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ASK Cub Reporter, 06.12.2013, Version- Oooofah, More Questions

Posted by Cubby @ 10:26 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

I have a ECX Torment that I am modding, and would like to know what kind of shocks/shock oil I should get for asphalt bashing. I already put in a brushless system, a metal transmission, and some street shoes. I would prefer is the shocks were 20-35 buck for eah front or rear set. ( total cost of 70 bucks or less).
Marcus F.

Cubby- Yo hey Marcus, thanks for the email, shoot me or Brian your snail mail so we can get ya out a big ole’ sticker pack.
I see that you have two options-
1. Install new uber shocks
2. Retain the stockers and tune them up

For going route #1- buy new Pro-Line Powerstroke shocks. These are slightly out of your budget but worth the extra cash. They’re tough, look awesome, and work like butter. Start by installing Associated 40 weight oil front and rear and ditching the stock two-stage springs. I say this because a straight rate spring will work better for on-road use, so install Losi “blue” springs front and rear. That should be a good baseline, then tune from there for your driving style and grip levels.

Route #2- Install Associated 70 weight oil in the front and 50 weight in the rear. Keep the stock rear springs, but go with Associated “red” springs in the front. This should be a good baseline for running on pavement or other high grip surfaces.

Whether you go route #1 or #2- Set ride height to arms slightly below level front, and bones slightly below level rear. This helps keep your CG down while still having more than enough travel to soak up road joints and the occasional rock. This is also fine for small jumps like curbs and such. Install washers to limit down travel under the shock pistons. You don’t need a bunch of down-travel when driving on-road, when you limit some out your truck will stay lower and be faster in the corners. Start with 5mm of spacers under each piston and go from there. Have fun, go fast, send pictures of your beast when you are done.

I have the Vaterra Glamis Uno. I read your review and I found it accurate. At the end you gave workability a D, which I find fair, but there was nothing difficult about setting gear mesh. It you meant taking off the cover, just unscrew it, and the bar that makes it impossible to remove, there is a screw in that bar, just to the right before shock. Once removed you can pivot that bar out and then take the cover off. Great review though, it’s an amazing buggy and worth the price.
Sean M

Cubby- Well ya of course our review was accurate, we aren’t the dinosaur media. LOL But seriously, thanks for the props. And… while you may think adjusting the pinion/spur mesh is great fun, it’s way more time consuming than on a typical buggy/truck. Adjusting mesh is one of the core mechanical jobs on an rc car, it should be easy, not a 5 step process. Understandably, for every upside (scale looks, great handling) there has to be a downside (work-a-bility). Building an rc car from the ground up is a huge series of compromises, and quite frankly I think Vaterra went the right way with the Glamis. I think what they gained in scale appearance and driving prowess was worth the extra wrenching time.

Overall, for bashing purposes, the Glamis Uno is the star of the Vaterra line-up. The Glamis has scale attributes without the downside
of lugging around a huge SCT body, and the stock power system has more than enough yank to do crazy stuff with. On top of all that, it is arguably the best driving 2wd we’ve ever tested. We fight over who gets to drive our review unit, it has a few downsides, but how it drives more than makes up for it.

That’s it for this week ya freaks, shoot your emails to me- Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If yours makes the big-time you’ll get a free sticker pack, if I proclaim yours as “letter of the month” we’ll even send ya a brand spank’n new BSRC t-shirt. YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 06.06.2013, Version- Quenching Your Thirst For Answers With Shady Rhetoric

Posted by Cubby @ 2:46 pm. Filed in: Ask Cubby

I Have a stock brushless 2wd Slash and want to upgrade to Anza LCG or Proline LCG chassis but keep everything else stock. I bash w/ some backyard racing. Which would you recommend?

I’ve looked closely at both BSRC reviews but Proline review was w/ completely upgraded parts & Anza was stock. I know proline is a sponsor and don’t want to create problems so will not post response. Any help you can give is much appreciated. Keep up the good work. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jerry H.

Cubby- Congrats Jerry, I proclaim your email as the “letter of the month”. Shoot Brian your snail mail (don’t forget your shirt size) so we can ship you out a new BSRC t-shirt.

Actually, both Pro-Line and Anza (Firelands/HobbyTown USA) are advertisers with us. Thankfully both “get it” and know we don’t hold punches for advertisers. If I said one or the other totally sucked I’m quite confident neither company would freak over it. They advertise with us because of who we are, because we aren’t afraid to say what needs to be said.

To get to your actual question- I’ve driven both chassis kits on Slashes that were bone stock. But… I’ve never driven them back-to-back.

Due to the fact we haven’t driven them back-to-back with stock running gear I can’t give you a real world, definitive answer on this one. Both kits improve cornering, both are well made, and both take a pretty serious beating in the field. It would really take a shootout to give you a proper first hand answer and I don’t see that happening any time soon.

However… if it was up to me (and cash out of my own pocket), I’d go with the Pro-Line. IMO it’s slightly more sano, slightly easier to install, and replacement parts can be found easier (Pro-line parts can be had by most any hobby shop in the country, where as Anza parts are a HobbyTown USA exclusive). But, and there is always a but, if you have a HobbyTown USA close to you and you like the look and/or price of the Anza, it is a quality unit, don’t hesitate to bust out the cash. To boil it down, both are very good, you won’t be disappointed with either.

Hi, so I put sand tires on my blitz and after the first time I drove it, the spur gear got destroyed, I mean, all the teeth got destroyed, the center of it got all messed up, and the slipper pads look like they melted.

It is all stock except for a strc motor plate, a sidewinder 3 system, 3s lipo, and aluminum rear shocks. Are there some upgrades, and techniques you guys know so that doesn’t happen every time I drive it in the sand. I really want to turn my blitz into a really high performance sand machine, that is very reliable.
thanks,
James D.

Cubby- Hey ya James, thanks for the email. Shoot Brian your info (Brian at BigSquidRC.com) so he can send you a BSRC sticker pack for your Blitz.

Ok, James, there are two things you can do here.
1. Extensively mod your Blitz by “bomb proofing” your entire drive-train.
2. Take some time and carefully set your slipper.

Route #1 is expensive and can take some serious wrench time, but in the end you should be able to drive your Blitz like it owes you money without any issues.

Route #2 just takes time.
At one time a slipper was used as a type of traction control coming out of slick corners on a track. Now days, under huge Lipo power, it’s used more like a shock absorber for your vehicles drive-train. But the problem is- setting a slipper on 2S is a snap, setting it for 3S is harder, and setting it for 3S on a high grip surface (like sand) can be a real challenge.

From your email it sounds like you initially had your slipper set too loose, therefore it got hotter than the core of the sun and melted down, eventually locking up completely. After it melted, becoming one mass of semi-molten goo, you ended up blowing out your spur gear because the slipper was no longer working.

