Team Associated ProSC10 review

Overview:
Team Associated has come out with a new line of rear-motor RTR vehicles, the ProSC10, the Trophy Rat, and the Reflex DB10.  All three vehicles are the same kit, just with different bodies.  I decided to get the ProSC10 version, which is a short course RTR based off of the B5.  It's a rear motor, plastic chassis, metric RTR.

Build: 4
For the most part, the truck was assembled properly, but there were a few things that were issues.  One rear shock was mounted with too short of a screw.  Fortunately I found it before it stripped out and replaced it with the proper length.  The shock cap o-rings were excessively large and had to be replaced.  The gear diff also was assembled almost dry -- it just had a dollop of anti-wear grease in the middle of the pins.  Finally, the motor mesh was set too tight.

Other than that, the build was put together fairly well and was certainly driveable out of the box.  The radio controls were setup perfectly.

Design: 9
The ProSC10 is basically a plastic chassis rear-motor version of the SC5M with some simplification of parts.  Most of the B5/SC5M pars will mount right on -- there is a long list of factory option parts in the manual if you so choose to upgrade.  The plastic chassis is light and durable, overall it's a big improvement over the previous generation of trucks; the SC10/.1/.2/.3 which were based on the B4.  Rear motor helps in loose traction surfaces, and also allows a full size lipo to be used in the chassis.  The truck can run 2S or 3S right out of the box.

The kit is also fully metric which is a welcome change.  Overall, I think the design lends itself well to bashing and some light racing at the club level.  It performs well, has waterproof electronics and a lot of tunability.  Team Associated removed some of the adjustments that are available in the SC5M -- the spindles no longer have adjustable trail or caster and the rear hubs do not have adjustable inserts.

The parts also seem to be made of a softer composite from normal Associated race kits, which makes it a little more durable and able to handle crashes better.

Performance: 9
The truck drives great and handles well.  Overall, it's very light on its feet and jumps and lands well.  For outdoor rough terrain, the stock suspension works well, but you will want to upgrade the springs and shock oils if you run on higher traction surfaces.

Stock tires are only suitable for the street, for dirt, grass or clay you will definitely want to get new tires.

I did not test out the stability control, opting to turn it off, but it is there if you want it with 7 different levels of engagement.

The stock servo is reasonably quick and seems to have enough torque for the stock tires.  On 2S, stock gearing was a little low, but should be perfect for 3S.

The radio is not the greatest, but has all of the adjustments you need for setting up your truck and actually surprised me with how decent it was.  There's a fair amount of play in the wheel and trigger, but for some bashing and light club racing, it's actually not that bad.


Durability: 9
I found the truck to be very durable and did not break a single part.  The body is made of PVC or some other type of plastic, and is not going to hold up to serious bashing, but that's really the only durability concern I had.  Overall it's proven to be a very durable truck and even after letting my 10 y.o. son drive it, nothing broke.

Value: 10
The basic ProSC10 sells for $299 in the U.S.  It's main competitors are the Slash VXL ($319), the Kyosho SC6 ready-set ($349), the Losi XXX-SCT ($329), and the HPI Blitz Flux ($315).

It's the cheapest of the group, and definitely the most modern and durable and capable truck.  There is no other brushless RTR out there from a major manufacturer that is this capable, durable, and low in price.

Support: 10
Team Associated is a major force in the U.S., and availability of parts and support is hard to beat.

Maintenance: 6
Short course trucks in general can be a bit difficult to work on because of the amount of body mounts, bumpers, and stuff that gets in the way, but the ProSC10 is reasonably easy to work on.  The rear transmission comes out fairly easily leaving the arms and chassis intact, and the diff can be split without removing the motor from the motor plate (leaving your mesh the same).  Overall, a pretty good truck to work on.

And the big one -- the whole kit is metric, which is a huge improvement from the SC10 line of trucks.

Dislikes:
I wish the truck came with the V2 shock caps out of the box, the stock shock caps have no bleeder holes which makes it impossible to properly build your shocks.  Other than that, I have no real grips with the truck.  It's a great platform.

