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SCT-Short Course Trucks

17K views 26 replies 16 participants last post by  Big boyz toyz 
#1 ·
SCT or Corr trucks have been a huge seller over the last few months, and to date I have not read to many reviews about them, the following is based off a reply I made to another post. Someone suggested I make it into a review.........

Just my opinion, but I think everyone has jumped at the market too quickly and tried to grab a slice of the consumer pie, each concentrating on one particular section of the car/truck, with a view to enticing the consumer to swing their way.

Losi has the 2.4g radio gear, mid mount 12t motor, Lipo capable ESC, a well presented truck at a good price, with the included spare parts and tools it is hard not to like it

ae has an all out well balanced truck, with only a 17t 540 motor, I think it should have been a 550, heaps of hop ups available for it, and based off a good platform (T4) means a lot of parts cross over, all up you cant go wrong with this one, it needs a 2.4g radio to complete it

Traxxas have the real life truck to draw attention to the Slash, and the available VXL brushless upgrade also a draw card, but I think they should have redesigned the chassis to end up with a lower centre of gravity, and improve the handling, in my opinion the slash handles like a pig, wallowing as it struggles to turn its overly tall chassis, until it finally topples over.
IMO it was a lazy attempt, at entering the SCT market, while using the Stampede's high centre of gravity chassis as a base

Hpi, pretty much the last on the block to put the Blitz to the pavement, I really believe that they weren't going to follow suit, but when faced with the market hunger for these type of trucks, relented and went with a tried and proven format.
A converted E-Firestorm, 15t brushed motor, and SC-15 ESC are base model parts, but they perform well together, and having the Mamba combo(5700kv) as a stock part for the E-FS, means a simple upgrade to make these trucks fly, as always 27mhz radio gear and stock steering servo has allowed Hpi to land feet first in a volatile market with a very well priced truck.

The Blitz handles extremely well and I have no hesitation in recommending it as one of the best SCT's on the market to date. It has the Maxxis belted tyres, and performs flawlessly, tough as nails and begs you to try to hurt it, but you just cant.
No doubt parts will wear out and others will break at some point, but in general this it one tough built SCT.


While I know there are other SCT's on the market, I doubt too many more will make their way to OZ in a large way, although Traxxas have their 4wd Slash on the way at the moment (expected release late December 2009), I really dont feel that it will make an impact here in OZ.
At present we have limited clubs running SCT as a serious race class, which I think will hurt sales of the 4WD versions of these trucks.


Ofna also have a 4wd version due for release in early 2010, at this stage I have no idea on price of this model.

I have the SC8e which is 4WD, based on the RC8T chassis with RC8B arms, the longer chassis helps keep it very stable, it is a weapon to drive, and very realistic handling and appearance. No one runs a class for them here, a real shame in my opinion, as they not only look good, they handle well.
The SC8e comes as a Factory Team Kit, so many options with motor/ESC, servo and choice of radio gear, of course I chose a 2000kv brushless/150amp ESC combo and 4s 5000mah Lipo, couldnt help myself, and I have replaced the original wheels and tyres with a set of badlands mounted on 1/8th buggy rims.

One small point to mention, I would advise anyone building one of these to purchase the adaptor plate to raise the centre gearbox slightly and allow a little more clearance for the motor, the part is in-expensive and easier to fit during the build process, as it fits between the chassis and the centre gearbox.

Even the mini scales have a mention in this class, Traxxas have their 1/16 scale mini slash, which IMO is basically a mini e-revo with shorter control arms. The shorter control arms have made it a little unstable in corners, which once again brings me to the conclusion that Traxxas rushed the release of these units without getting the formula spot on, but still a fun little SCT.

Team Associated have their SC-18 coming out early 2010, based off the RC-18 platform, but with some welcomed improvements, a redesigned diff set up and twin belt drive replacing the original drive shaft, and of course the Bell crank steering system which will be a huge step forward from the original linkage system.
The motor has been rotated 90 degrees which will rebalance the weight distribution, and of course the backing of high quality Thunder Tiger/Ace/AE electrics.
I am extremely eager to get my paws on one of these little treasures, (hint, hint, anyone from ae reading this)

Driven Productions have recently released the "Scorpion" SCT body which fits the ae really well and is quite well detailed, it comes with protective overspray film and masks, but no decals/stickers.

