JConcepts is giving the new Kyosho Ultima SC some love today. They have announced that their very popular Illuzion Dare and Illuzion Manta bodies, which have been dressing up the Slash and SC10 since those heady early days of the short course class, are also a direct fit for Kyosho’s hot new entry in the short course arena.

The Manta features modern short course styling and an optional rear spoiler, while the Dare is patterned after the larger Baja style desert trucks with huge racks of lights on the front bumper and visor. Both bodies have extra fender clearance for using the lastest tire and wheel combos and come with window masks, decal sheets, and overspray film. MSRP for the Manta is $42.00 and the Dare is $40.00, check with your local hobby shop for availability.

These are some great looking bodies, those of you that have a Kyosho Ultima SC should give them a peek. Click through to JConcepts’ site for more info.

Everybody likes saving a little cash now and then. Lucky for us a few of the big dogs are making it easy to save some big cash right now. Rebates abound out there on some great gear and cars.

Basher friendly Duratrax is giving $15.00 back to you when you buy an Evader EXB or Evader EXT (check out our review!). Considering the already ridiculously low price points of these two RTRs, we might just be approaching ludicrousness. These rebates are good until May 31st. Get all the details and your rebate form straight from Duratrax.com.

If you’re in the market for something a little larger, say a 1/8 scale truggy, you might want to have a look at the rebates on Losi’s line of 1/8 scale race rollers. You can save up to $150 depending on which car you choose. And just because they’re cool like that, Losi also has a $50 rebate on their crazy cool Comp Crawler race roller. These rebates last until April 30th, so now would be the time to buy. Losi’s site has all the info you need.

Perhaps you’re thinking “come on man, I already have enough cars,” to that we say there’s no such thing as enough cars! What are you doing reading this site?! Around these here parts we don’t take too kindly to that kinda nonsense talk. But if you insist that you have enough cars, then how about a new radio? Futaba has a special deal going on right now that lets you to buy a second receiver for only $10.00 when you buy a qualifying FASST radio such as the 3PKS or 4PK. Considering the normal cost of Futaba’s FASST receivers that’s a pretty freakin’ good deal. This offer is only good at participating hobby shops and ends on April 30th. Click on through to Futaba’s site to get what you need to know.

These deals aren’t going to last forever, so get to your local hobby shop and get to buyin’ fool.

The orange team is putting out the goods today. Novak has a new ESC and motor combo that should satisfy your torque needs and please your wallet. The Novak Rooster Crawler has been paired with the budget 55T Terra Claw brushed motor for the low, low MSRP of less than $100.00 ($99.99 anyone? huh? amirite?). This is an ideal combo for the frugal rock crawlers out there and also those that just want their other kinds of cars to go very, very slow. Look for it at your local hobby shop some time in April.

Novak also has some new hats to cover your head, if your head requires covering. Bald guys, I’m lookin at you… They have a fancy black hat with pin stripes and an orange embroidered Novak logo, and a resplendant orange hat with a black embroidered logo. These are available now, so get one to keep your scalp out of the sun.

Novak’s site has all the info you need.

I’d like to take a moment to welcome on board one of our new writers, Jeff Hoy.
Jeff will be helping out with a lot of the daily articles and reviews among some other behind the scenes work to help take Big Squid RC to the next level! We are really glad to have him on board, and look forward to some of his original stuff he has planned.

He also has a personal blog here: http://www.jeffhoy.us/

HPI Racing has announced that their two big boys, the Savage XL and Savage Flux are now shipping with a 2.4GHz radio system! Both of these trucks Reviewed very well, and adding a 2.4GHz radio makes it even more basher friendly!

Drop by the official HPI Racing site for more information.