Conclusion:
Overall, the ProSC10 is a welcome update to Team Associated's line of RTR short course trucks.  It brings it into the modern era in terms of durability, easy of maintenance, and performance and is a huge upgrade from the SC10.  It also performs extremely well on the track and is the perfect blend of bashing and racing.  If you want an RTR truck (heck, ANY short course truck) that can do both, I think the ProSC10 is the top choice out there.

I'm a big fan of this truck and think it makes an excellent first, second, or even third RC car.  It can do everything you could want, provides excellent performance, durability, and value, and really has no faults.

Overall rating:  9

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Tekno EB410 review

Overview:
The EB410 is Tekno's first foray into true 1/10 scale racing, and they built upon the lessons learned from their 8th scale line of kits.  I've always been a fan of Tekno, because they are definitely one of the underdogs in the RC world who try their hardest to just get it done.  Their kits are known for high performance, extreme durability, and high quality parts and instructions.  I had been watching this company for a while, and they finally produced a kit that I felt I needed to get.

Build: 5
The Tekno manual is very well done, clear with high quality full color schematics.  The only thing missing was explaining what wheels fit the car, I wish they included that information.  Out of the box, the kit is designed for TLR 22-4 wheels, although Associated wheels will fit with the +1 front wheel hexes.

However, there is one area that really brings down the score -- the plastic shock caps were a bit ovaled for me and made out of a soft, plastic material that was really difficult to thread on properly.  They also stripped out on one of the bleeder screw holes -- I think the plastic should be made a little harder with more glass content.  The o-rings on the bleeder screws are also ridiculously small and difficult to get on.

Other than that, the build was quite fun and everything fit together well.  If they included aluminum shock caps, I could easily give the build a score of 8, but the plastic ones definitely drop down the score several notches alone.

Design: 7
The EB410 is a unique design, and you can see there were certain things Tekno focused on.  First and foremost is an emphasis on extreme forward weight-bias.  Everything, and I mean everything, is pushed all the way forward with the back 1/3 of the chassis completely empty.  This is unusual -- the 22-4 has a balanced weight distribution, the B64 has a classic rear-weight bias, but the Tekno team decided that a heavily forward weight bias worked best.

There are also lots of little details Tekno built in to improve the durability and tidiness of the truck.  Almost all of the bolts and nuts are captured, requiring only one tool to tighten/loosen.  For example, the shock standoffs are mated into the shock tower, so you don't have to hold down the hex side while you spin off the nuts.  Shock cups are captured into the eyelets, and there are tidy wire holders throughout.  The chassis nicely accommodates different size servos (standard and low-profile) and you have the ability to use both of the most common wheel offsets (TLR and Associated) on the same buggy.

But at times they got a little overkill -- Tekno has left-handed hex screws to hold in the shocks, which I found unnecessary and replaced them with standard button heads.  The electronics can also be a bit difficult to package in such a small place.

The area I was a bit surprised they didn't build into the design is adjustable axle heights.  There are diff shims to raise or lower the gearboxes, but the latest competing designs also allow you to raise or lower the axles in the hubs.  There also is no slipper clutch option -- this buggy is center differential only.

Performance: 9
I tested the buggy with the stock setup and it was a bit squirrelly.  There is gobs of steering, but the rear end was a little unstable and twitchy.  I then put in Ryan Lutz's Ohio RC Factory setup, and the kit was perfect.  Removing the short rear chassis brace as well as raising the inner ballstuds tamed down the rear end and softened it and made it more stable.

Highlights of the buggy are excellent steering while still maintaining good rear traction.  I think the value of the front weight distribution is that it uses the front end much more.  Both for steering, but also on throttle has more of a 4WD effect where all of the wheels are driving the buggy forward rather than having more of a rear-wheel bias.

Transitions with the stock setup were a little erratic, but with the additional sweep from the Lutz setup it seems to have improved quite a bit.

