FMS is bringing the spirit of the Camel Trophy to 1/10 scale with their new FCX10 Range Rover — a release that promises equal parts nostalgia and trail prowess. How well does it deliver?
From: FMS
Direct Link: FMS 1:10 FCX10 Land Rover Camel Trophy Edition Range Rover
Link to Companion YouTube Video Review: Click Here
Review By: Doug Welker
Pictures By: Doug Welker
Specs-
RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Scale: 1/10
Length: 588mm
Width: 263mm
Wheelbase: 321mm
Motor: 550 Brushed Motor 32T
Speed Controller: R6D-ESC-BS Receiver
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: 2.4GHz MG6 6-Channel Transmitter
Differential: Locked front and rear
Driveshafts: Plastic
Shocks: Oil filled, plastic body
Screws: Hex/Metric
Battery: Not Included
Part Number: #FMS11044RSYL-SP
Street Price: $389
What’s In The Box- You get the Range Rover, radio, four scale Jerry cans, a scale limb riser kit, a Camel Trophy badge for the roof rack, and various small wrenches.
Build Quality- Everything arrived tight and properly meshed, though one wheel nut was slightly loose. First impression? The classic Range Rover body looks absolutely fantastic — FMS nailed the stance, proportions, and Camel Trophy details.
Test Drivers- Doug Welker
Test Venues- Primarily Castlewood State Park, Bangert Island State Park, and Klondike State Park- all in the St. Louis, MO general region.
Set-up Notes- A T-style battery adapter was used with the XT60-equipped ESC. The included scale accessories fit well — just make sure to secure the Jerry cans with the provided double-sided tape or they may eject mid-roll (ask me how I know). The limb riser kit looks awesome once assembled, but it’s a bit fiddly to build and not ideal for hard crawling — the front brush guard flexes when it hits obstacles, which can cause the risers to pop off.
Turning: The axle-mounted servo geometry gives great leverage, making steering strong and consistent even when wet. The stock servo is solid for trail use, and it passed our water resistance test. Hardcore rock crawlers will want an upgrade, but for its intended use, it’s matched well.
Jumping: This isn’t a jumper — it’s a heavy, low-speed trail rig. That said, when it did catch a little air off a root or rock, the suspension soaked it well enough. Just don’t expect stunt truck vibes.
Bumps/Whoops: Hitting bumpy sections of trail was a lot of fun because of the way the vehicle’s suspension reacts. The body’s weight makes it so the truck wants to stay on the ground and kind of forces the suspension to do the job, and the result is something that looks like a classic video of an old Land Rover pounding the Camel Trophy trail. It plays the part well!
On-Road: The combination of that big, heavy Range Rover body up top and a soft suspension with sticky tires down low means you will be on your lid a lot. Not advisable!
Grass/Leaves: Being equipped with non-portal axles plus smaller 1.9 tires means the Range Rover has a lower ride height compared to other similar scalers on the market, and therefore it doesn’t work super great in taller grass. Same with leaves. Those surfaces are best left to taller trucks.
Trail Driving: An absolute blast on the trail. Loose dirt, creek crossings, roots, and small hills are where this truck excels. Despite the large, heavy body, it’s surprisingly nimble. The only consistent limiter is ground clearance — tall obstacles and large roots can hang it up.
Rock Crawling: The tires give it great grip on the rocks, and it could make lines that would surprise you given how long, wide and heavy the body is. Being lower to the ground absolutely helps it when crawling, especially side hilling. The biggest issue is the large front bumper as it will easily cause the truck to hang up on gnarly rocks, so you need to think as you set your course. While it’s more of a trail truck than a dedicated rock crawler, it was still no slouch on the rocks.
Tires: The included tires work great on both the trail AND on the rocks. I was surprised at how well they hooked up as they are a good compound, especially for an RTR. Cosmetically though, I think the tires are the one weak spot on what is otherwise a spectacular looking rig. I mean, they don’t look horrible or anything, but the tread pattern isn’t very realistic and it would’ve been cool to see some kind of licensed tire or scale appearing pattern.
Be aware that of the 3 trucks that make up the 1:10 FCX10 Camel Trophy line, the Range Rover and Defender 110 both have these same 4.19″ OD sized tires. The Discovery II includes larger 4.72″ OD tires. That gives the Discovery slightly more ground clearance.
Something of note is that these are bead lock tires, so you can swap them to something else should you want to. I test mounted a set of JConcepts 1.9 Bossman 4.19″ OD tires and they fit great on the stock wheels.
Power: This truck was made for 3S. On 2S, you just don’t have enough top end speed or low end torque, regardless of whether you are in first or second gear. On 3S though, it felt REALLY good. Both gears are very usable, with the truck having plenty of low end grunt in 1st gear and good wheel speed in 2nd. The ESC and motor felt fine heat-wise on 3S, even on long trail runs. 3S is where it’s at!
Radio: The included 6-channel does the job. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like a beefed-up standard fare RTR radio. That’s to say you get decent ergonomics and various analog trims, but it feels properly weighty and also has a good deal of controls, being it’s a six channel. I very much like the paddle you use to turn the lights on and off. It’s easy to shift gears, and the truck does so smooth enough. It would sure be nice to be able to easily turn the turn signals off though.
Broken Parts: The Range Rover was trailed hard, but the only ill-effects are some serious rock rash on the axles, some creek moss wrapped around the knuckles, and a missing Jerry-can that fell out because the proper mounting tape wasn’t used! The only maintenance that was performed on the truck throughout our testing was tightening a wheel nut that was a bit loose from the factory. Nothing else over the course of 3 trail runs and various bash sessions. It proved to be a tough truck.
Misc Notes:
Man, this collection of trucks looks stellar. FMS did a wonderful job recreating the classic Camel Trophy Trucks in 1/10 fashion. I’m a Camel Trophy nut, and I really think they did good work here. I’d imagine there will be bleed over here of 1:1 fans wanting to pick one of these up just to display them!
The best way I can describe driving the Range Rover is that it feels like you are driving a performance oriented, lexan body-equipped 1.9″ scaler but with a smidge of ultra-scale hard-body vibe thrown in. What I mean by this is that you can run it hard and still get over/through a lot of terrain….but you need to drive it with juuuuust a bit of care and strategy if you are tackling anything wooly. It’s a sweet spot because while I like wheeling super-scale rigs and all that accompanies that, I like to be able to lead foot my stuff as well and this one does enough of both to make me happy!
The hookup for the lights is done via a magnetic connection at the rear of the truck, which is incredibly slick. For those wondering what the big deal is, it means you can easily remove the body without also having to unhook a lighting wire harness.
Speaking of the body, another cool feature is FMS clipless mount system that uses a latch system to easily mount or unmount it.
The included limb risers look very cool when mounted on the truck, but they are a bit of a PITA to build. They mount to the large front brush guard/bumper of the Range Rover, and said mounting points are quite bendable when you hit obstacles. This meant the limb risers kept falling off when hard obstacles would be hit, which was quite frequent when doing some hardcore rock crawling. Eventually, one of the pieces of mounting hardware backed out and fell off somewhere on the trail, so the risers were just removed. They look great, just be wary of keeping them on the truck if you plan to run hard and bang into stuff!
Summary:
The FMS 1:10 FCX10 Range Rover Camel Trophy Edition blends nostalgia, realism, and trail-ready fun at a solid price point. If you’re a Land Rover fan, Camel Trophy enthusiast, or just someone who loves a truck that both looks great and performs well, there is a good chance you’ll be really happy with this in your fleet!
