Hi fellow neighbors from the other side of the channel 😉
Own one of those, second on its way ... like the FreeMen (first version) was closely based on the SCX10.2, the FreeMen 2.0 6x6 is more or less nothing else than a UMG10 6x6 with portals and some improvements ... though it might not be the same quality as some major actors, it's not that far, and surely not toy-grade.
I did an unboxing on our forum a few months ago ...
Comes with NiMh charger and battery, batteries for the radio and a few left-over parts from assembly.
Of course, being 6x6, it's a bit bigger ...
Drivetrain :
Reely took a different route than Axial ... their straight axles are AR44 copies (with few minor variations) so they choosed to keep their width when going portals. To do so, they changed the rear lockouts and designed a specific one-part front axle (with a huge "Panhard bar mislocation" bump-steer). Those portals are not that great with their visible bearings and broke a lot on 2.0 4x4, but one can easily adapt SCX10.3 portal gears, it's a matter of filling two more flats on a shaft, and their design means you can't use 1.9 wheels without using wheel wideners.
One of the issues of the UMG10 6x6 was the 3rd driveshaft ... it would bind on compression and loose it's middle-shaft on extension ... Reely used a more traditionnal 2-parts driveshaft to correct this.
One can easily change to straight axles ... you only need one FreeMen 1.0 front axle and two sets of rear lockouts, nothing else.
As stated, and as some can notice on the front axle pic above, there's a huge issue with the Panhard bar ... being they kept the standard width when they intergrated the portals in the design, they needed to move the Panhard mount higher and closer to the center of the axle ... no way you can get a correct geometry with the steering rod that way ... so you end up with huge bumpsteer unfortunatly. If you plan to trail riding, you won't care, if you plan to compete, it might be an issue to deal with.
Transmission and motor are the same as all RTR FreeMen 1.0 or 2.0 ... a 550 21T with the good old 3-gear transmission (15t pinion). Servo is 15kg metal gear ... ESC is WP1060, not the latest trend but a huge improvement other the old 1040. Battery is a 2200mAh NiMh.
Radio is ANT+ protocol 4ch ... with on-off-on 3rd channel. It's almost the same as the SCX24, just missing the truck's battery level leds.
Transmission gears are plastic ... but never been an issue for anything but bashing or U4
Axles gears is the trick of Reely to keep the 3rd axle standard ... they use their smaller inverted gear set on front and middle axles, keeping the standard gears in the 3rd.
Body is, unfortunalty, painted on the inside and they used some trick with "FreeMen 6x6" markings all around on the outside that make clearing the windows virtually impossible as far as I can tell ... it's also holding with 6 body clips. At least it comes with its shared of plastic parts with door handles and folding mirrors ... but no wipers ... which are on the wrong side on the sticker ...
It's not the cutest of the game but it's not some mad designer fantasy either ... well in a way it is, but it's from a real Czech coach-builder named Bureko
Loads of lighting ... two round leds and mini bar on front bumper, large bar on the roll-cage and leds inside the rear bumper.
They are not driven by the radio, but by an easily accessible switch on the driver side frame rail.
Other improvement over the UMG10 6x6 ... the frame rails. Axial used add-on frames to extend their 4x4 ones, Reely stamped full lenght frame rails. Add to that the lexan rear fenders that are screwed on the frame braces and you have a stiffer chassis.
They also choosed to work the center of gravity ... front wheels weight ~270gr each, rear ones ~210gr
Out of the box, it's a pretty capable truck.
