Alvarez

Been awhile since I last popped my head in here. Knightrunner has had some serious changes since, its completely dropped the original chassis and is now running the Builders kit 2... so I guess that makes it a Builders kit 2 with a Knightrunner shell? whatever it is it's performance has massively increased. Or maybe that was the 1.9" Hyraxes I fitted, meh with that door stop of an IFS gone and some nice bitey tyres I couldn't be more happy with it. Had to trim the wheels arches a little to stop the rubbing, I think I shaved it quite well, you'd almost never have noticed had I not said anything. It's also picked up many more battle scars (These are not shelf queens I use and abuse my toys) lost the snorkel and a wing mirror somewhere in a forest, couldn't be bothered to search for them. Got rid of that tent on the back because it's just that damn heavy and makes climbing weird, like trying to balance a ball bearing in the middle of a plate. So yeah here's my solid axle Builders kit 2 with a battered Knightrunner body, oh and the wife's mostly stock Trailrunner with a 1080 and super swampers, she's getting some 1.9" tyres soon just you wait and see!

You should be safe going up 2 teeth on the pinion on 2s with the stock setup. As it comes out of the box quite conservative. However I wouldn't recommend running the stock setup on 3s with a larger pinion as it will overheat and thermal cut off quickly, the motor IMO is too small for the truck.

Picked up a couple of upgrades this week and got around to fitting them this morning. First up is the SSD front and rear brass axle weights. As you can see these are considerably more beefy than the stock plastic ones. They are also of a very high quality. very nice to put together and fitted like a glove. Another upgrade which was added awhile back was the 8mm Treal wheel hex extenders. These are the widest hexes you can use with the stock axles and nuts. Also being brass they also add a little more weight too. I weighed it fully kitted out with these upgrades and my usual 3s 5000mah battery and she comes in at a healthy 3.7kg. This should keep her even more planted on the rough stuff. Another upgrade I also picked up was a set of Proline Super Swampers in 1.55 scale, I mounted these to a set of Injora 1.55 steel wheels which I paint stripped and polished. I intend to use these on damp boggy trails where the stock tires tend to get clogged up with mud and struggle for grip. These Proline are super squishy and grippy and hopefully can shake off any mud that gets caught up. In general use the stock tires will be used as I find them excellent for dry sandy and rocky situations. I'm also keeping the tire scales to 1.55, I find if you start going larger like 1.9 tires it starts ruining the scale look of the truck. Imo this trucks a scaler not a crawler 😛

Gotta pick the 6 spokes.

Took my Knightrunner and the wifes Trailrunner down to the coast for some rock crawling. Couple of rolls but all going well.

I had the same predicament a couple of months back. I searched around and contacted a couple of 3D printing shops near me and most quoted me pretty much what it would cost to have Shapeways print it for me with postage on top. However if you go with another company you have the additional cost of buying the 3D file too. It's pricey for sure no matter which way you look at it. I just gave up and stuck with buying it from Shapeways as it's more convenient and they are a trusted source. Parts arrived in about 5 days with full tracking. Excellent quality stuff. This has really made me consider purchasing a 3D printer later in the year just to avoid this cost/hassle.

Just a heads up, you will need a full set of longer rear links to extend the wheelbase to fit the KR bodyshell onto the TR chassis. You could potentially slacken off the stock links to give the required length but this would leave weak point and likely make the rear end very sloppy as there would only be a couple mil thread holding the links together. If you go this route I'd recommend picking up a set of high clearance links 🙂

Managed to get a break in the rain and took the trucks out for a run at the shoreline. Very chilled out video just working our way over the rocks and picking out lines though them, also was the wife's first try on her Trailrunner. It also demonstrates the difference between the stock electronics and a Hobbywing Axe setup. Enjoy.

Nice! the kit should come with them in my opinion. Especially as Elements option is just a polycarbonate mould which you have to paint and cut yourself. Tip for painting the fenders though, the film is on the inner side, to get a uniform finish I removed it before painting and painted both sides using Core Rc black. Once dry it looks just like the black plastic the chassis parts are made from.

