Cuiken

Although there aren't many sellers, the two that do exist seem pretty good: https://www.rccarshop.co.uk/ https://www.dms-racing.com/ The service I've had from DMS (from whom I bought the car and all parts) has been superb.

Thanks. Only wish I could take credit for the body. All credit to Craggy Design on that one. Well worth a look at his FB page.

Thanks. It was also a really easy build 🙂 Parts availability will be the make/break for this car but the kit and design are superb. Nice to finally have an alternative to the Tamiya XV-0x for 1/10th rallying too.

Okay, been a bit lax on updating here but actually managed to finish it off. Wee feast of pictures: Then got fancy and added the (not included) carbon mudguard braces and slightly bodged on rear bumper and sway bars. The bumper mount also serves as a sway bar mount so I figured I'd attempt to have both. Took a bit of modding with a dremmel but fits quite well now. Next I needed to find a shell. Initially I went for a pre-order of a finished Killerbody Alfa 75 (looks awesome) but then there seemed to be stock issues. So, cancelled that order and instead found a guy on Facebook running a custom shell painting business called Craggy Design. Great guy BTW, very responsive and easy to deal with. His designs are (IMO) superb) https://www.facebook.com/craggydesign/ He had a pre-finished Phat Bodies V-Rally shell for sale at a good price so I jumped on that. Here it is test fitted (after drilling body mounts and cutting out wheel arches). BTW, that's all paint. Not a single sticker! I then went to town with warmed up gorilla tape to line the shell, mounted the rear spoiler and added set of slightly wider wheels. Finished result! I'm really chuffed with how it turned out. The look is spot on and I managed a decent job of cutting out the wheel arches etc (compass cutter BTW, brilliant tool). Overall, the kit was a joy to assemble. All parts were nicely made and slotted together without hassle. The instructions were broadly accurate with just a couple of inconsistencies with screw length here and there. As I've said before. the car comes pre-hopped-up with sealed bearings and carbon fibre/aluminium /steel all over it. The only additions I made were the rear bumper (front one with a bit of dremmel bodging, just £4.99 BTW!), sway bars and mudguard braces (weird that they are not included in the kit but very cheap to add). I'd say the bumper and braces are worth having, the sway bars may be a bit unnecessary. How does it drive? Well I've only had one quick outing to a local car park but I was blown away by the way it handles. The steering is sharp and fast. It slides and drifts beautifully (better than any other car I have) without snapping into a spin. Suspension is nicely damped so it moves along really smoothly too. The MAX10 combo seems to have worked perfectly. No cogging at all and very smooth power delivery. Top speed is just where I'd want it with a 20T pinion and, despite being enclosed in the dust shell, neither the motor or ESC got hot on a 10 minute blast. As much as I love my XV-01 rally car, I'd have to say the PTG-2 is in a different league. Additionally, I don't mean to pre-judge the forthcoming XV-02 but I really don't see how it can better this car. Let's wait and see 🙂

Bit more built. Got the front suspension, diff etc all assembled into the bulkhead: Couple of observations: 1. The suspension is great. Went together really easily and no play at all . 11mm bearings on the wheel side of the hubs. It all adds to durability. 2. I added one shim behind the drive cup to prevent the pinion being pushed into the crown gear. 0.25mm did the trick. Arrow marks the spot: 3. The mesh between the crown and pinion is tight. No shim behind the pinion and it is just a touch rough. I'm sure it'll bed in but this is the only thing so far that has not been silky smooth. 4. More nice stuff. CVDs, decent aluminium hexes with grub screws to hold them in place. The tie rod ends came pre threaded! No battling to get a thread started on the tied rods. Proper reverse thread on one end too so easy adjustment. The plastics all have a really good quality feel to them. LC are really trying to set this up as a premium kit. 5. One weird feature. No washers. Like anywhere. Like a 70's lotus F1 car. 'No washer is getting a free ide on my car'...... Onto to the back tomorrow.

Couldn't resist starting the next bag. Ohh yeah, which reminds me. Not wishing to bash Tamiya (we all love Tamiya) but there is something slightly haphazard about the way they bag up their kits. Here, every labeled bag contains all the parts (bolts etc) for that section of the build. You don't have to jump back and forth between bags. Small thing but nice if you're building the kit in stages. Anyway, assembled a drive pinion. Tiny job but delighted to find all metal parts, oversized bearing on the pinion itself and rubber shielded bearings throughout. These would typically be 'hop-ups' on other kits. The size of the bearing on the pinion for example is larger than that on my Losi Baja. Hopefully this all helps with durability. The diameter of the pinion gear itself is 18mm. This is huge for a 1/10th scale rally car.

Ohh, wait, as if by magic: https://www.makeitbuildit.co.uk/killerbody-alfa-romeo-75-turbo-evoluzione-190mm-clear-body-24394?gclid=Cj0KCQjwl7qSBhD-ARIsACvV1X0VVIKqFhqEXjjCT0J5E20cAaGa0D6aq-ut08sI8XT43MyLEJufekgaAlUgEALw_wcB

Just in case anyone likes pics of differentials (I mean, who doesn't?). You can maybe get an idea of the quality of the castings from these. I think they are pretty good. Meanwhile, still figuring out body options. This quite appeals: https://www.makeitbuildit.co.uk/killerbody-alfa-romeo-75-turbo-evoluzione-finished-body-raci-24482 Although, weirdly, I've come to quite enjoy painting the the shells myself. At this price though it's a bargain (when you factor in clear shell plus paint...).

I was thinking something from the golden age of rally. Fiat 131 looks good. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walter_Röhrls_Fiat_131_Abarth_(Sponsor_Alitalia)_aus_1978-1979.jpg Pretty sure landl have a shell. Just not sure if it would fit.

So I got very curious about the PTG-2 and then got a bit drunk. One thing led to another and now I have the PTG-2 builders kit type thing. First observations. 1. It's a lot better packaged up than I expected: 2. The instruction manual is better than bigger manufacturer's stuff I've been building lately. Great diagrams and lots of useful wee tips. 3. I started building the diffs and have to say that, in terms of slack (need for shimming) they certainly seem better than those in my Arrma. They've gone together really easily and run incredibly smoothly with hee-haw play. 4. The shocks are fantastic. Soooooooo much better than those on my XV-01. Really smooth and came with a choice of three spring weights (full set of four of each spring). Only issue I'm having is finding a body for it. I was really excited about doing a Porsche 911 RSR one (from the TT02 kit) but found it's only a 251mm wheelbase. The shortest I can make the PTG-2 is 257mm. Bit gutted about that. I might end up just doing a Lancia (like my XV-01).

@MrCake Last quick question. What servo did you land with in the end? I gather you can fit a full height one which would be handy as I have an Arrma one kicking about that I hope might work.

Bit the bullet and ordered a kit version and a 5400KV Max10. I'm hoping I'll be able to gear down a bit (to ~35mph) with a smaller pinion and so, to some extent, avoid a cogging as a result. I think a 20T pinion should achieve that. Hopefully there's enough adjustment in the motor mount to accommodate it. Need a body now. Looking at rally classics. 911 RSR (should be available in May), RS200, that sort of thing.

Thanks again for getting back to me. Really helpful advice. Sounds like it's a very capable car. I think Tomley used a 4700KV motor in his on 2S so 3300KV on 3S would make sense. I was thinking of going for the kit version and then maybe using a Tamiya Porsche body since I already have an XV01 Lancia which I've ended up setting up more as a road car. Either way, it sounds like a fun car and quite a bit cheaper than the XV02. I'm getting really tempted now 😄

Ohhh, and what motor and ESC did you for for?

Good to know. Thanks. Any quality issues aside from the tyres? It looks like a relatively simple chassis so I was hoping this might aid reliability.

I'm really interested in the LC Racing PTG-2 rally chassis on the grounds that it looks like a slightly miniaturised HPI WR8. Tomley is obviously a huge fan but has anyone here tried it out? I can't see it being a bad car to drive but parts support has to bea concern. Maybe waiting for the XV02 would make more sense.....

Step one. I love a detailed interior: Black and silver sprayed from the back (silver first then black). Blue bodies sprayed from the top using overspray film as mask and then the yellow/white detail done by brush (like you can't tell 🙂 ). I'm no pro at this stuff but, from a distance, it's fine. Not deliberately Ukrainian colours (just what I had available). On the other hand, why not.

Thanks man. Yes, really pleased with how it turned out. Nice combination of something that was both mechanically and aesthetically challenging. Honestly, it drives like nothing else I've built. The realism of the chassis means you get proper 'on the edge' handling at scale(ish) speeds. Means it's a blast to drive even in small spaces.

Very minor progress update. I snipped off every second lug on my original set of tyres from my Element RC Sendero and mounted them on this set of deepdish beadlocks. I think these are going to look pretty good on the Gatekeeper and go some way to improving it's overall stance. As a sort of aside. These tyres get mixed reviews and I've definitely seen them outperformed by the stock tyres on my mate's TRX4. However, I think they can be improved a lot by snipping off every second lug on the outside edges of the tyre. I also modified the stock foams (which are very firm) by cutting the outside into a 'star' pattern. No pics I'm afraid but loads of tutorials online (a good one here: https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-rock-crawlers-277/5272041-how-cut-tire-foams.html). The result is a far softer almost dual stage foam sort of compression behaviour. Combined with the modified tread these are actually pretty decent tyres now. Maybe there are better solutions out there but I like this one because the end result is genuinely decent and it is free (aside from a bit of time).

