RCP Bastard Jr. Crawler Chassis for the AX10
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
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RCP Crawlers Bastard JR
You probably guessed by now that I love building all sorts of crawlers. Tuber style chassis are my favorite because they combine awesome performance, high durability, with a scale look. A few issues ago, I reviewed RCP’s Super Class Hustler tube crawler chassis. Now RCP has a new 2.2 Class chassis called the Bastard JR that bolts right onto Axial crawlers and allows for some custom cool with little effort.
THE CHASSIS
The pre-welded and black powder-coated chassis is made from 3/16” steel rod that is plenty strong and still very light weight. Included with the chassis are pre-cut ready-to-paint Lexan body panels and all the screws required to secure the panels to the tapped holes on the chassis. The Bastard Jr. allows low-moderate experienced crawler builders a near direct swap for their stock AX10 chassis. I say a near swap, because the geometry of the Bastard JR has intentionally longer upper rear links extended with two 30mm Axial spacers to improve performance.
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RCP Bastard Jr Specs
Bolt on upgrade for AX10 based chassis
Length: 9"
Width: 3.37"
Height: 3.72"
Weight: 6oz.
$129.99 Retail
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BUILD & GOODIES
With the exception of the two 30mm spacers, everything else from the stock Axial AX10 and ARTR crawlers bolt up normally. Yes, yes, stock lower links will work just fine, and yes so will all your stock servo, steering links, drive shafts, and even Axial beadlocks and tires, but you know me and you know I can never… ever, do a stock/standard build, and this was no exception. With that in mind, I decided to make this a scale 1.9” rig, which simply means using 1.9” wheels instead of 2.2” wheels because let’s be realistic, how many times have you seen a 5.5 foot tall off-road tire unless it’s on a monster truck? I used the new heavy billet aluminum DNA RC 1.9” Snipers wheels bolted up to Pro-Line’s equally killer looking 1.9” Flatiron tires.
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The drive shafts are FLM’s new captured CVD units that are scale looking and bulletproof. The FLM milled Skid Plate Lower links feature replaceable Delrin skids to glide over rock and take the abuse instead of the pretty aluminum.
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Control was via a Spektrum RX with steering provided by a Hitec 645MG Metal Gear servo, and thrust provided by a small MaxAmps 1720Mh pack, Tekin 55T motor, and a tiny postage stamp sized Tekin G1R mini-ESC that Tekin notes as perfect lightweight option for 1.9-2.2 Class crawler builds. RCP does also recommend using a stock spacer between the front shock mounts to improve durability.
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TESTING
The Bastard Jr. is a very flexible high performance super light chassis equally at home with 1.9” or 2.2” wheels. Depending on your choice of motor and ESC, the RCP Bastard Jr. chassis is flexible enough to morph from a fun 1.9 basher to a USRCC legal 2.2 competition crawler with just a wheel change. Though not pictured, I did swap out my 1.9 Flatirons to larger stock 2.2 Axial beadlocks and Pro-Line Hammers for some 2.2 comp style testing. The cool thing about the chassis is that it looks great just sitting there but when it is in action, it is stunning to watch and it’s even more fun to drive. Stability gains come from lengthening of the upper rear link and a lower CG improves overall performance – better performance in a scale look, sounds like a deal to me. RCP is one of the oldest crawler parts manufacturers in the market and they did a stunning job with this little…Bastard Jr chassis. See you on the rocks.
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Sources - RCP Crawlers - www. RCPCrawlers.com, Axial Racing - www.AxialRacing.com, Tekin - www.TeamTekin.com, MaxAmps - www.MaxAmps.com, DNA RC - www.DNA-RC.com, Fast Lane Machine - www.FastLaneMachine.com,
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