Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Not strictly Tamiya, but have people noticed Axial is back with the SMT10 after quietly pulling it for sales awhile back? It appears they've learned a thing or two and have listened to their customers somewhat (novel idea, cough, Tamiya). The original was $399 but quickly dropped to about $329ish after people realized how slow it was in stock form. It seemed like a decent base to build a solid axle monster but required too many upgrades to run real power at a price point that was too high. I was tempted but backed off when I added up the numbers.

Now its back with a with an even lower $299 price but with a quicker motor and a metal gear transmission. But the kicker is you can finally get it in kit form now too for only $199. I've been after a smaller 2.2 tire solid axle monster for some time, even looking sideways at the CC02 as a possible conversion candidate. I may stray from Tamiya here :ph34r:. In general, how are Axial products? How good is the quality and are the materials decent? I don't plan on running Clod tires.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Axial are fine - their plastics tend to be a little softer/more flexible/less snappy than Tamiya for axle housings etc, and there's fair aftermarket support for them too.
Once you factor in electrics, tyres and a bodyset for the kit, the $199 soon disappears into the distance, but at least you get to spec your own parts

You lose a little 'scale realism' on the SMT with the axle-mounted servo, but for a long-travel chassis it's the best way to do it.

The price is pretty good too - the UK, for some reason, has the SMT at 25% more than the SCX10 Builder's Kit whereas the US price for either is $199

The CC02 might make a viable donor for a Blazing Blazer style build; low body 4x4 with 1.5 - 1.9 wheels and scale suspension etc. but I'd go for the SMT for 2.2 as it's already designed for that.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I had one of the originals and sold it pretty quickly.  My biggest issue with the SMT10 are the AR60 axles, they're just not up to monster truck duty.  Of course you can upgrade them, but it gets pricey doing so.  I also personally dont like the look of the AR60 on a monster truck with the off center pumpkin.  Depending on how you plan to use it it could be a decent truck, especially for the new price and especially if you stick with 2.2 tires.  The AR60s just dont hold up to Clod sized tires.  If you plan on keeping the power at a stock level and keep 2.2 tires on it I'm sure it would be fine.  It is a nice looking truck and I'm thinking of getting the kit version anyway because it's fairly inexpensive and why not.  Overall I think Axial is OK as long as you know the limitations of the stock parts.  I've never had an issue with the many SCX10 trucks I have, but I also dont completely beat on them and use them as intended.  

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I may go off-topic here but I may as well share. My monster truck experience prior to receiving the SMT was a stock clod, a four linked locked up mod-clod and a TXT-2 all silver cans and 2-3S. After receiving the SMT my initial impression was poor. The plastics all felt rubbery and soft. This was the rtr max-d model so there were a few rtr bugs to work out right out of the box. The output gear to the axles was loose so no 4wd. Getting the trans out the first time was an effort since I didn't put it together. Since you are an experienced builder I wouldn't expect to have the same grief since you say you were interested in the kit version. Post that with everything working as it should, first week drive a few times and get frustrated with the lack of power. Swap out clod wheels and then the overgrown stance irritated me. Shorten the wheelbase and put in more power, lose the crawler esc they used to come with and yeah, it was quick enough at that point. Plastic gear trans melted next. Put in steel gears, and alloy trans case then it was were a bit noisier.Next problem after that was the axles started clicking. As LC said above, AR60s are  not up to MT duty. I still haven't opened up the axles, I imagine they were built correctly though, perhaps they needed shims to tighten the mesh from the start but that's the current state of the truck. 

It sounds like some of the weaknesses have been addressed from the marketing, I am personally sour on the truck and the amount of upgrades it needed . At $200 for the kit, I think it's not a terrible price for a slider but at least there is enough aftermarket support to keep it running and to correct weaknesses. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have a couple motor and ESC choices sitting on the bench along with some tires so that leaves me with a body to source. Sorry Grave Digger fans. I loved the truck back in the early days as it was a bit of an underdog that ran hard to win. Nowadays, when Grave Digger is a "brand" and you can probably buy Digger underwear or toilet paper, I'm a bit sick of it. Monsters ain't what they used to be.

