Well, they showed up today. Initial impressions are that they are fairly well made for being just a notch above toy grade.
They are not really 1/16 scale; dimensionally, they are almost identical to the 1/14 mini-8ight.
Specs that you cannot find:
Length: 11.5"
Width: 8.0"
Height: 4.25"
Wheelbase: 7.25"
Weight (w/battery): 2.07 lbs.
Tire diameter: 2.9"
First pic is from Revell, the other 3 I just took:
First, we'll highlight the positives.
-Chassis layout. These things are like miniature 1/8 buggies, right down to the easily serviced differentials with sway bar mounting provisions. The chassis are plastic, but seem robust. All fasteners are button head or flat head socket screws, 1.5mm or 2mm drive, except for the Phillips heads that hold the ring gear to the diff case.
-Drive train. The biggest difference between these and their larger brethren is that they have a typical small scale primary drive train, meaning no center differential or slipper clutch. Just pinion mated to spur, which is rigidly attached to the center drive shaft. Plastic spur, steel dogbone type center drive shaft and steel dogbone axles. True gear differentials with 4+2 steel bevel gears, steel pinion gears, plastic ring gear. The diffs have gaskets and look like they could hold fluid, but I don't think there are O-rings to seal the outdrives. I did not tear it down far enough to investigate that, as the diffs felt pretty good with the heavy grease that was already in them. The Ring and pinion were dry as delivered; probably OK with steel on plastic, but I decided to apply ceramic grease anyway. Diff outdrives are steel, but the outdrive cups are polymer, affixed with pins. Axle stubs are steel with plastic hexes.
-Suspension. Seems to move well, compliant. The arms look sturdy. Camber links are non-adjustable, but that would be easily remedied with something like mini-8eight turnbuckles and Associated 4-40 rod ends and ball studs. The steering turnbuckles are adjustable, with conventional left-and-right hand threads on either end. Shocks are polymer, threaded coil-over oil filled design with captive balls on the bottom. Arms use captured steel hinge pins inboard and outboard.
-Electronics. Simple, but functional. These use an integrated ESC/receiver like the Losi micro vehicles. They are brushed, using a 380 size motor (RS380SM). 2.4 GHz equipped, though the transmitter is very basic, with only steering trim adjustment. Both throttle and steering seem quite smooth for what I would imagine are pretty cheap components, uses conventional forward/brake with double-tap for reverse. Reverse power is about 25%, and is not adjustable that I've found. These come with an 1,100 mAh NiMH pack and wall charger, using miniature Tamiya-style connectors. Battery hold down is a pretty solid plastic strap that uses thumb screws on either end, and serves to route the wires.
Tires & wheels. Seem pretty decent for an inexpensive RTR. Tires are pin-block type, I'd say between a medium and soft compound. The 2.0", 12mm hex wheels seem fairly sturdy.
Now the detractors.....
-Typical RTR. The people assembling do not put the kind of care into it that an owner would. I found several screws not fully tightened
-Suspension links. As mentioned, non adjustable, and do not have ball ends or collars; they move freely by simply not tightening the screws all the way down on them. Steering knuckles are the same way. Tie rods and servo link do use ball studs, though.
-Shocks. Though they are threaded oil filled coil overs, they seem pretty cheap, and they ship dry. There are no bladders or seals for the caps, and the lower o-rings (2 per shock) are not sufficiently squished to seal against the shaft. I simply cut tiny nylon spacers to squash the shaft seal o-rings, and used regular O-rings under the caps, then filled them with 25 wt. They seem to work decent, although I fully expect the fairly loose collars to back themselves off during use, so will probably stick another thin o-ring above them.
-Bushings. That's right; except for one bearing at the spur gear, these things use all plastic and bronze bushings in the diffs and at the wheels. Not too big a deal, with miniature bearings being pretty inexpensive these days. Still, I hate seeing bushings-especially nylon ones. Already did the diffs (one 5x10x4 and two 10x15x4 per diff), but I didn't have the 4x8x3 and 8x12x3.5 for the wheels.
-Motor. It's a cheap brushed can, I think a Mabuchi unit. Moves them OK, but definitely something I will upgrade when either the kiddos are ready for more power, or when they burn up. I may go brushless, inexpensive as it is these days.
-Axles/outdrives. The dogbones have long pins, and the pins will contact the cups before the shocks bottom when the pins are vertical. I will be disassembling again and notching the cups deeper when the wheel bearings arrive.
-Materials. Although the parts seem pretty robust, I can't help but perceive the polymer as being lower quality than true hobby grade cars. Time will tell, but I think I will boil the suspension parts next time I tear them down.
All-in-all, for $60/ea shipped plus another $10 worth of bearings in each car, I think they're a good value. Large & powerful enough to negotiate outdoor terrain pretty well, small & slow enough that you don't have to worry about very young, inexperienced drivers hurting people or damaging property.
I also called Hobbico, the support side for Revell Control, since I couldn't find squat for parts on the web. They assured me that they will fully support these buggies, said just call if you have any issues. They're pretty new to market, but I don't really expect much aftermarket support, even after they've been out awhile.
Will keep everyone posted as to durability & performance (or lack thereof)!
