Vanquish Ripper Project

jeep

The Vanquish Ripper is not like any other R/C kit.  In fact, it is not really a kit and was not even intended to be a product.  As the story goes, the Vanquish machining department just wanted to do an experiment to prove to themselves how awesome they were.  So they went and bought some giant blocks of aluminum weighing on the order of 100 pounds and machined a roll cage out of them.  Logically, no one would ever make a cage this way.  Cages are welded up out of tube stock for good reason.  There is almost no waste and you can make them strong and light.  This machined cage, on the other hand, probably has 95% of the original aluminum block converted to chips.  And milling the cross sections into round shapes is hard.  It would have been much easier to make everything rectangular, but they went all out and made them round.  Then there is the body.  The body is clearly intended to mimic a Jeep JK although they can't officially say that since it is not licensed.  The two side panels, the grille, and the hood are also machined out of solid blocks.  All of these parts, and in particular the side panels, could have been made with stamped sheet metal with almost no waste.  But again 95% was turned to chips.  Why would anyone do this?  To see if they can.

The final result is an unbelievably light but sturdy chassis.  The cage is made up of 5 individual sections bolted together and the body is another 5.  The whole thing weighs less than a single wheel from a conventional crawler.  Vanquish then combined this prototype proof of concept with some of their SCX10 II upgrade parts such as their F9 Currie axles and their metal AX10 transmission and voila, a crazy drivable experiment was born.  It was probably a shock to the folks at Vanquish Products that, when they showed off their creation at Axial Fest, there were actually consumers out there equally crazy enough to want to buy one.  Not many, mind you.  I was rather late to the party and I got Serial Number 80.

This is not the kind of product that is sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting for you to buy.  You make a deposit and then they go out and buy the aluminum and machine your product to order.  You get to choose the anodizing color of all the machined parts.  The process takes several months.  The result is far from cheap.  In fact, if this were the total cost it would already be my most expensive R/C, but the kit only comes with the body, links, and lighting.  You need to add your own chassis rails, axles, transmission, wheels, tires, and power system among other miscellaneous parts.  If you choose to go with Vanquish parts to complete your Ripper, you get a nice discount on those which helps, but this is still guaranteed to set your wallet back more than you can imagine.  I made it even worse by choosing to utilize the new Vanquish portal axles and a dig.  I wanted my Ripper to be as pure VP as it could be, so I also went with Incision shocks and an all metal AX10 transmission.  I'll be using VP Bully wheels and RC4WD Goodyear Wrangler M/T tires.  I powered it with a Castle Mamba brushless system and run the whole thing on 3s.

So how did it come out?  Is it worth it?  It is hard to say that any R/C is worth what this thing costs (which is why it was never intended to be a real product).  To own one you need to love engineering and machining or at least be mentally unstable.  I fit both criteria.  The truck is certainly very capable.  I have many trail trucks and it is easily among the most capable of all, though not by as much as you might think.  However, it is hard to bring myself to push it too hard because I don't want to roll it over or destroy anything.  That takes a lot away from a crawler.  As time goes on, we'll see how often I use it compared to its brethren.  As a showpiece, it is nearly without equal.  The only thing which compares is the Capo JK Max, another piece of insanity.

Update:  This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire.  It has not been replaced.

frame
Page 1: Assembly


Page 2: Final Photos

Description
Manufacturer
Model #
Ripper Kit
Vanquish
VPS09000
Sensored 2280kV Four Pole
Brushless Motor
Castle Creations
1406-2280KV
Waterproof Sensored Brushless
Electronic Speed Controller
Castle Creations
Mamba X
5-Channel 2.4 GHz DSMR ReceiverSpektrumSR515
Black Label High Torque
High Voltage Metal Case Brushless
Crawler Steering Servo
ProTek RC
370TBL
Ultra Torque Standard Metal Gear
Digital Dig Servo
Tactic
TS X57
Aluminum Center Skid Plate
eBay
N/A
AX10 Locked Transmission Set
Axial
AX30487
Helmet Set
Axial
AX31049
Yeti Fuel Cell
Axial
AX31125
Bomber Interior
Axial
AX31328
SCX10 Rear Cross Member
Axial
AX31386
SCX10 II Chassis Rails
Axial
AX31418
EXO Radiator
Axial
AX80103
SCX10 Transmission Gear Set
Incision
IRC00190
90mm Shocks x2
Incision
IRC00210
Driveshafts
Incision
IRC00220
Goodyear Wrangler 1.9" MT/R Tires x3
RC4WD
Z-T0158
Dual Slipper Discs
Vanquish
VPS01175
Aluminum Transmission Case
Vanquish VPS01183
Hurtz Dig V2
Vanquish VPS01351
Motor Mount / Gear Guard
Vanquish VPS02201
Clamping 25T Servo Horn
Vanquish VPS02410
Rigid Industries 1" LED Light Bar
Vanquish VPS06761
SLW Black Hex Hub 0.375" x3
Vanquish
VPS07112
KMC 1.9" XD127 Bully Wheels x3
Vanquish VPS07714
Center Hub XD Series x2
Vanquish VPS07720
Currie F9 Servo Mount
Vanquish VPS07857
Idler Gear Shaft
VanquishVPS08107
Currie Portal F9 Front Axle
Vanquish VPS08351
Currie Portal F9 Rear Axle
Vanquish VPS08361
Front Inner Fenders
R3ScaleDesignz
Shapeways

Up to RC Index
©2019 Eric Albrecht