Readers Rides – May 2023

Rocky Yota
Joseph Rocha « Adelanto, CA
Simply put, Joseph tells us that, “I wanted to build a Toyota race inspired livery SR5 truck to look like a weekend crawler.” And so he did. This Axial SCX10 II features plenty of upgrades including a Rock Pirates Interceptor chassis, plenty of Pro-Line parts including an SR5 body, custom paint, Castle Creations electronics, Vanquish axles, and it runs on a Gens Ace battery. It’s a great-looking crawler for sure. Fantastic job, Joseph!

BUILD HIGHLIGHTS
– Chassis: Axial SCX10 II
– Body: Pro-Line SR5
– Motor: Holmes Hobbies Puller Pro 2700kV
– Speed Control: Castle Creations Mamba X
– Battery: Gens Ace Adventure 4300 mAh Shorty Pack LiPo
– Wheels and Tires: Pro-Line Class 1 Trenchers G8 compound with Crazy Crawler heavy duty foams and CNC – Custom Method 705-style wheels
– Shocks: Pro-Line Big Bore Scaler 90mm
– Axles: Vanquish F10T
– Paint: Tamiya PS-1 white, PS-6 yellow, PS-7 orange, PS-15 metallic red
– Lighting: Pro-Line 5” curved LED, eBay special light kit, KC HiLites rectangle light housing
– Radio System: Spektrum DX5 Rugged radio with Spektrum SR515 receiver
– Other Options: Scale By Chris tote and tool box, Pro-Line tow strap, RC4WD Maxxtrax boards, eBay special tools, gas can, fire extinguisher and air tank, Exclusive RC gas tank filler neck, RC Plate Shop license plate, Knight Customs SR5 grille, headlight lenses, taillight lenses, taillight buckets, RC4WD Hilux rubber mirrors and scale front Yota hubs, SSD rear hubs, Pro-Line cage, Scaler Fab front bumper, sliders, rear bumper, In The Works high-clearance links, Vader Products skid, Team Garage Hack 2.Low transmission, Incision driveshafts, Vanquish scale hardware

BIGFOOT 1
Raymond Guttmann « Tacoma, WA
Raymond starts off by telling us: “Wanting an RC of Bigfoot was the whole reason I got into the hobby over 20 years ago, but seeing at the time there was nothing affordable that looked good, I just painted a blue Super Duty body for my Traxxas E-Maxx and called it a day. A few years later I saw an SCX10 and noticed the axles had a beefy-looking pumpkin, which to me looked like the old 5-ton axles monster trucks used back in the early days, so I got one in late 2013 and have been modding it ever since. This truck is the result. This is also a class-legal build for the Retro Monster Class that’s run all over the U.S.” He points out that this truck has a Hot Racing aluminum transmission case with a dual motor plate which gives the truck plenty of power to turn those big meats and keep the temps cool, and adds: “The truck also has SMT10 Diff gears, so everything is happy and works together with no binding.” Bigfoot is one of our favorite monster trucks as well and you’ve done it justice with your build. We’re absolutely loving it, Raymond, great job!

BUILD HIGHLIGHTS
– Chassis: Axial SCX10 Dingo kit
– Body: JConcepts 1979 Ford F-250 Monster Truck body
– Motor: Dual Silent Speed 27T brushed fixed end bell competition motor
– Speed Control: Hobbywing QuicRun 880 ESC
– Battery: SMC True Spec DV Extreme 7.4V 5200 mAh
– Wheels and Tires: JConcepts Firestorm tires on JConcepts Tribute wheels
– Shocks: RC4WD 90mm internal-spring shocks with the springs removed
– Axles: Axial AX10 with 3D-printed leaf spring mounts from DiazDesignsrc
– Paint: Tamiya PS-59 dark metallic blue backed with Tamiya black and Spaz Stix chrome on the bumpers
– Decals: J.B. Scale Graphics vintage Bigfoot 4×4 decal set
– Radio System: Spektrum DX5 Rugged radio and SR515 receiver
– Other Options: Mock carbs and rollbar came from the Traxxas Bigfoot, DiazDesignsrc leaf spring shackles, Hot Racing Axial wheel hub extensions, Hot Racing aluminum transmission case with a dual motor plate, SMT10 diff gears

MUSCLE TRUCK
Tyler Choquette « Athol, MA
This scale build had us doing a double-take to make sure it was an RC. Tyler fills us in on this great-looking Blazer: “This truck was built to be a redemption truck after selling my first K10-bodied RC4WD Trail Finder 2 I had, which was weathered and rusty. I wanted this one to be as good-looking and scale as it could be, and classic. Lifted Chevys on some Super Swampers looks damn good! This is my baby and has been a year in the making to get it to its finished stage as seen here.” Fantastic job, Tyler, thanks for sharing it!

