vaterra ascender build

[the watchman]

Well guys and girls the vaterra ascender has landed today,  yes get in, waited long enough for it lol.

I have decided to try and do a build thread of sorts, which will be my first build thread ever, so please bear with me.

 

 

First impressions are wow its huge, the body shell is quite big, much bigger than i was expecting, everything is nicely boxed and packed, normal vaterra stuff, the tyres seem nice and soft/sticky, the body shell its self is quite thick and nicely molded to, details seem pretty good, wheels seem nice with a nice thick chrome plating on them, not much room for weights though being honest, a wider gap in the cenre would have been nice but nothing a dremel will not fix.

 

size of body comparison, compared to a gelande 2

 

 

So thats all for now, i will start the build in the next night or two and update as and when i get the chance, im really hoping this turns out to be a good scaler, like i say i have a few plans in store for it so im not going to rush the build, i will build it stock to begin with to see what it is like in stock form, also this way it gives me something to campare when i fit upgrades ( is it better or not lol) my rough plan so far in the near futre is change of rims, maybe some gear head 1.9 enk's in gold  pitbull rock beast tyres, a interior made from styrene complete with dash, seats etc, inner wheel arches, scale bits and bobs, might even spray it on the outside to give a more scale look, not made my mind up yet so stay tunned lol.

 

 

[53HRA]

I think there has been a few of us silently waiting for someone to buy one and build (including me) 

 

Definitely looking forward to this build

[Pistonhead]

Followed.

I want another SCX10, but if this turns out good enough then i might be persuaded into one of these...

[johninderby]

I can see one of these kits in my workshop in the not too distant future if the build turns out to be positive.

John

[M1tchy]

I am picking mine up from the shop tomorrow.  Saturday will be build day. I have a Tekin FXR and 45 turn HD motor to go in. 

 

Good luck with the build.

[the watchman]

Hello everyone, well i have just started the ascender build tonight, so got in from work and first things first, whacked on some pink flloyd cranked up the volume and cracked on with the build 

 

 

first impressions are ok, the instruction manual seems easy to follow, everything is packed well, all bags are numbered in order, opening the bags all the plastic seems sturdy as is the norm on vaterra models in my opinion, great quality, good solid feel and most importantly the screws tighten into the plastic very well, the metal in the kit feels weighty but looks cheap in my opinion, time will tell how well they hold up.

The screw heads are little odd, it will come in very handy if you have both both imperial and metric, for some reason smaller screws like your grubs and such metric fits much better where as the larger ones were imperial  

 

 

 

 

 

When installing the spur gear and slipper pad there was no sticky stuff on the back of the slipper so i used some glue to stick them in place, the manual does not mention this, but i think its best to do so.

 

 

 

Next on to motor choice, mmmmm choices choices, looking at the gearing, it is very similar to a scx10 so i think a slightly higher turn motor will be best, so i opted for the etronix 27t jobie, see how it hauls with that in it first, upon fitting the motor i found the gear mesh to be quite hard to get it just right, i didnt feel as though it has a very nice mesh, the teeth just don't mesh very well. 

 

 

 

Next on to the drive shafts, all normal stuff here but they have a retaining ring to hold the pins in place, i found it best to wind them onto the recess of the shaft, instead of trying to bend them over   there kinda like a key ring hoop.

 

 

Gearbox done 

 

 

Next onto the axles, i must say these are very very nice, there a one piece design, solid and chunky, in my opinion a much better design than a scx10, the cvd's are again very nice, the drive spindles are very beefy and have a nice chunky feel to them 

 

 

The pumpkin cover has little retaining nuts on the back of the bolts, nice strong design.

 

 

Chunky spindles 

 

 

Fit the cvd's in and viola one axle complete, again these are very nice i think, rear is pretty much the same.

 

 

 

Cheers for looking and thats it for tonight folks.

[johninderby]

Looks promising.

