Aww yea! It’s time for your chance to win one of the coolest bodies recently released, the Pro-Line Rat Rod! Everyone has been talking about this one since it was released, and now it’s time to take one home. You also get Pro-Line rims, and wheels to complete your conversion as well as a Pro-Line T-shirt and hat!

So how do you enter? Easy! Send us a picture of your 1/16th scale Traxxas E-Revo (That’s the vehicle this body fits) and you are entered to win! We will randomly choose a winner from all valid entries.

Pictures should be sent to pics@ (bigsquidrc dot com)

Pictures must be received by May 18th, 2013 Midnight cst. Please no pictures just taken from the web and sent in, we want to make sure the winner can actually use this stuff! Last time we did a similar contest, someone sent in a picture from OUR own site with the Big Squid logo attached.. I know we are not the brightest folks around here but.. seriously.

Special thanks to our the awesome people at Pro-Line for hooking us up! Check out their site for more awesome bodies, wheels and hop-ups!

Need more Pro-Line news? Get it at THIS LINK right here on BigSquidRC.

You’ve spent a lot of money on your transmitter, spending a little more to make sure it’s protected is a good idea.

The crew over at A Main Hobbies have a new universal transmitter hard case for your uber radio. You buy the case then select the proper insert that is specifically cut out for your model of transmitter. Is the ProTek radio case tough? Does it hold up? More importantly, is it worth your hard earned cash? Lets find out…

From: ProTek R/C
Direct Link: ProTek Radio Case

Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby

Street Price: $49 for the case, $15 for the insert

What Is It?: It’s a hard case with soft foam insert used to store and protect your transmitter. Inserts are available for dozens of different transmitters.

What’s In The Box: A hard transmitter case and keys. The foam insert comes separately and is cut for the individual model that you select.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, Tim and Iron Mike

Test Venues: Leisure Hours in Joliet IL, DirtBurners in St Louis MO, several bash spots.

Review Platform: We selected the ProTek part #PTK-8165 for Futaba 4PK series radios for the insert. Roughly half of the BigSquidRC Bash Crew use a Futaba 4PK series transmitter on their personal gear so it was an easy choice.

Installation: It takes about a minute to remove the pre-cut area for the transmitter and put the insert into the hard case. We experienced no issues getting the case set-up.

Durability: Remember that old Samsonite commercial where the gorilla throws the luggage around? Ok, us old farts remember it, for you younger guys a quick search on YouTube will hook you up. Anyways, we threw the ProTek case around like it owed us money. We dropped the case from a height of 5 feet three times and tossed it at a cement wall twice. The ProTek case came away a bit tweaked, but nothing a little elbow grease couldn’t bend back

Also… shorter drivers often stand on top of their transmitter cases while on the drivers stand, this gives them a few extra inches of height for a better view of the track. We put Iron Mike on top of the ProTek case to see how it would hold up. Iron Mike is no lightweight, he weighs in at 240+ lbs, and he felt the ProTek case was sturdy enough for him to stand on. And no, he didn’t cave it with his massive girth.

Misc Notes:

The handle, while quite usable, felt a bit on the cheap side.

The ProTek case is lockable, but the locks are easy defeated.

The radios we used for the review, all Futaba 4PK series units, are fairly wide, requiring a deep case. The ProTek was plenty deep to handle the Futaba.

ROAR legal Lipo batteries slide right in some of the pre-cut holes in the insert.

There are plenty of extra pre-cut spaces in the insert for other gear like servos, receivers, etc.

Summary:

Time to Bash: A It takes all of 2 minutes to pop out the pre-cut foam pieces and get the case ready for action.

Car Show Rating: B The BSRC Bash Crew liked the looks of the ProTek case.

Bash-A-Bility: B We were quite rough with the ProTek case but only managed to tweak it.

Value: C The ProTek case comes in at the same price point as the Futaba brand case. The Futaba feels a bit better constructed, while the ProTek is set-up to simply pop in a new insert if you change radios.

BigSquid Rating: B ProTek has a good radio case here. It takes a good beating, looks good, and is easy to change over to another model if needed.

It is no secret I hate nitro, so I found it quite “interesting” that Brian would drop a nitro car on my desk for review (then he RAN out of my office). The new Duratrax Nissan GT-R has all the makings of a success, it has a big engine, a 2 speed tranny, and ultra hot scale looks. Did we have a good time with it, or did I end up smashing it to bits with a hammer out of frustration? Lets find out…

From: Duratrax
Direct Link: Nissan GT-R
Unboxing Pictures: Unboxing the Duratrax Nissan

Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby

Specs:

RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Bones
Electric or Gas: Nitro
Waterproof: No
Scale: 1/10th
Length: 17.32″
Width: 8.46″
Height: 5.31″
Weight: 4.1 lbs
Wheelbase: 10.2″
Clutch: 3 shoe
Transmission: 2 speed
Motor: .18 ST18-S Super Tigre
Radio: Duratrax 2.4 GHz
Differential: Rear only, spool in front
Slipper Clutch: None
Driveshafts: Bones
Shocks: Plastic bodied, oil filled
Servo Saver: In rack
Screws: Phillips
Bearings: Full set
Tires: Duratrax street tread
Battery: None included
Part Number: DTXD51**
Top Speed (measured by BSRC): 34 mph
Warranty: 90 days limited plus Stress-Tech 12 months
Street Price: $299

Primary Competition: Traxxas Nitro 4-Tec, Associated TC3 Nitro

What’s Needed To Complete: 6 cell Ni-MH for roto-start, 4 AA cells for receiver pack, 4 AA cells for transmitter, fuel, glow igniter

Build Quality: The quality of assembly looked good. Nothing was binding, shocks were not leaking, tires were well glued, camber settings were in the ballpark, etc.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, and Iron Mike

Test Venues: CostCo parking lot, city park, and a cul-de-sac

Set-up Notes: We used a Duratrax Onyx 3000 mah Ni-Mh pack for the roto-start, Venom AA’s for the car and transmitter, and O’Donnell 20% nitro fuel.

