Saturday, April 25, 2009

Featured Ride: Knytemare's Crawler!

For our second installment of "Member's Rides - Featured Car", we'll be taking a look at Club Member Chris Wong's (aka Knytemare) Axial based 2.2 class rock crawler.


(The Joker)



When asked to give us a summary of his experience with his crawler, Chris had this to say:

"The rock crawling bug hit me several years ago when it was still in its infancy and at the time everyone was forced to scratch build their rigs. I sold it after a while but I still had the crawling bug and by this time there were quite a few companies making crawler kits, parts and other accessories. This got me fired up in a new way as my rig could be more competitive and much more refined. I started with Axial's axles and transmission. I knew I would using many aftermarket parts so that is why I didn't start with their kit.


(Close up of the wheel showing the engraving of the user name)



Many people ask me, "Why did you choose the colors that you did on the crawler?" Well, the answer is that I am a HUGE Batman fan and at the time of building, The Dark Knight was ramping up for its debut and I was quickly becoming a fan of Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, so I chose the iconic green and purple as the main colors for my rig.

I had a blast building this rig that I affectionately call "The Joker" not just in the character it is based on, but also that at one point I jokingly said I would never finish it. I learned a lot about the new technology in the crawling world and can't wait to start competing with it!"


(The tightly packed electronics package)



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This particular vehicle is comprised of quite a few different companies, much in the way my first crawler "Anomaly" was. Here is a break down of what it takes to complete this rig:

Chassis and Axles-
Axial axles and transmission
Team Associated shocks
Traxxas rod ends
Visionary Fabrications (Now DNA Racing) chassis and links
Xtreme RC Hobbies steering links

Misc Pars-
Proline tires
Mayhem Engineering wheels

Electronics-
Spektrum radio
Integy 55T motor
Novak Rooster Crawler Edition ESC
Hitec 5955TG servo


(A different body is used when actually being driven)



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Much like my first crawler, this one was a learning experience. A new attention to detail was observed. I had a lot of fun building this rig and I hope you enjoyed taking a closer look at it!

To view images of a complete build up of this rig, please visit: The M2 Hobbies build up page!

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