Excellent crawl spot with kids... For campers only.

Last weekend we set off on a short camping trip to try out our new caravan. It turned out that taking along our crawlers was a good idea.We didn't want to go far from home, as it was only a test run for the caravan. So we ended up at campsite "D'n Mastendol" in Rijen, the Netherlands.

RC Dork Jr.s Carisma SCA-1E Lynx ORV in action

As autumn is finally starting to set in here in the Netherlands, there weren't a lot of people at the campsite. So there were very few kids playing at the playground, which turned out to be an excellent crawl spot. A few grassy hills, with a couple of steep climbs, some cut down trees, loose sand, a little stream with clean water and a whole bunch of rocks in different sizes.

Green Man (My SCX10-II based Axial Deadbolt RTR) getting its wheels wet

It was the perfect spot for beginning drivers. Plenty of challenges, varied surfaces and not a lot of distance in between so no whining about being tired from walking 😁 And if the next generation needs a bit of variation in their activities, there's a whole playground available.

The only downside is that it is located on the grounds of the campsite. This means that it is only accessible to campers most of the time. For others, a small entry fee is asked, this is ok if you plan to spend the day there and use all of the facilities, but as an adult crawler, don't expect to be entertained there for more than an hour, maybe 2. Also, I recommend visiting outside the holiday periods, otherwise the playground might be swamped with kids and as they are the primary target audience of this place, they shouldn't be bothered by a bunch of adults playing with their expensive toys.

Testing the RC Dork YouTube channel

At the moment, I'm trying to set up all aspects of the whole RC Dork thing I got myself into. One of them is a RC Dork YouTube channel and that now has reached the testing phase... So, this is a test... 😀

This video is just to test if my YouTube account is set up correctly. It's a bit of a pointless video, as I bumped the camera and the angle was a bit off. But hey, at least there's a RC vehicle in it.

This is "Green Man", my Axial SCX10-II Deadbolt RTR, going up RC Dork Jr.s slide and coming back down via the lids of his sandbox (which, as he is getting a bit big for a sandbox, will hopefully be dismantled and used to build a backyard crawler course).

At the time of filming, "Green Man" was completely stock. As the surfaces were very slick and slippery, some wheelspeed was required to get to the top. The drag brake did its job on the way back down, but the still very new tyres didn't have enough traction for a very controlled descent.

RC Dorks SCX10-II specs

SCX10-II (kit version)

• Axial SCX10-II (kit version)
• Castle Creations "Slate" 1406 2280KV Brushless Motor
• Castle Creations Mamba Micro X Crawler Edition ESC
• JX DC5821LV Waterproof 22kg/0.10s (@6V) steering servo
• HPI Racing SF-10W Waterproof 4.5kg/0.18s (@6V) shift servo
• Castle Creations CCBEC 10A
• 20A relay to switch BEC on/off @ ESC power on/off
• Radiolink RC3S 4 channel 2.4GHz transmitter
• Radiolink R4EH-H 4 channel 2.4GHz receiver
• SSD-RC Pro Aluminium C-Hubs
• SSD-RC Pro Aluminium Steering Knuckles
• SSD-RC Pro Aluminium Rear Lockouts
• SSD-RC Brass Axle weights (at all 4 wheels)
• SSD-RC 2-Speed conversion kit
• RC-Schrauben High tensile steel torx screw kit
• GPM Racing 57t steel spur gear
• Corally 11t steel pinion gear
• AXSpeed Servo relocation mount
• AXSpeed Low Center of Gravity battery relocation mount
• Team DC Roost II 1.9" Aluminium Beadlock wheels
• Axial Ripsaw 1.9" R35 compound tires
• Yeah Racing 12x6mm locking hex adapters

SCX10-II "The Green Man" Deadbolt RTR

• Axial SCX10-II Deadbolt RTR
• Homebrew LEDs for the stock lightbar

Quick Crawl session with RC Dork Jr.

It's always nice when your local shops stop carrying a specific product you need and therefore have to drive to another town to get it. It's even more fun if your kid isn't old enough to stay home alone and you have to interrupt his Zelda-session and drag him along.
But RC Dork Jr. recently bought a RC crawler of his own, so we decided to take along our RCs and stop at a nice spot to drive them on the way back home.

Sorry for the poor image quality, still figuring out why it looks like this.

And that we did. We made a stop near "Uitkijkpunt Drunense Duinen" (Lookout point Drunense Duinen), at the south side of Dutch national park Loonse en Drunense Duinen. This side of the national park combines pine forest and the edge of the sand dunes that give the park its name.
At this spot the dunes are rather flat, but we stayed in the forest area, where we found some bare tree roots that made nice obstacles. Nothing spectacular, but great for teaching RC Dork Jr. some techniques. He's starting to get the hang of how to approach obstacles, but is still a bit... digital... on the trigger of his remote. When hung up on an obstacle, he tends to try maximum wheel speed as a first solution, digging him in even further and making it even harder to find the grip he needs to clear the obstacle.
But hey, he's 8 years old and has only had his Carisma SCA-1E Lynx ORV for a week, so I think he's doing great. His ride has already been modified with a Team DC 50t motor, which gives it a bit more torque and makes it run a bit more calm. But I did notice a few things about his rig that we will have to improve, but that's something for the future.

Carisma SCA-1E Lynx ORV & Axial SCX10-II Deadbolt

For myself, I brought my Axial SCX10-II Deadbolt RTR, which is completely stock other than the addition of some LEDs. I chose the Deadbolt to make sure the difference between our rigs wouldn't be too big. I can imagine the difference in performance between a stock SCA-1E and a SCX10-II with a ton of upgrades would have been a bit demotivating. Nonetheless the Deadbolt performed a bit better with its bigger, grippier tires and the Deadbolt body allowing for a bit more flex (especially with its narrow rear end).

We only had about 30 minutes before we had to go home again, but we had fun, RC Dork Jr. learned a few things, I got some ideas for improving his rig and we got to spend some time in nature with awesome early-autumn weather, so it was worth the detour.