Fresh from those funky cats that gave us the exceedingly awesome 1/18 scale Scalpel pan car, Robitronic, comes the new ready-to-run EST- BL 2wd stadium truck. It’s aimed at beginners but don’t think for a minute that it’s gonna skimp on the features. The Robitronic EST- BL comes from the factory with pure, unadulterated brushless power AND a 2.4 GHz radio system. If you’re not swayed by the short course revolution and want to keep it real and old skool then this might be the truck for you. Unfortunately no word was given about MSRP or release date, but keep an eye out for it as we’re sure it’s coming soon. Batteries not included.

Check all the specs at the Robitronic web site.

It’s ready for it’s closeup:

Team Associated has a new truck in their big, officially licensed line of Lucas Oil Off-Road Series SC10 trucks.  The new truck is modeled after the LeDuc Bros’ Rockstar energy drink trucks.  It’s not just a gussied up new body though, AE has decided to include their brand-spankin’ new 2.4 GHz XP3-SS 3 channel radio system instead of the old and tired AM system all the others come with.  MSRP for this new setup is $369.99 and you should be able to find it on your local hobby shop’s shelves next month.

Get more info into your brain at Team Associated’s web site.

The fine folks at GM Racing have decided to bless us with a new series of LiPo batteries.  Now available through the Schumacher Racing shop, you can take your pick of a 5400 mAh 7.4v at 50c or in a smaller form-factor at 45c, a 5200 mAh 7.4v saddle pack at 45c, or even a 3.7v 5400 at 40c for you guys that are into that sort of thing.

Here’s some pretty pictures:

Check out the Schumacher Racing web site for complete information.

So the Team Associated SC18 recently started shipping, and we thought we would share some pictures and a video with everyone to check out. Enjoy!

Check out Team Associated for more information.

“I recently bought a Slash 4×4 and hear guys are running a center diff.
Whats the benefits?”
(name and address withheld by request)

Cubby- The Slash 4×4 is a great truck, congrats on your new fly ride. So about that fancy dancy center diff, what’s the real scoop? If you dig pulling massive wheelies,
the center diff is not for you. With the center diff installed, the moment the front wheels come off the ground, the diff will transfer power away from the rear wheels to the front wheels, resulting in the front end coming back down to terra firma in a hurry. The trade off is the center diff will make your truck easier to drive from a dead stop, and will also make your truck more controllable in the air. My final verdict- if you are bashing, just running the stock slipper is great, if you do a lot of track driving and/or jumping, at least give the center diff a try.

==========

Cubby,
I wanna ask this girl Ashley to prom, what’s the best way to do it?
J.D.

Cubby- Yes indeed J.D., it’s that time of year again, prom season. First piece of advice, don’t just drop a bomb out of left field. By this I mean make sure the chick knows you exist. If you are already fairly close to her great, and you can skip too piece of advice number two. If aren’t “close” with her, at least a couple weeks before you intend on asking her, you need to be talking to her at least once a day. I mean, if some chic you didn’t know at all came up and asked you to prom, you’d assume she was psycho. Once you’ve talked to her enough that she knows you exist, you just gotta show some stones and ask. Don’t beat around the bush, don’t candy coat it, just be clear and concise. Exactly what you need to say is “Will you go to
prom with me?”. If she says yes, you are dialed (and I expect a full report after your prom).If she says no, be a man, hold your head high, and move on to greener pastures. There are over 3 BILLION women on this planet, trust me, there IS one out there for you.

That’s it for this week. Submit your questions to cubby at BigSquidRC dot com.

YOUR Cub Reporter

I just got a press release from Speed Passion talking about their new 1/8th scale buggy and truggy speed controller called the Cirtix R8. It runs both sensored and sensorless motors and comes with the pocket programmer so you can set it up anywhere, and don’t need to drag your laptop along.

. For more info, hit up the official Speed Passion website for more details.

Yep! It’s that time again, time to find us some fresh meat! So we are back on the hunt! We are looking for writers that LOVE RC, and want to talk about it! You need to be able to produce a minimum of 2 articles a week. They don’t have to be original reports all the time, we need people that can handle the press release stuff as well.

Do you hang out in the forums? Stay on top of the latest and greatest RC news? Have access to photoshop or some other picture editor? We need your help!

