Today the Venom Group did a good job of filling my mail box with Venom Press Release goodness! Check all this stuff out!
First up is the Venom Heat Sink Motor Plate for the Axial Scorpion. It’s is CNC Machined from 6061 aluminum and finned for optimum motor cooling!

Next up is the Venom Steering Knuckle for the Axial Scorpion. It’s also made from the 6061 aluminum and comes with some sweet king pin covers to protect and add some bling!

Up next are the Venom Alloy Shocks. Green anodized with threaded shock bodies and two sets of springs for fine tuning.
Venom Also brings some new aluminum battery mounts to replace the stock plastic ones. This should help keep that chassis nice and rigid. Wow.. so many new parts! You Scorpion owners just got a new grocery list! I wonder how long before I see this stuff out in the wild.

Wrapping up this attack on the Axial Scorpion, Venom has a new upper link mount with a factory installed chrome steel ball with aluminum liners to capture the stock upper link for smoother operation. And finally a gear adaptor that adds rigidity to the stock plastic gear for optimum performance.

All these new Venom parts come with all the necessary hardware for easy installation! Wow.. a few more parts and they will have a complete crawler! Hehe.. lets keep our fingers crossed.

In other Venom news that isn’t Scorpion related, they now have a new tire called the Forty-Five with Griplox Inserts. They are high performance race tires that feature a wide 45mm contact patch and a asymmetrical 45 degree outside pin row design for optimal traction. No more trimming square pins to tune that tire traction. Those inserts look pretty sweet as well! I’m a big fan of inserts!

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Greeting’s from Florida! With a little help from Brian back in Chicago (hey buddy.. how’s the weather! Muhaha..) I’m going to try and bring some updates and pictures from the Snowbird Nationals. I’m beyond tired, so I’m going to keep this one short. There are 750 entries from 38 states and 10 different countries! the Doors opened at 4am, practice started at 5. The black grove was formed by 8am and the traction is insane!!! A few pictures here, MaxAmps HV’s featuring the new polycarbonate sleeves, a pic of Mike Haynes – Team Losi and TQ cells drivers pit spot, and a pic of the black groove in the carpet.. a little hard to see. Practice starts again at 5am! (yawn). no sleeply….. very tired…. the cubster.

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It’s Friday, which means one thing in the rc industry, no press releases on new products over the weekend! So let me dive right into the highlights of new releases this week.

The biggest news this week- the Novak 1/8th scale conversion kits. It’s quite obvious that the next big thing in rc racing will be 8th scale electric off-road. There are a couple rumors why there is no OEM 8th scale electric buggies at this point. The first being the fear of litigation related to lithium battery fires. The second being that several car manufactures have tried to make a kit, but drive-line failures due to the huge torque of BL and Li-po’s have kept them from releasing a kit to the public. Either way, the Novak conversion kits will have a huge impact on the number of electric 8th scalers you are going to see at your local tracks this
summer. Novak was the first to go mainstream with car specific brushless set-ups, now they are the first to mainstream electric 8th scale. So props out to Bob and the gang at Novak for once again releasing a forward thinking product.

On the brushless note, LRP released info on their new Vector X-11 BL motors this week. I can see some ole’ school, brush cutt’n, comm dropp’n, dyno love’n coots drooling at these new motors. But, I don’t think more brushless motors do anything for the health of the sport. The whole premise of using brushless is to buy one
motor, use it for a decade, then replace the bearings and race another decade. LRP and Novak have gone motor crazy as of late, releasing seemingly endless mounds of BL powerplants. Novak boasts over 24, yes, TWENTY FOUR different BL motors, and I can’t bring myself to count how many LRP has. There are really only three BL motors needed from any one brand- 1. Drivable 2. Fast and 3. STUPID. Perhaps I’m obtuse to why there is a “need” for dozens of motors, if that is the case, please email me at cubbyreporter at yahoo.com to show me the light. And while you’re at it, send me a good reason why any BL motor should ever be used in a “stock” class.

That’s it for this week. I’ve got an early flight out to spend an insufferable week in sunny Florida covering the largest rc car race on the planet for BigSquidRC.com. Support your local hobby shop, watch AMA Supercross for the first time in HD Sunday at noon EST on CBS, and get off the net, go pull some trigger.

Sincerely,
Your Cub-a-dub-in-your-tub Reporter

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We just got a press release from Duratrax that talks about their new 1/8th scale racing truck called the Duratrax RT-X 27. This is the only picture I have, nothing with the lid off yet. It’s hard to tell if it’s based on anything like the Warhead or the Raze. From the sounds of the press release, it sounds totally new! It will come with a 4.4cc G27CS SuperTigre engine and a Kwik-Pit Super Start. Can’t wait to check it out. Hit the NEW Product Forum for the full press release.

