MALTESE CHEROKEE XJ

KYLE CAMILLERI MALTA

Kyle sent this gorgeous Axial Scx10-based XJ all the way from his home on the island of Malta. He built it to compete in the European Recon G6 event held in Maggiora, Italy; he used a Jeep body given to him by his friend in their local group, Island Rockoholics, that he had won at the previous year’s event. Kyle decorated it to match his 1:1 XJ, and he designed his own chassis rails to make the body sit just right and maximized performance by dropping the center section and giving the axles extra clearance. He incorporated extended shock towers into his design and then had the rails laser-cut out of 3mm steel. A 3D-printed skidplate from Shapeways also serves as the SCX trans mount. He fabricated his links out of 6mm solid steel rods with 4mm rod ends. Those, together with slightly widened wheel arches, yielded a 325mm wheelbase. His fabricated rock sliders have built-in body mounts, and Kyle had the body painted to match his 1:1 XJ. To give that body a little extra protection, he made a simple cage out of 6mm steel tubing. He runs a Hobbywing 1080 ESC with a 35T motor running 3S Lipos through an HR transfer case with Robinson Racing gears, SSD scale driveshafts, and an SSD D60 axle housing stuffed with Incision spools. All of that rides on 110mm Xtra Speed coil-overs and a full complement of RC4WD scale items, such as Baja Designs spotlights and a high-lift jack. Kyle finished it all just in time for Parkerfest Europe, where he completed the Dromedar Trophy, the Team Trials, the Top Truck Challenge, and all 12 Recon G6 stages.