My recommendation to you is to go the cheap way first. Put in the time to properly set your slipper for your power and traction level.
Here is the process-
1. Pound the gas from a dead stop. If it slips it’s too loose. Keep tightening until it doesn’t slip from a dead stop. If it slips from a dead stop it will get too hot under hard driving conditions.

2. Bust out a temp gauge. Seriously, trust me on this one, do not be tempted to use your fingers. Drive your Blitz hard for one minute (no more) then pull it in and check the temp of the slipper. If the temp is above 140 F, tightening it up a bit. If the slipper is ambient temp, it’s not working at all so loosen it up slightly. Keep driving for short 1 minute stints until you find the setting where it’s not getting too hot, yet is still actually working.

3. If you have to error, error on the side of the slipper being slightly too tight.

4. You’ll need to re-adjust your slipper for different traction and power levels. Time consuming yes, but just the way it is.

Have fun, go fast, and hook us up with some sweet 30 foot rooster shots of your Blitz when you get it dialed.

That’s it for this week ya freaks. Shoot your questions, manifesto’s, and rants to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your email makes the big-time you’ll get a free sticker pack, if I proclaim yours as “letter of the month” we’ll hook ya up with a brand spank’n new BSRC t-shirt (even in your size!).
YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 05.29.2013, Version- More of Your Questions, More of My Malarkey

Posted by Cubby @ 11:14 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Hoping you guys can keep me from going insane! I bought a used Castle esc with a 4 pole motor yesterday. I tested it shortly inside last night and it worked. Today I turn it on, and the esc don’t beep, and I have no throttle. Only a red light on the esc. Does not change with throttle. I triple checked my connections, and switched channels on my receiver to make sure both channels worked. Im soo frustrated. I have a fully charged lipo, I also tested with a fully charged nimh. What could be my problem?
Jason K

Cubby- Hey ya Jason, thanks for your question via our Facebook page, shoot me or Brian an email and we’ll totally hook ya up with a BSRC sticker pack. So…. you bought a used Castle system, it worked when you got it, now it doesn’t do a dern thing. From the information you’ve provided it sounds like the speedo isn’t seeing your receiver. Make sure your receiver is bound to your transmitter and all the settings on your transmitter are in accordance with what Castle recommends. Still doesn’t work? Try it with another transmitter/receiver that you know are working properly. Still doesn’t work after that? Give the guys at Castle a call or shoot’em an email, they are known for having some of the best customer service in the biz. Shoot us an email with when you get it figured out, heck send us some pics too. We always dig seeing what kind of rigs you guys are running.

Dead Battery
I need some help! I have a Zippy lipo that all of sudden doesn’t charge when I plug it into my charger. It’s like the charger can’t see that it is there at all. I store the pack just like all my others at 3.8 volts per cell and I have only used it a couple dozen times, probably less. I am baffled, please help.

Jonathan E.

Cubby- Yo hey Jon, thanks for the email and shoot us your snail mail so Brian can send ya out a big ole’ sticker pack.
So… you have a battery that isn’t showing up on your charger and you don’t know what to do. You are so lucky I’m here to save the day.
Step 1- There are only two options here, either the battery is bad or your charger is. The first step is to determine which one is the guilty party. Thankfully this is super easy to find out, grab a different pack and see if it charges. If it does
charge than it’s safe to assume your charger is fine. If it doesn’t charge the second pack try one more different pack. If it still isn’t charging then it’s time for a new charger. Problem solved hurray.

Step 2- Let’s say that your charger isn’t seeing your Zippy but it charged another pack successfully. For step 2 you’ll need a volt meter. If you are a hobbyist you need one of these, heck, you need one for life in general. If you don’t have one they are cheap and easy to buy at your local Wally World, automotive store, or Rad Shack. Volt meters run from $5
to over $500. For hobby use a $20 unit will work just fine, just make sure it reads DC up to 20 volts.

Step 3- Use your volt meter to see if there is any voltage at the Zippy’s battery connector. If there is voltage perhaps the connector is no longer making a good connection, solder on a new one and try charging again. If you aren’t seeing proper voltage at the connector, try reading the voltage at the wires right before the connector. If the voltage is good before the connector once again solder up a new connector and try charging.

Step 4- If there is still no voltage (or very low voltage) at the battery wires most likely the pack has gone bad. Typically it’s just one cell that gives up the ghost, and it’s not uncommon for Lipo packs to go bad, even when not in use. Using your handy dandy volt meter you can each cells voltage at the balance connector to see if one cell has indeed died.

Step 5- Should your pack be bad take it to your nearest recycling center. A quick Google search should yield your nearest location. Places like Best Buy, Rad Shack, and even some LHS’s are often recycling centers.

Step 6- If your pack was indeed bad you’ve now got a perfect excuse to buy a new one. Check out our Lipo shootouts and reviews for help selecting the perfect pack for your application.

Step 7- Thank me for the great answer by shipping one bottle of 2002′ Warhol Dom to the uber plush BSRC offices.
Step 8- You’re welcome.

That’s it for this week ya bunch of loons, shoot me what’s going in that head of yours to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your email makes the big time you’ll get a free sticker pack, if yours is proclaimed as “letter of the month” you’ll win a free BSRC t-shirt. Oh ya, I’m picking a “letter of the month” next week, so get those emails in!
YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 05.23.2013, Version- Here Comes The Email, There Goes My Mind

Posted by Cubby @ 9:00 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Great lipo reviews!
Hi Big Squid,
I rarely write in to websites, but your lipo reviews have been very good: i.e. the recent ProTek: LiPo Testing a 30a draw is very realistic for 2s packs, and the extra 60a graph is nice (that must have put out some heat!). Lots of packs seem to have dips in voltage after 25-30a… so that 60a test pretty much proves it will work well at a race-pace. It must have been an investment to buy gear that can test at that draw, and I appreciate it.

Two thumbs up from this Canadian, eh?
Mike K

Cubby- Hey ya Mike, what’s up hoser? I haven’t made it to your fine country lately, I need to get back up there and enjoy some donuts and high test Molson, eh.

Thanks for the props on the ProTek 100C 2S 5600 review, we certainly put some serious time into that one. A bunch of time on the bench, and even more in the field. We’ve got another review coming up in a couple of weeks on a ProTek 100C 2S 7000. I think you’ll find it quite interesting to see the performance differences between the ProTek 5600 and 7000 pack.

Ya, for sure, the information gained from the West Mountain CBA discharger is important. Steady state continuous loads really do work a pack hard and make it easy to see differences, but… I am still a big believer that the ultimate test is the continuously variable loads produced in a car. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is how fast a pack scoots your rig around the track/bash spot and we should probably put more emphasis on that in our battery reviews.

Just fyi- the ProTek was one of “those” packs that put a big smile on our faces when we first pulled the trigger. We drive 6-7 days a week with dozens of different packs, we know pretty quickly when a pack has it and when it doesn’t, the ProTek was one of those packs that noticeably had more yank on tap than an average Lipo.