The above is not a bash on any one company or model, just my opinions and should be read as such. I am sure everyone will have an opinion. Please feel free to add anything I have missed.
 
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#2 ·
Awsome write up mate, about time some one has compared them all:thumb:.

I can back up what you've said about the Traxxus, most of my mates run them, and the amount of damage they are doing, the postie has worn a hole in the Delivery bag:eek:.

I would love one of these thing's but i'm going to wait until there is a full blown Racing version out:D
 
#4 · (Edited)
Traxxas have the real life truck to draw attention to the Slash, and the available VXL brushless upgrade also a draw card, but I think they should have redesigned the chassis to end up with a lower centre of gravity, and improve the handling, in my opinion the slash handles like a pig, wallowing as it struggles to turn its overly tall chassis, until it finally topples over.
IMO it was a lazy attempt, at entering the SCT market, while using the Stampede's high centre of gravity chassis as a base
as a racer i'd agree with ye

but as a scale modeller... imho Slash's high CoG mimics the real thing
pretty well... those 1:1 racetrucks are plushy huge heavy monsters

Slash is fun as a 1-make race class... but now i'm not so sure with all the
other race-bred chassis now becoming available... what's the point of
having any "fun" class when others handle better but don't look scale?



Slash 4WD will still be high CoG, not redesigned.

Have no idea what's with all the various mini-sized versions though,
what are they for? Just a cynical marketing exercise?


gotta be said Traxxas really knows how to bring RC to the (US) masses
what with their TORC sponsorship & making each racemeet a huge RC event

AE + LOORS to a much smaller extent
 
#5 ·
Ofna has already released theirs to the public some people have had them for a short while already.

Jammin is supposed to release theirs in Jan I think.

Stuff knows about the other 4 they (Hobao/Ofna/Jammin etc) are supposed to be releasing.

Caster Racing may be bringing out a 1/5th scale electric SC truck, it's all still a secret with nothing confirmed 100% (it does indeed exist though, not all speculation).

There are a few others aswell that are out but I think because of the reputation of the brand's, they will never be big or widely known.

I also agree that the Slash is supposed to kinda mimic the real thing, which would explain the high cog.
 
#6 ·
Slash also (purposely) comes with dualrate springs so that it rolls more.


Although CoG may "look" high, i don't think it makes much difference in use.
Slash doesn't really rollover that easy unless you're running on flat tarmac
then yeah, the tyres grip pretty well.

Methink its CoG height vs its (WIIIIIDE) track.

High chassis does avoid getting hung up on bumps; compared to a Truck
on same track, whenever it slaps chassis on ground it loses grip/traction.


If ya really want to lower CoG... why not just hang the battery underneath?
Biggest weight, lowered by 2"!
 
#8 ·
Traxxas and HPI have made intelligent business decisions for their Gen1 version of SC trucks. They are tooled up for a long standing design based on the Rustler/Stampede and Firestorm designs and with a few minor changes have introduced new trucks into a unproven market with little market history and have minimised their overhead and risk and as Pete/towie said instantly provided access to a subset of aftermarket parts to support their sales.

Will 4wd SC trucks take of as a strong club or sanctioned class? In Australia, I seriously doubt it in the short term and I personally think it follow the same path as monster trucks with a following of racers with short term interest in the hobby and will inevitably fade away to a class that is struggling to put a dozen drivers on the stand in a state or national event.

Those of us who have been involved in the hobby will know that the 4wd buggy was a slow class to develop and new racers or hobbyists will if given good advice and are price conscious adopt the 2wd versions over their 4wd counterparts. Maybe the SC is destined to share the same status as monster trucks and be a great recreational RC vehicle, which is perfectly fine for many of us and might just be the demographic the manufacturers indeed targeted. At the end of the day, pick a colour and have fun ;)

Slash is a fantastic little truck for the part-time enthusiast, new comers and kids and will stay in one piece longer then any of the other 2wd SC trucks currently on offer...
 
#13 ·
The SC10 is great for the track, these can really be thrown around. The slash takes heaps of effort to dial in properly.

