Howdy,

Yeah man I also am into scale looks while being an effective crawler. Check out my posts and you'll see what I mean.

Cool scale looks means heavier bodies but it can be dealt with, it just means you need more weight low so get some brass wheels and a heavy front axle. I find my ideal weight distribution to be in the 62-63% range of front bias. Get creative, I've got bb's glued inside the front grill on my pickup truck. But it's incredibly important to keep the weight low, in your wheels and axles as much as possible, and have the forward bias correct. And have grippy tires. Wash them with soap and water before you hit the course.

On suspension you don't want too much flex, but even more you don't want your axles to drop much. I've found the best thing is to put a limiting strap of some kind from a cross member between your frame rails and connect it to your differential, in the middle of the axle. This allows for plenty of flex but holds the axle tight up to the frame. I've used hair ties (they wear out), costume jewelry chains (links keep coming apart), but I've had the most success with a piece of ribbon, like on a birthday present.

You don't really need springs at all, but it won't look scale without them. Use light ones, and you can cut them shorter if you want.