Jumping and landing is also very good.  The buggy has a slight nosedive, but nothing unusual for a 4WD vehicle.  Landing is where this buggy really shines -- the 13mm shocks irked a lot of people for having non-standard springs, but I can honeslty say this buggy lands better than any 10th scale buggy I've driven.  It's phenomenal -- it lands very plush and stable, and you can instantly get on the power as soon as this thing touches down.

Braking can be slightly unstable, but it makes it easy to land a jump, get on the brakes, and pivot around a 180.  Short landing pads become long ones with this buggy.  I did notice the buggy has very little rear droop -- both front and rear have about the same amount of droop, presumably to tame the rear end under braking.

Overall the buggy drives amazing and I'm not sure it could be any better.

Durability: 7
4WD buggies are the most difficult class to keep durable, but I think the Tekno does a good job.  The plastics are forgiving, but I did break a couple of things.

Smashing the right side into a wall in a high-speed sweeper resulted in a bent inner hingepin and a tweaked shock standoff.  It seems like the plastics do a good job of absorbing impact without breaking, but there are reports that the metals tend to bend.  The shock standoffs stick out further than 12mm shocks, and I think this contributes to them being more prone to getting bent.

The body does stick out more than most buggies, which means that landing upside-down tends to focus most of the forces onto the front top of the body, and I've noticed it starting to break down.

I was worried about the lack of side rails on the chassis, but it's been holding up pretty well with no signs of fatigue.  The bottom of the chassis also seems quite durable with minimal wear.

Value: 6
The EB410  sells for $399, which is quite inexpensive for a 4WD buggy.  There's not a lot of carbon fiber (read: none) and limited aluminum in the kit, you can tell they did their best to lower the price.  You will need to supply your own wheels however.

On the plus side:  machined aluminum A/B/C/D blocks and motor mount parts, parts made in Taiwan (rather than China), and high quality plastics and chassis.  On the down side, lots of parts on parts trees, steel hexes, and no carbon fiber anywhere.

There are a couple of pieces that I think are a must have -- aluminum shock caps and aluminum servo horn.  Most people will also want to get the carbon top plate is nice because it has an integrated fan mount.

Overall, I think the kit is a good value being priced lower than most kits, but it definitely is low on the bling chart.

Support: 3
Tekno is a small company, but if you're outside of California it may be hard to find local support.  I imagine outside of the U.S. is especially bad.  Setup sheets are limited, but parts are easily available online and from Tekno themselves.

Maintenance: 7
Maintenance on the EB410 is pretty good, for the most part.  The diffs are easy to get to, requiring 4 screws to unbolt and it's nice that the underside of the front and rear diffs are sealed.  Shocks are easy to bleed, and with the machined caps are not an issue.

The only area that can be tricky is the electronics.  It's difficult to place the electronics so that wires are out of the way, and still have everything serviceable.  In my buggy, I can get to the receiver plugs, the bind button, the ESC power button, access to the transponder and still remove the motor fairly easily, but I have a hard time getting to the motor sensor wire on my ESC.  So if it fails, I have to remove the capacitors and then shoe goo them back into place.


Dislikes:
I wish they had provided a little more real estate to the electronics, and provided aluminum shock caps in the box.  Other than that, I can't really complain much about the kit.

Conclusion:
The Tekno's extremely high performance, good durability, and low price is hard to beat.  I'm sure this kit has its competitors going back into the lab and re-thinking their buggy strategy.  At the 2017 IFMAR 1/20 World Championship, the TLR guys did something Tekno-like and moved all of their electronics forward on the 22-4 2.0 and left the back half of the chassis open.

I think Tekno has moved the bar forward in the 4WD 1/10 scale buggy world, and everyone else is scrambling to catch up.  This is a very, very good kit.  If you're considering buying one, don't hesitate and pick one up.  Just make sure you get the aluminum shock caps too!

