Geeze

For what it's worth, they're not difficult to work on, just tedious as everything seems to involve dismantling half the truck. Just to add to your dilemmas though, the VXL is great and I love them but they're pricey. For the same money at Modelsport you could get a Hyper VS or Losi SCBE. I'd be looking at either of those over the XS as a potential alternative to the Rustler

I've half a memory that the brushed 4x4 has different diffs as well as the driveshaft so you might want to check that. Either way, I would also recommend you get the bearing adaptor for the motor mount if you've got the plastic bushing. Known weak point even on the VXL, they go all melty

This! I've had two or three (depending how you count ) once you sort the niggles they're a lot of fun and damn nigh indestructible while you're out but they're high maintenance as they eat their own drivetrain and everything takes ten times longer than it should because nothing on it is ever a straight forward couple of bolts and done. When you've got one, you swear at it and it ends up in a box awaiting patience and diffs and when you don't you miss it and want another

Losi Night Crawler? Not MOA but not expensive either and has a pretty good reputation as a crawler.

For the electrics on mine (which are now all gone), the servo was too weak to hold a line, the ESC was browning out under load and the motor burned out in a smokey smelly mess. So technically the motor was the only outright failure but the other two were bad enough that it was worth delving into the spares bin to swap them out. For the plastics, they've been pretty stout for me so far. The sway bar arms don't bite properly so the grub screw backs out, I've spotted a split on one of the battery box supports (also cross brace the frame which is still kinda wobbly) and I've seen enough folk break the chassis at the trailing arm mount to be half expecting that to pop sometime but it hasn't so far. I've had a Yeti and yes, it's a lot more solid (and scale looking). But the Outlaw drives a hell of a lot nicer imho and parts are cheap so I'm not phased. I've got no alloy bling on it yet and it's holding up surprisingly well. Fairly sure if I took it to the skate park, I'd break it in short order but hey, that's not what I bought it for

Tamiya are useless and stupid and basic and come with friction shocks and cheesehead screws and even bearings are an upgrade. But they're a lot of fun and some of them are stupidly cheap and they go together lovely Nintendo has Mario Kart and Tamiya have the Lunchbox and both are a good laugh!

One of the reasons I don't much like the option arms for the Outlaw is the integrated ends, there's nothing to give On the Yeti, the arms take normal ends so there's still a break point and its a couple of quid and two minutes work to swap out to a new one if it does break. Been looking at the option of using 'wraith length' trailing arms on the outlaw but the only ones I can find aren't cheap. Need SSD to make some

I'm thinking the 180 to 200 range too as the the GF01 is 140-160. But I'm voting the unimog body, would look good as a 6x6 Or a G-wagen After all, AMG did that mad 6x6 one

You may not need much, can also see alloy arms, the upgrade shocks, electronics are changed out and appears to be some carbon lurking on the chassis Edit to say: Just been looking some more, reckon that's got the Exotek kit on it. Very nice.

Yep, in the pic '4of5' that's the bottom of a standard servo wedged between the shock tower and the slipper cover. Stock they come with two mini-T micro servos (making them proper scaled down copy of the big LST).

Looking good, gotta love a honcho Can't wait for the last of my parts to arrive so that I can get mine back out now

Just been back to check and yep, you're right, it has! One job sorted already then! Looks to have quite a few tweaky bits on it that one

They're pretty small, wheelbase is 185mm (same as a mini 8ight). The Savox 0257 is usually a good swap for the useless Losi mini-T servo but from memory there is (was) a mod to the servo plate that allowed you to run a single standard servo instead which would probably be much cheaper and better

Fitted new combo to Outlaw Discovered its DOA

#Gear Head RC 2.2 Five Star EZ-Loc Beadlock Wheels #PIT BULL 2.2 Rock Beast II Scale Crawler,with Komp Kompound #AMF Racing Aluminum Axial Wraith Hood #AMF Racing Aluminum Axial Wraith Roof Panel #AMF Racing Aluminum Axial Wraith Side Panel Set #AMF Racing Aluminum Axial Wraith Rear Deck Lid #BGR Fabrications Wraith trailbar front bumper #KING OFF-ROAD SCALE PIGGYBACK SHOCKS W/FAUX RESERVOIR (110MM) #VANQUISH Currie Axial Wraith Axle Front&Rear According to the blurb on his vids. Can see a fair few others on there too. But yes, the HD diffs and metal geared trans makes the bomber look good value against the wraith. Assuming you can find one in stock that is.....

Yes, it's got a resurrection mode for bringing back batteries which have gone too low I've got the VC2 but wish had got the 4 bay....

XTAR VC4, proper charger with full display etc and will do pretty much everything http://ecoluxshopdirect.co.uk/batteries-accessories/battery-chargers/xtar-vc4-lcd-4-slot-universal-usb-intelligent-charger-for-ni-mh-li-ion-batteries-all-sizes-2016.html

Think its gone as a race team and now just continues as a brand name for the high spec, carbon fibre end of the Tamiya range.

Erm, front motored FJ with transfer box and all that gubbins. Already about..... http://www.rc-mst.com/product_car_info.php?class_sn=25&class_sn2=125&sn=2929 Still, suppose it is at least a different colour!

That rig is looking more Mad Max every time I see it

If you can still pick up the brushless one for 200 notes, that's the one I'd go with. It's not a bad combo so only the weak 3kg servo would be straight onto the spares pile

At the time the Vorza first came out, it was a race grade (it's a Hot Bodies in HPI stickers) RTR brushless 1/8 buggy. That made it a league ahead of most of the other competition. I would agree that the rest of the pack has caught up since though

I've had both a Yeti and now an Outlaw, though not at the same time so I've never run them back to back. The Yeti is (much) more expensive, but you don't have to look hard to see why. It feels much more substantial, is much better detailed and more 'scale' with licenced parts where the Outlaw is spoilt by clumsy detailing (Quarco seats anyone?!?) and some generic parts. The brushed Outlaw has possibly the worst set of electrics I've had in an RTR in a long time (overgeared motor, poor ESC, weak servo) that all just need to go. Upgrades for the Yeti are plentiful, ones for the Outlaw are pretty much just FTX's own and the best ones (chassis, driveshaft, etc) seem to be permanently out of stock. Oh, mentioning the driveshaft, that needs to go too. Pitiful! But... The Outlaw drives and jumps much nicer than the Yeti does. I'm fairly sure that by the time it's brushless and got a locked back axle, it will do 90% of what the Yeti does for a lot less money. And the Yeti isn't a saint that needs nothing out the box either (which was a big factor in why mine went in the first place). Having said all that, I do keep looking at the new Losi Rock Rey and wondering if it might be 'the one'. Keeping an eye on the feedback to see how it fares as it's too pricey (for me anyway!) to chance on an unknown rig where the Outlaw was/is cheap enough to just take the plunge

Back them with foil to simulate reflectors? Or go the whole hog and glue light buckets behind and fit LEDs

Check but thought that the V10 and Justock were the sensored gear? You will definitely want sensored if racing, much finer throttle control. I don't race but have enough friends who do to know that much!