+1 RMH. And one less wire to feed through a tight spot, and save some money. A good brushed motor and esc is still cheaper than a good brushless motor and esc. But I admit, I use brushless set-ups on my 1/9 kyosho demon rally racers and all of my speedy boats. But a 14$ dual ball bearing brushed motor..not bad. Dave's decals supplied some gas monkey decals on white background for final pics. Battery is up front and easy to get to by removing two small screws.
Note that the china made green metal frame comes with laser cut metal body covers. These were made out of sheet stainless? and came with some type of industrial coating/metal mix. Could not see the coating but it kept all types of paint from sticking (belt sander first, then enamel, water based, krylon, and even my go to rustoleum rattle can). Could not remove the coating with acetone, alcohol, and some other nasty solvents. Eventually, I had to torch the metal to about 600 degrees, then wire brushed it. After that, I got a good covering with model masters water based semi gloss black. I suspect that it is the actual metal and not a coating. Did not try acid wash, but that probably would have worked.
Another issue is that if you look at one of the pics, you can see that the motor/transmission is installed in reverse to that of the plastic frame Wraith. This is because putting it together the other way put the axels too far forward for the shock tower mounts and the tranny came up in the middle of the center consol. Perhaps when chinese engineer was copying the wraith to build this metal frame, he/she had the transmission mount backward in the initial design!?! Or to avoid a lawsuit...? don't know...
A bit of trimming to the regular wraith interior and all fits together well. I have scale size tires because I am trying to copy the builds of what are called "Rock Bouncers.' Some real hard core up-the-mountain 1000+hp racers(see pic of red racer). The HR green/black shocks (100mm for Wraith) have the perfect amount of lift/droop for weight of vehicle. I think I am using the medium springs...can't remember. Another note on tires: the alloy rims on my build did not fit the tires currently mounted because the included internal beadlock rings were not machined deep enough for the thicker tire wall. I used some old more deeply cut internal rings off spare steel 1.9 gelande wheels. Or I could have machined a deeper bore x2 for each ring x4 for all wheels.....
Fun build!! And she runs/climbs great.