THE TOP 20 READERS RIDES OF THE YEAR
4 RUNNER CREW CAB CUSTOM
HANS HERNANDO « JAKARTA, INDONESIA
Hans tells us this build was inspired by—of all things—paint! He was taken by the boldness and subtlety of TRD Cavalry Blue so he decided to build a Toyota-based trail truck to wear it. He liked Pro-Line’s 1991 4Runner body, but wanted something unique so he converted it to approximate a short-bed crew cab pickup. The roll cage and spare tire mount are handmade to fit. Hans hung the customized shell on an Axial SCX10ii chassis, but upgraded it with RockJock axles and a Currie Antirock swaybar—both from Vanquish. There are SSD stainless steel suspension links, and SSD also supplied the Wraith 2-speed transmission. The steering servo is Savox and it is controlled by a Sanwa MT-S radio system. Power comes from a Holmes Hobbies Trailmaster Sport brushed motor controlled by a Hobbywing 1080 ESC. The rig rolls on a set of Pit Bull Rock Beast 1.9 tires wrapped around Incision Method MR307 bead-lock wheels. He’s got a Warn Zeon10 winch from RC4WD up front, and has plans to add Pro-Line scaler shocks and some scale accessories next.
KRYPTONITE KAMARO FUNNY CAR
MATT TOPAS « KAPOLEI, HI
The polished look of Matt’s classic Camaro funny car hides a tremendous amount of custom work to get it there. The body is a Lexan Parma Camaro that he carefully narrowed to get the proper proportions, and then he sprayed it in silver blue metallic enamel. That is hinged over a custom chassis Matt built using an aluminum base and brass frame rails, giving the car a 13-inch wheelbase with just a 7-inch wide rear end. The front end is sourced from a Tamiya tractor and the rear end uses an Integy gearbox with Traxxas Bandit drive shafts and suspension arms. Tires are Traxxas too: Magnum skinnies up front and slicks in back. Power comes from a Castle 4600kv brushless system, but its hidden by a 3D-printed Hemi motor from Dark Dragon Wing and has a custom-built set of zoomie exhaust pipes. The driver is a Tamiya piece with a few extra scratch-built scale accessories.
HIGH-DETAIL HILUX
ZACH AUDET « SAINTE-AGATHE-DES-MONTS, QUÉBEC, CANADA
It’s been more than 2 years since Zach first showed us his RC4WD Trail Finder 2 Toyota Hilux. Back then he had just started down the road to modding it, and the transformation to the truck we see today is striking. He’s fabricated a bunch of parts for it: A rear window protection screen, front and rear mud flaps, aluminum skid plates for the front end and transfer case, and a scale exhaust system. He also went to town in the RC4WD custom parts catalogue, snagging a set of Yota 2 axles with ARB diff covers, Superlift scale shocks and the Superlift steering rod kit, a Warn 9.5CTI winch with wireless winch controller, and the Mojave light kit. For power Zach chose an Axial 27T motor with a
