Crawlers!?
 

Who's into these Crawler things then? they seem to be getting a bit more mainstream now. I've wanted one for a long-long time but it wasn't till the AX10 came out that I really thought I'd get one - and now the Tamiya CR01 is out as well I'm quite tempted. I know the Tamiya probably isn't quite the 'competition' crawler, but it looks pretty nice :thumbsup:
Anyone have one of these to, and any thoughts on them?

Is there much crawling in the UK? I know Andy Ryan has some super custom made clod-based thing, but I don't think they appeal to me as much as the slightly more 'scale' looking AX10 and CR01

http://www.ckrccrawlers.com/shop/images/TLC.jpg


Anyway, I thought it was time for a 'Truck' forum since I've always liked scale trucks - I've owned a very nice Bruiser (and sold it) and had the F350 but never got round to build it and then swapped it.

they do quite a lot down derbyshire jimmy they do the open class like i have or they do the scale ones i think the website is www.ukrcrc.com

jimmy, I been fancyung the cr01, but there are some issues with the centre props twisting.

My AX-10 should be here tomorrow :thumbsup: wanted to do it for a long time and due to recent 'happenings' its gives me the perfect opportunity to do it.

you got the dot com in the wrong place

link is www.ukrcrc.com

Hey Jimmy,

Crawlers are the future! :thumbsup:

Here are some pics of my modified CR-01 Land Cruiser with rear wheel steer :woot: (note the decals) and also me competing at this years Rock Crawling Nationals with my Axial AX-10 Comp Rig :)

Tom

I'm sure others get a lot of enjoyment from it, and I suppose it adds a nice bit of diversity to the RC scene, but why though????? Hardly exciting is it...nor is it a decent spectator sport.

Just my opinion...but Rock Crawling sucks big time....not for me at all.

Now where's my 65 turn motor?

Why?!?!?! Because its probably one of the most realistic form of RC driving and you can get an hours running off a 1500mah lipo :thumbsup:

Just my humble opinion, but this years Nats had as many spectators as some Buggy Nats, maybe more. There were also a lot of oohs and aah and cheers from spectators during runs..

Exciting doesn't have to involve speed :p

Although im going to have admit it does help :blush: thats why me and 2 friends are also building a 12 cell tubular drag car just for kicks.

I've got an AX10 its great fun...... i've made a few modifications to the links and now it climbs really well..... very little torque twist.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...r/S7300529.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...r/S7300640.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...r/S7300546.jpg

Rossco, awesome looking rig :thumbsup: I think im going for something like that but im getting a Landy shell :thumbsup: and going proper scale on it. I think im going to put my cells like you have as well, did you make a mounting plate for them or are they just strapped to the axle?

Great timing there Jimmy, we just spent last weekend running the crawler nationals.:p Read the reports on it in upcoming Radio Race Car,(Dez dropped an article just to get it in next months magazine) Racer and Maxbashing magazine, and it is heavily supported and promoted by CML right now, they actually supplied complete kits as prizes.

Crawling has been around in the UK for a few years, but there's only been a small amount of interest until the last year with the release of the AX10. It's the fastest growing section of r/c cars right now and judging by the 52 competitors (we couldn't run any more!) that turned up and the feedback I got from going round talking to the spectators it's going to be even bigger next year.

It's not something most people think about until they see the trucks in action or try it for themselves, just seeing what they are capable of. There's also the build it yourself side to it. In buggies you buy a kit and fit whatever parts the fastest lads are using, copy their setups and that's it. Crawling is all about developing your own truck, adding what parts you think necessary to make it work with your own style. Imagine trying to build your own buggy by using whichever front end, rear end, transmission and chassis you think is the best and putting them together instead of just buying the kit off the shelf. The course is laid out with waypoints and it's up to you to figure out how to get your truck to each point without scoring penalty points (or in my case without breaking it:blush:) so requires thinking about rather than just following the same line as everyone else.

Photos from this years nationals are here
http://www.ukrcrc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3260
and from the previous nationals
http://www.ukrcrc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=894

Here's a video from a US competition, it's a 60mb download but it's the best video I've seen of them and it shows just what they are capable of http://smregal.com/vids/RC%20vids/co...n%20Finale.wmv

Here's my two rigs.
2.2" class (photo by Dez Chand :thumbsup:)
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...-2/18-rrci.jpg

My Super class - twin 65T motors running on 12 volts.
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/tc_userima...08145233_2.jpg
http://www.ukrcrc.com/gallery/albums/userpics/47.jpg

That clod super is quite impressive :thumbsup: but im more for the scale looking 2.2's and 1.9's, id quite like a tamiya XC/CC as a scaler with a landy shell on.

And buggy racing is? How many fellow racers spend their time at a national watching the other drivers running, and how interesting is a race if no one you know is racing? For the spectator crawling shows either the great skill of the driver to climb over the obstacles without penalties at one extreme, and at the other extreme it's the r/c equivalent of You've Been Framed:lol:

No matter how good or bad they were every driver got a round of applause after their run, I don't see that much interest from spectators in any other branch of r/c cars.

I didn't think much of it until I had a go and my Super is now my most expensive r/c truck.