Hi guys,
So i am an RC guy but i ride a bike for living. I have been an rc guy since i can remember, hell i burned my house down with a lipo. Well, i’m back in my house now and i have a track in the back yard. My question to you is. Is there anyone that makes a 2 wheel drive short course 8 scale truck?

I’m a 2 wheel guy and was thinking that i could make 4×4 8 scale into a 2 wheel drive but would it be any good?
I ask because the current 10 scale stuff is not up for the beat down and wear out parts and over heat. My track is designed for drift and backing it into the corners. I have blitz ESE that has very few parts stock built to be tough.

The problem with 10 scales is drive lines, diffs, bearings and the lack of full compatibility with a 550 can motor spur and pin gears. Bottom line is i want some beef and drive more, work on it less. Thanks and hope i’m not busting balls but you seem to be on top of stuff.

Mark Weir

Cubby- Yo Mark what’s up? Still crush’n'em with your Cannondale? So… in your spare time you burn down houses with Lipo’s and pound rc cars into piles of rubble. You sound core basher to me, hell ya.

On to your questions…

Can you turn a 4wd 8th scale buggy/truggy into a 2wd? Sure ya can, locking the center diff and dumping all the front drive-shafts is super easy and might just be the cats meow for your driving style. But… I’ve never personally done it so I can’t say first hand it sucks, converting a 4wd 8th scaler to 2wd is not normally done for good reason. Why is that? Because there is a better way to get what you are looking for.

You are looking for something you can pound the hell out of and put stupid power in, yet can haul ass around a track. That screams 8th scale buggy/truggy platform. However… on your track a normal electric 8th scale or 4wd SCT has too much front brake causing the front end to dig in and push in corners. You want more rear braking to slide the rear end around and to initiate drifts.

So here is my super-sano-satisfaction-guaranteed answer for you- buy a nitro 8th scale and convert it to electric. Not to 2wd, but just to electric. Be sure to use a servo to control the brakes and a clutchbell set-up on the brushless motor. On nitro 8th scalers they use two brake discs, one in front of the center diff and one behind it, this allows the driver to adjust the brake bias front to rear. With a properly adjusted brake bias you can pivot your rig on a fleas butt going into corners and still have all the upsides of 4wd- the ability to power hard out of corners, greater control in the air, and easier to drift without spinning out.

Have fun, go fast, and shoot us a pic of what you put together.

That’s it for this week ya freaks, send me your questions to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your email makes the big time you’ll get a free sticker pack and if I proclaim yours as letter of the month we’ll ship you out a BSRC t-shirt. YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 05.16.2013, Version- Legit Questions, Snotty Answers

Posted by Cubby @ 12:52 pm. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Cubby – First off I would like to add some info/data to the answer I gave Dave B in last weeks ASK Cubby. Dave’s email basically said that “C” ratings on Lipo batteries seem to be a bit shady, and well, you need to read LAST WEEKS COLUMN to see how I replied.

A bit over a year we reviewed a Zeus 3S 850 mah Lipo pack. Our West Mountain CBA is fully capable of testing a pack of that size to its stated “C” rating, so of course we did just that. The pack was rated at 25C, which is 21.25 amps, and after testing the pack lived under that load. At 25C the pack exhibited a big horseshoe in the discharge curve, meaning it was being pushed to its limit, but otherwise it didn’t get too hot and lived to fight another day.
If anyone out there is looking for proof that not everyone lies about their “C” ratings, the Zeus pack we tested would make a good example. IMO a 25C continuous rating on that pack was in the ballpark, I would have considered it a rock solid 25C pack if there was no horseshoe in the discharge curve. When we dialed up the discharge rate to 30C (25.5 amps) the pack couldn’t take the load and dropped below 3 volts per cell immediately. HERE is the link for the review (with full graphs) that I am talking about.

But… a small capacity pack with a low “C” rating isn’t exactly what Dave was complaining about, so this week I broke out the West Mountain again. Yes, we’ve connected big loads to packs before, but we’ve never connected a big continuous load in a more controlled setting with the CBA. I took half of a 5000 mah 55C saddle pack and decided to go big with it, our West Mountain tops out at 120 amps continuous on a 1S/4.2 volt battery. So… what happened to our 1S 5000 55C Lipo under 120 amps continuous? It wasn’t good, LOL. The voltage immediately dipped below the 3 volt cut-off. By immediately I mean in less than 5 seconds. The curve looked like a cliff, the voltage went straight down to below the 3 volt cut-off. Also of note… I wired up the pack like it would be used in the real world, with 12 gauge wire and a Traxxas connector. The Traxxas connector got mildly warm, but the wire got straight up HOT (and I have a blister on one of my fingers to prove it). We knew the wiring was going to be the weak link in advance and our testing simply proved it. I then backed off the discharge to 100 amps with pretty much the same end result. Finally I dropped the load down to 80 amps where the pack behaved in a more “normal” manner, except the wire was still getting hot. The voltage dipped hard under 80 amps, but not below the cut-off value, and the battery itself stayed at a relatively low temp throughout the entire discharge. I am going to re-do the test later this week, this time with heavier wire and post the graphs in next weeks ASK Cubby. Is 120 amps continuous too much for the cells in a 5000 mah 55C Lipo or are they more than up to the task given heavy enough wiring? More info next week on this one.

Hello Bigsquid,
I have a brand new Slash, what is the first mod I should do? I was thinking a brushless system but don’t know what is a good brand.
Emilio

Cubby- Yo what’s up Emilio, thanks for the email and mad props for the super easy question. I have a very clear cut first mod on the Traxxas Slash- new hinge pins. The stockers are made out of butter and like to work their way loose. Uber hinge pins are a relatively affordable mod that makes the truck more durable, easier to work on, and can improve the way it drives. They don’t add to the bling factor, but good hinge pins won’t bend and won’t back out, making them worth their weight in gold. I’ve used two different brands- Pro-Line and ST racing Concepts. The Pro-Line Set runs about $22 and are super easy to install. The STRC set sells for $18 and I’ve also had good luck with them. Both sets can also take a pretty intense beating. You can barely tap a pipe and bend the stockers while after slamming a cement curb the aftermarket pins remain straight as an arrow. Pick a set and install’em, you’ll be thanking me later.

The next hop-up/mod I would recommend wouldn’t be a brushless system either, it would be a good Lipo battery. Not only will a good Lipo give you more power and run-time, but having an extra battery around comes in really handy. Check out one a 2S Venom 5000 mah pack, they have good performance, don’t break the bank, and are readily available from most hobby shops.

That’s it for this weeks “ASK Cubby”, send your emails to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. All letters that hit the big-time get a free sticker pack while the one I proclaim as “letter of the month” gets a free BSRC t-shirt.
YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 05.09.2013, Your Questions and My Infinite Wisdom

Posted by Cubby @ 9:25 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Hey all, this week’s first ‘Ask Cubby’ letter is a LONG one, so I decided not to put it in the normal ‘hand written’ font thing because it takes up too much space, and a little difficult to read something of this length like that. Anyway, here we go… our first letter is from Dave, enjoy!