I also snapped up a Trailrunner from Modelsport due to the excellent sale price. The Trailrunner is for the wife while I will be using my Knightrunner. The Trailrunner is pretty much stock apart from some new wheels and tires from Injora (Aliexpress) and a Hobbywing 1080esc, Will be upgrading the motor to a Holmes Hobbies crawl master at a later date. Also fitted the included front bumper and led's. I don't like how low the back portion of the body sits so i'm going to grab a rear bumper for the Knightrunner and fit that to it and cut around it to make it fit more snuggly. I'll also grab some of the inner fenders for it too as they massively reduce the amount of crud that gets sprayed around the internals. My Knightrunner has seen a handful of upgrades since new. Hobbywing 2100kv Axe, JX ecoboost servo (Banggood), Inner renders, Knight customs front/rear light buckets, Treal 3pc alloy beadlocks, RC4WD light kit, bunch of little scale details and vinyl wrap for the wheels arches. There's still loads more i'm planning on doing to this in the future.

Great choice mate! Once you get hold of it, before taking it out on its maiden run be sure to check and tighten the wheel nuts, put a drop of thread locker on them too to be safe. Pop the motor and motor mount out too and thread lock the 2 screws that hold the motor in place. these backed out on my first run but I caught it early enough to avoid chewing the pinion to pieces. Thread lock the pinion screw too (it actually comes fitted with a D locking pinion which is nice) tighten all screws you can find on the chassis, many of the steering ones I could get at least 3 full turns on them before tightened down. Start on 2s to get the feel of it then go onto 3s once you need more out of it. It becomes a totally different beast on 3s, its very very twitchy in the air and keeping its front wheels on the ground require a lot of mastery. Watch the temps though these stock reedy combo gets very toasty! Best basher in my collection by far though.

Some running pics after fitting the Hobbywing Axe.

Been having a blast with this truck so far. I have taken it on many trails and added some upgrades to it bit by bit. Whole host of photos to follow. Hoping to get a few videos done once the weather improves and my usual trail walks are not just muddy death traps. Upgrades so far: Hobbywing Axe 2100kv motor and ESC combo. Power HD high torque servo. Spektrum 2.4ghz 3 channel reciever. Tamiya lighting kit (need a few more lights to complete it) Treal 1.9" bead lock wheels. Knights customs 3D printed front and rear light buckets. Element RC enduro mud guards. Along with other little details like tire lettering paint and matte black vinyl wheel arches. Still loads more things i'd like to add to it over time like scale accessories instead of the rear tent. Another set of wheels and tires, roof rack and lights, winch servo... the list goes on. Please show us your Element Knightrunners!

Have been an MT10 owner for a few months now. I honestly absolutely love this truck, it's certainly my go to basher. I have done a few upgrades since buying it new from MS Arrma body pin bungies as the stock ones went missing on its first day out so this stop them going flying on a roll over. Replaced stock battery straps for Arrma 3S straps as the stock ones were not really long enough to hold my 3S lipos tightly. Replaced stock Reedy ESC and motor for Hobbywing Max 10 3300kv ESC + motor combo, simply so I have more customisability in the way it behaves also even though the kv ratings are the same comapred to the stock setup, the Hobbywing is way more punchy and temps are considerably better. The Reedy setup liked to run VERY hot on 3S. Replaced stock Reedy servo for a 25kg Banggood special. Stock receiver replaced with my favoured Spektrum 3ch DSM which I use in all my models. Dusty motors chassis shroud and shock socks because I hate having to clean out dirty chassis! (medium shroud fits like a glove) Just fitted but haven't tested yet RPM front and rear arms, I broke the front left arm on its last outing by clipping a tree root which tore the arm out and bent up the front hinge pin alloy braces (you can just about see it in the photo where its slightly tweaked) i'll replace this part in due time, it's functional as it is. The things an absolute tank as it is though and really easy to drive even on 3S, it loves to pop wheelies and I rarely go over half throttle in general use. Handling wise around turns is insanely good! the addition of the included front and rear sway bars with a centre diff makes this thing drive like a proper racing buggy and not the monster truck it is. Yet on the loose dirt is easy to slide the back out and get some serious drifts going. What this thing really feels at home on is a skate park or BMX track, the air control it has is mental. a little blip on the throttle will have it backflipping with ease, a tap of the brake can stop rotation instantly or nose drive it if your not careful. On the BMX jumps I was able to pull a double backflip and a triple front flip no sweat. Awesome truck. Short roughly cut video of it hitting the BMX jumps doing some flips just to run the battery pack down after I had the Knightrunner on a trail walk.