Even if you went crawling every weekend the tyres last forever, (there's only one person I know who has actually worn tyres out on a Super and it took him a year!) brushed motors never need rebuilding and you only need 1400mah batteries :thumbsup:

My cells are just strapped on to the axle using the two velcro straps that came with the kit...... they seem to do the job fine.

don't get too attached to a nice shell on your crawler as sliding down rough as hell rocks on your roof does tend to take the shine off them (literally) :)

Thats the part i am most looking forward to :thumbsup: £22 for a set of tires, dont need to change the foams and beadlock wheels means same wheels used everytime and no more acetone :thumbsup:

Ah yes, i have plans for that. I paint the inside of the shell a rust colour, then on the outside layer it with silver, primer colour then body colour (probably green) so when it scrathes away it looks realistic, learnt that trick on RCC :yawn:

relistic ??????? lmao give me a brake, i must agrea with Fiddybux, not for me at all.
an hour of running, bloody hell, i would have fallen asleep by then:p

Thats a great BIG no for me:thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown:

1/8th rallycross now there's a more relistic form of RC driving:thumbsup:

What landy shells are available? I like the CR01 mainly because it's a tamiya and looks cool! :) I don't mind the modified clods but they don't really appeal to me that much - I like scale stuff much more. I think I saw a Ax10 in orange? or did I dream that? I'd happily have one of those badboys but I'm leaning toward the tamiya - just gotta convince vicky its a good idea lol

Jimmy, the only mainstream landy shell i have found available in the UK is the defender 90 from HPI but im sure there is more. Go on Jimmy, you know you want one :thumbsup:

Gaz, everyone to there own :thumbsup: personally i love all the landrovers and offroading stuff and i love RC so why not combine? BTW that was a rhetorical question.

The CR-01 is certainly sweet.. In stock form it's not desperately capable, the biggest problem I found was the lack of rear suspension articulation and extreme top-heaviness.. My one above has the rockers removed and the Losi shell fitted and works much much better :D

I was looking at the Axial, didn't like the shell and all them plastic bits.... the CR-01 mmmmm yummy, even if it just sat on the shelf!!

nice one! I don't know when I'll be able to get one but it's definitely in my future :thumbsup:

I'll remember that :yawn: lol

Cant wait to build mine and get out playing with it :woot:

The orange AX10 is the new ARTR version. For £25 more than the green kit you get it ready built but with high clearance links, nitride coated shocks, straight rear axle, a better body and Proline Hammer tyres, all of which make it a much more capable machine than the kit version.

For Land Rovers there is the HPI body, then Kamtec make a Defender which although more basic being ABS it can be detailed up nicely
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/tc_userima...4954_2_350.jpg

Kamtec also make a Bowler Wildcat
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/tc_userima...5006_1_350.jpg

Although the ultimate 1/10th scale body has to be this one, available here
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/tc_userima...4632_2_350.jpg

If you fancy scale stuff and trial trucks rather than all out competition crawlers although http://www.rccrawler.com has a dedicated scale section the site you need to look at is http://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/index.php just check out some of the trucks in their top builds section

:drool::drool::drool: At the last one in that post, the blue one.

Yeah I went on a hunt for that Landy body a while ago and the only place I could find it was a shop in Japan that didn't seem to speak English - or in fact Japanese since I got my coworker to email them to try buy one :lol:

What sort of chassis' would that hard landy body fit on - of course the XC but are there any others that would suit?

I think it would look ace on the scale like homemade frame chassis's or any 1.9, like the hi-lift ect.

Where do people usually use these badboys then? on specially designed 'courses' or laid out on natural features etc..?

How about the cow and calf rocks in Ilkley? :thumbsup:

http://www.fotocraftimages.co.uk/pho...dcalfrocks.jpg

Jimmy that looks perfect, great location for it. Im going to ue mine anywhere, i have lots and lots of rock in my garden from when we lined the pond with it so im making my own personal course. I also think boulder sea defences look good like at Scarbrough, and more locally to me runswick bay and whitby.

Once I've convinced vicky to let me have one (probably by selling some stuff first) we'll have to have a bit of a northern crawl:thumbsup: The tamiya looks awesome but the AX10 is probably better and is certainly cheaper - oh hum.

Haha, regional crawling?!

With being out n about in the country alot there looks to be some amazing places close to me for it, cant wait now, i just wish the postal service would get this bloody car to me!

The place I go for review photos would be pretty good
http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/reviewhbd4/bling02.jpg

The obvious choice of chassis is the XC but as the width is standard touring car size a TA-02/Hummer?Cayenne chassis could be adjusted to suit. XCs are used as they give decent articulation, although it would be easy to fabricate a crawler chassis from TLT axles or even an AX10. I should have measured the wheelbase of the body when I had got one for somebody.

In a similar way I'm trying to fit one of these Discovery bodies on a TA-02 chassis as they are also usually mounted on an XC like this one.
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/tc_userima...1542_2_350.jpg

Wherever you like really. The most well known place is Black Rocks in derbyshire (scale trucks and comp crawlers-be amazed!) and it was used at last years nationals, here's what the easier course for the 2.2s looked like http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_m...=64766&sid=169.

This year we hired a centre used for full size bike trials, so lots of natural rock through the woods on private land to crawl over. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_m...=77497&sid=297

Quite a few people have extended 'rockeries' in their garden, just so they can crawl over them. I have Windgather Rocks near Whaley Bridge as a test site, the rocks lean back so one day I'll have to have a go at trying to crawl up the thing. A northern crawl meet might be an idea, there's already a group of us in the North West who are always up for a meet.

That is cool and it looks fun, but how do you get penalty points, can you use reverse?

Reverse, rollovers, assited forward progress; stuff like that

Here's the rules we run to in the UK
http://www.ukrcrc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1739

To get a clean run you have to keep going forwards at all times. Rolling over by falling off the course can be a big points hit so it's useful if you have a technique to get back on your wheels.

Notice the complete lack of construction rules:thumbsup:

Bet place to post it in.

How the hell do you get the yokes onto the propshafts on the AX-10!!!???? :confused: Just by looking at it, it looks like there is no possible way to get that pin into the holes on the propshafts. Wouldnt it have been easier with a removable pin in the UJ captured by a grub screw? :confused: