I am surprised that I appear to be the first to mention the Trasped HG4 1/14 Jeep. I was very keen to get my hands on one, especially as I already had a 1/16 Takom Jeep kit to potentially meld the two together.
Full disclosure here: I got a green one, but I’m using unbranded images from a website because they're nice and clear.
Getting it out of the box the first thing that struck me is it is relatively heavy at around 700g, and when you add the accessories like the metal 50 cal, it will top out at about 800. For a small vehicle like a jeep, that is pretty solid. Looking underneath, it has metal driveshafts, chassis and suspension components. Without digging into the paintwork, I assume it is diecast metal making up the weight, much like the other Trasped model, the Steyr. I like that anyway as it is going to need some mass to help with traction.
As for scale accuracy, it is advertised as 1:14, which I’m going to guess is pretty close based on my measurements of body length, body width and tyre diameter. I checked the tyre diameter, as the wheels are the things that seem odd. Having measured the tyre diameter as being close to scale, it is the wheel diameter that is out, making the tyres have a short sidewall height. Before getting the Trasped, I considered transferring the Takom wheels and Torro GPA tyres, but they’re 1/16 and noticeably smaller.
Elsewhere, the scale features are pretty good for a WPL-type vehicle. There will be room for improvement, and some areas like the canopy frame are a bit coarse to ensure impact resistance. Having the grab handles made of rubber should help them survive a rollover too. It is an improvement over the WPL trucks though, as the steering wheel and gear levers are fairly good, and it even has the placard notices on the glovebox lid. The 50 cal is better than the pics here, with nicely painted rounds in the receiver and an ammo box. There are some body rivet details that are a nice touch, but of course not as good as the Takom. For most people, a quick paint and some weathering will make a nice hassle-free RC vehicle.
Areas I don’t like include the aforementioned tyre profile. The tyres are softish, but not as soft as a WPL truck. Having them with a more realistic profile would have made them softer and helped a little with traction. I would also add the seats look very plastic and are too upright. The biggest criticism I would level at it however, is the sound-and-lights show. It has engine noise, but it is a little too reminiscent of a F1 car. It also has reversing beeping noise, and blinker sounds whenever you turn the steering. Thankfully it can be switched off with the dip switches on the controller. Similarly, it has turn indicator lights that flash from various corners when you turn the steering. That is fixable too, snip snip.
For those that want to have a bit of toy fun, there is a functional winch on the front bumper bar. I only took it for a drive in the garden, but it works well and has traction as long as the tyres are touching the ground. It even has locked diffs to help in that area. The steering is progressive, which doesn't necessarily show in the promo videos. There is also a switch underneath the chassis to manually change between short and tall gearing. Being true to scale, ground clearance is the limiting factor of off-roading ability. This is not a rock crawler, which is the point, really. As for being 1:14 scale, my feeling is that this made it easier to squeeze the running gear under a jeep body, so it is a mild compromise.
Rat Patrol or Kelly's Heroes anyone?
*(Edited to mention steering and gearing)