“Touching an old base regarding Cubbie’s LiPo discharge article from 5/2010 Hey guys, keeping ‘em flat on all four?

Just cruising your website and thinking about the LiPo discharge article I came across written by Cubby May of 2010. Hope I can bring to light something that in the last 20+ years of electric racing has rankled by arse…battery advertising.

It occurred to me that current ratings by the overzealous marketers of batteries (in this case LiPos, but who can forget the pricey, good-’ol days of NiCd semantics) have them shooting themselves in their own feet. Their advertising is unethical and deceptive, at best. In truth, their ratings are often times flat-out lies.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer of getting what you pay for. But when R/C advertising stoops to lying to get a person’s hard earned cash, they are no longer trustworthy.

My contention is that there currently is NO R/C LiPo battery that can sustain a 65C load or better on the market. Period.

Again, I am referring to sustained, and not peak advertised loads. Many rate their pack’s peak loads, but even adjusting it by half (to find sustained load figures) puts their current delivery capacity far beyond safe or realistic levels.

Illustration:

– A 5000 maH, 10C sustainable load LiPo plugged into the standard equation yields a sustainable output of 50 amps for 6 minutes. This would be a very old-tech LiPo, probably impossible to find for sale anymore.

– Same 5000 maH Lipo at 65C (attainable easily today through a variety of companies) should produce a sustainable output of 325 (!) amps for 6 minutes. This figure from the accepted “C” LiPo output equation.

Put into perspective for someone new to R/C, a fully charged, 3S, 65C LiPo should handily start a family sedan on its own, and perhaps even a full size pick up truck. It should not require any other power source besides the LiPo itself. Wire gauge and connection types not withstanding in this example either.

These LiPo “C” ratings were not around in 2010 that I can remember. Think you guys could fire up a video camera and do a “LiPo Discharge Part 2″? Maybe this time try using them to start full size vehicles?

My guess – they won’t even start an econobox commuter car. It drives home the point better than “numbers on paper”.
Just a thought guys…keep ‘em coming.
Dave B.
BTW – please be careful if you try it….”

Cubby- Yo what’s up Dave, shoot Brian your snail mail for an uber BSRC sticker set. Long email with a lot of points involved, so I’ll start from the top.

You contend that battery “ratings are often times flat-out lies”. To you it might look that way, but here’s how it goes down behind the scenes. When Happy Flower Lipo Company wants to source a bunch of batteries they approach an Asian manufacture. This Asian manufacture typically has many different “lines” or “levels” of cells, and they typically group them by “C” rating. Happy Flower then selects the cells they want and cuts the huge check.

From what I’ve seen first hand in the industry, the “C” rating from the Asian manufactures is typically based on the design of the cell, not on its output. For instance, a 1000 mah cell that is said to be 100 “C” would be built with internals calculated to handle 100 amps, not tested to handle 100 amps.

Now when you Dave, get a pack in hand and it’s a 100 “C” pack, you may not be aware of this fact, you might think the “C” rating is based on being able to do 100 “C” in your car, but I do not know of any re-sellers that base the “C” rating on their packs this way. I might very well be wrong, if some manufacture out there does indeed base their “C” rating on actual bench/car tested output please complain to Brian that I lied and I’ll gladly post the correct info.

Next point, you say that there is no rc battery on the market that can “sustain a 65C load”. I’m assuming you stated this based on no testing and are just chucking it out there as an opinion, which is totally your right to do. My input here is that cells have come a long ways the last 5 years. I haven’t tested any cells at 65C on the bench, but based on the temps and voltage levels we’ve seen at lower discharge levels, I would not be surprised to see a pack that could live at a relatively insane current level. 3 years ago? No way in hell, but now days there are some damn solid cells/packs on the market.

We have equipment (West Mountain CBA w/amp) capable of testing a 1S 1000 mah pack at 120C continuous discharge. Back in the day I knew such testing was a waste of time as packs would routinely die on 20C loads, but I should find some time and see just what kind of continuous load modern cells can actually live under. I think the
result might very well surprise you and I.

About jump starting a car with a Lipo, there are a number of videos out there, including one we did a couple of years ago. We easily jump started a 6 cylinder Ford Taurus with a 3S Lipo. The 3S Lipo didn’t get hot and lived to power our rc cars for many cycles afterwards. Also, I don’t remember for sure what connector we used (we may have just soldered on clips), but we were using the stock wire that came with the pack.

In closing- Lipo batteries used to be the limiting factor in rc cars power system, but not so now days. In most typical applications Lipo’s stay cool, last a bunch of cycles, and do not dip to crazy low voltages. These facts tend to make the advertised “C” rating moot. Yes, I agree with you that the “C” ratings are mis-leading and don’t really convey much (if any) useful information to a potential buyer, and yes, there needs to be a better “rating” system. If I owned Happy Flower Lipo Company my packs would be labeled with their cell count, their cell configuration, their typical 1C capacity, and their typical output voltage under a 10C load. Sure, a noob can look at two packs and instantly think that a 65 “C” pack is better than a 20 “C” pack, but they have no idea what “C” is. Noobs just know “higher is better”, something we’ve proven to not always be the case with our shootouts. With my “Cubby Rating System (CRS LOL)” of listing voltage at 10C, a noob could also instantly see that one 2S pack rated at 7.45 volts is “better” than a pack rated at 7.38 volts, and he’d have at least a rough idea of what the numbers actually mean.

I have a xp1200 esc from my sc10 4×4 rtr and a 540sl 6100kv motor (not the micro) the specs on the esc say that it can handle the 6100kv motor would this be a good combo for a 2wd truck on a 2s lipo and will the esc really handle it.

Glen B.

Cubby- Yo what’s up Glen, thanks for the email. I have absolutely zero experience with the XP line of Associated RTR speedo’s, so I’m totally gonna wing it here. Enjoy!

In theory… ya, the XP SC1200 speedo should work fine in a 2wd 10th scale truck. It comes stock in the 4×4 SC10 RTR that is considerably more load for a speedo than a 2wd would be.

Can the XP SC1200 handle a 6100 kv motor? Its specs says it can and my pure guess is that you shouldn’t have an issue if you keep your 2wd truck geared appropriately. If you gear for 120 mph I’ll promise you that you’ll have issues (read- a fire).

Cubby’s helpful hint of the week- Using a 6100 kv motor is great for speed no doubt, your truck should be a rocket with such a high kv motor, but it is especially important to keep an eye on motor/battery/speedo temps if you want your equipment to live. Start with a small pinion and monitor temps as you gear taller. And… don’t go out and run for 12 minutes then check the temps, check every couple minutes during the run before things get too hot. The speedo should protect itself from overheating, but you don’t want to see temps over 140 F on either the motor or the battery. Also keep in mind that the taller (bigger pinions) you gear, the faster you’ll go, but the less runtime you’ll get. Have fun, go fast, and shoot us a massive wheelie pic of your truck when you get it going.

