The RCRun RUN80 is a scale Toyota Land Cruiser 80-Series 1:10 model. It’s a builder’s kit that’s ready for assembly – but you’ll need your own electronics, wheels, tires – AND body and interior! Thankfully it’s all readily available and it’s a fast and enjoyable build. When you do the measurements, it’s actually quite close to 1:9 scale rather than 1:10, but all the same, it’s a beauty!
Unboxing & Presentation
The box is very protective of the metal chassis kit within, ensuring the parts arrive to you just how they were packed. Finishing on parts is generally excellent, though the transmission fit and finish left a little to be desired – nothing deal-breaking though! More on that in a bit. First, the overall model itself. This is a wonderful, wonderful kit.
The price from various vendors, at least at time of writing in mid-2021, is around USD$350 to $400, depending on where you look (and on stock, shipping etc etc). We’ve found AsiaTees to be a consistent and reliable online store and have been buying from them for years, long before RC-TNT was ever conceived. We got ours from them – they sell the RCRun RUN-80 LC80 Kit (affiliate link) and the Team Raffee Co. LC80 Hard Body, along with a good selection of wheels and tires in 1.55″, 1.7″ and 1.9″, depending on your preference for this build. Find a full list of items we used, and where to get them, at the end of this article.
RUN80 Wheels & Tires
Most RC Crawler kits don’t come with electronics and the RUN80 is no different. Like the SCX10II Raw Builder’s Kit and the HPI Venture Builder’s Kit, this one also does not include wheels and tires, which is great for choice and economy, but can be disappointing if you’re unaware until you build! Thankfully, wheels are plentiful, varied and quite affordable, particularly if you look at the Sunraisia style steel rims that are so common on Landcruisers in Australia and the Middle East. If you prefer USA-style wheels to match the petrol models instead, of course you’re still covered. Pick your standard 1.9″ wheel of preference and you’re away. The kit does include hexes, pins and nuts, so you just need the actual wheels and tires and you’re set.
Realistic Axles, Links & Suspension
The suspension setup at each end is very realistic. The coil springs themselves are floating with rubber stops at each end, with the shocks just in front or behind, as on the real vehicle. The upper and lower arms are roughly scale – certainly much moreso than any other model on the market, if you’re going for scale faithfulness to the real vehicle (and the author owns a Landcruiser 80 series, 1HZ, to which comparisons are being made!). The diffs aren’t quite in the right spot as far as horizontal alignment is conecerned, but they’re close enough to be convincing to all but the most critical eye (did I mention I’ve been looking under my 1:1 rig for this review?). Overall, axles, diffs, suspension and links are Very Good as far as scale is concerned. Functionally, they offer about as much range of movement as you’d expect from a well setup full-size vehicle, which for scale driving means some limitation, but it will still be a capable model, if heavy.
RCRun Transmission
This is a single-speed gearbox. That means you’ll want to be thoughtful about the motor and pinion, the latter of which ships with the model (14T 48P). I used that pinion and a Hobbywing AXE 2100kv brushless system – and it is so very nice! If you were taking the more sane route for this vehicle, remembering it’s a single-speed, the Hobbywing WP-1080 would be the brushed ESC to use, along with a 35T or 45T 540 motor. A 550 will fit but you’ll need a hacksaw to help with length – no huge deal, but worth keeping in mind.
Unfortunately, the motor housing itself didn’t make such a great first impression; if you’ve watched the video, you’ll be aware that the screws in our model were over-tightened on the motor housing/transmission assembly. Quite a few of the threads were stripped and needed re-tapping in a slightly larger size. I always keep the tools around for such eventualities, so it was a trivial fix, but disappointing all the same. The gears themselves were seemingly of a high quality steel and the bearings are solid. The motor mount is thoughtfully designed and getting the pinion and spur gear mesh sorted was easy.
Once the transmission is together, you’ll get to the driveshaft assembly. These are also of a reasonably nice alloy, but while I can’t prove this with the equipment at hand, I suspect they’ll be of moderate strength rather than the super-strong, hardened steel of high quality machined parts from more expensive models and hop-up parts. For what you’ll likely be doing with this model, though, they’re a completely fine accompanyment.
Run80 Body Mounts
Although the body needs to be bought separately to the kit, they are designed to go together and so I’ll cover the body, interior and accessories in this review. You want the LC80 experience with this model and these are all part of the intended final product, after all!
