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ChrisRx718

Kyosho Outlaw Rampage Pro Kit Build

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I asked politely but it's up to the moderators to approve a non-Tamiya build, but I thought there was enough interest in this to do a write-up of my progress and a mini review.

My first objective was to tackle the bodyshell. Any readers of my previous threads will notice a common trend - I procrastinate for so long over the colour / livery for a bodyshell that by the time I've done that the write-up for the chassis build has reached page 3/4 of "The Builds" section :lol:

I wanted to buck that trend so that meant making a decision on colour. 

There were a couple of options on TamiyaClub recently which really caught my eye; the first being the 'Candy Red' effect showcased by @Nwc100 and the other being the 'Candy Blue' colour sported by @Dan_Ox's DT-03 Racing Fighter.

Both paints are backed with PS48 Anodised Silver Aluminium to give them depth. I bought both the PS37 Clear Red and PS38 Clear Blue and decided on a whim this Tuesday to go with the blue option.

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Anodised Silver going on...

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"Depth" of the colour is very hard to capture on a camera phone... Especially with the overspray film still on.

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Because I like to make life difficult I masked and sprayed the mudguards in PS5 black (works well since you already need to back the PS48 with black anyways). I then painted the outside of the mudguards in PS55 Flat Clear for a satin/matt effect.

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With the kit you get two options for the front grille. One is an older-style round headlamp setup and the other is what I opted for, a square-lamped version with Kyosho badging in the centre of the grille:

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To give it some depth I carefully painted flooded the grille with a fat paintbrush and matt-black acrylic paint, then wiped the raised elements with a cotton-bud (7 cotton buds, in the end, my wife points out). This leaves the gleaming chrome on the raised parts and gives the grill a bit more definition. I think it looks cool-as B)

There are additional elements to the body which are also part of the chassis structure, but I'll get to those in due-course. 

With the main procrastination hurdle crossed, I was free to get on with the 'build':

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So yeah, this isn't actually much of a "kit". In Kyosho's own words; this is 70% factory-assembled, indeed the only parts you do yourself are the body decoration, fitting servo / motor / receiver and battery tray, filling the oil shocks and installing them. That's all there is to it!

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The cool part is that the printed manual with the truck shows the full build steps if you were building from 'scratch' too, see the "70%" symbol for the build steps. 

First stage is to install the steering servo:

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This was really straightforward, I should have taken more pictures before I fitted the 'cowl'/'bulkhead support' piece. Servo is a really snug fit! I went with a 7kg high-speed metal geared jobby from RipMax. Hopefully it's strong enough!!

Now I need to skip ahead a bit; since the next stage is to install the electronics....and mine are still somewhere between here and China. I've gone with a HobbyWing setup, but I should have bought it from a UK seller...

So dampers next!

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The Pro version of the Outlaw Rampage has alloy dampers as standard. They're pre-built and come supplied with a little bottle of #350 damper oil. A bit like Tamiya Aeration Dampers, these have a teeny-tiny screw in the damper cap with a teeny-tiny gasket. Yes, I dropped that gasket many, many times with my big fat fingers not being very helpful.

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Simply push up the damper rod until the excess fluid 'does a wee wee' out of the little hole in the top cap. Then tighten the screw back up, after you've repeatedly dropped the gasket several times :lol:

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These are incredibly soft and squishy when built, but they're up there with some of the best feeling shocks I've ever put together (well, the last 30% anyway!)

They mount very easily on a 3x25mm and 3x15mm screw. All the hardware on this kit is black steel hex-head button screws, which is very nice :D

That'll do for now - hopefully not long before the next update!

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Truck is looking great! The blue body looks really good as well. Mine was nice and shiny out of the box for a total of three minutes before the first roll over and scratches lol. Hopefully you're a better driver than I am. 

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Amazing looking color for the truck.  I'm very tempted by one of these and I think the Pro version is the only way to go.

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Love mine, it was a fun build and a great runner. It's like a Hornet on steroids. That color looks fantastic!

FYI There's a issue with the kit spur gears. Mine was screechy loud no matter how I set the mesh and grenaded 30 seconds into the first run. Several others on another forum have commented on similar experiences, and Kyosho acknowledged "some issues" when I reached out to them.  Highly recommend picking up an AE or Losi (or something similar) spur to have on hand. I replaced mine with an AE gear (86t, PN9653)  and the truck is now utterly silent, and have had no gear issues since. 

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What motor and batteries are you using? You are really hurting me with this. Having run the Losi Baja Rey Raptor today I know I made a good choice but man yours is such a good looking truck I may have to twist Father Christmas’s arm.  It has a really old school look about it😊

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I failed to take photo's of the next stage - essentially all it comprised was installing the motor, ESC and receiver. It all fits nicely into a little section in the centre of the chassis. 

I test-drove the car in this state and the gearbox was really, really noisy. Then it was like the slipper clutch was really slipping, so I was concerned for my gear mesh and didn't want any of the other gears to get mashed up in the process, so I stopped and ordered the recommended Losi 48p 84T spur gear.