Just a follow up on this thread. I purchased the 2100kv Axe from Modelsport and fitted it to the Knightrunner. Took it out for a trail walk during the week and it was awesome! Power delivery is so smooth! the stock Reedy brushed setup was no slouch either but this HW setup is just leagues ahead. It just pushed and pushed and being able to connect to the ESC using my phone and the HW app means I could fine tune it's parameters deep in the middle of a forest (which I did as I felt the reverse gear was a little too punchy) Run time was well over 1 hour on a 2s 5000mah lipo, there was plenty of juice left in the battery for the MT10 to do a few backflips on the BMX jumps afterwards too.

Thanks for the help, I have added the 2300kv Axe to my MS wishlist and will put an order in for it next payday. I have plenty of pinions in my spares box so I can fine tune the speed if need be. Can't wait to get the truck out for a spin!

So i'm completely new to the crawler/trail scene and have just purchased myself an Element Enduro Knightrunner trail truck. I'm planning on replacing the stock brushed setup for a brushless but am stuck on the fence about which one to buy. I am leaning towards the Hobbywing Axe systems but unsure which KV rating is best suited for general trail running. It wont be scaling large rock faces at all, more like going along dog/mountain bike trails so maybe a bit of extra speed would be a good thing. Simply put, if it was up to you what setup would you go with. Thanks for any help 🙂

So i'm hoping for some recommendations for decent on-road 1/10th scale tyres for my Tamiya TT01? I currently own 2 sets and one set on just a single run obliterated the tyres. The 2 sets I own are just cheapo unbranded ones from Ebay, these were fine when the car ran on a Tamiya sports tuned but now it's been upgraded they are just not up to the task. Clearly the brushless setup I have installed is way too much for them to handle! (4000kv with 2s lipo) So i'm in desperate need of some longer lasting "harder" tyres that can withstand at least 40-50mph. I'm reluctant to reduce the power in the car as it's way more fun as it is now and pulls really fast controlled drifts. Cheers!

Thanks for the advice guys. I put an order in for the Esc, I also purchased a Hobbywing motor and esc Max10 3300kv combo which will go into the Blitz. The Losi motor and new Esc will be installed into my Tamiya TT01 drifter. Can't wait to get back out there and bash the Blitz! just wish it would stop raining!

Thanks Redback i'll put an order in for that Esc. Not sure about what happened to the nimh to be honest. After it sparked and burnt a hole through the bottom of it I looked it over and all I could see was some moisture inside the clear plastic coating. The battery had previously been used in the wife's Tamiya DT02 and was blasted about a freshly cut field by my daughter for about 30 minutes. Worked fine through out but the moment it was connected to the Losi esc it went pop. Can't reverse polarity either as I replace all my battery plugs with XT60's before first use. Took a look at the battery today and cleaned up the burnt part, plugged it into a scrap esc and it works just fine.

