AXIAL SCX10 III UPGRADES
Here are some great upgrade parts that are available for the Axial SCX10 III. These items are available at horizonhobby.com
more. Furthermore, instead of a one-piece vacuum formed body, Axial’s Gladiator body has been split into three pieces to allow for a more realistic deep bed.
The Gladiator looks like a long vehicle because it is. To get its proportions just right, it was decided to elongate the wheelbase from the SCX10 III’S standard 12.3-inch length to a stretched 13.9-inches instead. Not settling on morphing a smaller body to fit the standard chassis, the design team extended the wheelbase with longer frame rails and chassis supports. This allows for a much more realistic RC version of the Jeep JT Gladiator. The
Gladiator also includes fantastic interior details and a driver too. It’s these types of details that add so much to the vehicle’s overall scale and realism.
Providing the SCX10 III with the grip it needs on the trail is a set of officially licensed Nitto Trail Grappler tires on 3-piece beadlock wheels. Real crawlers depend upon the specially designed tire tread pattern; these mini-Nittos will get your scale crawler through the thick of it too.
DYNAMIC DUO
You probably will have noticed that we have not one but two Gladiators featured in this article. Axial SXC10’S, no matter which generation, have been some of the most modified RC crawlers to exist. There’s so much upgrade and accessory support for the platform, it makes it irresistible to add your own take on it. In our case, we chose to leave one relatively untouched straight from the box and went to town on the other.
We said relatively untouched because for the tamer version of the two, we did add an Axial Tuff Stuff Overland accessory pack, which includes the rooftop tent and other bed rack accessories as well as an aftermarket Rclions metal bumper and FPVKING tow hitch. Now the red SCX10 III on the other hand, shows just some of the modification potential the Gladiator can achieve with upgrade parts and some creative paint effects.
A major modification to Big Red was the installation of Axial’s standard axle conversion kit for SCX10 III. The kit actually converts the III’S portal axles back to a straight axle set up for maximum scale accuracy. Thanks to the more scale look, a smaller tire combo was chosen. Due to the swapping out the portal axles, the Jeep now had a slightly lower stance that necessitated the installation of a fender delete kit made by Club 5 Racing. This helped eliminate fender rubbing.
We also looked to the experts at Pro-line for wheels and tires in the form of their Crestline 1.9” Aluminum Composite Internal Bead-loc wheels and Interco Trxus M/T 1.9” G8 rock terrain tires. The combination can’t be beat for pure crawling traction. Also from Pro-line, we installed a full set of big bore shocks and added details such as an overland roof rack and LED light bars, also made by Pro-line.
The head turning paintjob and simulated trail damage patina, driver detail, window roll down modification, and undercarriage detailing was expertly done by Errik Soots of Soots Scale Painting. We love ourselves some great scale painting details and Soots really hit it out of the park with this one. Other add-on details on Big Red include a Joguly Metal Front Bumper with scale Warn 9.5cti Winch finishes off the hardcore off roader look.
Big Red also had plenty of electronics upgrades done as well. We swapped out the RTR’S Spektrum bits and replaced it with a host of Spektrum upgrades such as their Firma Sensored 1/10th crawler brushless motor and ESC system, SR515 DSMR 5-channel receiver and S6260 HV high speed metal gear servo. The transmitter was also traded for Spektrum’s DX5 Rugged 5-Channel DSMR transmitter. These key upgrades help the red Gladiator up its power and control beyond the capabilities of the stock version.
We had a blast crawing with both the factory stock SCX10 III Jeep JT as well as its upgraded brother.
ON THE TRAIL
After we charged up a couple of Spektrum 11.1V 1300mah 3S Lipo G2 battery packs, we headed out to a nearby park to see what the SCX10
III Gladiators could do. As expected, the pair performed admirably over the loose dirt trail, small and medium sized gravel roads and a rocky dry creek bed that we drove them on.
We noticed that the stock Gladiator’s portal axles cleared some hazards that we previously avoided with our SCX10 II. The III’S extra clearance was appreciated. The Gladiator’s longer wheelbase made the rig feel sturdier for sure and wasn’t much of a concern where we drove it. If driven in areas with extreme elevation changes or over steep peaks, it may become high centered easier than shorter wheelbased vehicles.
We were most interested in trying out the DIG function in a particularly tight area that would usually require an Austin Powers style turnabout to be performed. With the Spektrum radio in hand, we flipped the third channel switch to activate the DIG function and it did its thing by locking the rear wheels, allowing only the front wheels to actively drive. What resulted was the front of the truck drove and the rear pivoted so that its rear wheels dragged in one place, This allowed the Jeep to make the tight like a tiger turn without any need to back up and try again. Color us impressed.
Big Red was noticeably more surefooted on the steep-angled faces of the tail. We chalk that up to the Pro-line wheels and tires as well as the extra control that the Spektrum brushless system and powerful servo afforded us.
“AXIAL SXC10’S, NO MATTER WHICH GENERATION, HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE MOST MODIFIED RC CRAWLERS TO EXIST.”
FINAL WORD
The fit, finish and overall quality of the SCX10 III Jeep JT Gladiator RTR kit is exactly what we have come to expect from Axial. If you are considering this vehicle for your first foray into RC crawler, you’d be hard-pressed to do much better. If you’re shopping for another crawler to add to your evergrowing fleet, you’ll want to know that the SCX10 III, like its predecessors, has unlimited modification potential as witnessed by our own Big Red. In fact, we’re already looking at what else we can add to it and how we should mod out our stock one too.