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Hot on the heels of their new brushless systems Schumacher USA has announced some new LiPo packs. The CORE RC 3250mah 7.4v now has a smaller form to fit those harder to fit areas. It has a impact resistant hard case with ‘cell shapes’ molded into the bottom that can key into those chassis that have the cut out spaces. It’s an interesting look. I like the hard case. Hit the NEW Product Forum for the full press release.

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Yes, even the best opinion writer in rc can miss a deadline. After the constant hate text messages from the men in black suits at BigSquidRC, I decided it was in my best interest to get my Week 3 review in their inbox.

First, before I start ranting, BigSquidRC is breaking out the big money and making sure you, the faithful reader, has live, daily coverage from the biggest rc race on the planet next week- the Snowbird Nationals. This is a big step for BigSquidRC. Unfortunately, I drew the short straw and am being forced to spend a week in all that horrible Florida weather covering the event for you.

O.k., so last week ROAR decided to jump into the 2000’s and release some Li-po rules. On one hand, it’s nice to see them finally get their heads in the game, on the other, they are about 4 years late (again). People can, and will argue about the pro’s and con’s of the specifics of these new rules, but at least they now exist. Let’s hope that when the next rage in cells come along (Li-Fe and others), they won’t wait 4 extra years to make them legal. Oh and, can I kick them in the shins again about keeping races at 5 minutes?

Losi jumped the shark. No, not last week when they introduced their version of the Rustler VXL, but when Pops and Jr decided to hand over the keys to Horizon. That’s not to say Losi is eating babies now days, they aren’t. But they are no longer a “win races” company, they are a “make money” brand name. Everybody has to keep food on their tables, but we’d rather see innovative products instead of Traxxas clones.

Before I sign off, I’d like to answer one note I received via email.
“Dear Cub Reporter,
You sound like an #@#$#@. Can’t you ever say anything positive?
Steve”

First off Steve, it takes one to know one. Secondly, I do make positive remarks, but only when they are warranted. It’s no secret this hobby/sport is in a downward slide, both on the race side, and on the retail side. Perhaps a little kick in the rear will do the industry more good than the constant positive banter. I’m only critical out of love for the sport.

With that said, support your local hobby shops, buy all the bling bling your Visa can handle, and be sure to check out BigSquidRC weekly, you never know what will be said next.
From the sub-zero middle of nowhere,
Your Cub Reporter

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In what I would pretty much consider a “Stop The Presses!” moment today, Team Novak dropped me a press release with talks of conversion kits for many popular NITRO buggies to convert them to brushless! Now I know what you are thinking… ok.. so they probably made a kit for one OFNA, the one that came out that one week that had a Tuesday in it..(yea they come that often, come on it’s funny cuz it’s true!). But NO! The Novak people mean business! Check this list: Associated RC-8, CEN Matrix, Hot Bodies Lightning, Kyosho Inferno, Mugen MBX5, X-Ray XB8, OFNA 9.5/Ultra, OFNA Hyper 8, OFNA Hyper 7!!!!
WOW! Is there a major player not covered there?! If I can have a solid buggy, that can take a true basher beating, and is just as fast or faster… Sign me up! How big is that news?

To help complete the conversion, Team Novak is releasing six Mod 1 Steel Pinion Gears for 5mm Shafts! My guess is you are going to need these to handle all that weight and power. To top it off, Novak is offering a HV Brushless Motor 5mm upgrade kit to equip your existing 4.5 and 6.5 HV High-Voltage Brushless motor with a 5mm output shaft! That should really help the strength!

Make sure to hit the Team Novak webpage and get the full press releases in the NEW Product Forum!

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There is now an official date for the next Naperville, IL. HobbyTown USA Rock crawling event.
Signup begins @ 12:30 (you will be teched when you sign in) Drivers Meeting will be at 1:15
Pictures from the last event are HERE.

Naperville HobbyTown USA
You can call (630) 778-0036 for more info.

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If you are into the new and hot RC Rock Crawling scene, and happen to be in the Chicago area, you are in luck! Today I went to visit the RC Hobbies – Naperville store to check out their new RC Rock Crawling course! It’s a sweet setup of rocks and tree-limbs that can provide a ton of different lines to run. It’s about four feet tall, and has some wicket climbs for vehicles to traverse. Make sure to check out our new Rock Crawling Forum for more information and pictures!
We have so many cool tracks in the area now! It’s going to be a fun winter!

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We just received a press release from RPM about their new Traxxas T/E-Maxx True-Track Rear A-arm conversion. The new new kit eliminates the rear toe link and locks in the angle at a negative 1.5 degrees per side. The arms are also a little beefier and they even have oversized bearings! They will come in the usual RPM blue and black colors. RPM has always been known for making some of the best aftermarket A-arms, and it looks like they are going to continue that trend. I have been thinking about getting a new E-Maxx this summer, and it sounds like I’m going to have some RPM parts to my shopping list! For the full press release check out the NEW Product Forum, or for more information, head over to the official RPM website.

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Hello everyone. Hopefully everyones holidays were good, with them (X-Mas-New Years and my B-Day ) over now I’m going to try to write a little…bear with me.

Well a few of us have been getting together at Underground the last few weeks on Saturday’s. For those of you who don’t know what The Underground is let me try to describe it for you. The Underground is a very-very large warehouse that used to house a bread company. It now has been partitioned off and a section of the building houses a on-road track and the drag strip we have been testing on. The track itself is a little tough to master as it is not as smooth as say the Lynnwood facility. Please don’t misunderstand….I am not complaining , we are lucky to have a place that is indoors to run at considering the frigid winter we have to contend with. With that being said the track has pretty good traction as a few of us running have found out…….a few of the guy’s have actually gotten stuck on the starting line LOL.

Our Saturday meets have been TNT (test and tune) sessions and have for the most part been a lot of fun. I myself have been testing different motors and gear combos. I know some of you guys and gals may be wondering who’s run what and how fast…….I promise to get that info out when the real racing starts in the spring.

Last weekend a few of the guy’s brought out a few new additions to the scene ; Big Will has been testing a handmade rail chassis that shows some promise ,Preditor has been testing his recently acquired Nitro Pro-Mod that looks great,DNC and Dragman are also working on their combos as well as Tu-Slow,and Ira and a few others. Oh I was talking about new additions to the scene………Butch and Keven brought their Nitro Pro Mods for us to drool over, neither was ready to run just yet but both looked really nice. The nitro Pro-Mods are really going to make a strong showing this coming summer. These guy’s are making me want to get a nirto Pro -Mod as well.(maybe a GMS to compete against all these Walburns). Jerry from the Lynnwood Dragstrip was there also last Sat. and bought over his 1/8 scale New Era dragster for us to see and he promises he will be running it this summer.

Well I think I’ve run out of things to write about for the time being…….Yeh I know it’s hard to believe..LOL

Until the next time—–talk to you folks on the Squid forum.

“StangRey”

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When it comes to people you admire, at least in the RC world, everyone always has some top pro drivers that they worship, and just think are the greatest people ever. When it comes to who bashers worship, it’s XXXMain. Well.. maybe BigSquidRC, then XXXMain.. (Just kidding!) Seriously though.. these guys have been hardcore bashers forever, and they deserve the recognition. Jeff and Wes are both great guys, so go buy their videos and paint masks, and make sure to tell them we sent ya!

High Res version here:
Big Squid RC iHobby 07 – Meet XXXMain!. Please ‘right click, save as’ for best viewing.

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Information on two new items from Team Check Point has just come in. The Pro Car LiPo Balancer, balances individual cell voltages during charge/discharge and automatically checks for poor quality cells. It can be used alone or with a separate charger such as the TC-1030. It’s designed to work with 2 to 3 cell packs assembled in series and wired for balancing. I’m not 100% sure how you know your pack is wired for balancing, I’ll have to look into that.

News also came in today about the 7.4v 5400 mAh LiPo Battery. Besides the long run time, it also comes in an impact-resistant case to protect against damage. With that ROAR rumor we posted earlier, my guess would be that these are ready for action.

For the full press releases, check out the NEW Product Forum or for more information, head over to the Team Check Point web page.

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The good people over at Venom were on a mission today to fill my mailbox with loads of new product press releases! Up first is the new Multi-Function Pro Charger, and it looks like it comes with everything you could ever need! Besides every plug possible, it comes with or without a power supply(nice) LiPO Balancer, and even a plug for those new Traxxas connectors. All that and a USB plug-in! I love USB stuff!

While we are talking about charging and batteries, venom now gives us 8.4 vold 7-cell NiMH flat packs with Traxxas High Current Connectors. 5000mah, 4200mah, and 3000mah all available.

Up next are the new Fireball Modified Motors. High power brushes, pre-wired bullet plugs and factory installed capacitors. To top it all off, the price is cheap! We will probably see a lot of these in basher hands this summer.

Last up are these new 1/8th Off Road Wheels. Made from Durable High Impact Nylon, and ready to stand up to the abuse a 1/8th scale vehicle can dish out.

For more information on all these product, make sure to check out the NEW Product Forum or the official Venom Group web page.

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While still playing catch up after our big computer meltdown, I’m finding news we missed posting in backup emails. I posted a few new press releases in the NEW Product Forum. One of them being for the Futaba 4PK 4-Channel 2.4ghz computer system. We talked a little about it back during our coverage during iHobby, and it looks like it should be shipping soon. Start saving your $$ because this is probably going to be THE radio to have this summer!

Some items that will be on your shopping list if you are a racer or a basher are the new O’Donnell Speed Wash Cleaner and the O’Lube Krytech Dry Lubricant. Check out the press release in the NEW Product Forum. I always have stuff that needs a cleaning, and the O’Lube sounds like a pretty cool product. It dries to a hard waxy finish to seal out water while not attracting dust, yet reduces friction.

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