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Fortunately getting to the spur gear is incredibly easy. 3 screws and the whole axle is separated from the chassis. And yes, that little plastic cover is removable without any screws (it twist-locks on) so you can adjust the slipper clutch tension 'in the field'!

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The old spur didn't look worn at all but it was a case of 'better safe than sorry' - especially with the power system I've installed.

All reassembled:

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I went for a HobbyWing 10BL120 ESC with an 8.5T sensored brushless motor. I probably should have gone sensorless / waterproof, but this combo was on discount at £55 so I couldn't pass it up.

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Looking cool B)

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I did some wholly unnecessary colouring-in to the rear cage with a Molotow Liquid Chrome pen. It took ages :lol:

Time for a shake-down...

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This damp / mossy car park area was great fun, the truck throwing up rooster-tails of leaves and debris at anything over 50% throttle!

Some might say that 8.5T is a little bit too much...

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!

There's no trickery here either; that was just a childish full-throttle squeeze from nought to "see what would happen". It did a mini burnout :lol: I wasn't holding it back with my foot or anything like that. I did reverse back to the lines for the picture though ;)

Too much power you say? No such thing...

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So what does TamiyaClub think; plaster it in Baja / trophy-truck sponsor decals or leave it bare?

I've got some battle scars which could do with hiding now anyway!

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That is such a cool truck. And it's looking great in that blue, but the two wheels in the back screaming Baja race truck and so I would plaster it with sponsor stickers. To hide some scratches is a nice extra benefit.

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Just came across this thread, nice job on the truck.  Color looks fantastic.  Never really thought much about this truck (have seen it in passing), but after looking into it couldnt pass it up at the price, just placed an order along with the recommended Losi spur gear.  Probably won't get to building it for a while but I think it'll be a lot of fun.

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So the Kyosho has been really reliable, taking skateboard jumps like a pro and generally getting a lot of abuse thrown at it. 

Multiple landings on its' nose was having an effect however; the front skid guard was getting progressively bent and pushing the bodyshell backwards, so eventually the tyres were rubbing on the wheel arches. Here it is looking a bit sorry for itself:

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I ordered a replacement Front Skid Guard and some new OEM tyres - they were cheap from Plaza Japan. The aftermarket 'crawler' tyres were great but had too much grip, making the chassis less fun to thrash as corners had to be taken really slow to avoid grip-roll. With the stock tyres you could powerslide a bit before it toppled!

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Bodyshell rubbing issue is clear from this angle.

Here's the old skid guard vs. the new one - pretty bent!

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I actually ended up salvaging the old one, by bending it back into shape until the profile matched the new one. I'll keep the new one as one day I would like to replace the bodyshell - but I baulked at the £50+ pricetag.

I fitted the Kyosho 4x LED light kit, which uses a spare port on the receiver. Unfortunately I have a loose connection somewhere as the lights flicker, so I'll have to take it all apart again at some point. Annoying as the radio box isn't very easy to get to in these.

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4 minutes ago, ChrisRx718 said:

So the Kyosho has been really reliable, taking skateboard jumps like a pro and generally getting a lot of abuse thrown at it. 

 

I'm glad to hear that it's held up, I'm looking into replacing my "Texas Trash" with one of these. Full body truck shells are always expensive unfortunately.

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Looks fantastic.

I’ve been eyeing this thing kit offering for years, there’s not many “pre runner” type trucks on the market that look scale other than this really. The Losi Baja rey is of interest but I’m afraid its width would cancel out any scale body added to it. Haven’t pulled any triggers yet but this thing is definitely a winner for scale looks.

Great build! 

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Have you ever used the spare wheels to tune its handling. Just wondered if one on the central spigot makes much difference to the handling. Mines nearly ready to go just waiting for a lazy ebayer to post out my receiver so I can get it finished. 

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8 hours ago, technics said:

Looks fantastic.

I’ve been eyeing this thing kit offering for years, there’s not many “pre runner” type trucks on the market that look scale other than this really. The Losi Baja rey is of interest but I’m afraid its width would cancel out any scale body added to it. Haven’t pulled any triggers yet but this thing is definitely a winner for scale looks.

Great build! 

Do it. It just looks right and from what I’ve seen/read it does what it should especially with a lively brushless set up!!!

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12 hours ago, Busdriver said:

Have you ever used the spare wheels to tune its handling. Just wondered if one on the central spigot makes much difference to the handling. Mines nearly ready to go just waiting for a lazy ebayer to post out my receiver so I can get it finished. 

I have - I moved them forwards to see what it would do and noticed that they restricted rear-axle suspension travel at the "shortest" position. Further back actually helps jumps - makes the chassis land more rear-biased than nose-down (which from my experience, bends things :lol:). 

It's currently about half way / in the middle. If you don't jump the truck I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference - I ran it yesterday and its' still very tail-happy. I certainly wouldn't recommend locking the rear diff on this thing, it's lively enough as it is.  

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Thinking about this truck. Its funny because Ive read very positive reviews and some very negative also. It seems its kind of a love or hate it with this one.

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I love mine , though really don’t run it enough!!! I think it benefits from a gyro or some form of AVC especially with a lively brushless set up. I don’t think you will be disappointed 🤞🏻

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