That’s it for this weeks ASK Cubby. I’ve been get’n pounded with mail the last few weeks, but keep’em coming. My email is Cubby at BigSquidRC.com, feel free to shoot me anything that’s on your mind. Letters that hit the big-time get a free sticker pack and the email I proclaim as “Letter of the Month” gets a free BigSquidRC t-shirt.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 05.02.2013, Version- Boring Questions, Witty Answers

Posted by Cubby @ 10:25 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Hey Big Squid,
It’s Luke L from Florida. I was just wondering what would be a good starter car forCompetition grade Rc racing. I’d like to know if you know of any good cars for a dirt (actually clay) track. I’m willing to spend about $100-$200 and possibly go a bit over my limit.

They use buggy, Truck, and short course I believe. Here is a link www.newredhobbies.com . (I’m thinking of short course but, I don’t know too much about Rc cars) Also short course is allowed in all category’s so it seems dominant.

Cubby- Yo hey Luke, congrats homie, I have selected your email as “Letter of the Month” and thus you are entitled to an uber BigSquidRC t-shirt. Hit Brian up with your snail mail and he’ll get one on the way to ya.
So what’s a the best “competition grade” vehicle for $100-200? Wow, that’s a pretty tight budget there, but you do have some options. While not “competition grade”, I would recommend the ECX Torment SCT to stay in your price range. Sticker price on the Torment is only $190 and would be a decent truck to get your feet wet with. It’s not going to break any lap records, but it handles well, can take a good beating, and most importantly- is affordable to try out. If you race it for a while and decide this hobby is for you then you can really break open the coffers.
I’m also going to recommend one more vehicle to you, the Durango DESC210 RTR. Why would I recommend it to you? The Durango RTR is much more a race vehicle, and in RTR trim, the thing is a bashing beast. I spent an afternoon ramming it full speed into trees, ditches, off roofs, and broke literally nothing. Being a noob racer you are going to hit a lot pipes (and HARD) and the DESC210 RTR is going to allow you to have some huge slams without a bunch of wrenching afterwards.
However, there are three downsides to the Durango. The first being price, the second being its motor, and the third being its tires. Durango just dropped the pricing on the DESC210 RTR to $290, so it’s a bit over your budget, but if you can break out some extra cash it will be worth it down the road. Also, the included motor is a 17.5 sensored unit. Ya, I know all the local race morons are ga-ga over 17.5′s, but to me they are the dumbest thing ever created by man. The 17.5 “stock” brushless class basically makes you gear a motor to death to keep up. Bluntly- that is incredibly dumb. I’d recommend bolting in a lower turn motor for some real power that lasts. Lastly, the stock tires work fine on certain surfaces, but not well on prepped tracks. Pro-Line has numerous tires alternatives that will give you the grip you need to actually compete (and be easier to drive on a track). Of course these upgrades are going to put a hit on your wallet, but the Durango with proper tires and motor is an animal on the track and well worth the moolah. Best of luck and let us know what you end up buying. Don’t forget the pics!

Cubby
What is your honest opinion of Traxxas product right now? Is it as good as everyone says it is?
Big fan and thanks,
Adam R.

Cubby- I just love loaded questions like this one, so sure, I’ll answer it. I mean that’s what I get paid to do right? You didn’t ask me what I thought of Traxxas as a company, you state “Traxxas product”, so here it goes… If I had to give a one word reply it would be “dated”, “neglected”, or even perhaps “overpriced”. Ya sure, they’ve got some newer platforms like the Rally/Slash 4×4, the drag car and the XO-1, but a large part of their product line-up was engineered back in the mid-90′s. IMO the real meat of their products, vehicles like the Pede, Rustler, and Maxx’s, are overdue for a ground up overhaul.

But… Traxxas obviously has some upsides- their customer service and parts availability top the list. If you get a new truck and it’s messed up Traxxas customer service has a great reputation for bending over backwards to make it right. Even more importantly, when you do end up breaking your new truck most local hobby shops stock a prodigious amount of Traxxas parts. Even the little mom and pop shops that carry more Dungeons and Dragons than rc typically have at least the bare essentials of Traxxas parts on hand, and that can’t be said about any other brand. Finally, the quality control on most Traxxas parts is good, certainly on par with some of the brands known for “racing” gear. Ya sure, the knucklehead racing crowd loves to talk about what crap quality all Traxxas product is, but to say that means they’ve never compared parts next to each other without bias. Ya sure, the racer dude may have paid twice as much for brand XYZ so he thinks he needs to justify the extra price by throwing Traxxas under the bus, but if you do an honest evaluation most Traxxas parts stack up just as good as some of the racer brands. Is Traxxas as good as everyone says it is? Now that’s a hard one. I’ve only got two choices for an answer, yes or no, so I think I’m going to go with “No”. Here’s why- the competition has caught up and passed Traxxas in many product categories. For instance, lets look at the Stampede, perhaps the biggest seller Traxxas has ever produced. The Pede finished last in our 2wd MT shootout last year. The Pede is still
a good truck, but the competition has put out better trucks that are priced lower. Sadly that is the story for much of the Traxxas product line-up, there are now better and less expensive alternatives to be had.

That’s it for this edition of ASK Cubby, shoot me your questions to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your letter makes the big time you’ll get a free sticker pack, if yours is the “Letter of the Month” you’ll win a BSRC t-shirt. Don’t be a poser, send in your questions.
YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 04.25.2013, Version- The More I Type The More You’ll Question My Answers

Posted by Cubby @ 11:35 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

tech question…..im currently awaiting delivery of an hpi mini trophy truck …. my intent is to build a 4wi suspention rock crawler/trail rig i have misc. parts from an axial scx10 i bought used and beat more than sunk money into ..but anywho i want to use either the whole locked diff or the locker block in it in the rear only diff on the hpi would you know if it will fit? i want to run a vxl3s esc to the brushed motor statistically the vxl claims it will run a brushed motor my question is will it burn up the brushes faster than stock esc in the trophy truck?
Tim H. (via Facebook)

Cubby- Yo hey Tim, what’s up and thanks for the questions. How about last one first. Will a Traxxas VXL-3S speed controller burn up brushes faster than the stock HPI Mini Trophy Truck speedo? Yes, there might be a slight difference in brush wear between the two speedos, but I’ve never personally performed such tests, so I can’t say first hand if there truly is or not. If there was a difference I’d guess it would be very, very small. However, I will say this, if you are truly concerned about brush wear- take the extra hour and properly water dip (read seat/break-in) the brushes. Properly seated brushes yield much longer motor life, that I can assure you from first hand testing. And… if you ask a dozen people the proper way to seat brushes you’ll probably get a dozen different answers. My personal “standard method” (which came from Jammin’ Jim S) is dipping the motor in water while applying a low voltage load until you notice the color of the water starting to change. This can take anywhere between 10-45 minutes depending on the motor and voltage used.
Now, about your first question. If I read it properly, it sounds like you are making one heck of a unique trail truck. It sounds like you are making a trail/scaler machine (with a locked rear diff) out of an HPI Mini Trophy Truck. Good for you, unique projects are great fun. Will the locked rear diff parts from an Axial SCX10 fit in the Mini-Trophy truck? I have absolutely zero clue, nor am I going to tear two trucks apart to find out. You have both trucks in hand (or will soon), give it a try and let us know. If they aren’t compatible there is always the old standby of JB Weld to lock that rear diff solid as a rock. Good luck, and shoot us pics/vid of that beast when you are done.

