Zac's Stampede

This is Zac's Stampede, and the truck that started it all. Before it was bought I had played around with RC cars and trucks from time to time, but never got heavily into it. Boy, did that ever change.

The smartest thing I ever did when I bought Zac's Stampede was to buy the kit instead of an RTR (Ready to Run). I was a little nervous at first, having very little RC experience, but the guys at the local hobby store assured me I would have no trouble and offered to assist me if I had any problems. The kit allowed me to learn much more about the truck than I would have learned if I would have purchased a RTR. I also was able to have control over what radio and receiver we put with the Stampede. One tip I can offer is, when buying a Stampede, that you purchase one with a mechanical speed control. I know that sounds backwards because an Electronic Speed Control is supposed to be better, right??? Well it is. The reason I say buy the mechanical one is because the Traxxas ESC, the XL-1, is only rated down to a 17-turn motor. There are much better units out there for the amount of money you'll put into the XL-1 offered by Traxxas. So if you're probably going to replace it, why even buy it in the first place???

The 50's Ford pickup is actually Zac's second body. His first was Grave Digger, since he's a big Digger fan. It has since been retired due to a tear around a body post hole and the fact it was signed when we went to the NHRA Monster Jam in January of 2002.

The 1970 Boss Mustang is his third body, and the materials was part of his birthday present from his grandparents. If all goes well, this will probably be the last body I paint with spray cans. I plan to airbrush my bodies from now on. The body posts are still uncut in these photos, but have been cut down now that he is satisfied with the height. I wanted to get pictures before any damage was done to the body.

His stock Stampede body was never used and became my second body after my first one needed to be retired.

Click on a picture to enlarge it.