TLR Spring chart

Standard Springs
Front Rate		Buggy	Truck
2.3	Pink		TLR5178
2.5	Red	TLR5172	TLR5179
2.9	Orange	TLR5173	TLR5180
3.2	Silver	TLR5174	TLR5181
3.5	Green	TLR5175	TLR5182
3.8	Blue	TLR5176	TLR5183
4.1	Black	TLR5177	TLR5184
4.4	Purple
4.7	Brown	TLR233020
5.0	Light Blue
Rear Rate		Buggy	Truck
1.6	Gray	TLR5165	TLR5162
1.8	White	TLR5166	TLR5163
2.0	Yellow	TLR5167	TLR5164
2.3	Pink	TLR5168
2.6	Red	TLR5169
2.9	Orange	TLR5170
3.4	Silver	TLR5171
Low Frequency Springs
Front Rate		Buggy
2.86	Pink
2.96	Red	TLR233012
3.03	Orange
3.18	Silver
Rear Rate		Buggy
1.96	Gray
2.02	White
2.06	Yellow	TLR233013
2.11	Pink
2.16	Red

Bigger tires, thicker diff fluid

Just a random thought I had today as I was working on my Hyper TT.

I think if you go to bigger tires on your car, you also need to increase the diff fluid weight to compensate.  Bigger and heavier tires seem to require thicker fluid to get the same diff action as with smaller and lighter tires.

Team Associated B64D review

I had a lot of fun running my TLR 22-4 2.0, so when Team Associated announced the long-awaited successor to the B44, I knew I had to get one.  What you get is a car completely different than the 22-4 2.0, and much more like other 4WD buggies on the market.

Overview:
The B44 was Associated's first 4WD buggy, and was basically an offshoot of the BJ4 prototype buggy.  It lasted a long time in the Associated lineup, and there have been rumors of a new platform for literally years, but nothing showed up.  Finally in early 2017, the B64D was released.  It's an all new, thoroughly modern, fully metric, 1/10 scale 4WD electric buggy.

Build: 4
Team Associated has been taking some slack lately for their latest kits.  The B64D was not a hard build, but there were some tricky parts to it that might confuse a new builder.  All of the transmission screws are extremely tight, and I definitely had to use black grease in all of them.  One of the kingpin screws in the camber block impinged on the hinge pin hold, such that it was hard to thread it in all the way.  Finally, the diff shims call for 5 shims on one side and 2 on the other, but 7/0 fit much better for me.

The manual is pretty clear for the most part, but the slight machining error on the caster block and the requirement to cut parts off parts trees was a bit of a bummer.  This is the first Associated kit I built that didn't quite build properly out of the box, so I have to give it a below average score.

Design: 9
Team Associated took a long time to release the B64D, and boy is this a nice design.  The diffs (front/center/rear) are very easy to get to -- they just require 4 screws.  The layout is very elegant and clean, with plenty of room for the electronics.  This is one of the easiest cars I own to work on, it's even easier than the B6 in my opinion.  The sliding motor mount is nice, and there are lots of carbon fiber and aluminum parts sprinkled about.

There are tons of adjustments to the car -- axle heights, 3 diffs, front mounted rear arms, slipper option, Ackermann plates, in addition to the usual shock locations and hub spacing.  They use the pill system in the front and rear arms to adjust kickup, track width, anti-squat and toe.

About the only complaints I have are that the front bumper is practically non-existent, and the rear bumper is completely non-existent.  The chassis seems to take a lot of abuse as a result, moreso than most buggies.  The kit also uses a funky C-clip in the diffs, which is a bit annoying, but not a major issue.

Overall, the design is awesome and a joy to work on and look at.  Even if it is an X-ray clone...

Performance: 5
It's a little bit difficult to judge performance, and I'll explain why.  I think the kit setup isn't that good, and definitely needs some work.  Out of the box, I would give it a below average score.  The B6/B6D have amazing setups, as do most modern day kits in the U.S.  I run on high-traction indoor clay, which is similar to the tracks the U.S. manufacturers run on (TLR, Team Associated), so I kind of expect the kit setup to be close.

It's not terrible, but it is quite edgy.  With some tuning, it can get a lot better, and so that's why it's hard to rate the performance.  I ended up going to 200k center diff oil, stiffer rear springs, a higher ride height and different axle heights just to get the car in the ballpark.  And I still have many more hours of tuning to do.

