Slick's FS Racing Marauder.

[slick2500]

Picked this guy up off the classified section on here from @chazekxt46 .

What it looked like when I got it.
No name "320a" brushed esc.
Traxxas Titan 550 12T brushed motor.
Arrma ADS-5 servo.

It comes with a pretty decent remote, it appears to be a rebranded Flysky FSGT2B.

And well since I cannot keep anything stock and brushed motors are no fun.
Hobbywing Max10 SCT RTR 80a esc.
Castle Creations 1410 3800kv motor.
DS Servo DS3225MG servo.
I also replaced as many of the stock Phillips head screws I could with hex. I didn't feel like making a trip to the hardware store, as I am all out of black oxide countersunk and button head M3x12 screws, so I just used the stainless steel hardware I had on hand.

Everyone complains about the stock tires being just meh so I tossed on the eBay "Badlands" SCT tires. I might try some Badlands MX 1/8 buggy tires or some Duratrax Lockup 2.8 ST tires.

I am going to try and pick up the Helion Dominus hinge pins, hinge pin braces, center diff and the steel spur.

 

[Turbobrick]

Looks sweet nice build!

 

[chazekxt46]

look's good

 

[slick2500]

Found the hinge pins and hinge pin braces on eBay for $15 so I jumped on those also picked up a Tbone Racing rear skid for $6.

 

[Outcastblxnut]

Sweeeeet ????

 

[slick2500]

Son of a b. Just got in the hinge pins and hing pin braces and I only bought the outer braces 2 sets of them at that.......

How in the friggin hell does it cost $36 to ship the hing pin braces from Canada to South Dakota? Only $10 to ship from Australia.

Found a set from an online hobbyshop in Europe that ships to the states, €17.90 shipped.

Installed the rear Tbone skid. I need to find or make a front skid.

 

[slick2500]

So these appear to be a weakness. I've now broken 5 of these.

 

[IrieWheeler]

How in the friggin hell does it cost $36 to ship the hing pin braces from Canada to South Dakota? Only $10 to ship from Australia.

Come on up and live here for a while, anywhere. You'll soon realize... Oh, so that's how.

 

[slick2500]

Come on up and live here for a while, anywhere. You'll soon realize... Oh, so that's how.

I've been to Canada it seemed a lot like North Dakota.

 

[arrmadillo]

Have never bought anything from Canada or elsewhere out of US, just imagine how much it would be to ship something sizable outside US. Even on Ebay you see stuff and it says from China, nope, want my stuff yesterday.

 

[slick2500]

Have never bought anything from Canada or elsewhere out of US, just imagine how much it would be to ship something sizable outside US. Even on Ebay you see stuff and it says from China, nope, want my stuff yesterday.

We are talking about a packet of hinge pin braces though. I think this is another car that is going in the parts bin though, I'll keep it there with what is left of my Arrma Typhon 3s.

 

[slick2500]

So these are my thoughts and opinions on this car after 4 months of use, kind of in an @Aussie RC Playground style of review.

Electronics - 3/5 : Stock electronics are what you would expect from a cheap Chinese brand including the cheap brushed motor, bottom of the barrel brushed hobbywing esc, cheap 4kg servo but the radio is actually not too bad, I am pretty sure it is a rebranded Flysky FS-GT2/B/E of some sort, it uses 4 AA batteries.

Drivetrain - 3/5 : The diffs are not sealed, they just come with a dab of grease in them and are in serious need of shimming, the diff gears are made from some sort of monkey metal but they seemed to hold up fine even on 3s. The stub axles were a major weak point for me, even just running it around the track and traction rolling would break them rather easily, pretty sure I ended up breaking 6 of them. None of the dog bones gave me any issues with popping out or bending.

Handling - 3/5 : Despite not having sealed diffs this buggy actually handled decent around the track, I did have to remove a few points because the stock shocks are not that good and were replaced with T/E-Maxx shocks, the lack of diff tuning also played a roll in this. Servo saver is really weak and in need of a stiffer spring. Stock tires are rather meh but they do okay.

