Intro
This truck had been covered by so many reviewers that is hard for me to say something new. Still, one more perspective cannot hurt, right?
I bought the kit version from HobbyKing so that is the one I will write about.
The packaging was nice and intact and arrived to my door (in Romania that is) from Holland for just about $15. Not much, considering local delivery (same city) is about $5. I was surprised to find that all the screws were perfectly tightened (I could have not done a better job myself) and all the parts were there. Other guys on forums complained about screws, but for me was perfect. The diffs seemed well shimmed, so the first impression was great.
My choice of electronics
First I fitted a brushed system I had and ran it in my living room :) Looked pretty fast, although the canopy did not fit, the ESC I had was too big!
Than is was the time to get in there the brushless 3300KV power at 60A with 3S LiFePo4! This parts did not fit either...
 |
| Where the receiver is cannot fit the ESC - too tall!!! |
 |
| 3S2P LiFePo4 is huge! Managed to squeeze it in there... |
Given the limited space problem (all owners complain about that on the forums) I had no other choice but to give it a bigger body... So a truck came to my mind :)
 |
| I bought this body from a physical store but failed to notice it was the NITRO version :) |
In order to fit the truck body I bought the body mount part from a local store - it was the VRX Sword version parts and fitted perfectly - they are identical (spec wise and dimension wise, not sure if is the same plastic).
 |
| VRX Sword - same chassis, different arm length, wheels, body and bumpers. |
I din not had bigger wheels around, so I just let the stock ones :) It looked funny.
I painted the body in violet with regular can spray paint (Yes, I know that is not a good choice :D color and type of paint) but did not think of taking a photo of it before trashing the thing...
 |
| Too late for a beauty contest now... |
As you can see in the pictures I had a hard time fitting my huge LiFe battery in there. Sited would not fit under the upper deck, so I had to put it on the side and secure it with Velcro. I also added plastic protection to the outside.
First run with the config? In my living room, of course! The funny thing is that hitting a sofa at like 2 Mph I bent one of the front shock shaft!!! Yes, this is true, I am not joking! Bent in a way that made the shock stay compressed!!! Unbelievable!
After that, I bent it back straight and hoped for the best (read: I did not had at the time other shock around to replace the incredible weak part). Went outside...
Did a couple of laps at the local track (bad condition) and it was so fast! Handled pretty good, nosedived a lot on jumps. After my first big (OK, not that big, maybe one meter high) jump the disaster stroke!
 |
| Yes, both! |
That was just too much :) Replaced them with the shocks from my Jamara Tiger. Those are durable and are roughly about the same size (length wise), fitted nicely and did some more laps. Except for the body nothing else broke even after some light medium crashes.
So, what was the next step
Bought new shocks from eBay (HSP 108004), added some 700 cSt oil (they have small bores and light oil appeared to have no dampening effect) and I think now it handles pretty nice! |
| HSP 108004 |
Ditched the brushless system and bought a brushed one from eBay that can support 3S:
- $9.75 ESC: 320A 6-12V Brushed ESC Speed Controller W/2A BEC for RC Car Boat Black
- $9.36 Motor: HSP 03011B RS550 26 Turn 1/10 Brushed Electric Engine Motor & Line RC Car
The said ESC is small enough to fit in the designated place. Waterproof too.
I also added bigger wheels to make it look like the Vandal XL :)
- $19.56 Wheels and tires: 4PCS 12mm Hub Wheel Rim Tires HSP 1:10 Monster Bigfoot truck RC Car Black 88015
Because of the new components now I can fit the original body!
|
| Freshly glued tires :) CA glue used link |
I think it looks pretty nice
Here is the final shape of the cheap HobbyKing buggy!
The color of the shock does not match that good with the body color, but for now...
Not managed to get it out for a test run. I did some on the hallway (inside my house) and with 3S this thing does wheelies on my carpet! Cannot wait to go outside to see how it performs. I will need some smaller batteries to fit inside and I will post some videos then. Until that happens here is a short video of tire ballooning :)
In conclusion
Is it durable?
I cannot tell! The shocks (front ones) must be changed to something more solid. The VRX body mount broke after a super light rollover. That was it. I did not bash it, to see how it really stands, but the internet is full of reviews about that.For me the buggy is good enough!
How about part support!
If you live in Europe it cannot get better than this! You have a lot of clones/copies with parts available all over the world! For me this is the most supported car :)Short list of what I found about clones/copies:
| Brand | Model | Manual |
| HobbyKing | Quanum Vandal | |
| FTX | Vantage | |
| INTEGY | i10B | |
| VRX (RiverHobby) | Spirit | |
| Arrowind | X-Raptor |
Final thoughts
For me this was a better than I expected experience. It has a lot of potential and I like it the way it is. Part support is great for me (there is a physical store in Romania, so go figure)! A lot of buggy for what I paid for :)Buy it if you like from HobbyKing (if in stock ;))!
Hi, I bought Blast bx(VRX RH816),also put bigger wheels and front bumper, looks strange :) just about to take it for a first run.
ReplyDelete