Listen i'm more of a nitro freak, but i was in the same boat as you. building your own, Well i started with a 1/18th scale nylint, ripped everything out except for the front and rear, got some info from rccrawler.com, and i started my build... I was going stick chassis, progress came along awesome until i saw the axial ax-10 and the price of it.... Well i calculated what i needed yet, how long until i could actually crawl, and how reliable it was gonna be... My decision:

I ordered a axial rock crawler... But downfall is the g/f is buying it and i can't drive it till christmas... lol