I am pretty sure someone has emailed about SMC Lipos, but if not, I am. I have owned a few SMC 2s packs and just ordered some more and I have had really good luck. I have also followed the SMC Lipo Battery Lipo thread on rctech.net and there are a lot of good things being said about them. The reason I am sending this email is because I think they sell and produce a better battery than the gensace 5800 that won the lipo shootout. Their batteries are also less expensive. Now before you jump to conclusions, I have owned many gensace lipos and I really do like them, I just think these smc lipos have an edge. Anyway’s, it would be nice to see SMC lipos in your next lipo shootout. Also, if there isn’t a shootout planned in the near future, I think posting a link about these batteries would be helpful to the bashing community. Good batteries at a cheap price are hard to find sometimes.
P.S. – I really do enjoy your site!
DMW

Cubby- Yo hey DMW, shoot Brian your snail mail for a free BSRC sticker pack. Hopefully you are as good of a spokesman for BSRC as you are for SMC Batteries. We haven’t reviewed any SMC batteries for a while so I have no clue if they are any good now days or not. I don’t know if we’ve contacted them lately, but I’ll put Brian and Kevin (our new ad rep guy) on it to see if they are up for a solid third party review. If they are truly after a piece of the enormous basher market maybe they’ll hook up with us and advertise. Btw… we do have a couple of Lipo reviews coming up in the very near future, two packs from A Main Hobbies/ProTek. We started the review process a couple of weeks ago, maybe one of the reviews will be ready in the next week or so. Not to spill any beans, but what we’ve learned about their packs should make for some interesting reading for you guys. Lastly on the Lipo topic- I have been awfully impressed with the last Pro-Match Lipo we reviewed. No, it doesn’t put out the most voltage we’ve ever seen on the West Mountain, however it has done something I consider to be more impressive- it has put up with crazy amounts of abuse (for over a hundred cycles) and still puts out solid numbers while always stayed well balanced. The pack I’m talking about is their 2S 5000 mah pack that we’ve used for numerous truck and charger reviews. We’ve subjected that pack to multiple runs at 60 amps on the West Mountain, we’ve charged it at 20 amps (multiple times in a row with no cool down period), and run it in high draw 8th scalers, yet today, after over 100 cycles, it performs like a champ. That is truly the most impressive thing a Lipo can do in my eyes- to withstand hard use and still last.

That’s it for this week ya freaks, shoot me your questions or whatever else in on your mind to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your letter makes the front page you get free stickers, if I proclaim yours as “letter of the month” you’ll win a free t-shirt. Btw, I try to do the “letter of the month” in the first ASK Cubby of the month, so next week I’ll be picking a shirt winner, get those questions in!
YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 04.18.2013, Version- You Write The Questions, I Fudge The Answers

Posted by Cubby @ 12:22 pm. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Hi my name is Eli
I have the traxxas slash 4×4 ultimate edition came with the lcg chassis. Well my steering servo gave out i told traxxas i was having problems with it they sent me a replacement one since it came from the factory like that. Well i got tired of waiting for it to come in so i went for a drive and smacked a tree at 50mph and snapped my chassis. Is there any way i can just get the chassis i dont need the conversion as mine came like that already. I just bought it feb 16th i believe and i broke it like a week later lol. So i just need the chassis. My local hobby said a week when i broke it then it turned into the end of march, now its almost the end of april and no chassis. Can you help?

Cubby- Yo what’s up Eli, it sounds like you are having the same problem a lot of people are. The Traxxas part number #7422 LCG “chassis only” isn’t in stock at the major distributors, thus the reason why your LHS can’t get ya one. The conversion kits aren’t in stock either, so ya, you’ve pretty much gotta wait it out a little longer. The only word I could find out on the chassis was another couple weeks before they hit the distributors.
Traxxas has typically been known for having a great parts supply, so it’s not often when people have been forced to wait on replacement parts. Hang in there just a little longer Eli, or you can just convert your Slash 4×4 to the high ground clearance model, which is arguably better for bashing anyways.

Hi…
Just really try to establish who and where people are meeting and bashing in uk.. in in peterborough so maybe a way away from you.. any information on good sites to make contacts and info on any events that go on around uk would be great…
I have E-revo mamba monster, revo 3.3′s and Tmaxx
Cheers Dean E.

Cubby- Yo what’s up bro, and thanks for the email.
You have just asked an age old question, “How do I find other people to bash with?”. Of course bashing by yourself is fun, but the more the merrier certainly holds true when it comes to rc. Back in the old days, pre-internet, it boiled down to keeping your eyes open and asking around at your LHS. Today, both of those still hold true. The guys working behind the counter of your LHS talk to a lot of different people each day, if there are people meeting up most likely they would have heard about it. If they have not heard of anyone meeting up locally to bash, shoot’em your contact info in case someone else comes in looking. About searching on the internet, I would recommend the MSUKForums to you. Those guys re-post some of our pr’s and seem like cool dudes, so check them out. If there is bashing going on in the UK, you’ll probably find it there, if not, put up a new post and see if anyone responds. Best of luck and shoot us some pics from your first UK bash.

That’s it for this week ya bunch of lunatics, shoot me all that funky stuff running through your head to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your letter makes the bigtime you’ll get a free sticker pack, if I proclaim yours as “letter of the month” we’ll hook ya up with one of our sweet new t-shirts.
YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 04.10.2013, Version- Me Mocking The Innocent

Posted by Cubby @ 11:32 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Hi my name is Bruin and I own a Helion Dominus 10r. I still have my stock 1800 mah battery in it and I read your latest lipo shootout. You had the Gens Ace 5800 2s lipo ranked first and I was interested in buying one. I have looked all over the internet and I can’t find any sites that sell them and if they do they are out of stock. Do you know where I could find one or any hobby shops that have them in stock?

I live in Rexburg, Idaho and they just got rid of the nearest Hobbytown USA to me in Idaho Falls so I pretty much have to order everything online now. If you could please reply I would greatly appreciate it. I would also accept any advice like a diffferent/better lipo I should get or any upgrades etc… Thanks

Cubby- Yo hey Bruin, sounds like you are having the same problem a lot of people are, not being able to find the Gens Ace pack they want in stock.

I’ve often said the biggest problem Gens Ace has is keeping their packs in stock. They put out a decent battery at a reasonable price point, but they’ve got a lot to learn about inventory management. So what should be your plan of action? Buy from someone else that has their act together and keeps their product in proper supply.

