Austin “Gatekeeper” Dunn has been at it again, this time he took his winning GC-2 chassis kit for the Axial AX-10 and made it even better. The GC-3A features CNC-machined, T6 6061 aluminum chassis side plates, axle-mounted servo plate and rear axle link plate. Other features include: anodized aluminum upper and lower links and center chassis braces, a low-friction Delrin® skid plate that now covers the bottom of the chassis side plates for better durability and a smoother glide over the rocks, high-quality rod ends and all the necessary metric hex hardware needed to install the new GC-3A chassis onto the Axial AX-10. This kit is designed to take crawlers to the top of the podium! Read the rest of this entry »

Check it out 1:16 Mini E-Revo and Rock Crawling, Pro-Line now offers you a non-weighted version of the popular Titus wheel. Featuring a new easy to assemble three piece design with die cast bead lock rings and injection molded wheel. Available in either black or chrome with 12mm hex for use with traditional rock crawlers or even the E-Revo 1/16.
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Check out this video of the newest member to the Tamiya CR-01 rock crawling family, the Jeep Wrangler. This 1/10 R/C Jeep Wrangler is mounted on the impressive CR-01 chassis and the injection-molded plastic body shell precisely captures its famous form.

Hit the rocks anytime, day or night, with the 1/0-scale Ready-To-Run Night Crawler. The 1/10 Night Crawler includes a radio system with Spektrum 2.4 GHz DSM Technology, solid front and rear axles with a worm-gear drive, a crawler-specific LiPo compatible ESC and heavy-duty CV Driveshafts. Whether you are new to crawling or an experienced driver, you will have a blast attacking the rocks with the 1/10 Night Crawler.
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The Tamiya Jeep Wrangler hard body has to be one of the most sought after Tamiya lids ever made. It first appeared on the CC-01 chassis as an ultra scale R/C truck, but when that vehicle was discontinued those looking for one of these bodies had no choice but scour ebay for one and sell their first born child to be able to afford it. Then late last year Tamiya announced that it would yet again release this body but this time it would be included with the CR01 rock crawling chassis. I can only imagine how many people must have bought that kit just for the body. Thankfully earlier this year Tamiya decided to yet again release this awesome shell back on the CC01 chassis. We bought one and the build begins…
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Tamiya USA was on hand at the 2009 MSD R/C Scale Nationals last week to cover the event and give away a bunch of prizes to the winners. Check out the link below to see the over 200 photos they took. If you’re a fan of scale R/C trucks then this is a must see.
Tamiya USA

From what we’ve been reading on the various R/C forums out there it seems like this body is going to be a big hit with the scale rig builders. We’ve heard more than a few people say that they’d be willing to buy the CR01 kit just for this lid but thankfully Tamiya America recently informed us that the CR01 body will soon be available separately. It will only be available in clear, and will include decals, window masks, and molded chrome plated side mirrors and front grill. So what are you waiting for, get on the phone with your local hobby shop and pre-order one while you can!
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Thanks to Tamiya’s Japanese website we’ve got a few more pictures to show you of the new Tamiya CR01 based 1973 Ford Bronco. These pictures were taken earlier this month at the Shizuoka Hobby Show in Japan. The pics show the Bronco and various other hop up options for the truck. That body is a beauty!
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Just as we look back at the Tamiya Bruiser with great fondness I think years from now we’ll also be looking back at the Tamiya F350 High Lift as a kit we all wish we could have had. Personally I’ve been wanting to build one of these from the second I laid eyes on one so when the opportunity came up for us to acquire a brand spanking new High Lift kit we just couldn’t let it slip away. So follow along with us as we build the Tamiya High Lift aka Project Three Speed with a little customizing along the way.
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I guess it was inevitable. From the second I saw my first 1.9 scale crawler I knew I would eventually build one of my own, the only question was when.  Although I was apprehensive at the thought of cutting up our AX10 project truck, possibly ruining a good thing, with all of the aftermarket upgrades available for the truck I knew it would make the perfect platform for this project. Meet the latest iteration of Project Scorpion, Project Blazer?
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The Ford Bronco is a famous American 4X4 off-road vehicle. This 1970′s model was among the first series called “Early Bronco” which were produced during 1965-1977. Three types of bodies were released; the fully-open “Roadster,” the single cabin pick-up “Utility,” and the “Wagon” which had a resin roof. The body featured triangular protrusions on both sides on the curved front hood which worked well as a guide for drivers to accurately measure the body size while driving. The front suspension features coil springs combined with the rigid axle, which was a first for mass-produced 4X4 vehicles and works well both on-road and off-road. The Bronco is still greatly popular around the world, particularly in America, where many are used as cross-country and rock crawling vehicles.

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Pro-Line recently unveiled a few new items for the rock crawling crowd. First up is the Descender rock crawler body. Not only does the Descender come in 1/10 scale, specifically made for the Losi and Axial crawlers, but it also comes in 1/18 scale form as well, a “Perfect Fit” for the Losi 1/18 crawler. Proline also revealed a new 2.2″ rock crawling tire dubbed the Chisel which is available in ProLine’s new ultra soft G8 compound. More pics and info after the jump!
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Thanks to Tamiya USA and Tamiya Japan we’ve got a few new pictures to show you of the Tamiya CR01 based Jeep Wrangler rock crawler. Go check them out!
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Incorporating real engineering elements from full size rock crawling competition, the 1/10 Comp Crawler Race Roller represents the pinnacle of RC rock crawling design. The Comp Crawler offers several innovative features including a DIG transmission, solid axles with a worm gear drive, front and rear locking differentials, a 4-link suspension and so much more.