Re: the gear mesh the teeth do look different in the photo. Wouldn't be the first time a pinion and spur gear in a kit weren't quite the same profile.

John

Edited October 24, 2014 by johninderby

[the watchman]

Yeah buddy, the gear mesh was just hard to get that nice tiny bit of play right, the manual does suggest the paper method but ive done it by feel for yonks lol, anyways one thing i should say is that the gear box locks up when the motor is fitted, this is normal, just make sure its nice and free before you fit the motor, just incase any new people to crawlers are reading.

Over all so far im happy, its a nice design and the quality seems good, fingers crossed it crawls very well, my only concern so far is the drive shafts, they fit into the axle differently, theres no grub screw at the axle end, the drive shaft screws directly into the end of the shaft with a counter sunk screw, holding the pinion gear into place as well, just the fact i cant buy any normal after market jobs, we will have to see if any of the hopup makers make shafts for these lol, preferably made out of some nice steel instead, but having said that these plastic ones in the kit seems pretty chunky, its just i would prefer them to be metal just for peace of mind.

[johninderby]

I usually set the mesh by feel then hook up an ESC to the motor and and fine tune the mesh by ear. It's surprising how just a minute adjustment can quieten it down.

Anyway definitely looking like this kit will tempt some potential Axial customers away from Axial.

John

[M1tchy]

I picked mine up today, but all I have time for is to fit the tyres to the Gear Head wheels I got from RPP. Saturday will be the build day I hope 

[M1tchy]

I have built the chassis on mine. hopefully I can install the electrics today.

 

BTW (sorry if this is invading your thread). I had this HPi Land Rover shell for a Savage hanging around. It looks like a good fit, so will paint it sometime.

 

Edited October 26, 2014 by M1tchy

[the watchman]

No idea whats happened to my pics lol, anyways not to worry, i have been cracking on with mine today, been at it all day lol,

 

 

 

 

Shocks done   hate doing shocks though, these seem ok, not the best, reasonably smooth, 117mm in length, so plenty of travel 

 

Battery tray takes a shortie battery  why i have no idea?? i had one anyway luckily 

 

Next up the links, these are nice well made links, no bendy bendy here  A vernier gauge will come in handy though.

 

Done 

 

The ball studs on these are metal, much better than the plastic axial jobies 

 

The links are held into place by a hinge pin type arrangement, secured in place by a grub screw in the middle, different at least.

 

Links fitted to axles.

 

Getting there 

 

 

Really taking shape now 

 

 

 

Thats all for today im affraid, at least shes up and running   over all im very impressed with it and im not impressed very easily to be honest, ive had to fiddle around a bit with the front end, just trying to get everything as smooth as it can be, its a really nice though the guys, really nice, the quality is superb for the money, considering its the same price as a dingo this is a much nicer kit in my opinion, its more adjustable, the quality of the plastics are far better than axial, sorry guys but it is, every single screw locks into the plastic nicely just had it running around the back yard and its lovely and smooth, i just things everything needs to bed in a little, on to the body next. 

[M1tchy]

Looks good  

 

I'm definitely going for the Landy shell, just as it will be different.  I like the look of the Blazer, but why waste what I have.

[Pistonhead]

Don't think i can be talked into one just yet, for some reason only being able to use shorty packs really puts me off. Not seen any long term reviews yet (obviously lol).

I run my scx10 pretty hard and haven't broke anything properly yet so it needs to be just as robust, if not more.

[the watchman]

Don't think i can be talked into one just yet, for some reason only being able to use shorty packs really puts me off. Not seen any long term reviews yet (obviously lol).

I run my scx10 pretty hard and haven't broke anything properly yet so it needs to be just as robust, if not more.

Yes mate only being designed to to run a short pack is a bit of pain in a**. Although other pack types will fit, i tried some smaller 3s packs in there what i use in my quad copter and my planes with no probs at all, the back end of the battery hung over the edge but its secure enough with the strap holding it in place, i have some 3s overlander 2700mah that fit in, ok run times wont be great but i would expect 30/40 mins out of a pack that size in a crawler.

