Axial Scorpion Rock Crawler

The Axial AX10 1:10 Scale Scorpion Electric RC Rock Crawler kit is both a challenging and a rewarding experience. Although I wouldn't call this a beginner RC kit, with a little help from an experienced builder a beginner could learn a lot and get a great deal of enjoyment from this kit. And once completed, you'll have an awesome rock crawlling beast that is great as-is or can be further modified with several aluminum upgrade parts.I had a wonderful time building the Axial AX10 Scorpion but I would recommend it be built over a period of time. It took me a whopping 14 hours spread between two days to complete. A pro builder could have probably built a lot faster but I wanted to make sure every little detail was covered right the first time. I still made mistakes, largely due to rushing the building process because I was excited about seeing the finished product. When the kit was finally fully assembled I had acquired a great deal of knowledge about how the Scorpion Rock Crawler operates and how to fix it if anything breaks.

Although Ready-to-Run is fun (and the Scorpion comes in a ready-to-run version), the process of building an RC from the ground up provides you with valuable knowledge about where to look when problems invariably occur somewhere down the line. I feel that maintenance, repairs, and upgrades can go smoother when you have an intimate knowledge of all the pieces, parts, and little screws that hold it all together. To get that same knowledge of a RTR RC you almost have to tear it down and build it back up again.

The Scorpion Rock Crawler kit comes as a complete rolling chassis (that you build). This means that all the electronics, motor, ESC, and battery have to be purchased separately in order to complete the kit.

The rolling chassis is composed of a chassis (frame, chassis plates), drivetrain, rims, tires, and all the linkage necessary to install the electronics. Additional parts include antenna tube, an unpainted, clear Lexan body, and decals. Although there are several tools listed in the instructions that you'll need to acquire in order to build the rock crawler, it does come with supplies such as differential grease, shock oil, paint masking, thread lock, and a few basic tools including a crosswrench.

In addition to the large parts like the tires, and body there are two main plastic bags in the box. One plastic bag contains all the plastic, fiberglass, and some aluminum parts. The other plastic bag has more little bags inside. They are labeled A through G and correspond to the steps you'll be following in the building process.

In addition to the provided crosswrench, you'll need to have several common tools. Needlenose pliers Side cutters Scissors Metric hex head wrenches Large Phillips head screwdreiver Hobby knife

I personally purchased a couple of plastic boxes with divided trays to keep small screws and such from getting lost or knocked around. To complete the body you'll also need various painting tools whether that's an airbrush kit or cans of spray paint, detail paints, and brushes.

As you follow the instructions you'll use parts from one of the lettered bags, in order. For example the letter A bag has all the necessary parts to complete the steps that get you to bag B. You can judge your progress by which bag -- A through G -- you've completed. The instructions will also tell you what screws go where according to part numbers listed beside the corresponding parts in the illustrations.

Despite the pictures and sequentially labeled bags, sometimes the instructions are vague. The supplied instruction manual is primarily pictures with very little written instruction. I experienced a few confusing moments as to what to do in a particular step. However, with careful observation and following the sometimes almost invisible little dotted lines in some illustrations you can ease your way slowly through the building procees. The information is all there, just not always obvious.

One caution: You have a very small space in which to fit your receiver and speed control so purchase ones that aren't too big or bulky.

Eventually you'll get to that bag G. You'll get it all assembled and sit back and go "WOW I did it! I finally finished it and look how awesome it looks!" Then, of course you'll realize that building it isn't the end of the process. You still have to paint the body and put on the decals. That was the case with me at least. So for now, my rock crawler isn't completely finished but it's finished enough to take it out for a spin and try out its rock crawling capabilities.