Possible Redcat and Thunder Tiger collaboration?

[KnowAir]

Really the biggest problem with the sledge is the pot metal gears, garbage ESC and the weak chassis at the motor mount. A different style motor mount makes it so when the chassis bends at the motor mount, it doesn't affect the mesh. Machined gears fix the gear issues. MM2/Max8 fixes the ESC problem. For the price, those aforementioned things should be standard, which is my gripe with the sledge and it should've been better at the price they were asking. Plastics are stupid durable and I'm yet to break a plastic component aside from a wing I ground down to nothing from wheelies, which makes me glad I stuck it out. Any traxxas 6s rig, I go ahead and add $150 to the total price because I know the vxl-6s wont last a week of consistent running before it blinks the red lights of death.

The arrma stuff I've never been super impressed with either. Some of the flimsiest and weakest cars in our little group were/are Arrma 6s rigs and the Granite Grom that floated around for a while was a joke. They never make it to the end of the day, much less 2 battery packs doing the same thing every other car takes in stride unless they have hundreds of dollars worth of m2c parts all over them, then they're durable... but, at that point is it really Arrma tough or m2c tough? People like them though and just like the sledge, my experiences aren't everyone else's. Arrma updates them regularly too. They're still solid cars in their own regards. Just not my cup of tea! lol I do like the 1/10 Arrma's and their 4s stuff. I just think the 6s line is way overhyped and not nearly as strong as people make it out to be unless you spend the money to make them durable. I feel they have a similar money trap to the sledge.

My Team Corally Asuga was awesome and that's exactly how an 1/8 rig should come out of the box IMO. Other manufacturers need to take notes! Some issues are expected, but I shouldn't have to replace a majority of the car to make it handle the abuse 1/8 buggies from other manufacturers have been able to take for the last 15 years.

Well, to each their own for sure, but the only thing good I find on the Sludge is the plastics, we agree on that. As to Arrma 6s being less than others, negative. TC is closest to, but still have weak plastics by comparison to Arrma and TRX. Arrma drivetrain easily beats TRX, TC pretty equal. The TRX VXL systems get things done, I never had any fail. IDK what you guys do on 4s that breaks an Arrma 6s though? As to Arrma 2, 3, and 4s line, no experience, no desire, LOL. TRX owns the 2/3s basher market I feel.

 

[jojobeans]

Well, to each their own for sure, but the only thing good I find on the Sludge is the plastics, we agree on that. As to Arrma 6s being less than others, negative. TC is closest to, but still have weak plastics by comparison to Arrma and TRX. Arrma drivetrain easily beats TRX, TC pretty equal. The TRX VXL systems get things done, I never had any fail. IDK what you guys do on 4s that breaks an Arrma 6s though? As to Arrma 2, 3, and 4s line, no experience, no desire, LOL. TRX owns the 2/3s basher market I feel.

VXL 3s, 4s and 8s work fine. It is just there 6s ESC's. I got a week out of my Revo's vlx-6s, 3 battery packs out of my sledge vxl-6s and several friends have had smilier experiences with the 6s ESC's. Never got hot either. If you pop onto reddit or the Facebook groups, it's pretty common for the vlx-6s to take a crap regardless of what car its in. I'm yet to see one in person that doesn't blink the red lights shortly after buying them. Traxxas will warranty them, but I usually have a spare ESC floating around and just toss that in as it's not something I want to deal with constantly. Sometimes you get one that lasts forever, but it's definitely not the norm.

The arrma's we just didn't have good luck with. I recognize most people like them, which is why I said they're just not my cup of tea. It shouldn't matter how they're being driven if they don't handle the "abuse" of a different car in the same class being driven the EXACT same way in the exact same environment. Regardless, we don't bash hard. Just normal jumps with the occasional wipe out, which they were unable to handle in our experience. But yes, arrma's and TC drivetrain is 100% best in the business. TC uses better materials for the outdrives IMO, but they're on par with everything else. Still a better deal than the sledge, but not much better IMO. They were both money traps. The TC was by far the best bang for the buck. I'm not a brand snob and will own anything... I'm just speaking from my own experiences.