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HPI today announced a new rock crawling tire dubbed the Rock Grabber. The HPI Rock Grabber tires feature a super sticky “S” compound which HPI says has “excellent grip on all kinds of rocks and the blocky tread pattern wraps around the sidewall of the tire for extra grip in challenging conditions”. These are true bead lock tires, made to fit HPI rock crawling wheels using 6-hole bead lock rings to keep the tire securely mounted on the wheel without the need for messy super glue.

Get ready to add realism to your 2.2” or 1.9” crawler with the Ambush CGR body. The Ambush CGR body is comprised of two pieces. The first piece, is the lexan body itself. To complete your Ambush CGR, you can add your own cage detail or add our molded plastic CGR dedicate roll cage. To totally customize your CGR, you can add any one of our scale accessories. It is made from .060 lexan to withstand all of those rollovers when crawling. Molded in spare tire recess, diamond plated storage bins located behind the driver and passenger seats, instrument gauge cluster, transfer case and transmission shifters, seats, dash detail, and steering wheel are all captured in this highly detail body. A decal sheet with grill, headlight, taillight and dash detail is all included as well.
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Pro-Line just took a giant leap into the scale crawling market with a bunch of tiny little accessories. The new scale items come in two packages, one that includes a cooler, winch, winch box with tow strap, and gas can. The other package comes with a high lift jack, shovel, pry bar, and axe. Other items available separately include a light bar rack, a scale roof rack to hold all your goodies, and new scale bumpers.
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Big slats of slanted rock – this is typically what is referred to as Flat Iron. In the case of the Flat Iron tire, it is made to do just that – traverse, descend, and ascend big slats of slanted rock. The tire has been designed for complete terrain diversity while maintaining a true rock crawling look. The large lug pattern combined with siping allows the tire to have the perfect amount of flex under throttle acceleration. In fact, in our testing, the Flat Iron’s response to throttle acceleration was unmatched. Pro-Line is proud to announce the Flat Iron tire in 1.9” and in Pro-Line’s proprietary all-new compound called G8. It’s especially formulated to give your rig the ultimate in crawling capability on any surface you throw at it.
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For those champing at the bit for more information on the Axial SCX10 scale crawler you might want to head over to the RCCrawler forums where Axial and one of it’s drivers are posting pictures of the first pre-production parts and the assembly of a couple of the first pre-production SCX10s. According to Axial they had some delays in the mold making process which has set back the release of this truck to (hopefully!) January. We’ll keep you updated as more info becomes available.
RCCrawler.com

Here they are, Pro-Line’s first attempt at a 1.9″ scale rock crawling tire! As we said a few days ago a member of the RCCrawler forums, FrankyRizzo, is a ProLine team driver and got one of the first sets of the new ProLine FlatIron 1.9 tires to test out on his rig. According to Frank they have a overall height of just under 4.25″ and a width of 1.5″ We are uncertain what compounds Pro-Line will release these tires in but according to Frank the compound of the tires he received is “very nice and they are very grippy”. No pricing information is available at this time. We’ll keep you up to date as to when these will be hitting the shelves of a hobby shop near you. For now go check out the rest of the pictures!
Update: Word is that the 1.9 Flatirons will initially be released in the new Proline G8 compound.
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Looks like Tamiya is really getting into this rock crawling thing. Recently they announced a new set of 2.2″ rock crawling tires called the Cliff Crawler. The Cliff Crawlers feature a high traction tread pattern including treads on the sidewalls for great side bite. Currently the release date and pricing is not set.

Tamiya USA

Modeled after the original 2.2″ version unveiled this past April Pro-Line is about to start production of a 1.9″ version of the Flat Iron rock crawling tire. There is no pricing available at this time but thanks to “FrankyRizzo” a member of the RCCrawler forums we’ve gotten ahold of the computer rendering you see on the left. He was able to give out some quick specs on the new tire with the height being 4.3″ and the width being 1.55″ though he later confirmed that Pro-Line is retooling so the tires will fit the current 1.9 rock crawling rules which allow a maximum tire height of 4.25″. Word is they’ll be available later this year, but we can’t promise anything.  Click the image on the left to view the rendering full size.

Here is official promo video of the Venom Creeper Rock Crawler.

We can’t believe how far rock crawling has come. It seems like almost every day we hear of yet another new crawler kit being released. Today’s new crawler is the Venom Creeper. According to Venom the Creeper was designed with the die hard rock crawling enthusiast in mind and fits into the 2.2 rock crawling class.  Much like the Traxxas Summit the Creeper features differentials that can be remotely locked with an optional kit or can be manually locked and unlocked via a switch on the axle case.
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Even though we already introduced you to the Axial SCX10 late last week we thought you’d like to see some of the pictures Axial released today of the scale crawler and some of the optional accessories they have planned for it. One of the things we really didn’t care for about the SCX10 was all that green. Granted on the AX10 those parts looked good in green, but with a scale truck it doesn’t seem to “work”. Axial has that covered with beadlock rings in four new colors and wheels and hub covers in new colors as well.
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