And I think it's done! Decals applied (too much?) and shimmed the rear diff (just a 0.1mm shim behind the pinion). Pics below: And one last shot showing the painted rear diff cover (which I'm still far too pleased with). How does it drive? Well, the weekend was pretty wet (and rather busy) so I was limited to back yard bashing. That said, I had a good blast with it ion the time I had available. Now, I'm bound to be a bit biased but I'd say it's a properly great RC truck. The handling is incredibly realistic, even better than my Kyosho Outlaw Rampage Pro and the top speed of ~13mph is spot on. The truck uses the entirety of its suspension travel over our very bumpy lawn and the IFS adds a degree of higher speed control that you don't get on a solid axle crawler. Sure, you can get it to tip over very easily but then so would a real truck if you turned the steering to full lock at full throttle. That's the charm. Damping with the stock oil is pretty much where you'd want it to be, just the right side of controlled (just). All in, probably the most successful build I've done so far (given the original aim to build a realistic scale pre-runner). As far as I can tell there is no RTR or kit quite like this which also makes it a bit special. Given you can still get the base truck (trailrunner) at discounted prices right now, I'd definitely recommend building one up if you have the inclination. P.S. I should acknowledge not all went well though. After 20 minutes of driving the threaded pin that holds the drive shaft onto the transmission output somehow came loose (I swear I threadlocked it). The construction of the Element drive shafts is such that the whole universal joint came apart and I lost some bits of it in the lawn. At £30 for replacement parts I have to say that stung a bit. I'll be gluing the pins in next time.

Thanks! I've really enjoyed this build. Not rushing it at all and figuring out which parts to buy/fab. I'm really busy this week but am hoping to give it a proper run at the weekend. The short tests around the garden both with and without the shell have been really promising.

Just a few more wee updates on the build. My Bowhouse parts arrived along with an Artful Dodger skid plate. As mentioned, the Bowhouse kit was to improve the bump steer and comes with a pair of the bump stops to prevent over extension of the steering. The skid plate was because the truck runs a lot faster than probably intended and bottoms out on larger bumps. The stock skid was already looking pretty scarred after just a couple of test runs. I considered trying to make these parts up myself from aluminium (as I did with the trailing arm mounts) but, ultimately, I decided to consider my own 'hourly rate' when figuring out whether self fabricating was going to be worthwhile. With cheap shipping from Amain, the Bowhouse kit was a definite no brainer and the Artful Dodger skid is stainless steel which I think will work much better than the aluminium sheet I have to hand. So, here are a few pics of the finished chassis. I cut out a piece of scale checker plate to make an insert for the front bumper. It hides the mess I made when drilling holes to mount the front spots. It's funny the stuff you get most satisfaction from 🙂 Bowhouse kit installed: I added a brass tube with threaded rod to better brace the shock mounts. It's really stiffened up the chassis too: I also used some short pieces of brass tube to extend the Vanquish bumper mounts. The tube I bought had an ID of 7.5mm and the bumper mounts fitted really nicely with just friction fit. Viewed with the shell on, you can see the bumper now sits really neatly inside the shell: Shot showing the installed skid and a clearer angle on the checker plate: And, lastly a totally unnecessary shot of the rear diff cover after I painted it silver. Like I say, it's daft the stuff you take most satisfaction from but this looks awesome with the shell on. No pics but I also shimmed the front and rear axles to reduce the usual Enduro axle slop and rebuilt the shocks(!?). Which leads me to that last wee update. All four shocks leaked right out of the box. I was surprised as my other RTR Enduro never did this. Seems that some do and some don't. Either way, I filed a ticket with Element RC support on a Sunday night and had a full shock rebuild kit on Tuesday! You can't really fault the service. Interesting feature of the rebuild kit is that it includes additional washers that are not included in the Trailrunner, Trailwalker or Sendero but which are included in the Gatekeeper. They fit after the two shock shaft silicon O-rings and add a bit more compression and support to the o-rings. Looks like they have been added to help prevent leaks: So, only outstanding tasks are to shim the rear diff itself (to help with the higher power) and then add a few more decals. Spring seems to be coming so I should be right on time.

