If you haven’t heard of Axial Racing yet, let us pull you out from under that rock you are under. Axial Racing is one of the newest faces in the Radio Control Hobby industry but they have hit the market at tremendous speed….er ah….crawling speed. In case you haven’t seen their new product, the AX-10 Scorpion Rock Crawler, it is a must-have, fun machine that is easy on the pocket book (you can pick it up for about $240 at your local hobby shop) and comes Ready To Run. Never before has a company offered a hobby grade, hardcore rock crawler that is so complete, that you can actually compete with it the same day you buy it. Axial offers two versions of their box crawler, the Ready To Run and the kit, which you must assemble yourself. The RTR truck was made to run in two configurations, a Rock Crawler or a Rock Racer. Very cool!
We chose the kit version, as we’d prefer to assemble the crawler piece by piece, gaining the knowledge and know-how of the inner workings of the drive train and chassis. Let’s face it, in any form of rock crawling, you have to expect breakage if you’re hitting it hard. If you build your own AX-10, you’ll know how to fix it when carnage occurs. The Scorpion can be purchased at any local hobby store and the experienced rc truck builder can assemble the entire crawler within three hours. We would expect that a novice builder might need a few more hours, six at most. Our build went quickly and smoothly. The directions were very well laid out and we found ourselves not even having to use them most of the way through. The kit does not come with a radio controller, receiver, servo or batteries but we had bought all that equipment at the time of the kit purchase. During the build we made sure that we were charging batteries so immediate satisfaction could be had once complete. After the last bolt was tightened on the bead lock wheels, holding Rock Lizzard Tires, we mounted up the battery and hit the rocks.
The first modification we made was to mount the batteries lower on the truck. Axial’s mounting position sits a large stick pack on top of the chassis. This works fine for the every day basher but to compete, you’ve got to get a smaller pack sitting right on the front axle. We also lengthened the upper triangulated suspension links and mounted our lower links on the inner part of the chassis (Bender SW3 Chassis shown).
Another upgrade we made was in the tire category. The Axial Rock Lizzard Tires work well but a set of the new Proline Racing Hammer Tires were installed, in favor of their super aggressive and sticky tread compound. Axial also includes a great looking body that resembles a vintage Dodge Power Wagon, which in our opinion, is great for show. For competition, we looked to Proline Racing again for a body that is smaller, lighter weight and well thought out for the competitive driver. The Rock Star body was painted and mounted. This thing was now a force to be reckoned with!
Matt Kearney, one of the founders of Axial Racing, was kind enough to give us a sneak peak of their new competition inspired body and also let on that they were working on a “Dig” set-up to allow the Scorpion unrivaled pivot turning. We never thought we’d see the day that an RC Crawler would actually have a Dig set up on it. Wow! So….Now that you are out from under that rock, go out and pick up an Axial AX-10 Scorpion and crawl over it! www.axialracing.com Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OffRoadDotCom
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Radio Controlled rock crawling has come a long way. Gone are the old days of having to search for parts that were impossible to find and then using them to assemble a home built crawler that would barely wiggle up your front yard curb. Axial has filled the niche with their complete box crawler in the fastest growing segment in the RC hobby and we expect to see even more innovative creations and accessories from them in the near future. 