So I have been out of this hobby for almost 10 years and just recently decided to get back into it after coming across a few of Kevin Talbots youtube vids. I dug the old RC's out of the attic and started to get them into working order again. My fave of the bunch was the HPI Blitz which I converted to brushless using a Losi excelorin 10.5t brushless combo. All the LiPos I had are long dead due to neglect so those were dismantled and recycled. I also own a handful on Nimhs and those were pretty much knackered too and not holding a charge. Those had to go too. I picked up a Tornado 5000mah Nimh just to get the fleet into working order and went about setting up the Blitz, However the moment the battery was plugged into the Esc lead before switching it on it immediately sparked and blew a hole in the bottom of the battery pack and created a fire. I quickly unplugged the battery and threw it outside, thing is I think this has killed the Esc as it felt incredibly hot to the touch along with the wires leading to it. Next day my Lipo order from MS arrived and I plugged it into the Esc to see if it was still alive. It does turn on and the lights appear fine but the throttle is all kinds of wrong. It will judder and go or just completely ignore inputs. I assume the motor is fine and I can just replace the Esc, however with such a long time away from the hobby many things have changed and a straight replacement for this is no longer available. Would this Esc work fine with the motor? or any alternative that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/hobbywing-quicrun-10bl120-sensored-425021 Thanks for any help sent my way 🙂

Thanks for the advice, i'll be purchasing some RPM front casters and bearing carriers for now as research shows this is a weak point on the truck. The rest ill keep stock until those parts break. I switched the stock 14t pinion over to a 17t, this feels very punchy and probably about as fast as I want to take it. Im still running the carson 10t brushless I mentioned before but iv adjusted the throttle band and eliminated drag break (seemed to be causing it to get too hot) for now. Before I even ran the truck I took out the 2.4ghz traxxas radio gear, XL5 waterproof esc and titan 15 brushed motor, these items are now on ebay and if they all sell these will completely cover the cost of the Ezrun combo! Ill certainly take a look at changing the drive train for something a little more aggressive once I have fitted the Ezrun combo, the main tranny is fully ballraced out of the box anyway so itll just be a case of changing teh spur & pinion I imagine. Cheers :]

Ah no worries about the servo, the stock electrics were fully waterproof and it comes fitted with the waterproof reciever box too. Of course iv removed the Traxxas motor and esc (prob sell those on ebay to fund the Ezrun) but kept the waterproof servo fitted, as the truck dosnt spend all that long on the front wheels its probably a waste of money putting another one in there for the time being, atleast until it dies. Still it seems to have enough strength behind it and can put very tight turns when needed, so im happy with it. And yep so far im very happy with the truck, its alot of fun to drive and also feels very planted to the floor with its handling, wheelies are super easy to control and prolong. Cant wait to give it a proper bashing on the dirt, but before that I want everything to be in good shape so my time isnt ended short

Thanks for the informative and swift response, Ill certainly take a look at those EZ run setups, sound slike it might just be the ticket especially being waterproof! means I can run it through the mud. Untill I make my final desicion and fit it into the truck what gearing should I put the current setup on? I have a good dozen or so 48p pinions I can drop into it for the time being.

Ok, so ive been out of the hobby for a good few years due to becoming a father to a lovely baby girl, with alot of my time being spent at home I took to watching Monster Jam on the extreme sports channel a lot. Sooo the wife noticed and decided to get me a Traxxas Monster Jam Son uva digger truck, Now this is my first ever Traxxas and so far I really like it, I watched a good review on Youtube by URC which recommended that I fit alloy shock caps (which I have done) and also I fitted a wheelie bar to stop it flipping onto its roof. Along with this I have fitted a Specktrum 2.4ghz reciever, ripped all the Traxxas electrics out of it and fitted a Carson 10t brushless sport combo which was sitting in my spares box with no car to call its home, I am also running it on 2s HPI hardcase lipos. So the advice im after is what is a good brushless combo to go with on this? Im asking as the current Carson set is just not doing it for me, the motor is getting way too hot with stock gearing and the esc is ambient temps, leads me to believe the motor just cannot cut it under the stress. Im looking at spending no more that