Regardless, we've strayed way too far off topic

 

[KnowAir]

VXL 3s, 4s and 8s work fine. It is just there 6s ESC's. I got a week out of my Revo's vlx-6s, 3 battery packs out of my sledge vxl-6s and several friends have had smilier experiences with the 6s ESC's. Never got hot either. If you pop onto reddit or the Facebook groups, it's pretty common for the vlx-6s to take a crap regardless of what car its in. I'm yet to see one in person that doesn't blink the red lights shortly after buying them. Traxxas will warranty them, but I usually have a spare ESC floating around and just toss that in as it's not something I want to deal with constantly. Sometimes you get one that lasts forever, but it's definitely not the norm.

The arrma's we just didn't have good luck with. I recognize most people like them, which is why I said they're just not my cup of tea. It shouldn't matter how they're being driven if they don't handle the "abuse" of a different car in the same class being driven the EXACT same way in the exact same environment. Regardless, we don't bash hard. Just normal jumps with the occasional wipe out, which they were unable to handle in our experience. But yes, arrma's and TC drivetrain is 100% best in the business. TC uses better materials for the outdrives IMO, but they're on par with everything else. Still a better deal than the sledge, but not much better IMO. They were both money traps. The TC was by far the best bang for the buck. I'm not a brand snob and will own anything... I'm just speaking from my own experiences.

Same bro, no allegiance to any brands here. The VXL6s is the weakest link indeed.. we’ve had a few that lasted a while, but I pulled mine from the Erevo almost straight away in favor of a Max 6 I had laying around. After the rtr HW finally pooped it’s last nugget from the Kaiju, I only had theVXL6s in reserve, LOL. But even the driveshafts are beautiful nk in the Sludge,shock caps, hinge pins, servo.. just a weak offering IMO. I been banging my K6 and Mojave for years without any disappointment. My bro grabbed a K6 rtr after the Sludge, way better.

 

[KnowAir]

We run a backyard track 90% of the time, occasionally hitting some ramps. The Arrma6s have treated us well. Maxx, Xmaxx, XRT and Arrma 8s have all been awesome too! Erevo 2.0, meh, my bro loves his, I’m not sold on mine. It’s okay, but doesn’t do anything well IMO. Well, it breaks pretty easily, LOL.

 

[KnowAir]

My TC Kronos XTR is a 21 model, before TC started using the spring steel (bronze colored) outdrives, the black XP outdrives were straight cheese on it. Worst I’ve seen since the Redcat Avalanche, circa 2010. Hardly make it through a 4s battery pack, LOL. Redcat has come a long way since the Avalanche. My Arrma 6s experience didn’t start until the v5 models in 2020 or so. They’ve taken everything we throw at them, actually better than either TC or TRX. What can I say? Cheers to a Happy New Year brother!

 

[Lumikko]

Maybe some titanium CV shafts from an Associated RC8? Thin enough to not interfere with the stock outdrives, but stronger than the stock shafts?

Generally speaking, titanium offers corrosion resistance and lighter weight, but is not stronger than steel.

In the case of driveshafts, most failures likely begin with a bend. The Young’s modulus (stiffness) for basic A36 structural steel is 200 GPa while it’s only 113 GPa for Grade 5 titanium.

Grade 5 titanium has quite good tensile strength and is comparable to decent steels, but is no match for graded 12.9 hardware for example.

If the original parts are poor quality steel, then a good titanium part is also stronger. Also if the lighter weight is exploited to increase dimensions, the strength can be significantly higher.

 

[RustyUs]

.... It also wouldn't make sense for Associated to even outsource the production of a vehicle when their parent company is one the largest manufacturers for RC's, helicopters, drones, etc. They clearly have the tooling and facilities to manufacture their own stuff and from a business standpoint, it wouldn't be cost effective to have another company build it IMO.

It's all speculation at this point on who actually owns the design now.

The parts supplier for a few RC companies like Associated (Thunder Tiger), and probably HPI (guessing on this one), went bankrupt awhile back. It's why some of Associated's newer RC8/4 series platforms had come... poof ... and gone within a year or so.