RCRun Diffs & Driveline
The diff gears themselves are of the helical-cut type and the steel used in these parts does seem to be solid. I didn’t need to shim my diffs at either end, but this would be all you might need to do to ensure the diffs last as long as the truck. (If you’re unfamiliar with the process, I’ll have a video and article up on this at some point, but in short: shimming the diffs means basically using shims (really thin washers) to move the pinion gear closer to the crown gear for closest possible mesh. You want just a half millimeter between the pinion and crown gears – any less and you’ll be putting unnecessary wear on the teeth, and any more and you’ll eventually wear the teeth down until the diffs click and you lose drive. Shim diffs for close mesh and you’ll be all set!).
Overall the driveline on this vehicle is engineered to suit the intended purpose. The bad threads on the transmission housing were a slight hassle but with the price of this model in mind, the value is still definitely there.
Here’s a video of our look at this stunning model, and below that is a more detailed overview of this lovely model four wheel drive.
Final Thoughts on the RUN-80
If you have some modelling experience and are ready to build a kit with a hard body, this is a solid choice. If you’re a Landcruiser fan, this model should especially appeal, as many other 80-series RC cars on the market appear to be copied from this model, in both 1:10 and smaller scales.
The value is good for what you get, especially for the thoughtful suspension arms and booted shocks. The main drawback is that you need to buy the body and interior separately, but bought all together it still is not a prohibitively expensive exercise.
RCRun Driving Experience
With the servo-driven steering wheel moving with the front wheels – especially if you place a little 1:9 scale figurine in the driver’s seat – your escape to realistic scale driving can be complete and engaging. (Update, there’s a bit more info here about installing that part of the kit).
Coupled with the sound from the rather loud transmission that has that big petrol engine sound when under load, the trail driving experience with this scaler is very good.
An additional enjoyable factor is the weight from the rather heavy body introduces a degree of body roll that gives further impression that you’re driving a proper four-wheel drive vehicle and that physics are very much actively working with and against the rig. It’s quite an enjoyable experience, all round.
If you’re still on the fence about whether this is the right rock crawler for your scale garage, you may find another of our articles helpful: ‘What Is The Best RC Rock Crawler?‘
But from this modeller with many, many crawlers already in the RC garage, RCRun Run-80 is a must-have for scale driving. Recommended.
Manufacturer’s Description:
Features:
- Realistic chassis design
- Full metal material
- Scale engine
- Adjustable Wheelbase
- Alum internal shocks
Specifications
Wheelbase: 319MM (Adjustable Maximum 343MM, Minimum 295MM)
Size
- Front Width: 74MM / 2.91″
- Rear Width: 118MM / 4.65″
- Axle Width: 171MM / 6.73″ (Not Included Hex)
- Total Length: 519MM / 20.43″
- Weight: 2.7KG
TRANSMISSION:
- Front-Mounted Motor (NOTE: motor not included.)
- Realistic, detailed transmission housing in a cast metal look
- All metal internal gears 3 output shaft, Forward/Reverse, linear + inertial output
- Realistic scale cooling fan (Equipped with mini motor and belt drive)
- Adjustable installation Gear ratio 1:24.8
AXLES:
- Die-cast zinc alloy housing
- Ackermann steering, Up to 45 degrees
- Front / Rear Panhard bar
- Reverse transmission, smooth action for an efficient drivetrain
- Hardened steel helical gear set
- Compact yet durable design
- The gear ratio of 1:3.6
SHOCKS:
- Separate design, spring + shock damping
- Compact yet durable design
- Organ style cover,
- Highly detailed and super realistic
DRIVESHAFTS:
The front and rear driveshafts feature an updated design for added strength
Added carbon hardened steel material which reduces flex and fatigue
A hexagon-splined slide offers super travel length and super-smooth operation
SUSPENSION:
The link rod is made out of heat-treated carbon steel to withstand extreme conditions and the black rubber boot protects the link rod from the elements for even more durability while adding to the scale look.
You will need:
- Body (TRC/302243)
- Wheels & Tires
- Battery
- Motor & ESC
- Servo
- Radio (TX & RX)
Parts In Our Build:
- RCRun LC80 Kit (AsiaTees)
- RCRun LC80 Interior (AsiaTees)
- Team Raffee Co. LC80 Hard Body (AsiaTees)
- HobbyWing XERUN AXE R2 2100kV FOC System (AsiaTees)
- JX Servo 45KG Waterproof Brushless Metal Gear Digital Servo 8.4V (AsiaTees)
- Team Raffee Co. 1.9 Steelie Beadlock Wheels (AsiaTees)
- Team Raffee Co. 1.9 Crawler Tire 1.2″ Type B (AsiaTees)
- Killerbody LED Light System (AsiaTees)
Craig Veness
RC-TNT
Craig has been into radio control since the 90s and into RC crawling since about 2010, when a Losi MRC started the obsession! Now it’s all rocks this and crawl that and upgrade all the things! …You know how it is, right? Welcome home 🙂
