Redcat Caldera SC 10E Short Course Truck Review - Newest Version

The Redcat Racing Caldera SC 10E 4WD Brushless 1/10 RC Short Course Truck has been revised several times over the years so I felt it was time to review the newest version to see what it has to offer.  Also, this same Caldera 10E platform is available as a buggy and a monster truck with the main differences being the body, wheels and tires.

Upon opening the box, everything seems well packed and I was impressed with the paint job of the body which looks much better in person than the pictures I have seen on the internet.

I removed the truck from the box which is twist tied to the bottom cardboard tray.  Looking the truck over, I noticed an issue with the front wheels rubbing right behind the front wheel well area on both sides.  At first, it appeared the body hole locations were off.  Upon further inspection, the front body posts were angled forward somewhat.  It's hard to tell if the one body post is like this from the factory or if it has been tweaked slightly from being in the packaging.  The solution I came up with was to swap the two body mounts so the one with the angled body posts was on the rear.  This moved the body back about an 1/8 of an inch.  Additionally, using some curved scissors, I cut out the front wheel wells right on the mold line.  After doing this, the tires had plenty of clearance.

The next step was to install the antenna tube to the antenna tube holder.  I had to use a small flat blade screw driver to open up the clamp for the plastic antenna tube.  Then it was a matter of feeding the antenna wire into the tube, pushing it into the holder and tightening the nut.

I was impressed to find mounted in the Caldera chassis a Hobbywing 60 am brushless ESC combined with a 3421KV 4-pole brushless motor.  The ESC is easily programmed with a SET button that is held down with blinking lights to confirm each setting.  The ESC has the ability to program - 2 running modes, 4 maximum brake settings, 8 drag brake settings and 4 punch settings.  The included battery is a Hexfly 7.2V 3200 Mah LiPo battery with a deans plug.  A Redcat female T plug to 4.0 banana plug adapter is included so you can also run a Hexfly 7.4V LiPo that has a 4.0 banana plug with the Caldera SC 10E.  The AC charger puts out 900mA, so more of a slow charger that will take about 90 to 120 minutes to fully charge the battery. 

Moving onto the radio gear is a really nice 2.4GHZ transmitter that has a flip up cover for adjusting steering trim, throttle trim, steering dual rate and reverse for both channels.  The radio takes 4 AA batteries and has a really nice feel to it, very well balanced.  The servo is just a plastic gear 3KG Hexfly servo but so far has held up okay.

After charging the battery, I was checking the steering and noticed that the steering rack was contacting the front center drive cup when turning all the way to the right.  The solution was to readjust the steering links so they were both the same length and I also set the links so the front has about 1 degree of toe out.  You can also turn down the steering dual rates which will limit the maximum travel each direction.

The truck has plenty of adjustments which gives a lot of tuning options to help fine tune the handling.  You get 3 shock mounting options on the shock tower and on the arms both front and rear, as well as an adjustable camber and two inner upper link mounting positions front and rear.  While the Caldera SC 10E is primarily made for bashing, it's good to know that you can fine tune the handling to get the car dialed in on your chosen surface.  A tuning manual is also included which has setup sheets which could come in handy when trying different set ups.

Speaking of the tuning manual, it covers adjusting gear mesh.  I did find the gear mesh to be just a tad on the loose side.  Ideally, the spur gear should just have the slightest amount of wiggle as you check it in several different spots.  If the gear mesh is too tight, it will feel locked in some spots without any play between the gears which are 32 pitch (mod .8).

Everything on the truck is heavy duty including the shocks which are big bore size.  They are plastic but feel pretty good.  The 4wd drive train consists of front and rear gear diffs with a center spool.  Power is transmitted to all four wheels with CVA drive shafts.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the axles are 5mm compared to most 1/10 vehicles this size that come with 4mm axles.  The rod ends do feel a little tight but don't seem to affect the suspension movement or the steering.  Plus they will loosen up as they wear and I would rather have them a little tight than with too much slop.

 

 The wheels and tires are soft and seem to provide good traction on most surfaces but have a really tall profile.  Since the tires are so tall, I moved the lower shock position to the outer most hole on each lower suspension arm.  This lowers the truck slightly and also helps to reduce the side to side body roll.  Switching to a more traditional SCT tire will lower the truck and will also help the handling. 

After checking the truck over one more time, it was time to have some fun.  The truck has really good acceleration and top speed.  Very minimal cogging with the sensorless motor.  The brakes were too strong with the default esc brake setting, so I adjusted it from 75% to 50%.  Handling was really good but the truck was loose while turning off power.  You can get a sway bar as an option which I will try in the front to take out some of the off power steering.  The truck really rips around and seems very composed over the surfaces that I ran it on.

Some tips:  use some blue thread-lock on any of the screws that go into metal and be careful not too over tighten any of the screws.  You only need to tighten them until they feel tight and don't need to tighten any further.  The electronics are listed as waterproof but I would take care when driving in wet conditions to only drive over really shallow puddles since most electronics aren't made to be fully submerged.

Recommended upgrades would be

1. The Hexfly 15KG metal gear servo which is much more durable than the stock plastic servo.
2. A faster charger such as the Hexfly HX-403 LiPo charger which is 3 times faster than the stock charger.  
3. The Redcat BS903-111 metal steering knuckles are a good option to beef up the front end even more.  
4. Something else worth considering would be to get the sway bar which you can try in the front or back or both to help get the handling to your liking.  To make one sway bar unit you will need one Redcat BS905-009 anti roll bar and two Redcat BS903-029 anti roll bar links.

Overall, I am quite happy with the Caldera SC 10E it really offers a great value considering what you get.  It has more tuning options and a longer wheelbase than the Redcat Blackout SC.  The longer wheelbase helps keep the front end down under hard acceleration.  Really the only downsides are the plastic gear servo which is easy to upgrade for around $18 and the tall tires which may be good enough for bashing but generally I find a lower profile tire will provide better overall handling.

My out of the box ratings for the Redcat Caldera SC 10E are

• Speed  =  4 out of 5
• Handling  =  3.5 out of 5
• Durability  =  4 out of 5
• Electronics  =  4 out of 5
• Upgrade Part Options = 3.5 out of 5

TOTAL = 19 out of 25

This Redcat Caldera SC 10E Short Course Truck is available for purchase right now at BRS Hobbies for $ 249.99 with FREE shipping within the United States.  Here is the link - Redcat Caldera SC 10E Brushless 4WD 1/10 RC Short Course Truck