will need to be changed, if anything, to go from Ni-MH to LiPo? Or can I get the higher mAH in Ni-MH?

Im considering upgrading the side plates, links, and the bumpers to aluminum.. If I buy it all off of Redcats site, It'll run about $475.. Is that the same price you would quote me? Just curious...

nitrosportsandrunner

i can do much less for the pricing. PM sent.
it would cost a bit to go lipo. you need a different charger, as well as a LVC.
lipo is nice, but since crawlers can get such long runtimes on a decent nimh pack, i suggest getting a second nimh pack. if you find you are really into crawling, then lipo makes a nice upgrade. it adds a bit more power(7.4v at higher amps) and the lipo will weigh less than a comparable nimh pack.

jsowens

If you go for the 1/10 RS10, I would recommend picking up a set of nicer servos with it. The stock servos have plastic gears and a really low amount of torque for a crawler. Get something with around 200oz of torque and metal geared and you'll be in good shape.

Muskokarc

Hello 

 I to have the itch to get a crawler of some type but am looking for more of a Kit non RTR.  I enjoy the build part and tinkering as much as running.  

As far as I can see there are two types of crawlers.  One that is super twist style that has 70 deg. rotation on the frame and the ones with a more traditional truck frame.   Are both types able to cover the same kind of terrain?  

I would be looking to run one year round.  I live where we get lots of snow so that would be part of the demands on anything I get.

thanks for info

jsowens

The "70 deg. rotation" style you're referring to are normally referred to as comp style crawlers. They generally look more like a futuristic moon buggy than they do a real vehicle. The traditional looking ones, that resemble real life 1:1 scale vehicles are normally called scalers. Theoretically you could take both types on very similar terrain, but the performance is gonna be a lot different. It would be easier to make tough lines with a comp style crawler but if you're into realistic looks, trail running, etc... a scaler wouldn't be a bad suggestion for you. Do some thinking on which one you think you might enjoy more and there are plenty of kits available. The axial honchos are really nice scaler kits.

Muskokarc

Yes I think going scaler would suit my style of build. I like the detail in the scalers.

In one of my RC mags I read an article of a run done with scaler crawlers using their winches and carried parts to traverse a lot of different ground. Had some nice pics and I like the idea of using the winches and such. So scale would be my choice then. Will have to look at the honchos.

Ok so going with that in mind what kind of upgrades would you sugest to get. What would be a good type of motor to put in? I am patial to Novak electonics. I have a Team Orion 17t method R in my Rustler right now that I plan to replace with a brushless this summer. Also budget wise I plan to save up through the summer to get a crawler so right now working on what kind of cost it will be to set up.

jsowens

The honchos are pretty nice in their stock form so the only things I would suggest right away would be electronics that you install to make it ready to run. The electronics depend a lot on the budget that you have to spend. I'm currently building an axial based scaler and am putting a novak rooster crawler and 55 turn novak motor in it. It's a decent enough combo and wasn't terribly expensive. If you want something nicer you could step up to a tekin fxr and if you wanted more wheelspeed you could pop in a 35 turn motor. For radio/receiver equipment, budget comes into play heavily. If you'd like to add a winch in the future, you'll need at least a 3 channel radio setup...you can get something cheaper like a traxxas tq3 for around $30, or if you have the cash I recommend getting something 2.4ghz, like a spektrum dx3e for $100 or even the rc4wd 2.4ghz radio/receiver.

Last thing to consider is batteries/charger. Personally, I recommend going lipo...they're quickly becoming the standard and you can get a high mah pack and it still weigh very little and be smaller than a nimh pack. You'll need to decide on electronics first, that way you can determine what kind of voltage of a battery your electronics can handle. You can get a charger that charges/balances lipos and charges pretty much any other battery under the sun for around $50, then you'll need batteries too. What kind of budget are you looking at? I could give better recommendations after knowing that and I can certainly provide you with links to some of this stuff if you'd like.

Muskokarc

For a charger I am getting a new one as it is one that does all the different batteries.  I will be going lipo to this summer for my Rustler.  Will also be getting a new radio system, so will pick up a second receiver to run the crawler.   Will get the three channel one later when I need it. 

 Budget wise will save for the cost for the kit for sure. Plus the cost for the esc motor combo from Novak good price I have found at a quick glance.  So a saving up of about $400 would get the kit and Novak system.  What would you suggest for a servo?

I plan on getting 2s hard case lipos for my Ruster so should be able to use them and my older batteries.  Being able to cross platform my parts that way should save me some cash.  

So now the wait is on...

jsowens

For a servo, get something with a decent amount of torque and metal gears. Here's a good one for fairly cheap:
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />http://www.crawfordperformanceengine...&products_id=2