I raced my slash 4x4 last week and its brilliant. It does jump nose down, once you get used to compensating for this its a great truck. Im installing the centre diff for this fridays meet. I laid down some good times, and was very happy overall with the trucks responsiveness. The stock tires (platnuim) are good, not as good as bowties but MUCH MUCH better then the 2wd stock tire attempts:bang:

Things I like about the 4wd slash.
All suspension arms are the same, its race ready out of the box, the body looks mint and it runs revo diffs! You can adjust everything, rollcentre swaybars bumpsteer etc etc

dislikes
You can adjust everything, rollcentre swaybars bumpsteer etc etc (not good for newbies who may tinker around)
jumps nose down
2wd corr drivers dont like it when you burn the crap outta them :D
 
#14 ·
The good thing about 2WD SCT & 4WD SCT, they will never have to compete against each other, due to the fact they are different classes.
 
#17 ·
I personally think the only true to SC 4x4 truck design on the market at the moment is the Traxxas Slash 4x4. I had a close look at the Hyper SC10 at OZRC and passed because it has a flat chassis with bulkheads mounted on top, a centre diff and it is arguably just an EP 1/10th truggy/buggy (it is a reshuffle of a previous vehicle they release a few years ago) with SC tyres and a shell. Even the front and rear bumpers aren't remotely true to the SC ethos dammit!

Just like the Losi Muggy, Revo blurred the lines of the definition of MT's the 4x4's like the Jammin and Hyper are hybrid trucks masquerading as SC vehicles. Get a 2wd SC, practise and be proud of the fact you can drive and enjoy them for what they are ;) If you want one for bashing around a park and doing silly things that make you giggle and come out the other end in relatively one piece go the 2wd!
 
#15 ·
At my track they are talking about running the 2wd and 4wd together, but in seperate classes, this should be interesting :D as theres only 2-3 4wds the majority will be 2wds.
 
#16 ·
They will more than likely run them all together but seperate the classes, so you will have 2wd placings and 4wd placings as well. Just a way of running a full class, rather than a half class of 4wd on their own, we do it up here also, if there are low numbers for a single event, just run them all together and seperate the palcings for each class
 
#21 ·
after months of waiting... Blitz arrived Monday... when HPI announced the ESE version :(

and Slash 4X4 arrived too ... just when Traxxas decides to nix the PE and release a new RTR "Ultimate Edition" instead :mad:

grrrr! :bang:


Stock Blitz is pretty gutless & boring but the chassis handles nice.

Compared to a stock Slash 2WD, Blitz RTR has weak steering servo and
the motor is a lot less torque; plus everything isn't "waterproof".
Given the relatively similar pricing... imho Slash is heaps better value.

After swapping in a Traxxas 2075 servo and an EZRUN... its woken up.
Taped in a Traxxas weatherproof RX box too for good measure.

Handling is good, truck transitions like a gokart compared to Slash
but its all very clinical :( no character like rolypoly Slash.

Belted tyres are sweet, no ballooning.

There is a lot of fancy engineering evident in the Blitz
but imho most of it is superfluous once you're used to the 'simple'
design of the Slash. Bit like Ford Mustang vs Subaru SVX i dare say.

Blitz rear mudflaps looks kool but are just deadweight on a race truck.
 
#25 ·
I thought I might expand on this topic a bit since it's been a while since the thread was started.
I've been racing my 2wd slash at Performance RC Hobbies Gold Coast Indoor track at Molendinar for 5 months now. Back in December we were only getting 6-8 2wd entries per week. We now get at least 20 2wd and 10 4wd every week.
In the 2wd class we now have a good mix of Slash's, SC10's, Blitz's and even a few Strike's. I'd say Slash's would make up half the field. Generally, the top three each week is either all slash's or 2 slash's and an SC10. I think this goes to show that for the style of track we race on (very tight clay with a few small jumps), the Slash is very hard to beat. The high C.O.G. chassis can be an advantage as there are some parts of the track where the others can easily get hung up. The racing is very tight (think 8 cars on a 4 foot wide track) and the amount of breakages for all makes seems quite minimal considering the amount of fender bashing that goes on.
The 4wd class started with 3 or 4 Ofna 10SC's and now has about 7 Ofna's and 3 Slash 4x4's. The Ofna's certainly dominate each week but the Slash still holds it's own considering the differences between the two models.
A fast lap in 2wd is 15 seconds whilst a fast lap in 4wd can get as low as 13. I'm certainly interested in getting a 4wd but I think I'll wait until a few more players enter the market. SC10 4WD anyone???

Here's a link to an A main from a few weeks ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIasgtvqVVk
Mines the green slash that DNF's about 3 minutes into the race (steel output yoke wasn't threadlocked)
 
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