New WPL truck...err tracked vehicle...

[AlwynTurner]

When I firstlooked at this I thought maybe we had a new source of tracks but looking at the pics and video it obviously is a plastic track with no individual links, very disappointing but at that price I should have expected that. basically this is pitched as an rc toy, particularly as it's not to scale.

Alwyn

[tankme]

I'm not sure I'll keep it at this point if the scale is really off. If I do it will be relegated to use by the girlfriends grandkids.

[Will01Capri]

I can see me drawing this up and scaling it sometime. The more I use it and get used to it, the more I like it.
Yes the tracks can be annoying, but you can learn to drive it in such a way that you minimise tracks coming off, plus there might be track upgrades in future .

Anyway, another little video from me after noticing something with why the tracks can come off

phpBB [video]

[Jay-Em]

I took off the mudguards immediately. They get caught on about everything. There’s probably a reason that they tend to remove those on the heavily used real ones too.
There are rumours about metal tracks and maybe metal sprockets. WPL is pretty good at improving on their releases very quickly. If the WPL-E1 takes-off, (not too crazy a thought, since the first two runs sold-out immediately) it wouldn’t be too surprising if the usual upgrade companies start offering metal replacements for the whole drivetrain.

A tiny detail that caught me off-guard, was the inclusion of ball-bearings for the sprockets and rearmost wheels. I paid just €46.- And it already came with some ballbearings..wow.. Crazy thing is pretty noisy, though. Pretty slow too. (Then again, the real GAZ-71 does màybe 60km/h on a good day with its ‘mighty’ 85Hp engine..and parts start falling off at that speed). Oh, and the controllerboard and rear lightslenses are ready for some 3mm LED’s, but they are not included. WPL tried to save a few pennies, I guess.

I’m currently busy getting a HL 6.1 controller stuffed inside. Had to cut the battery box, though, and the cargo area now holds the battery. Fake tarp draped over it, and it looks pretty legit… The child in me néeds sound, and maybe smoke…

[Will01Capri]

I took off the mudguards immediately. They get caught on about everything. There’s probably a reason that they tend to remove those on the heavily used real ones too.
There are rumours about metal tracks and maybe metal sprockets. WPL is pretty good at improving on their releases very quickly. If the WPL-E1 takes-off, (not too crazy a thought, since the first two runs sold-out immediately) it wouldn’t be too surprising if the usual upgrade companies start offering metal replacements for the whole drivetrain.

A tiny detail that caught me off-guard, was the inclusion of ball-bearings for the sprockets and rearmost wheels. I paid just €46.- And it already came with some ballbearings..wow.. Crazy thing is pretty noisy, though. Pretty slow too. (Then again, the real GAZ-71 does màybe 60km/h on a good day with its ‘mighty’ 85Hp engine..and parts start falling off at that speed). Oh, and the controllerboard and rear lightslenses are ready for some 3mm LED’s, but they are not included. WPL tried to save a few pennies, I guess.

I’m currently busy getting a HL 6.1 controller stuffed inside. Had to cut the battery box, though, and the cargo area now holds the battery. Fake tarp draped over it, and it looks pretty legit… The child in me néeds sound, and maybe smoke…

Metal tracks are coming, I have seen the pre production ones already and know they seem to work early well with a new sprocket. Apparently solves tracks coming off issue.
I stil reckon the gearboxes will be weak point, so I best get on and engineer a proper setup for these using dual 370 motors haha

[Jay-Em]

Gearboxes themselves aren’t half bad. It’s those wheezy 120-size (sorry, 130-size) motors that really lets it down. It needs higher-revving 180’s at the least.

I got the old 4th gen ( 2-sounds) HL 2.4ghz stuffed inside. It fits quite well between the cargo tub and the gearbox with some room to spare. Cutting-out the battery box freed loads of space. I probably can cram-in a small smoker too. At the moment I’m in a bit of a fight with the LED’s. I currently use the rear light connector for the front, but I can’t, for the life of it, get the right pins for front LEDs from that wide 8-pin socket. Diagrams are as inscrutible as ever. Can’t make head or tails from the ones people made.
Outermost left is negative, then nothing, nothing, 8,4v, nothing, 8,4v.. nothing, nothing. What a horrible system. I prefer the 6.1 offerings. They at least have proper pins dedicated to LEDs. But my fancy, metal-bodied 6.1s is a bit too ‘over the top’ for a 50 Euro toy, imho.

EDIT: Stupid me.. Front lights are in series, rear lights in parallel. Duh.. no wonder that I measured such high voltages on -what I thought- was the LED front-connector..

The thing is slow as a slug, but I’m amazed at its off-road capabilities. The tiny claws on the tracks actually work. Who’d have thunk.. And the roar of that Leopard engine is great fun, especially from such a tiny vehicle.

[WCP RC MODELS]

Gearboxes themselves aren’t half bad. It’s those wheezy 120-size (sorry, 130-size) motors that really lets it down. It needs higher-revving 180’s at the least.

I got the old 4th gen ( 2-sounds) HL 2.4ghz stuffed inside. It fits quite well between the cargo tub and the gearbox with some room to spare. Cutting-out the battery box freed loads of space. I probably can cram-in a small smoker too. At the moment I’m in a bit of a fight with the LED’s. I currently use the rear light connector for the front, but I can’t, for the life of it, get the right pins for front LEDs from that wide 8-pin socket. Diagrams are as inscrutible as ever. Can’t make head or tails from the ones people made.
Outermost left is negative, then nothing, nothing, 8,4v, nothing, 8,4v.. nothing, nothing. What a horrible system. I prefer the 6.1 offerings. They at least have proper pins dedicated to LEDs. But my fancy, metal-bodied 6.1s is a bit too ‘over the top’ for a 50 Euro toy, imho.

EDIT: Stupid me.. Front lights are in series, rear lights in parallel. Duh.. no wonder that I measured such high voltages on -what I thought- was the LED front-connector..

The thing is slow as a slug, but I’m amazed at its off-road capabilities. The tiny claws on the tracks actually work. Who’d have thunk.. And the roar of that Leopard engine is great fun, especially from such a tiny vehicle.

180 motors for sure, just dont know how long those gearboxes will last, not had a chance to open it yet though, still enjoying it
Sounds etc and more lights however yes a good idea, maybe when we kill the electrics its a good time to upgrade
Small water tight box sealed internal to keep electrics dry is a must for when we start going amphibious