If you know a little about web pages/html, picture editing, (a little writing talent wouldn’t hurt, but if you are a reader of the site, you know it’s not really a necessity.) We need help from daily news to original articles. Having some contacts in the RC industry is a plus, but not a requirement. Being able to use a picture editor to scale and place logo’s is now a MUST, as well is some decent communication skills.

Have a specialty? Only into Drag Racing, or Rock Crawling? That’s cool. We cover it all, and we need more people to write about it. We are growing, and the only way to keep it happening is to feed the squid more writers!

If you are interested drop us an email, maybe give us a small example, and we’ll go from there.
If you are in the Chicago area, there are some good perks like driving the latest RC vehicles before they are released to the public, and all the stickers you could want! (also, you should be over 18, we don’t want to get in trouble with anyone’s parents!) Your first test? Figure out how to send me an email! If you are not interested in posting press releases, working on the web page, or you have zero free time and ‘might be able to squeeze in some work’ please think twice before sending the email.

Thanks,
Brian

While RC Drag Racing has really been gaining popularity over the last few years, I didn’t expect to see this while walking through my Toys R’ Us the other day! RC Dragsters from WooWee! With a blistering top speed of 8.5mph and a real drag parachute, I don’t think my Grand Motorsports has anything to be worried about. I’m pretty sure I can guess what Mike Ogle will be buying the kids for x-mas though! Saw it in the store, thought it was different enough to be worth mentioning.

First up this week are a couple reminders. Looks like BigSquid’s next Li-po battery shootout starts testing next weekend. Venom vs Checkpoint vs Common Sense vs JBG vs Zippy vs $9 Ebay pack vs Hong Kong mystery pack equals one hell of a battery shootout.

Second reminder is that the annual April fools edition of THE Cub Report is coming up soon, so if you are in the industry, PLEASE consider the date before your lawyers contact us. Thanks!

Need more proof the rc hobby IS headed to the mainstream? Spike Tv has been giving all kinds of loving to the rc industry lately, including a 30 minute segment on the HPI 5B on their Powerblock Horsepower show. When was the last time rc was given 30 full minutes on a “mainstream” cable channel? Awesome to see, and thank you Spike and HPI!

Want even more mainstream rc? Justin Barcia-Barcia-Barcia won the Supercross Lites Class in Toronto Saturday night, his first Supercross win ever. What was on the back of his helmet? A HUGE RC10.com sticker that got some decent tv time! Way to go Justin and Associated!

In last weeks Cub Report, I mentioned that it was only a matter of time before a marshal is seriously hurt or killed by an 8th scale. Well one of our readers sent in some pretty gnarly pictures of what it looks like to get rocked in the face by an 8th scale truggy. Some of you southern racers might know a fella by the name of Trent Dill, he races and does race promotion down in the Alabama/Florida area. Here’s what happened to Trent in his own words….

“So I was helping turn marshal during practice. I had just relieved a kid that was pretty young and I didn’t think it was a good idea that he be out there turn marshalling for the 8th scale nitros as young as he was. So I got out there and got into that zone and things were fine. The race director called the track to go cold. Well of course you have those guys that have to get just one more lap in. Well I bent down to marshal a buggy and on my way up I got clocked in the face. Luckily the safety crew was there, unfortunately I WAS the safety crew. I am honestly glad it was me that got hit instead of that kid and I gotta say thanks to Tommy Whalen and John Greene. Tommy gave me a ride to the local ER while working EMT duties on myself, and John Greene took up donations that were given to our local make a wish foundation. Also don’t let me forget Mike at Caster Racing for doing the same thing. I hope some good came out of it for somebody.”

The first picture of Trent’s face is from 12 hours after being hit, the second one is about 36 hours later, and the last one is about 2 months later.