So what’s an affordable Lipo that is easier to actually lay your hands on? Venom. Venom has come a long ways with the quality of their batteries in recent years, and while they may not have won one of our shootouts, they are solid packs that will make your Helion M U C H faster than the included Ni-MH battery. Oh and even more importantly, it’s typically pretty easy to lay hands on one that suits your needs. Venom is carried by both of the “big two”, Hobbico and Horizon, so whether you are buying from an LHS (sucks to hear you lost yours) or buying on-line, the chances of finding what you need is much greater.

Squid Live #16
I don’t watch the show. it’s a bad timing kind of thing… but I did watch the re-run of #16 (couldn’t sleep and had nothing better to do). Thought I’d send a few comments, just to let you know, it didn’t lull me back to sleep, and that the nonsense is at least somewhat entertaining.

First off that Red Cat S-tryk-r, interesting idea for a rc vehicle, glad they finally got it to market, but couldn’t they have had somebody with some art or industrial design capability at least give them some clues about how something like this should look. Come on now, I mean – one word: UGLY! make that two words: STUPID UGLY! They can do good looking, you didn’t mention the Pagani Huayra, but it is a RedCat so I understand. Now belt drive is cool, it smooths out the shock to the drive train, yea it’s going to be a nightmare to work on but that’s just something that you would have to live with for a Canam style bike. Your only other option for a three wheeler would be a Mardave sidecar racer (spec racer – lame) or some Vaterra you guys are done bashing with (change that, the Vaterra would probably only have one wheel left).

As to bashing with a Corally… problem is after getting things good and wet the sand kicked up by the paddles tends to pack up on the belt and pulleys and before you know it the belt is all stretched out, corners rounded off and the belt starts slipping.

TS

Cubby- Hey now TS, interesting email ya sent in.

Ya, our G+ shows can be interesting at times. At the very least they give us a bit of a chance to hang out face to face. While I may go on and on about meeting up in the uber BSRC offices, the staff is actually all over the place so we don’t really get to see each other that much. We meet up here and there for reviews and shootouts, we also meet up for trade shows and bash events, otherwise the work done here is via UPS and the net. Any time I get to give Brian or Adam crap I consider to be a good time.

I’m not a fan of RedCat. Every time I’ve been exposed to a RedCat vehicle first hand it was with a pile of soon to be rubble, and they haven’t been what I’d call “cordial” to us by any means, so what is there for me to like? That doesn’t mean that times have changed and their new gear is actually worth owning, and that doesn’t mean that they’ve decided to overlook the negatively I’ve written about them and want to hold out their hand to start over, who knows. What I do know is we don’t get any of their product for review, so even if it is quality gear we have no way of knowing it. And… I do know we’ve extended our hand by covering their booths at trade shows and by posting some of their press releases.

With that said, I like their S-TRYK-R. In fact several of the BSRC Bash Crew do. Why? It’s a matter of this- we’ve owned hundreds of cars over the years and are attracted to something completely new and different because we are bored of the “norm”. The S-TRYK-R might be a POS, but we’d actually put up with that if it was so different to own that it was a “new” experience for us.

That’s it for this week ya bunch of hooligans, shoot me your questions, doubts, best regards, and lightly veiled death threats to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your question hits the front page Brian will shoot ya out a really cool sticker pack, if yours is named as “letter of the month” we’ll ship ya out one of our new BSRC
t-shirts.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 04.03.2013, Your Questions My Rhetoric

Posted by Cubby @ 12:03 pm. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Cubby,
Bigsquid is now a racer sight? You guys used to be so cool, now you’ve lost your F@#$##@ minds!!!! I’ll never be back again @$$ho1es.
Russell

Cubby- Each year gets more amazing to me. April Fools comes every single year on April 1st, and every single year we post crazy stuff just for kicks (like THIS). Yet… every year we get 50 emails like this one. “Facepalm”.

So Russell, I know you aren’t reading this because you have apparently put us on your perm-a-ban list, but if you should just happen to stumble across this edition of ASK Cubby-> April Fools, we are back to full force bashing only. The only way BSRC has ever been, the only way it will ever be.

Injury during marshalling article

My name is Todd Anderson and I am the owner of RC Excitement in Massachusetts and just today finally decided and posted about no longer running 1/8th Scale on our Indoor Off Road Track.

Can you please send me a link to the article that was written on Big Squid about the marshal (Trent Dill I believe) that was hit in the face by an 1/8th scale. I’m hoping to use your article to make people understand why I’m so concerned and will no longer be allowing them inside. We will still be running them on our outdoor track where marshals have more room to be out of the way, or at least have a shot at getting away, but like the article says why wait until someone gets killed.
Thank you,
Todd

Cubby- Yo Todd, Brian forwarded your email over to me. Hit him up again for a free BigSquidRC t-shirt, you just won “letter of the month”.

Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. And… 8th scale buggies don’t try to hit people, sometimes there are some real idiots driving them with wayyy too much power and wayyy too little skill (or common sense) and they accidentally get wayyy out of control. And ya, getting smacked in the shin (or face) with a AE B4 or Losi 22 might sting, but getting hit by an 8th scale buggy is a completely different level of freak’n hurt.

For those of you that might not have read my rant about how dangerous it can be to marshal 8th scalers, HERE is the link. I was quite pissed when a friend of mine got tore up after get’n smoked in the face with an 8th scale while mashalling, so I went off on one of my patented rants. Click on the link to see the fairly gruesome pics of what a human face looks like after getting slammed with an 8th scale truggy.

I wrote that about 3 years ago, has anything changed for marshals since then? Nope, nada, not a dern thing. Not that I expected anything to change, if there is one thing that is consistent about rc racing its people bitching there aren’t enough marshals. But… yet every year I see and hear more stories about marshals getting hurt. This is flip’n toy rc racing people, there isn’t a reason in the world for anyone to ever, and I mean EVER, get hurt. But at nearly any track you’ve always got “those couple of guys” that are running 10 times more power than they could ever keep between the pipes and even though they are all over the place they STILL don’t let off the gas.

To you Todd, I won’t commend you for leaving the 8th scalers for the outdoors where the marshals have a bit more room to dodge bullets, I will however commend you on doing what you believe is best for YOUR track. Too many track owners are slaves to the 10 hardcore guys that eat/sleep/live at their track, it’s refreshing to see a track owner doing what he believes is right, even if it might torque off some people.

That’s it for this week, submit your questions, answers, rants, raves, and whatever else is floating through that groovy head of yours to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. Get free stickers or maybe even a t-shirt if your letter makes the front page.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 03.28.2013, Version- You Throw the Questions, I Masterfully Dodge Them

Posted by Cubby @ 10:40 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

I have been looking at the Turnigy Trooper and I have seen that you did a review on it. I know that BigSquid is very educated in RC and I asked many others these questions but haven’t gotten any educated answers. So,
1) Are there any parts from other more name brand trucks that will also fit this car? For example Traxxas…(parts like this would be easier to get)

2) I have heard that the body that comes on the Turnigy Trooper cracks very easily. And, I have also heard that the body from the old Hobby King Trooper is more durable. Is this true? And, would the body from the old trooper fit on the new one?

