RPP RC Jamboree 2016 – RC Crawling Around Lake Mendocino

Tony Phalen October 25, 2016 New RC Cars and Parts 342 Views

October is the perfect time of year for crawling, especially if you get to do it bordering a beautiful body of water like Lake Mendocino. Well, that’s exactly how the 2nd Annual RPP RC Jamboree went down! Loads of scale enthusiasts gathered in Northern California for this wonderful 2-day event that allowed participants and spectators alike to not only compete on a pretty technical offroad excursion, but also meet some of today’s top manufacturers and see some of their latest products.

Friday – RPP Day 1
Day 1 of the event happened on Friday, located out front of the RPP’s brick and mortar building in Ukiah. Several supporting manufacturers set up shop out front for everyone to stop by, say hi and see what was new and exciting. I had a chance to visit with RPP (they had a booth out front as well), RC4WD, Pro-Line, RC Mayhem Garage, MadDog RC, Lost Coast Backwood’s RC and Wertymade. All of these companies welcomed visitors to stop by, check out their goods and ask any questions they might have.

RPP also had a semi-permanent crawling area out in front of their shop. There was a large mountainous area with a functioning water feature; there were multiple ways to the top and a small bridge to cross the stream flowing down. There were also various bridges and other obstacles to tackle – all laid out to create a fun environment for crawling.

Some notable items:
RPP had their acrylic table stands out with their entire RPP Hobby line of Gear Head RC wheels on display. There were almost 40 different designs to choose from; if you can’t find something you liked, you’re WAAAAY to picky. I noted several designs I’m interested in for future builds; the detail is really top notch.

RC4WD had a TF2, a Defender, a fully-built Chevy Blazer complete with V8 engine installed and a pretty sick looking Jeep on the table. Tucked in the back was another TF2, however the body was completely covered in camo. When asked about it, Tom Allen, VP of Sales and Marketing for RC4WD, told me that is something new they’re doing; dipping the hard-body ‘Yota into camo. The final product is amazing!

Paul Willhite was in attendance and manning the Pro-Line tent. They were displaying their line of crawler tires mounted on a few different rigs and, of course, resting with one-wheel up on their concrete K-rails. These are really cool and if you haven’t had a chance to see one in person, you’ll be blown away. They’re pretty heavy (being real concrete) and look so cool covered in graffiti. Also on display were their new Hyrax 1.9″ G8 Rock Terrain tires. These have a pretty aggressive look and, according to anyone using them at this event, they’re one of the best PL crawling tires out right now. Yes, I have some on order!

The guys in the next booth over, RC Mayhem Garage, had a 6′ table out front and were busy assembling some of their scale products. Now, unfortunately, I hadn’t heard of them yet but I have a feeling they’re about to explode. RC Mayhem Garage 3D prints some incredible scale parts, everything from cinderblocks to generators, portable propane heaters and car batteries. The detail is pretty amazing – they even had a large diorama in their booth showboating all of their parts they offer. Very impressive to say the least – if you’re into super scale, give them a look!

MadDog RC was also in attendance and had some nice, machined products on display. They had an acrylic case with smaller parts including a ton of winch parts, shackles and some folding sand boards. A standing display also had all of their light bars – they had something for every need; long, short, bright and super bright. They even had a pair of circular lights which, in my opinion, looked pretty bad ass on their RR10 Bomber display rig!

Another small company made an appearance as well with some pretty cool parts. Lost Coast Backwood’s RC had some aluminum battery boxes and 3D printed inner fenders for Axial’s SCX10 II. The boxes come in silver or can be painted black for a more stealthy appearance; the inner fenders come in gray. Both attach without any surgery to your rig. I’m really diggin’ the inner fenders!

The final booth housed the one and only Wertymade. They had a few of their new bumpers and sliders on display for a couple different rigs, but the main attraction was the seriously sweet new rear end for the Axial SCX10 II. This custom rear was developed to give this rig an unmatched range of articulation; You can see from some of the pictures below just how much flex the SCX10 II has now! I was told that there was only going to be a limited amount of these made so if you want one, you better head over there and put your order in now. I mean it – go NOW!

Saturday – RPP Day 2
The actual crawling event was on Saturday and moved to the shores of Lake Mendocino. The group gathered in the AM to go over a few things; driver’s meeting, score cards, trail markers and, of course, donuts! Along with the standard gates, RPP had set up a few optional points along the route; you were not required to take these optional routes, but doing so would give you extra points. These optional routes included the Wertymade bumper test, Winch rock and a couple photo opp spots.

The course itself was a bit grueling, challenging both 1.9 and 2.2 drivers – even the Wraiths and RR10 Bombers had a difficult time in some locations. The one thing I did notice, though, was that the drivers that made it through a particularly tough section always hung out for a second to help out if it was needed, whether it was a verbal pointer or a full-on winch assist. No one was left behind – that was a great thing to see with the varied skill level at the event.

I’d also like to give a shout out to a new online mag dedicated directly to scalers – Scalers Magazine. It features alot of scale rigs as well as some cool builds – take a second and check it out!

If you live in the Ukiah area, you owe it to yourself to check out the RPP RC Jamboree. In addition to meeting some new faces, you’ll also have a chance to win some awesome prizes from the supporters of the event. Plus, what better way to spend a Saturday than some sun, beautiful scenery and a little offroad fun with the family. I’ll be back next year for sure – and this time I’m bringing my crawler with me!