Axial SCX-10 Honcho: The Review
Unfortunately, sitting in my office right now as I’m typing this I’m looking at a Land Cruiser 78 Series so rare, it’s a museum piece. There’s also two BMW GS Motorcycles, one of them again, so rare, it’s a museum piece. There’s also the constant plethora of gear coming in and out for testing, a good portion of which isn’t even released to the public yet. I’m not mentioning this to frustrate you - I’m mentioning this because it takes quite a bit to impress me these days. When you walk by a Jeep Wrangler J8, and a AEV Hemi Jeep daily you become quite numb to most things. It’s probably worse for the people in my office, they’ve been here quite a bit longer. There’s times I feel sorry for everyone.
Anyways the point I’m trying to make is that it takes a lot to get this group exited
Then Axial sent us their new SCX-10 Honcho, it was slow at first - I had always been into remote control cars. I knew what they were, and it was like Christmas came early. People started looking at me... like I had some unresolved issues. “Matt, go back to work.” said an anonymous Boss. I sat there, pouting, until I could take the SCX-10 for a test drive. Finally my persistent whining gave in, and took the car out. Within 5 minutes of being outside doing donuts, wheelies, endo’s and ‘extreme rock-crawling’ the entire office was outside, curious, yet hesitant. Perhaps they didn’t know what to do if they wanted to drive it, perhaps whenever they approached me - my death state pushed them back.
I kept the controller, which I might add is quite advanced for a RTR (ready-to-run) vehicle, just long enough to torture them. They knew what they were missing, and they wanted in. Scott, being the head honcho, and possible one time remote control sceptic, took the controller next. I haven’t seen him light up like this at the office in quite some time, instantly he became the resident ‘R/C crawling’ expert, traversing our new-found boulder course-ala-ditch. All the negative sentiments towards my over joyous enthusiasm were immediately apologized for, as they knew why I was so exited.
Productivity down 1000% percent.
Do your self a favor - If you have work to do, don’t pick up the controller. Otherwise you’re going to sit around all day playing with these machines; and literally, you can play with them all day. I’ve yet to see a battery die on one yet - and we didn’t spring for the best batteries money can buy. After annoying the neighbors (Adventure Trailers) for a hour or so, we figured out we should strap a Go-Pro Hero camera to the top of one. We’ve yet to release the majority of our crash footage, as there is some pride at stake - but it’s easy to get out of hand.
Apparently it was deemed acceptable to show my crashes.
The Serious Stuff.
When you open the box -
The Axial SCX-10 represents the newest in the Adventure Series of Ready to Run (RTR) vehicles from Axial. Once you open the box, you know it isn’t a toy. It’s a 1/10 scale realistic model, it has functioning solid axles, linked suspension, it even includes a 2.4 GHZ radio for trouble free operation. It seems that the vehicle comes with a variety of useful spare parts, and some additional decals so you’re able to customize your vehicle to your liking.
What you’ll need to get going -
Even though the vehicle is sold as RTR, few in the industry include a battery pack or a charger. Be prepared to purchase a battery, and a charger from your local hobby store, or online retailer. It cost us around $60 for two batteries and a lower end charger.
Suspension and Handling -
The Axial SCX-10 isn’t made for high speed handling. If you’re going full speed, about 15 mph (it’s geared low for off road) and you choose to turn the wheel sharply, it’s going to go on its side. The suspension consists of two oil filled coil-over shocks, with dual spring rates, attached to front and rear 4 link suspension. The spring rate is fairly low, just high enough to keep it stable off road, but low enough to allow full cycling of the suspension when you’re playing in the rocks. It’s stable off road, and will flex easily over most objects with its fully locked solid axles. The articulation is nothing short but impressive, in the photo below, the Honcho is sitting on it's fair share of issues of Overland Journal
Styling -
The SCX-10 is styled after what most in the hardcore 4x4 crowd would call a ‘truggy’. The front half being a small truck, the rear half being a buggy, with a functional roll cage, and actual usable, removable spare tire. Adding to the scale-built detail is the rear fuel cell, and the front pre-runner style tube bumper, with real aluminum skid plates, and functional LED lights mounted front and fear.
Off-Road Capability -
Even Scott Brady was impressed with the capability of the SCX-10 considering the size of it (about 20 inches long). Solid, completely locked differentials front and rear, with grippy tires mean that it has no problem even crawling up vertical ledges. We tested this with a few curbs, and if you can perfect your ‘moab bump’ you can even prevent yourself from being high-centered. We’re still planning new routes in our newly founded rock course, from mild to wild, the SCX-10 has done 90% of what we’ve asked it to do. The other 10% of what we asked are probably reserved for Axial’s more extreme offerings.
Control -
When you’re in a full size vehicle, doing competition rock crawling, or just traversing boulders at your local trail; throttle and steering control reign supreme. Controlling the SCX-10 shares more in common with your full size vehicle then you’d initially think. If you’re on an off camber trail, and you turn the wheel the wrong way, you risk rolling the Honcho, in the same way you would in your full size trail vehicle. We were all impressed with how controllable the throttle and steering were; the throttle wasn’t jumpy at all, it allowed excellent low speed control. The steering was strong, enough to push the vehicle sideways into traction if needed, it isn’t particularly fast- but it isn’t a sports car.
Quality and Reliability -
I’ll be short - Axial doesn’t make crap, they’ve built a reputation in the Radio Control community for offering a durable product. I can attest to that. We’ve ran the Honcho at full speed into curbs, rolled it multiple times, hit anonymous staff members several times; and nothing has broken. I can’t yet speak for long term reliability, but mechanically, I don’t see much that can wear out. We did loose a driveshaft on our rocks course, but no damage was done, and it just required tightening a screw. There’s nothing that should keep you from enjoying years of fun with it.
We liked the Axial SCX-10 Honcho so much, we start building an Expedition Portal Project Truck. We’re using Axial’s SCX-10 Dingo builders kit, and starting from scratch. Stay tuned for updates and a build thread on our very own adventure R/C car.