3) Or would the body from a truck like the Slash fit?
I appreciate your help with this.
Ryan C.

Cubby- Yo what’s up Ryan, and thanks for the email. Per the usual, shoot Brian your snail-mail for a free BigSquidRC sticker pack.

Isn’t it fun when the message boards are filled with such knowledgeable help? I mean, every board seems to have plenty of people who talk like they know what’s up, but in reality they are simply regurgitating what they’ve read from other sources. I’ve always wondered why the “message board guru’s” can’t just own up to “I don’t own the car, I’ve never personally tried it, but I read once somewhere where that might work”. Instead wayyyy too many board “guru’s” state a whole lot of bull as being 100% fact. “Sigh”….

To get to your questions…

1. Yes, we put a bunch of time in with the Trooper 4×4 SCT for one of our shootouts (that you can find HERE ) but we didn’t drive it for the time it would take to know it inside and out. If you are lucky, you’ve got a quality hobby shop down the street where you can check parts first hand to see which ones might be interchangeable. Otherwise, the Trooper was a somewhat different design from other 4wd SCT’s we’ve driven, my best guess is that there won’t be many parts that will interchange with it.

2. From first hand knowledge- we didn’t have any unusual problems with the body on our review truck. As far as the body from the older trooper fitting, no, we’ve never tried it. But… from testing a dozen or so different SCT’s, short course truck bodies are “generally” very interchangeable.

3. Yes, most SCT bodies will bolt on the Trooper with minimal changes. The body posts on the Trooper are in relatively “normal” positions so they work just fine with most SCT bodies. We mounted up a proper Pro-Line Flo-Tek quite easily, it only required shortening of the posts and drilling a couple of new holes.

To boil it down, every truck is going to break sooner or later, if you are worried about parts support, you should be. Being able to get your truck up and running the same day might very well be worth the extra couple hundred bucks on one of the other brands.

How is it fair that in march bashness you had the ecx torment going against the hpi savage flux? A torment wouldn’t stand a chance against a savage, i don’t care who you are.
Pete O.

Cubby- Hey what’s up Petey?

So… you seem concerned that the ECX Torment wasn’t given a fair shot in the Sweet 16. Well here’s how we determined the match-ups. We did it a whole lot like they do in basketball, we looked at the top 16 and seeded them. The truck that we guessed had the best shot at winning was given the number 1 seed, and the truck we guessed had the worst shot was given the 16th. The ECX was matched up against the HPI simply because that’s the way our seeding worked out.

Last year arguably the slowest (and one of the least expensive) trucks won the overall championship in March Bashness, the Helion Dominus. In the Sweet 16 it beat the Clodbuster, in the Elite 8 it beat the HPI Vorza Flux, in the Final 4 it beat out the Losi FIVE-T, and in the championship it beat the Thunder Tiger MT4 G3. Based on those facts, I don’t think anyone can say it’s unfair to match an inexpensive truck against a more expensive one, March Bashness really boils down to a popularity contest, not which truck can go the fastest or jump the highest.

That’s it for this week, shoot me your questions, ramblings, non-sense, and jive talk to Cubby at BigSquidRc dot com. If your email hits the bigtime you get a free sticker pack, and if yours gets picked as “letter of the month” you’ll get a free t-shirt. I’ll be picking a “letter of the month” next week, so get those emails in! Feel free to shoot us questions on FB, G+, and Tumblr as well.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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ASK Cub Reporter, 03.22.2013, Version- You Ask Legit Questions, I Give Bogus Answers, It’s My Modus Operandi

Posted by Cubby @ 11:38 am. Filed in: Ask Cubby

Hi I have an hip e savage and I want to convert it to brush less and I was wondering if the radient reaktor 3500 kV combo would work?

Ryan G.

Cubby- Yo to the yo Ryan G, thanks for the email and shoot Brian your snail mail so we can hook ya up with a BigSquidRC sticker pack.

So you have a Savage that’s so cool it’s hip? I kid, I kid, you have an electric HPI Savage and you want to know if the Radient Reaktor brushless system we reviewed a few weeks ago will power the beast.

The answer is Yes, but… not for very long. No, I have not tried the Radient in a Savage first hand, but I’m fairly confident from years of experience that it just won’t work. The Radient Reaktor system was not designed to power a vehicle as heavy, or with as much rotating mass, as an HPI Savage. To reliably power the Savage day in and day out it will take a larger motor and a speedo capable of handling such high power demands.

So… I won’t leave ya hang’n bro, I’ll give ya an affordable alternative that should work. We reviewed an 8th scale Kershaw system a long time ago, it was one of their “Gen 2″ 8th scale power systems and it worked well for us. Kershaw doesn’t sell the “Gen 2″ system anymore, however they have “Gen 3″ 8th scale systems starting around $150. You might want to hit’em up with an email and say you are looking for crazy power for your Savage on the cheap. Oh ya, tell’em Cubby said “What’s up”.

Here are a few links you may want to check out:
Our Radient Reaktor 3500 Review

Our Kershaw Designs Review

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What do you think about those car action reader choice awards? Are they fake or what? It seems like every year they end up with some bullsh&* winners that nobody would ever vote for.

Benji K.
Utica New York

Cubby- What’s up Benji? Do you always ask such loaded questions? Haha, good for you for not holding anything back.

I won’t hold back either. I have zero, absolutely no “first hand” information that there is anything bogus about the RCCA awards. I don’t know how the voting works, or what categories there are, I basically know nothing about them, let alone about anything fishy going on.. About the only thing I know about them is they named a motorcycle as “car of the year” a few years ago. We still laugh about that one around the office.

However… there have been rumors floating around for years within the industry. Maybe they were started after a touch of jealously by a company that lost, or maybe they were just started by someone look’n to stir the pot, I have no idea.

I will say two things here-

1. I have no idea why you even care about who-wins-what in the dinosaur media. You really should move into the internet age. If you took the time to write me an email then obviously you know where the internet is, use it.

2. We do see surprise winners every year during our March Bashness tournament. For example, some very heavy hitter Traxxas vehicles have bit the dust early when every single person in the office expected them to make the final 4. Upsets do happen, and products that you or I think are extremely popular might not actually be.

With all that said, our own March Bashness tournament is now underway, and I can give you 100000% certainty that it’s legit in every way. Click the vote buttons and show the world which vehicles you think are the best.

Click HERE to go VOTE NOW!

That’s it for this week gang, hit me up with your questions, answers, psychopathic rants, and whatever else you have stewing in that mind of yours to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com. If your questions hits the big time you get free stickers, and if you are extra special and I proclaim yours as “letter of the month” you’ll get a free t-shirt.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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