That's a really neat swap. I think half the reason I'm so drawn to the crawler stuff is that there are some 'semi standards' that allow parts to be swapped between brands with relative ease. And, yes, the 'even heavier' Gatekeeper that I'll be left with may further exacerbate the existing issues that exist with the stock Gatekeeper but I'm hoping the slightly wider stance from the deep dish wheels and a couple of other mods to lower it slightly might minimise the problems. Also, did you notice how little of the original Colorado shell is left after trimming? I'm guessing (hoping?) it won't be too much of a weight adder. Worst case it'll be tipping over constantly but it'll look great doing it 🙂

I'm on a bit of a roll with the Enduro chassis. After the (self proclaimed) success of my attempt to convert a Trailrunner into a Pre-runner I got all excited about a Gatekeeper build. Then I saw this and ordered the Gatekeeper kit and a Colorado shell in the sales (as I've said before, I seem to lack the imagination for truly original ideas of my own): I like the idea of the Gatekeeper but have never loved the cage look. The guy off of Scale Builder's Guild started a build based on the gatekeeper and a bronco shell but then shelved the cage for a wraith one. This Hemistorm effort looks a lot more successful. All told, there's not much more to say on this build beyond what the guy from Hemistorm has already documented but I'll post a few pics here as I go along. I'm guess/hoping that tis will be a fairly straighforward kit build and then a bit of messing around with the shell to get it to fit. One mod I've already booked in though is to go for some deep dish steel wheels to get a bit more track width. Hopefully that'll sort some of the innate tippyness of the Gatekeeper. I reckon it'll look better too.

So the 75T spur and 26T pinion turned up on Saturday and I was able to put the whole thing together and take it out for a quick run. First thing's first, the speed was spot on. 13.5T (~3000kv) motor with the gearing above and class1 tyres (~105mm). Theoretically ~14mph and I'd say that was about right. Right on the edge of what the chassis can handle (especially with a large body shell). No heat issues at all with the motor or ESC and low speed control was surprisingly decent. Handling wise, loads of body roll when corning (to be expected) but also tons of torque twist and loads of torque steer. Took me a while to figure the latter out but basically it's the bump steer from the IFS interacting with the torque twist from the rear axle under acceleration. As the chassis twists, it loads one of the front wheels causing additional toe in on that side so truck swerves off in the opposite direction. Without the sway bar, I suspect it would become very difficult to drive. I was almost thinking a gyro might be a plan but ultimately went for the Bowhouse IFS upgrade (N2R IFS Steering Rack V2). Cheap shipping from the US with Amain. Additionally, I needed to make a wee mod to the battery tray to accommodate the larger wheels. With the larger tray in place, the wheels would rub on its corners under full lock and compression. To be honest it already rubbed with the wee 1.55" wheels but it got pretty bad with the class1 wheels. Easy mod with a Dremel as below: You still get some contact but it doesn't 'grab' the tyre now. Ultimately, I'm really pleased with the truck. I got a chance to run it on some snow and ice on Sunday morning and it was brilliant fun. The rear suspension is fantastic and it just glides over bumpy stuff in a way that my traditional crawler doesn't. Once I've sorted the bump steer, added a rear bumper mod and, possibly, stepped the wheels out by a couple of mm, I'm looking forward to trying it out on some proper trails. Just as a very general observation, I'm a bit of a fan of the Element stuff (this is my second and I'm thinking about a third truck based around the gatekeeper kit). You can generally pick up a bargain somewhere and the key components are fairly solid. They are really easy to mod either with home made parts or aftermarket stuff (which suits me). And, they are really nice to drive. There's something very realistic about the way they move over terrain (especially with a bit of added wheel weight). All that said though, they seem to make odd mistakes with all their kits. Just a few irritating features I've noted: 1. On my original crawler (Enduro Sendero) the wheelbase of the truck is too short for the body. In the end I bought the club5 links to sort it out. How'd they miss this? 2. Again, on my Sendero, the wheel rub on the body shell was terrible. Even with smaller tyres you get a load of rub on full lock. In the end I did a load of cutting before the wheels did it for me. 3. On the IFS trucks, you will get the wheel rub on the battery tray (as mentioned above). 4. The IFS has the well known issue with bump steer and over extension that you can sort with the Bowhouse kit. All this is the sort of stuff (body fit, wheel rub etc) you expect if you're modding an RTR or doing a 'ground up' build. It seems odd from an RTR out of the box. You just don't get any of these issues with a TRX4. It's a shame as these are not issues that you might associate with 'cost reduction' they are just design flaws. You can sort most of them one way or another but it's a bit weird that they don't just work properly out of the box. Anyway, I'll update fully once it's properly finished.