Durability - 2/5 : Idk where to even start with this as so much of this car is not very durable, it is a combination of the design and the quality of the parts used. As previously mentioned I broke 6 stub axles just from traction rolling the car. I also bent the top plate, bent the center drive shaft and bent the chassis from doing jumps with it and the worst part is I never even crashed it. The roll cage broke in a few spots. The spare tire carrier basically fell apart. The spare tire actually doesn't even stay on anymore as the hole for the screw is stripped out.

Maintenance - 4/5 : The layout and setup of this car actually makes it very easy to work on, you can easily do a complete teardown and rebuild of this in a couple of hours, I took off a point because of the use of cheap Phillips hardware and I snapped a screw in the motor mount while trying to remove it.

Parts Support - 2/5 : Parts are only available on The Hobby Works, Aliexpress, Banggood and eBay. I was unable to find the roll cage, body panels, the motor mount, chassis, center drive shaft or top plate when searching for parts, part searches brought up a lot of parts that weren't even for this vehicle. This car does share parts with the Helion Dominus 10SC but a lot of the parts for some reason are in Australia and cost $24 to ship...............

Value : 3/5 - Currently it is about $160 US it is cheaper than say the brushed Arrma 4x4s and the brushed Traxxas 2wd models that come with the battery. I really feel that this belongs closer to the $100-$120 range.

Vas does a good unboxing of this truck here.

And some running videos.

For a track car or something to play around in the dirt or sand it is decent but if you want something you can jump I would seriously look elsewhere.

​

 

[Sandracer_NL]

I think you‘re better of with one of these desert buggies; they are all the same just different brands:
FS Racing Atom / Reely Raptor / FTX DR8. FYI: I have the FTX DR8.
All capable of 6s (it’s even got spiral gears ?) but 4s will do nicely. I just did a complete service and going to try a 16t pinion (stock 12t).

 

[slick2500]

I think you‘re better of with one of these desert buggies; they are all the same just different brands:
FS Racing Atom / Reely Raptor / FTX DR8. FYI: I have the FTX DR8.
All capable of 6s (it’s even got spiral gears ?) but 4s will do nicely. I just did a complete service and going to try a 16t pinion (stock 12t).

Yeah I have looked at those, but they are not cheap to get here in the US unfortunately . Best price I have found is $524.17 plus $90.58 for shipping.

 

[secretninja]

damn ... that is slick..

 

[Sandracer_NL]

That’s expensive ?. Apparently no FS/Reely/FTX distributors in the US..?
I had a look and could only find the Atom on banggood (free shipping if you are willing to 25-40 fays, otherwise euro 75?)

https://www.banggood.com/nl/FS-Raci...MIyOjT-tzy7QIVC-d3Ch3hsASBEAQYASABEgKw4vD_BwE

Other option is directly from the FTX website, not sure how the exchange rate GBP/USD and shipping from UK is.
Or one of us Europe guys has to send you one.

 

[slick2500]

That’s expensive ?. Apparently no FS/Reely/FTX distributors in the US..?
I had a look and could only find the Atom on banggood (free shipping if you are willing to 25-40 fays, otherwise euro 75?)

https://www.banggood.com/nl/FS-Raci...MIyOjT-tzy7QIVC-d3Ch3hsASBEAQYASABEgKw4vD_BwE

Other option is directly from the FTX website, not sure how the exchange rate GBP/USD and shipping from UK is.
Or one of us Europe guys has to send you one.

Not that I have seen no. I know Reely won't even ship to the US I tried to order the cage for the Raptor and all I got from them was a confirmation email that I placed the order then a few days later they sent me an email saying that my purchase was refunded no reason just the refund.

And yup so far Banggood is the only place I have found any of them. Still need to do some more digging into the FTX though.

 

[slick2500]

Long story short I gave up on this car, parts are to hard to find and the car is just too fragile. If anyone wants the bag of parts that was this car let me know.