BUILD HIGHLIGHTS
– Chassis: RC4WD LWB Trail Finder 2
– Body: RC4WD Blazer body converted to a K10 with Shrinkrc parts
– Motor: Holmes Hobbies Torquemaster Sport 21T
– Speed Control: Hobbywing QuicRun 1080
– Battery: Whatever is charged (lol), usually a 3S LiPo
– Wheels and Tires: @cnccustomwheels on Instagram made the wheels, 1.55×1.3 paired with Pro-Line 1.55 Super Swampers
– Shocks: White RC4WD shocks with the red scale boots
– Axles: RC4WD K44 axles
– Paint: Krylon Fusion gloss black
– Decals: Tamiya
– Radio System: Stock RC4WD TF2 3-channel
– Sound System: Amazon engine sound box
– Other Options: 3D visor printed by Tim Hovis on Facebook, 3D racerback printed by Smithbuilt Scale Designs, handmade cowl hood done by my good friend Rob Smith, 3D-printed driver and passenger by another good friend of mine Brian Sosnoski, RC Plate

86 Fox Back From The Dead
Jesse Rathburn « Cortland, OH
We love seeing RC restorations, and Jesse has a great one for us. “This 1986 Tamiya Fox was found in a neighbor’s attic,” he tells us. “He bought it back in the late ’80s and it had been sitting for around 30 years. In my opinion the old vintage RCs are the best, and the most fun to restore.” We couldn’t agree more, Jesse, great job on reviving this old buggy!

BUILD HIGHLIGHTS
– Chassis: Tamiya Fox
– Body: Tamiya Fox
– Motor: Stock brushed 540 with heatsink
– Speed Control: Tamiya mechanical
– Battery: Venom 3000 mAh 7.2V
– Wheels and Tires: Tamiya Super Gripper tires and Pro-Line wheels
– Shocks: Tamiya CVA
– Paint: Duplicolor Metalcast with Krylon Glitter Blast
– Radio System: Futaba Magnum Sport

Snow Plowin’Pede
Jason Hare « Selinsgrove, PA
With the weather being as cold as it has been lately, Jason’s snowplow is the perfect build to have around. He fills us in on his Traxxas Stampede turned snowplow: “I homebuilt a plow from a piece of four-inch PVC pipe. I also used a Traxxas wheelie bar with the factory Stampede 4×4 rear bumper mounts to mount it. With some Dremeling of the upper mount I was able to make it fit and slide into the front differential housing mount where the front bumper goes. Same with the rear lower mount, I used that on the front as the lower mount. I was basically then able to mount the entire factory 4×4 Stampede rear bumper and lower wheelie bar bracket on the front as the lower frame for the plow. It’s not anything super-custom, but it is something pretty cool made with some time and ingenuity and some spare parts.” Great job crafting the plow, Jason!

BUILD HIGHLIGHTS
– Chassis: Traxxas Factory Stampede LCG (dyed black)
– Body: Traxxas Stampede
– Motor: Traxxas Velineon with Yeah Racing fan
– Speed Control: Traxxas Velineon VXL 3S with Yeah Racing fan
– Battery: Zeee Batteries 6500 mAh 80c 3s
– Wheels and Tires: Pro-Line Raid wheels with 17mm hexes running Hot Racing 10mm offset 17mm adapters with Pro-Line Masher tires
– Shocks: Big Bore polished shocks with 4mm shock shafts and VG Racing springs
– Axles: Traxxas Extreme Heavy Duty
– Radio System: Traxxas TQi
– Other Options: 15T pinion, front plow light bar by Polo Creations, roof bar and yellow flashing light both from Amazon, scale winch by Injora with mini wireless remote