So why don’t we be proactive here? We can prevent injuries like the ones that Trent suffered. We can step in right now and make sure nobody ever dies while marshaling rc cars. Why should we wait for the first death before we make changes? Why should our hobby wait for the insurance companies and lawyers to FORCE the changes upon us? Too many industry types, sanctioning bodies, and race directors have kept their heads in the sand too long, just hoping the first death doesn’t come at one of their events. It’s time everyone pulls their heads out of the sand.

Till next week, support your local tracks, bash spots and your local hobby shops.

YOUR Cub Reporter

New from Team Associated and Reedy is the XP SC450-BL Brushless ESC and 540R Brushless motor. The system is built to fit most 1/10th scale RC vehicles, and come with most the standard features. The ESC is meant for sensorless brushless motors, has lipo voltage cut off, auto detection, reverse lockout, proportional and drag brakes. The motors come in 3300kV, 3900kV, 4900kV and 6100kV. The last two are only meant to take 2s lipo, where the first two and take a 3s. They are sold separately or in a combo.

Check out Team Associated for more information.

Since I really dig the HPI Blitz, I’m very happy to see a lot of companies also showing the HPI Blitz some love! Outerwears has just announced they now have one of their awesome covers for the Blitz! It helps keep dirt and water out while allowing air flow inside to keep things cool! They come in black, blue, red, yellow, orange, purple, and lime green! WOW!

Visit the Outerwears Performance Products site for more info on their products!

New from MRC is the RB992 Palm Charger. Designed to charge all types of batteries, the little AC/DC Palm Charger adds accuracy and safety by bringing the technology of their Super Brain charger line with AccuteT Lithium balancing technology. It has a 5-Amp maximum output, and will charge up to 12 cell NiCD/NiMh and 1-4 cell LiPo, Li-Ion and LiFE. It’s so simple, you shouldn’t even need instructions to use it, and it also has a PC interface available!

Check out the MRC webpage for more details.

We have updated the RC Reviews section with the XXX Main TRUCK X2 DVD Review for anyone looking to watch some great bashing video action! If your a true basher, and haven’t seen a XXX Main DVD, you don’t know what your missing!

Head over, or click a picture to read the full review!

“Hey Cubby,
My son wants to get into fuel powered r.c. cars. Is there anything i should know before jumping in? Are they worth it over electric? Thanks.
Dylan S.”

Hi Dylan, and thanks for submitting a question that we get about ten times a week here. First off, I hate nitro with a passion that borders on zeal. With that in mind, I do know of people who totally enjoy the sounds and smells of nitro rc cars. Personally, I think they are a pain in the rear and that nitro technology just isn’t quite here yet for a reliably running engine. Nitro engines simply take too much time and effort to tune correctly for a normal Joe Blow. I can’t tell you how many hundreds of nitro noobs I’ve seen down at the track only ONCE. Those noobs certainly get frustrated and just pitch their gear in a closet when they get home. But to each their own, if nitro floats your boat, go for it. If it’s too much of a pain for you, sell it and get into electric.
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“I want to get into racing, whats the big class rite now?” (name and address withheld by request)

That’s actually a hard question, as that really varies on what part of the country you live in. But in general, if you are into on-road cars, I’d have to say the VTA Class (Vintage Trans-Am) is one of the most popular at many tracks. The VTA class features very realistic looking car bodies, and the racing is set up to be fairly economical. Most other on road classes are a real mess right now, and very little fun to race in. If you are into off road (like the majority of racers are) then I’d say the Stock/Spec Short Course Class is the biggest class at the moment. Stock Short Course racing also features very scale appearance, and when a local track does the rules correctly, it’s also very economical. 8th scale nitro buggies are also huge in most parts of the country, but the cost to compete in that class is easily ten fold that of Stock Short Course.

Submit your questions to cubby at BigSquidRC dot com!

YOUR Cub Reporter

To help make things as easy as possible for the short course racers, Novak has released the Havok 3S Ballistic Spec Brushless System. The system comes with a sensored brushless motor for smoother control and Traxxas Plugs for quick and easy Slash installs.

Visit Novak’s site for all the details.