I just got home from a friends house were we built his new SC10 4x4 kit. Here in Sao Paulo, Brazil there are not a lot of 10th scale electric kits running around but the Short Course class is growing. This is my friend's first RC car kit so he needed a lot of help and without speaking a lot of english it was a little hard for him but that's what friends are for.

So what did we get for him:
- SC10 4x4 RTR kit complete: Rockstar/Makita body
- TrakPower 5400 saddle packs (2 sets)
- FT Upgrade kit
- Front and rear sway bars (they come with the orange now!!)
- Front Yellow spring
- JConcept Hazard wheels
- Proline Bowfighter tires
- Proline Caliber 2.0 tires
- a full set of shock oils and some diff lube
Total at Tower Hobbies less than $1000!

The build quality was better than my kit that was from the first batch. We installed the FT Upgrade kit complete so we had to move the ESC to the opposite side. I was really pleased to see that the fan on the ESC seems designed to package into the chassis on that side. I had to remove the fan and move it over one fin. We marked the ESC motor wires with some colored shrink tube so we connected it up correctly later. The speedo has only blue wires and the Reedy motor was a little different that my normal Novak gear.

I made sure we installed the shock limiters to protect the rear diffs and left the boots on since he is just starting out. I also left the stock bladder and 35/30 oil alone for now. We installed the yellow front sway and orange rear sway bars. I set the slipper to about the middle of the compression. With the stock radio I wasn't too sure if he would be able control the throttle so much.

After we connected the battery we turned on the radio and then the car and I was shocked that the servo was center really well. Very minor adjustments needed from the start. The Reedy 3500Kv 4 pole motor was respectable and with the VTS clutch it seemed really good.

Overall I was really happy with his set-up and beginning of his experience with RC off-road Short Course racing. I have had my doubts about my SC10 4x4 but after this kit and FT Upgrade my impressions have improved. I know I need to increase my pinion on my truck to not overpower the VTS and get more top end. I am looking forward to our trip to the Worlds track in Jundiai SP Brazil soon to test and tune our cars. I am slowly building the Short Course class in Brazil one person at a time!!!

No but if I feel up to it I will pull it off after work and snap a couple. It is a PITA to get on and off, should have took some pics before I put it all on there.

anyone else try the exotek front slipper eliminator? I really dug it last week, looking forward to trying it again soon.
needed more slow speed steering, but I was reminded by a buddy that i have the FT steering rack set with the least Ackerman, gonne move the ballstud and see what happens...or put the stock rack back in...
I really liked that you could hammer the throttle and it would just pull straight, much like I see the other 4x's doing...

I have just finished building the FT version of this truck, and are now doing final setup. When connecting the servo it is nicely aligned, but in order to not having the servo to fight the mechanical limitations of the steering assembly I had to limit servo throw on the transmitter to 50% in each direction.

Steering angles seems reasonable, so I guess all OK, but I am surprised I would only use have of my servos "capability", and introducing some unwanted additional slop...

Did anyone come across this? I am using Savox 1257 with Spektrum SR 300 receiver...

Are any actually made in america these days (not just parts assembled together in USA).

For the price and the fact that I know MantisWorx doesn't endorse junk, I'd give it a look, Heck, give two of them a look.

If Speed Passion gets there sale going on again, assuming you want something more known out there, I run the GT2.0 Pro ESC and it works excellent. If the BH stuff is similar (at least, the case looks similar and the software designations are kind of similar) should work very well.

Speaking of which, Mantis, on there 120A pro model, do you get a bigger capacitor bank?

Contacted Don at Associated with regards to diff issue. He was very helpful and I'm getting the new shims for the rear diff.

At least I noticed the problem before I destroyed the gears!!!

I needed more low speed steering as well, after reconfigure of the local track. I have swapped to the forward ackerman position and am heading to my first race with that change in about an hour. I'll post back late tonite and update on how it went:nod:

I had to really reduce the amount of steering on mine as well. I could hit the limits of the servo on about 90% travel, I'm currently on 75%.
I think it's just the design of the steering.

If its got all the steering it needs does it really matter what the screen on your radio says? Mine are at like 65% and 70% and its perfectly fine.

Thanks for confirming! I get twice the speed to turn the wheels fully left/right with 50% throw, but I loose torque right...? Or am I going off in the wrong direction now?

the lower number travel means the servo is doing shorter throws, so it can make the truck alittle twitchy, if you want to have your radio set to 120-130% you can use the servo horn from the b4.1, i tried it and it also made the truck feel like it had more consistent steering, but you do loose some speed on corrections.

but i did go back to the sc10 4x4 arm because i was already using a slower savox.

What ballast weights are you guys using with the FT saddle pack brace?

Starting the assembly tonight on the FT truck! :D

will the savox 1258 servo have a long enough receiver wire without having to use a servo extension wire to go to the receiver box?

Yes.