I'm thinking 12T 550 power, 2.2 tires and maybe shortening the wheelbase if I like it. At this point, I'm a little leery of the axles though. Spending some money is fine, but plowing tons into it to make it serviceable was something I wanted to avoid so I skipped the original. I'll have to read up on AR60 failure points.

10 hours ago, TWINSET said:

The CC02 might make a viable donor for a Blazing Blazer style build; low body 4x4 with 1.5 - 1.9 wheels and scale suspension etc.

I've had something similar in mind myself.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The TriggerKings guys (look them up on youtube) use Clods and SMT10s extensively for some pretty intense racing. The shortcomings on the SMT10 are definitely fixable, and while I haven't built one myself, I would venture to guess the shortcomings are fixable for a rational / reasonable amount of money.

This article might be helpful if you haven't seen it:

 

https://www.bigsquidrc.com/monster-truck-madness-impressions-of-the-updated-axial-smt10/

 

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 1/24/2020 at 4:33 PM, Saito2 said:

I have a couple motor and ESC choices sitting on the bench along with some tires so that leaves me with a body to source. Sorry Grave Digger fans. I loved the truck back in the early days as it was a bit of an underdog that ran hard to win. Nowadays, when Grave Digger is a "brand" and you can probably buy Digger underwear or toilet paper, I'm a bit sick of it. Monsters ain't what they used to be.

I'm thinking 12T 550 power, 2.2 tires and maybe shortening the wheelbase if I like it. At this point, I'm a little leery of the axles though. Spending some money is fine, but plowing tons into it to make it serviceable was something I wanted to avoid so I skipped the original. I'll have to read up on AR60 failure points.

Jconcepts has a huge selection of bodies for the SMT10. The axles will hold up fine on 2.2 wheels but will need some beef tubes and aluminum for strength when going to brushless and clod sized tires. I have an Axial bomber which uses the same AR60 axles and run a 3300kv 550 motor on 3s and have had no axle problems. The only upgrade I will recommend if you do go for the SMT10 are some universals for the front axle.  

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In case you're interested in considering an alternative, I went with a clod-based MT (running those massive jConcepts tires) and it has been pretty incredible. If you want to stay in the Tamiya family (barely, because only the axles will be tamiya) you can think about that route.

Triggerking guys also have videos about how they run their clods, and the parts are available pretty easily.

Running two escs and two motors and so forth is definitely more hassle.... but you get performance to match that...

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Its incredible what those Clod racers can do. Some of those freestyle competitions are amazing. The only thing that keeps me from really considering building one is the realism factor goes right out the window with today's mod Clods.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

Its incredible what those Clod racers can do. Some of those freestyle competitions are amazing. The only thing that keeps me from really considering building one is the realism factor goes right out the window with today's mod Clods.  

Realism? Those mod clods look a lot like the (real-life) Monster Jam trucks. Do you mean that those monster trucks don’t look scale??

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When mod Clods went to the tiny central chassis with shocks mounted on the links close to the center of the chassis, they lost me realism-wise. There's no chassis over top of the axles, just suspension links. The set-up definitely works and the Triggerking guys always do their best making them look good with nicely painted bodies and such. Its just by nature, the TXT-2s, SMT10s and even stock Clods and Outlaw Retro class trucks seem more realistic to me.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I have just watched the first few minutes of a Trigger King video of the Feb monster truck race.  All I can say is - why isn't there more of this..??  Hoping to get my monsters out on a big carpet track this weekend but only for a bash, and I'm doing a 4+ hour drive to get there.  We really need more monster truck classes in the UK...

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'd love to see MT racing in the UK. Building a clod primarily for racing would be viable then. I can't justify spending upwards of £600 on a clod just to look pretty.🤯

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...