Associated RC10 Classic Review: First Assembly Steps!

Review kit supplied by Modelsport.co.uk

We are ready to start building the RC10 Classic from Associated! In the last post, we showed you an extensive unboxing (including video!) that gave you a close-up view of everything you get in the kit. This time, we’ll complete the first steps of the kit assembly, starting with bags A and AA!

The first two steps of the assembly process have you open bags A and AA. You can clearly see what’s to be done. It’ll be interesting comparing this build to modern kit builds and assembly manual expectations. So far it’s looking good, but a little strange to see modern CAD drawings used for old-style parts!

The back page of the manual conveniently folds out so you can get the true size of the hardware you need to assemble each step. Very handy! Here, I’m holding one of the gold screws to its representation in the manual – a very handy way to make sure you’re installing the correct parts…and I did have to refer to this a couple of times, since I accidentally used the wrong screws in one area!

Here’s all the parts that are in bags A and AA. Strangely, you don’t actually use all of the parts and hardware in this step, but the leftovers are used in the next series of steps.

And we’re off! There’s the first part installed – the front body post! Woo-HOO!

Attaching the nosepiece to the chassis – this is where I’ll hold my hands up and say I initially used the wrong size screws here, however referring to the parts size reference got me going in the right direction again. The manual tells you to use threadlock on these 3 screws, but it’s not included with the kit. I’m not sure if Associated include threadlock with their kits nowadays, but I did have to go digging around my toolbox to find some. I’m just used to kits that include a tiny tube of it! These modern racers and their expectations, lemme tell ya…

Here’s the steering arms with the ball ends attached. The kit includes this plastic wrench that works fine to install the ball ends into these soft plastic pieces, but I’m not holding out much hope for the rest of the kit… Be careful as the hex part of the ball end gets close to the plastic of the steering arms, because that wrench WILL start to strip out.

Installing the steering arms into the chassis. No ball bearings here! Just fit the nylon nuts and tighten them down with the wrench shown, then back off the nut a bit until you have about a half thread of the bolt showing. Check that the arms move freely back and forth and you should be fine.

With all the steps completed, here’s what the underside of the chassis looks like for now – the screws aren’t completely flush with the chassis but they’re not going to snag on every bump in the ground, either.

Here’s how the steering arms look after installation – notice how much thread is showing.

And here’s the video showing the completed steps:

Next up, we start to attach the front suspension parts, with more photos and another video!

We’d like to thanks Modelsport.co.uk for supplying us with this review kit! Without them, we wouldn’t have much to show you. Check out the RC10 Classic on their site, they do worldwide shipping!