RC Rock Crawlers

For the rock crawling DIY types out there, Axial Racing presents the SCX10 Dingo kit. Dingo refers to the shell body that comes with the kit version. The RTR version of the SCX10 is known as the Honcho. They are basically the same two trucks, but the kit allows you to customize the electronics that you use. Many rock crawler kit builders will end up using water proof gear such as electronic speed controller, servos, and receiver.

Realistic Chassis/Build

The joy of building this SCX10 kit is that it is a scale truck. In fact, it is one of the most scale looking rock crawlers available on the market. Because it is a scale truck, it is also as though you are building a real truck. It is a truly gratifying experience to work on and complete a kit rock crawler. The side rails are even steal, which are forged into C-Channels. Its hard to explain how realistic this frame is, so just have a look at the pictures!

You’ll notice in the picture, that the battery is mounted in the back, and you’ll also notice that there is a large empty space in the front. This is intended to allow you to place your battery in the front or in the back. For scaling steep rock faces or hills, I would recommend that you put the battery in the front. This will give the SCX10 more traction in the front wheels where it needs to be.

Suspension

Just like a full size rock crawler, the SCX10 dingo kit (and rtr version) use a 3-link suspension system. Aluminum lower links and wishbone upper links keep this crawler rigid yet flexible. For the modders out there, you can choose to purchase different springs to give your rock crawler adjustable spring rates. Tip: A cheap way to soften springs are to cut the coil, bear in mind, this is a permanent mod. To stiffen the springs you can simply at a spacer to pre-compress the spring in order to give it a higher pre-load. The shocks are plastic, but aluminum shocks are available.

Drive Train

The previous generation of SCX10 rock crawlers did not have a shield for the spur and pinion gears, allowing dirt to enter and overall just cause a mess. With the newest generation, The gears are not all shielded from the elements. This also protects the wires from getting chewed up in the process. SCX is now also utilizing their WB8 Wild Boar Drive Shafts. These shafts were tested and proved on the axial wraith as a top notch performer. This works well, and why redesign the wheel, right? The entire drive shaft system is rigid and easy and free to turn, thanks to the ball bearings being placed everywhere from motor the wheel. The system presents a minimal combined backlash. Will all this technical jargon, you’ll quickly realize that this truck was designed with some serious engineering involved.

Wheels

Where the rubber kits the road (or rocks). The tires are made out of Axial’s R35 proprietary compound. These tires are soft, and come with foam inserts to help the tires retain their shape. As you’d expect from rock crawling tires, these are very soft and flexible. They have the affect of “mashing” when going over a peaked object, which is exactly what you want. The black rims have been modeled after actual rims, and are properly licensed to Walker Evans. With a gnarly looking treat, it also looks pretty bad ass too. I even use tire shine to keep the tires clean after a run…that’s how much I enjoy looking at them.

Assembling the Dingo

The entire build process was headache free and rather fun. Keep in mind, this is not my first truck build! New builders may stumble their way through certain steps. If i get enough requests, I’ll put together a detailed guide on the assembly.

The manual actually contains good amount of information about assembling the SCX10 kit. The manual is pilfered with drawings and exploded views, for the visual learners out there.