Originally Posted by Rich RC Trujillo

Hi All, i'd like to address the Ascender status. For those that don't know me, i'm a Senior Product Developer for Horizon Hobby. From the start of Vaterra, I worked on all the Ascenders, Touring cars and Twin hammers. So to say the least Vaterra has been close to me..

That being said, I wanted to clarify that there will not be a new version of the Ascender and no, the Axial SCX10 III was not going to be the Ascender 2.0. The SCX10 III was a ground up design from Matt Kearney (a long time designer at Axlal). Being that I worked on the SCX10 III and Capra projects, we were able to incorporate the patented sliding chassis rails for the SCX10 III now that Axial is a brand of Horizon. Vaterra is NOT going out of business as Vaterra is a brand of Horizon (like Mountain Dew is a brand of Pepsico).

The current Vaterra line of vehicles will continue to be made and supported with spares etc as long as their is enough demand to meet production. They are not going away anytime soon.

I want to thank everyone that has supported the Ascender and continues to do so. I appreciate the loyalty to this rig. We were always the underdog but I always felt we had a killer chassis with fit and finish, its just been tough to overcome the "torque twist" comments that continues to haunt me to this day LOL. I learned a lot from this rig.

I know this info will upset many of you and you won't understand why we are not making a 2.0 version but there is a lot of thought that goes into these decisions. Our leadership at Horizon is very supportive and does not take this lightly. As the developer that worked on every Ascender, I felt i should let you guys know sooner than later and "rip the band-aid" off.

Hopefully this clears it up for you guys and don't hold too much ill will towards Horizon. I'm proud of the company i work for and we all take pride in what we do and want to offer the best experience we can to the RC consumer.

Thanks,

Rich

Originally Posted by M1tch (Post 6014864)

Despite the denial about the new SCX chassis not being the base of a new Ascender, I cant help feeling a bit cheated. I'm feeling grumpy about this, but put that down to being an old guy lol.

I have enough parts to keep my 2 Ascenders going for a long time anyway. I still enjoy them as much as I did when I bought them. The only problem is I can't think of any improvements I can make to them. Hard old life ain't it?

My nephew has bought and built an SCX10.3 and likes it a lot. But he lives too far away for me to see it in action.

At least Horizon have done the decent thing and improved the quality. I had an early SCX based truck and got tired of repairing it if it just took a small tumble. My Ascenders have had some big crashes, but still been able to drive them.

Originally Posted by smog (Post 6014957)

. At this point do we even need another? :

Originally Posted by rkj__ (Post 6015011)

I still think there is room in the market for a scale 4x4 prerunner truck.


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Originally Posted by meatmonkey (Post 6015367)

I feel this doesn't bode well for Twin Hammer parts availability. Some are already showing up as "discontinued".

My Ascender is so reliable I'm not worried. I've got a set of gears, cvds, and housings so I should be set for years.

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF (Post 6014758)

I heard that on Harley's stream, I though about posting it up but didn't want to be the bearer of bad news.

I think Josh took a bit too much pleasure in this news, he had a huge smile. Not cool Josh lol

Originally Posted by M1tch (Post 6014864)

I have enough parts to keep my 2 Ascenders going for a long time anyway. I still enjoy them as much as I did when I bought them. The only problem is I can't think of any improvements I can make to them. Hard old life ain't it?

At least Horizon have done the decent thing and improved the quality.

Originally Posted by smog (Post 6014957)

I think most of us saw this coming when Horizon took over Axial. As long as Horizon continues to support the Ascender I cant really complain.

From what I understand and the way I see it, SCXiii takes the Axial platform to where it should have been long ago. It comes with proper quality plastics and shocks that don't require replacement before its even run(just like the Ascender8)). The way I see it, this is the Ascender and SCX10 blended and then impoved upon. The Axial name is only used because it has more significant history and sells. The Ascender is awesome, I still run mine....more body and part options please and thank you:mrgreen:

Originally Posted by smog (Post 6015404)

How would you set up a prerunner? IFS? Wider Axles?
.

Originally Posted by Itali83 (Post 6025125)

Sadly, I think what we’ve got is what we’ve got. Better get what parts you need/want now.

Ben