- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 86
- Arrma RC's
- Kraton 6s
As the title states, I'm a newbie to Arrma, but not to the RC hobby. Though I kinda took a LONG (30+ year) hiatus from the hobby, I actually started building RC vehicles in the early to mid '80's. My first hobby-grade kit was an original Tamiya Frog that I built in '83 or '84 when I was either 10 or 11 (don't remember exactly anymore, too long ago!). Loved flogging that thing, and soon found myself modding it with as many CRP and Parma upgrades as I could get my grubby little hands on. Then, in 1986 I built a Tamiya SuperShot, which I had a ton of fun with as well. Went on to build a Kyosho motorcycle (NSR500), a Graupner Hydroboost Speed boat, and even an RC helicopter (I think it was called a Cricket if I remember correctly?!) before eventually falling out of the hobby sometime in the early 90's when I started driving and got more into real cars (I guess people in the hobby these days call them 1:1 cars?). Just couldn't afford to do both! Heh. Aside from a short stint in the early 2000's where I got back in for a couple of years to build and run an RC Drift car and a nitro rally car with some buddies, I pretty much disappeared from the hobby until recently.
The catalyst for my return was kinda twofold. First, my 10 year old son is very much a tinkerer like I was as a kid. Likes taking apart his toys to know how they work, etc...same exact sh*t I used to do as a kid. Figured RC would be a good hobby for him, so I dusted off my old drift car from the early 2000's and gave it for him to play with. Of course, he loved it and wanted to build one of his own. He wanted to build a buggy, so, being an old-school Tamiya fan, I bought him a Tamiya TD4 Super Avante kit to build with me overseeing/teaching as he goes along (that build is currently ongoing).
The second catalyst to my return to the hobby is that, while sorting through old stuff at my parents house, I happened to come across these:
That's the remnants of my original Tamiya Frog and Tamiya SuperShot. The 2 cars that started it all for me. Finding them brought back a flood of emotion and I remembered all of the fun I had with them both as a kid. Immediately knew I wanted to get them running again. Started restoring them both (both restorations still ongoing), and in the process got bitten by the RC bug again...HARD.
So that leads me to this Kraton build. I've kinda wanted to do a monster truck build ever since about 2003 or so when I was dabbling back into the hobby to build the drift and rally car. At the time, I woulda loved to have a Traxxas Revo (the rally build was a Traxxas Nitro 4-TEC Pro with longer suspension and a bigger engine) but I fell out of the hobby again before that became a reality. Now that I was back in, a M/T build is definitely something I wanted to do. However, I had heard about the shady business practices and lawsuits of Traxxas in recent years, and wanted to stay away from their products. More interwebz digging led me to Arrma, and specifically to the Kraton 6S.
Being an old-school Tamiya fan, I thought it would be kinda cool to do a monster truck build but with a vintage Tamiya theme, and though I never owned one, I always loved the look of the old school Tamiya Sand Scorcher. Seen here:
I also saw that ProLine makes a 1/10 Baja Bug body that others have fit onto Arrma chassis....perfect. So the idea was born to build a Tamiya Sand Scorcher themed Arrma Kraton 6S. Why a Kraton 6S you might ask? After looking at the dimensions of the Proline body and comparing them to the dimensions of the different trucks from Arrma, it actually looks like the length of either the Outcast or Notorious would be better suited to the length of the Proline body. However, I want the longer wheelbase of the Kraton as opposed to the wheelie-prone Outcast or Notorious. Especially since I do plan to put a good sized motor/ESC combo in it. Also, I didn't want to buy an RTR Kraton, either. Not really a big fan of RTR kits since I feel like the build process is definitely part of the fun. The Kraton EXB roller was an option I was considering as a starting point, but then I happened to come across a listing on eBay for a used Kraton 6S V5 slider/roller that needed a bit of work (has a stripped rear differential input gear). The asking price was pretty low already, but you could also make an offer, so just for the heck of it I made a pretty low offer and to my surprise the offer was accepted! A quick Paypal payment, and a 4 day wait for shipping later, and the roller had arrived so I could see what I had gotten myself into.
So here she is, just after I unpacked it from the shipping box:
Not bad and overall pretty pleased with the purchase. Obviously, the rear wing has taken a beating and needs to be replaced, but I think it will be a great starting point for the build. Time to start going though everything, figuring out what I need to replace, and add to get the thing up and running. I have plans already, but will divulge them as things develop more...
The catalyst for my return was kinda twofold. First, my 10 year old son is very much a tinkerer like I was as a kid. Likes taking apart his toys to know how they work, etc...same exact sh*t I used to do as a kid. Figured RC would be a good hobby for him, so I dusted off my old drift car from the early 2000's and gave it for him to play with. Of course, he loved it and wanted to build one of his own. He wanted to build a buggy, so, being an old-school Tamiya fan, I bought him a Tamiya TD4 Super Avante kit to build with me overseeing/teaching as he goes along (that build is currently ongoing).
The second catalyst to my return to the hobby is that, while sorting through old stuff at my parents house, I happened to come across these:
That's the remnants of my original Tamiya Frog and Tamiya SuperShot. The 2 cars that started it all for me. Finding them brought back a flood of emotion and I remembered all of the fun I had with them both as a kid. Immediately knew I wanted to get them running again. Started restoring them both (both restorations still ongoing), and in the process got bitten by the RC bug again...HARD.
So that leads me to this Kraton build. I've kinda wanted to do a monster truck build ever since about 2003 or so when I was dabbling back into the hobby to build the drift and rally car. At the time, I woulda loved to have a Traxxas Revo (the rally build was a Traxxas Nitro 4-TEC Pro with longer suspension and a bigger engine) but I fell out of the hobby again before that became a reality. Now that I was back in, a M/T build is definitely something I wanted to do. However, I had heard about the shady business practices and lawsuits of Traxxas in recent years, and wanted to stay away from their products. More interwebz digging led me to Arrma, and specifically to the Kraton 6S.
Being an old-school Tamiya fan, I thought it would be kinda cool to do a monster truck build but with a vintage Tamiya theme, and though I never owned one, I always loved the look of the old school Tamiya Sand Scorcher. Seen here:
I also saw that ProLine makes a 1/10 Baja Bug body that others have fit onto Arrma chassis....perfect. So the idea was born to build a Tamiya Sand Scorcher themed Arrma Kraton 6S. Why a Kraton 6S you might ask? After looking at the dimensions of the Proline body and comparing them to the dimensions of the different trucks from Arrma, it actually looks like the length of either the Outcast or Notorious would be better suited to the length of the Proline body. However, I want the longer wheelbase of the Kraton as opposed to the wheelie-prone Outcast or Notorious. Especially since I do plan to put a good sized motor/ESC combo in it. Also, I didn't want to buy an RTR Kraton, either. Not really a big fan of RTR kits since I feel like the build process is definitely part of the fun. The Kraton EXB roller was an option I was considering as a starting point, but then I happened to come across a listing on eBay for a used Kraton 6S V5 slider/roller that needed a bit of work (has a stripped rear differential input gear). The asking price was pretty low already, but you could also make an offer, so just for the heck of it I made a pretty low offer and to my surprise the offer was accepted! A quick Paypal payment, and a 4 day wait for shipping later, and the roller had arrived so I could see what I had gotten myself into.
So here she is, just after I unpacked it from the shipping box:
Not bad and overall pretty pleased with the purchase. Obviously, the rear wing has taken a beating and needs to be replaced, but I think it will be a great starting point for the build. Time to start going though everything, figuring out what I need to replace, and add to get the thing up and running. I have plans already, but will divulge them as things develop more...
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