The 27t motor i opted for seems a perfect choice, good turn of speed to it but slow enough for delicate crawling lol, it really has alot of potential this truck, the suspension has loads of articulation, it has really good ground clearence, and you dont need a esc with drag brake becuase the gearbox locks up completely as soon as you let go of the throttle, thats a nice touch as it means theres alot more choice, my only slight concern is the drive shafts, mip have made some dedicated shafts for it now at around 80 dollers, about 50/60 in gbp, so thats that sorted if they fail, every thing else i think looks and feels great, the turning circle on this is insanely good, way more than any other crawler.

Is it worth 230 odd quid ?? All day long imo.

[M1tchy]

I have given mine a indoor test, but need a decent steering servo.  Forgot to order one lol. A 2250 nano tech battery seems ok in the tray. I don't really want to buy batteries just for  this truck. The quality of the plastics seems much better than the Axial stuff. With the chassis adjustability and other stuffit seems a much better buy than the Axial.

[Gaz!]

the jury is still out for me, there is some great touches on this rig but some proper stinkers too.

 

the shell looks awesome, the tyres are far better than any kit tyre (by the looks alone, cant speak for compound) but the downsides for me are the crude looking chassis mounted servo bits, the god awful looking diff covers on the axles and the argos wheels......

 

would i buy one, not a chance at this time, rather buy the old fashioned but proven scx10, would i buy one down the line when its been thoroughly abused?? maybe for the right money.

 

just my thoughts......

[the watchman]

the jury is still out for me, there is some great touches on this rig but some proper stinkers too.

 

the shell looks awesome, the tyres are far better than any kit tyre (by the looks alone, cant speak for compound) but the downsides for me are the crude looking chassis mounted servo bits, the god awful looking diff covers on the axles and the argos wheels......

 

would i buy one, not a chance at this time, rather buy the old fashioned but proven scx10, would i buy one down the line when its been thoroughly abused?? maybe for the right money.

 

just my thoughts......

Yeh i mean not every rc suits everybody, but and heres the big clanger, this is waaaay better than a scx10, that might upset a few but its the truth, i have 2x scx10's the jeep rubicon kit and a early honcho, this ascender is milles ahead in terms of design and build quality, there is absolutely no slop in any of the links, unlike a scx10, i undersatnd what your saying about a scx10 being proven but the scx10 needs lots of upgrades to see it become properly reliable, im not new to crawlers/scalers and i know what makes a good one, this is a good one.

The chassis mounted servo bits are panhard set up, it is infact a much stiffer set up than the normal 3 or 4 link set up found on a scx10, also on this ascender behind the front bumper there is a second set of mounting holes for a servo, why? Its so a proper servo winch can be fitted with no extra faffing around, bolt it in and job done, the front bumper has a removable plate for the hook and wire to pop through thats a brilliant idea i think, the wheels are not really to my taste, to much chrome so thats why im going to paint them, but the bogo wheels you get in a axial kit are certainly no better than these quality wise its juat down to looks really, most of us change them anyway at some point, the tyres are very nice, there soft and sticky and i rekon they will be awesome, i had a set of proline tsl's on a old rig years ago and these are basicly the same tyre, they were a brilliant tyre, in all honesty im selling my scx10's now, theres no point ne keeping them, as i said earlier this is the same price as a dingo kit, or

[Gaz!]

We'll seems like your sold fella, I wish you the best of luck with it fella and as long as your happy then it's all good

[johninderby]

It's sounding better and better and considering it's a brand new kit it looks like they've got it basically right from the start. If it gives Axial some real competition that's all the better for the hobby. Means Axial will be forced to respond.

John

[AlphaZero]

I'm not 100% sold on this yet however if it leads to Axial stepping up there game I'm all for it. The ascender certainly looks to be as well specced if not better out of the box than the SCX, though only time will tell if it performs better than the SCX.