first ever rustler vxl

[arow884]

hi all, im kinda new to the 1/10th scale of things, but i know a whole lot about it, but for the first ever one i bought i got a traxxas rustler vxl! woohoo i love this thing....... i thought the vxl system would be great for me since it has such a wide range of ability to be changed.

now the pics you have all probably seen a million times....
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2477.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2478.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2479.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2480.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2481.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2482.jpg

im gonna get some lithium polymer batts when i get money and new custom painted body (i now a bit about painting ;) ) but i need your help to help me on upgrades, any suggestions plez post them, im also thinking about a crawler sometime, also (this sounds really noobish) but will the talon tires fit on the rustler? i think i would have to get a different pinion, and i know they would fit on the 2.8 rims.

[pedeboi364]

well, congrats on making a great choice there in the first place :D i happen to own a pede so i know the best upgrades are:

RPM a-arms all around
RPM bearing carriers all around (use bigger bearings instead of bushings)
RPM front bumper (helps keep the front intact after huge hits)
Integy aluminum bulkhead (so when you clip a a curb with the wheel, you dont have to take apart and rebuild the whole front end, i know from experience)
RCscrewz VXL rustler screw kit (cuz ur gonna lose a lot of screws with this thing, trust me!)

Those ^^^^ upgrades are more of a necessity than option, so here are my favorite "optional" upgrades

Integy piggy-back shocks all around
Swami-rc wheelie bar
Traxxas aluminum toe-links
Traxxas aluminum camber links

That's my list, I'm sure there are other upgrades that i've missed or don't know of, but this list should help you get through your first year or so of bashing!!

Good luck and it's nice to have you here on the boards with us

Peace

Edit: BTW the talon tires will fit, just gear down 3-4 teeth on the pinion gear. You can get the talons pre-mounted on the same rims you have now (2.8 all stars, in black chrome or regular chrome). The only other people that make 2.8 rims are Imex (Stay away from their rims!!! they break very easily) and some crawler company (Jason, please clarify) makes 2.8 bead-lock rims. Hope this helps, and sry for the long post :D

[arow884]

thanks, i was gonna buy the tires unmounted and glue them myself, but im still looking around, i dont know about talons yet

EDIT: another little question, i know the 2400 mah packs are way under powered for the rustler, but , since i have 2 of them, i was thinking of making a 9-cell pack, would that be alright for the esc, or should i just leave it for now, like i said, ill be buying lithium polys

[Been 2780]

nice truck u got there

[arow884]

hey guys, again, i was out runnin it today and thought i'd take a little movie just for reference, so here it is: i had trouble with the camera staying in one spot on my remote so i keep throttle kinda low on half the video
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/th_100_2529.jpg (http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/?action=view&current=100_2529.flv)
if you could rate this on a scale of 1-10 for how fast this one is to how fast it could be 1 being slow 10 being fast, it would be much appreciated.


another little question, i know the 2400 mah packs are way under powered for the rustler, but , since i have 2 of them, i was thinking of making a 8-cell pack, would that be alright for the esc, or should i just leave it for now, like i said, ill be buying lithium polys

[OldSchoolRC]

another little question, i know the 2400 mah packs are way under powered for the rustler, but , since i have 2 of them, i was thinking of making a 8-cell pack, would that be alright for the esc, or should i just leave it for now, like i said, ill be buying lithium polys

The Velineon is rated for 10.8 volts from nimh batteries..you could go up to 9 cells if you like :)

[arow884]

whats the difference between nitro rustler rpm a-arms and the electric rustler ones?

[OldSchoolRC]

they are slightly different- if i remember correctly, the nitro rustler's are slightly shorter to make up for the offset of the bearing wheels. The elec. rustler uses hex front wheels. why, i have no idea.

Traxxas has excellent documentation on their site, i use the exploded views (showin in the pic) all the time for parts reference/compatability.

[arow884]

well then why can't the nitro version fit on the electric one? it seems like it could at least go on there, and also, the holes that go to the shock mounts on the right arm is wrong....

[arow884]

well i got a few parts already, but not all, and while i waited i worked on an extra body, i didn't have $25 for a lexan body, let alone paint, so i went and bought a $1 rc car and retro fitted the body.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2549.jpg
great fit, with a little work, still need to make clip holes
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2550.jpg
howdy
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2551.jpg
a stupid little plastic motor went here, but i had to take it out, and it makes a great cooling hole
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2552.jpg
rear has most the rpm parts i will buy for it (no bearing carriers), including a gear cover modified by me
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2545.jpg
only rpm for the front i have right now, the rest is still being shipped (these were at my lhs
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2553.jpg
and the best part! my user name (but they decided to spell it correctly)

[OldSchoolRC]

that body actually fits on there pretty good!

[arow884]

well i finally got a body that i had been looking forward to getting:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2557.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2558.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2559.jpg
i need to clean my chassis, and im also thinking about painting it black to help hide it under the body. since this body is originally made for the stampede, i had to do a few adjustments

i already have a dark blue paint job with purple accents and a tiki scheme planned out for it, hopefully everything goes ok.

[bwoods040]

nice!!!!!!!!!!!

[arow884]

i finally got it completely painted, i think i would have liked a 2 color coat, but i didn't have enough money so i went on what i could, while painting the blue the paint can burst on me causing blue to go everywhere, and all over me, but not on the body (luckily) leaving a unfinished blue coat, which i decided to follow up with a silver to make a nice sparkle and light effect.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2567.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2562.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2566.jpg
look closely at a tear
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l301/arow884/100_2565.jpg
(light made it hard to see)

i have coined this body tiki torch

[aeguy18]

nice paitjob and retrofitted body

[rcjwp]

I always had fun with my rusty. Good luck with yours! Getting rpm a-arms was a very smart choice.;)

[LSXEric]

It acually makes the rusty look like a stampede! Wow very cool.

[notatoy]

thanks, i was gonna buy the tires unmounted and glue them myself, but im still looking around, i dont know about talons yet

EDIT: another little question, i know the 2400 mah packs are way under powered for the rustler, but , since i have 2 of them, i was thinking of making a 9-cell pack, would that be alright for the esc, or should i just leave it for now, like i said, ill be buying lithium polysgreat r/c i love it you might whant to install deans connectors on your esc and batts they will give you little longer run time and a much better connection .