I'm pretty confident that eventually setup will be really, really good, but it will take time and testing to get there.  There are enough adjustments to be able to get the car to drive any way you like, but for the purposes of this review I'm going to give it an average performance rating because the kit setup isn't really there, but has the potential to be there.

Pros:  the steering on this buggy is amazing out of the box.  Team Associated said they wanted to make this drive more like the B6D, and I would agree that the steering and the way it gets into and through the corner is very good.

Cons:  it doesn't jump or land very well, partly due to the cheap shock internals, and also due to the low ride height.  Rear traction is a little suspect until you increase the center diff fluid and go to stiffer rear springs.

Durability: 3
The B44 had notoriously weak front arms, to the point where most people replaced them with RPM super rubbery arms.  You would think this would be the one area they would make sure they got right, but in my experience, the arms are once again the car's weakness.  I've broken 3 front arms in the first 6 weeks of running.

The B64 also uses the same rear hub design as the B6D, including the much-maligned little plastic inserts for the camber link.  I've broken that piece 3 times in my B6D, and I also broke it in my B64D.

Some people have broken the diff cases, but this has not happened to me.

Finally, the wing is super flimsy and will only last a few crashes before it needs to be replaced.

Value: 6
The B64D sells for $429, which is on the low side for a 4WD buggy.  It comes with a lot of nice factory aluminum parts -- caster blocks, caster inserts, all 4 hinge pin braces, front axles and rear hexes, center brace, and a spiffy motor mount.  It also has thick carbon fiber shock towers front and rear.  All of the driveshafts are CVA's.

So a lot of value in the box for a fairly low price.  My main complaints are the molded shock internals and a fair amount of the parts still come on parts trees and need to be cut out.  The polycarbonate pieces (wing especially) are a little thin.  And there are no wheels or tires in the box.

It's still one of the better deals on the market though.

Support: 10
Team Associated parts are the easiest to find in the U.S., and there are lots of sponsored drivers out there providing setup sheets and tuning tips.  There is no better supported platform in the U.S.

Dislikes:
The flimsy front arms are a major issue for this buggy.  I've gone to the hard arms to see if they last longer.  Other than that, it's a fun buggy and I look forward to getting it working as well as possible.

Conclusion:
Team Associated took a long time to come out with the B64D, and they've released a very good buggy.  If they can fix the durability issues with the front arms, this may be the buggy to be beat.  The design is elegant and has a plethora of tuning options.  While I don't think the performance/setup is as good as some of the other buggies on the market (i.e. the TLR 22-4 2.0), it's still early days for setup with this buggy.  Give it a few more months, and I think the performance will be right there if not better.

Hyper TT front-mounted shocks

I spent a few hours at the track testing some stuff.  The initial plan was to work on my B64D, but I also wanted to test the plastic steering knuckles on the Hyper TT, so I started with that kit.

(Boiled) plastic knuckles held up great, and removed a lot of slop, so I'm going to stick with that and just keep extras in my parts box.  I also tested 10k rear diff oil and 5k, still not sure which I like best.  10k gives more forward traction and stability, but loses a bit of steering.  7k is probably going to be perfect.

But I tested out one change that made a MASSIVE improvement in the handling of the TT --

I noticed the Hyper TT has a ridiculous amount of rear toe-in (probably 4 degrees or so), and that the arms add about 0.5-1 degree of toe-in.  My theory was that this was adding a lot of push into the car.  So I flipped the arms around, and mounted the rear shocks on the front of the arm.

Bing blang blaow, this added a SICK amount of corner speed.  The truck enters the corner with way less push and rails through the corner much better.  You need to add 2mm of spacing on the shock mount (I used a TLR ballstud spacer), and you'll want to mount the rear arms all the way forward (spacers all in the back) because the hubs are moved back when they're flipped.

What this modification does is a few things:

• reduce rear toe-in (main thing I was after)
• forward mounted shocks, which centralizes the mass better.

The only downside I see is that the body doesn't fit right over the shocks, so you'll have to trim the covers on the shock towers from the body.

Try it, I think you'll like it.