Team Associated RC10 4x4 1/10 Electric Off-Road Rally Kit

The Team Associated RC10 4x4 Rally Kit is what happens when a California race team tries to recreate an 80s fever dream. It’s a love letter to the legendary Tamiya Porsche 959, but written in a font that only 1984 off-road champions can read. The "959" Comparison: Tamiya vs. Associated If the legacy Tamiya 959 was a delicate watch that you’re terrified to drive, this Associated kit is a tank wearing a tuxedo. Durability: While the Tamiya’s technicolor plastics would shatter if you looked at them too hard, the RC10 4x4 is built like it’s ready for a modern rally stage—complete with a gold-anodized aluminum tub chassis that screams "I have money and I'm not afraid to scratch it". The Scale Lies: It includes scale-inspired brake calipers and rotors. Because when you’re doing 40mph into a curb, you definitely want to ensure your plastic rotors look realistic while they’re being pulverized. The Great White Plastic Tragedy The biggest feature of this kit is the legacy white plastic components, which were apparently included to make us feel nostalgic for 1984. In reality, they are a nightmare. The "Ugly White" Aesthetic: I need to complain that the parts aren't a crisp, clean white; they are a weird, mismatched wack off-white that looks like it’s been sitting in a smoker's basement for three decades, ya know that yellow tinge you see on tv and automagically can smell it. Permanently Filthy: These parts are basically magnets for dirt. After one run through a puddle, your pristine rally machine will look like it’s been through a mud wrestling match, and that legacy white will be a permanent shade of neglected driveway brown. The Dyeing Ritual: The situation is so dire that half the RC community on Reddit is busy boiling these parts in black RIT dye just to hide the evidence of their existence. Again trying to insert rc10 nostalgia into something... they shove gold anodizing and white plastic down your throat. Just make the whole thing black and it would appeal to a wider audience. The Assembly: A Three-Day Exercise in Patience The manual is a 25-page document that has squashed diagrams as if the TA was saving trees, but the parts are nicely labeled and there are scale 1/1 reference points for the screws. Shock assembly reads like your great-grandfather's directions for starting the first lawn mower translated from latin through a Hindi translator. I would describe the process as enjoyable but I some builders found manual and instructions confusing. The one diagram I can't get over is page 7 where we treat the front and rear differentials like identical twins that the instructions can't tell apart. Verdict: It’s the rally car we always wanted, provided we’re willing to spend our weekends dyeing the plastics black and squinting at a manual that hates you. It is better than the Tamiya 959 in every performance metric, but it will make you miss the color black more than you ever thought possible.

I am not new to RC. I've been building these kits for decades. I typically don't rate items, so when I do, I'm pretty disappointed or straight up angry. This time it's the latter. My feeling is that Team Associated is rushing these kits into production, and the quality shows. My complaint pertains to this particular kit, but it's worth noting similar problems have occurred with other recent releases such as not providing the correct hardware and the manuals having a multitude of errors. This one, for instance, has errors in the manual that instruct you to use improperly sized hardware. The instructions to mount the center gear box provides a great example where using the incorrect hardware can and will result in stripping and damage to the plastic parts if the builder doesn't catch the fit issues. This is unacceptable for kits at this price point! Thanks for the garbage Team Associated!!

Kit instructions leave something to be desired. Confusing lower control arm mount locations. Would have been better if they had separate diagrams for front and rear diffs. Other than that went together like every other AE car I have built recently. Adjustability is great I’m impressed they added all of this to one out of the box build. So used to having to buy aftermarket parts. I won’t need any with this car. Would have been 5 stars if not for the instructions.