WPL D12 review (updated)

Welcome to RCTalk

Come join other RC enthusiasts! You'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Panko75

RCTalk Talkaholic
Messages
258
Reaction score
536
RC Driving Style
  1. Crawling
  2. Scale Builder
I've updated my previous post

If you want one of these, just buy one stock and replace parts as they wear out, or shelve it when the electronics crap out.

Mine had the chassis break early on (up front near where the suspension pivots, the metal driveshaft was very wobbly, and one of the tiny gears in the gearbox cracked. This was all on stock power, driven outdoors on asphalt with minimal abuse.

I am a bit mixed if I can reccomend these, for the newcomer I have a much easier time saying "buy a toy-grade RC", as opposed to a "buy a toy-grade that you can work on", I have an easier time reccomending a more common 1/18 crawler instead. A crawler will go off-road, and it'll be too slow to really damage anything.

I've driven this one pretty rough, I've rolled it over, jumped curbs at full speed, and had a cat knock it around.

I like them for their simplicity and scale, even if the electronics go kaput at some point, it makes for a neat bit of decoration. The bed doubles as something to throw change or other things into.

It doesn't run standard motors/servos/batteries (though you can always install a different esc and run smaller batteries, some 1/18 brushless motors work), but the stock electronics are so cheap that it doesn't really bother me.

If you decide to buy one of these, I reccomend one of the later D22s, D42s, or a WL01 (this one has opening doors and bed). The later models have a softer suspension setup, an updated gearbox, and some other minor updates.

The softer suspension looks better in action, it's much more realistic and it grips better. The van will even lift the inside front wheels during some tighter turns.

You can get them cheaper on Bangood, or pay a little more for much better customer service via WPLs official website.

20240203_161404.thumb.jpg.788fae81ad46959a8358b6c725384fe1.jpg


20240427_201858.jpg
 
Last edited:
Final Update:

After breaking the chassis of another D12 by just casually driving around outside on asphalt, I can only reccomend these for indoor use. It is very, very easy to snap the chassis where the front lower suspension arm pivots.

The only proper fixes are to order a $9 part, wait two weeks or so, and re-build it. Or buy a $50 aluminum chassis, wait a few weeks, re-build the truck, and hope that the electronics/suspension holds up to the extra weight.

Dont be duped by youtube videos that show them going off-road, jumping, etc. 90% of them just want a few clicks on their affiliate links, and to be frank, aren't good for the hobby.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top