Those of us that drive AXIAL Scorpions know that a good bind, or a powerful motor, can pop or snap our drive shafts. Well, RC4WD (RC4WD.com) has come up with a solution for this weak spot in the Scorpion driveline. The Punisher Shaft is a stainless steel shaft that is a direct replacement for the stock Axial plastic shaft. After upgrading the test Axial truck to a Novak Goat Brushless System, the drive shaft issue really came to light. We tried the reinforcement rings on the plastic shafts after the initial breakage, and they were not up to the task either. So there were two real choices. The truck could either be run timidly and hope that the shafts would hold, or a pair of the RC4WD Punisher Shafts could be installed and the rig could be driven aggressively. Thanks to this product, the truck held up great at it’s latest comp. There was no breakage in the driveline, and we had a great day of RC Rock Crawling instead of breaking.
These are about 4 times the cost of a replacement Axial plastic shaft and twice the total cost of a Traxxas plastic shaft/yolk replacement. If you are running a standard 55T Lathe motor with a 6-7 cell NiMH or 2 cell Lipo, these shafts are probably over-kill for your setup. But if you are running higher voltage and/or a brushless setup, these just may be the ticket for your truck. They definitely made my day by allowing the test truck to compete without any break-down.

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Who is not a bit frustrated by the driveline slop that most Axial AX10 trucks develop as the hard steel axle shafts grind away at the soft aluminum differential lockers? Well,
Freak Stuff Racing(.com) has developed a solution for the problem shown in the example below.

The people at Freak Stuff have developed a Stainless Steel Locker that utilizes the stock pin. The slop is greatly reduced utilizing a closer tolerance in the locker’s cross pin hole. These replacement pieces are a direct fit in the stock Axial diffs. These parts are much stronger than the stock components, so the situation shown above will have a much smaller chance of happening to you. After running these for 2 afternoons, the slop has not returned to my test truck. These are well worth the effort to swap out even before your lockers just blow out.

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I am Josh, and will be writing “mini-reviews” of new or interesting products and news in the crawling area of RC. Compared to many that have been involved in this hobby for many years, I am a relative noob. I have been really only involved at a hobbyist level for a little over a year, but I have really taken an effort to get to know many facets of the hobby.

I started about a year ago with my purchase of a CEN Matrix RTR buggy after reading Brian’s review on this site. That was the purchase that got me rolling. Since that day, I have been hooked. That buggy has been torn apart, modified, rebuilt, motor swapped, and reworked at least twice in this first year. Next up was a Duratrax Warhead Evo. This was also a Big Squid influenced purchase. I also obtained a CEN Magnum 1/10th scale stadium truck, and most recently I have been building a Mini-Chaos 1/16th scale buggy. That little thing is gonna fly. It is almost nothing like it was when it came out of the box.

This nitro obsession was slowed down a bit by the Chicago cold, so I needed a way to keep myself occupied. This is when I ran across crawling. In December I purchased the very popular Axial Scorpion. This truck gave me plenty to tinker with. Since its purchase I have pretty much replaced all components except the axle housings with various upgrades from many different vendors. This ever changing project is the basis for my mini-reviews. As I purchase new products, install them, and test them, I will be reviewing them and letting all of you know which products are working well, and which are not. So far I have found a lot of good products and vendors out there. Hopefully you will find some good information in these mini-reviews.

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We get emails and forum suggestions of products that we should check out or review, and I thought I would take a moment and let you know the some of the stuff we have in the works.

First up, we have started to mess with the new Duratrax RT-X 27! Fastest monster on the block? Can’t wait to find out! Out of the box impressions are good. I like the new chassis design, and those rims rock! We will be putting this truck to the test in the very near future!

Does size matter? Yes.. yes it does! I have seen a few 5B’s in action, but never got behind the wheel of one. This thing is intimidating! It’s big, heavy, and awesome! The box took up the whole office, so I stepped outside to take the next shot. Snow! I haven’t put any fuel in it yet, but I am really looking forward to this test! Might not be able to wait for the winter thaw, will try and hit the indoor track soon, run over a few tiny 1/8th scales! LOL. Maybe I’ll be brave enough to winterize it and hit the snow drifts? Does HPI Racing make a snow plow for this thing?

We have heard nothing but good things about the HPI Racing Wheely King! It sounds like a fun little basher, and that’s what we do! Sounds like a must have! Will also be looking into doing a crawler conversion! Wheely’s usually = good reviews! Bring on the fun!

Also, a few things you have already been reading about, the Team Novak brushless GOAT system that I put in my crawler. This system is awesome! I’m pretty new to the crawling sport, but having just won an event with it last week, I have to say this system rocks! Look for the review coming soon!

Wow, there is a lot of stuff in the works! Have any questions you want us to look into on any of these products while we are testing, drop us an email, or post it up in the forum.

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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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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 shot a lot of video at the iHobby expo this year in Chicago, and finally got a chance to cut the videos and get them posted. This is part of a set we did with a lot of the manufacturers at the show. Each person was told to introduce themselves, then they had 15 seconds to describe their RC product. It was a great time had by all. This first video is in the Axial booth! Enjoy.

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

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