Turning: The Duratrax had some push at speed, but could turn on a dime with a tap of the brake. Pounding on the gas rewarded the driver with some serious, yet controllable, drifting action. The stock tires had good grip helping the Nissan GT-R maintain good corner speed. Overall, no major complaints and a blast to throw around in the corners.

Jumping: Yes, of course we jumped the Nissan GT-R, it’s a regular part of our testing regimen, regardless of vehicle type. And just like you suspected, it is an on-road car, so it jumps very poorly (but is a LOT of fun to do!). If you plan on doing a lot of jumping skip the Nissan and buy a dedicated off-roader.

Bumps/Whoops: We didn’t drive the Nissan “off-road” as such, but we did drive it on some pretty rough pavement, gravel, and smooth hard packed dirt. The Nissan handled cracks in the pavement well, but you could hear the back of the chassis slapping on bigger hits. Still, the suspension soaked up what it was intended for quite well.

On-Road: This is the forte of the Duratrax Nissan GT-R. If you are looking for an absolutely gnarly nitro on-road machine, it truly fits the bill. It corners well, it has an animal of an engine, and it just flat out hauls ass on a large paved surface. It doesn’t traction roll, and it’s a blast to drift at high speeds. Very fun.

Grass: Yes, we tried the Nissan GT-R in the grass, and no you won’t want to. Its ride height is simply too low, it just can’t move in the grass (at all).

Tires: The tires were a relatively soft compound yielding great traction and that must be appreciated. However, when mated up to a monster of an engine they wear quite quickly. We burnt through all four tires in two quarts of fuel, you’ll want to pick up spares for the long haul. The stock inserts are a bit soft but usable.

Power: I don’t drive much nitro, in fact, very little. However, I don’t have to drive a lot to know the .18 powered Nissan GT-R has good yank. When properly tuned it burns all 4 tires off from a dead stop and keeps burning them off till it hits top speed. It blows through first gear in short order then second gear kicks in like a warp drive. It revs quickly, and has more than enough yank to keep a smile on your face.

Radio: The included radio worked well for us, range was great and we had nothing but glitch free performance. However, its ergo’s weren’t as good as some of the recent RTR radios we’ve tested. The wheel to trigger relationship was good, but the trigger was a bit too large and the wheel was plastic covered, not foam.

Broken Parts: The Nissan GT-R can get going real fast in a real small area, thus we ended up slapping a lot of hard objects with it. The good news is nothing broke during “normal” testing, and we hit a lot of stuff real hard with it. Only when we tagged a curb full speed during the torture part of our testing did we finally manage to break the car. We ended up tearing off the left front wheel, but at that kind of speed I highly doubt many (if any) cars would have walked away unscathed.

Misc Notes:

The Duratrax came in nice packaging with an easy to read manual.

A clear protective coating came over the body to keep it in pristine condition during shipping. Nice.

We weren’t a fan of the tiny body clips.

The Nissan comes with a plastic pipe. It’s relatively quiet for a nitro, quiet enough to run in the cul-de-sac without the neighbors freaking out.

The cut-out in the body for the exhaust exit didn’t line up with the actual pipe. We broke out the body scissors to correct the hole and keep a lot of unwanted exhaust gook out of the chassis area.

There were no holes provided for a glow igniter or the roto-start in the body. We busted out the body reamer and made some for easier access.

The second arm on the throttle/brake servo horn gets in the way of the receiver box lid, we cut ours off.

Our car wouldn’t start with the stock ultra-rich carb settings. We had to go a half turn leaner on the high speed and an eighth turn leaner on the low end for ours to even think about firing up. This still yielded an ultra-rich setting with engine temps around 110 F for break-in.

We ran O’Donnell 20% fuel and it seemed to work great.

Nothing actually “fell off” our car during testing. If you’ve driven much nitro, you’ll know that is actually an accomplishment. However, the rubber coupling on the exhaust header did come loose. Nitro cars really should come stock with a flanged header, this has been a problem since the beginning of time. Btw, when the coupling comes loose it causes the pipe to slide forward and bind up the steering on the Nissan.

The stock windows are a bit cloudy due to the clear sticker over them. We got out a hobby knife and removed this film for crystal clear windows.

Like most nitro engines, the Nissan really leans out when the tank is nearly empty. Resist the urge to keep driving, bring it in and fuel it up to keep temps in check.

Speaking of temps, we had great power at 220 F with our final carb settings. We ended up at about one and a half turns out on both the low and high speed settings (65 ambient, 400 ft above sea level, humidity 40%).

The brakes work ok on the Nissan, but the car could use more. For a car with Warp 9 power it needs brakes to haul it down in a hurry too.

You can drive the Nissan in a relatively small area, but then it’s just an exercise in trying to get slowed down before you slam something hard. The most fun to be had with the Duratrax Nissan GT-R is in a large open parking lot.

Do you remember what a PITA it was to properly set the shift point on a T-Maxx? No worries about that on the Nissan GT-R, the shift point was perfect out of the box.

We had issues with the stock receiver pack set-up. It worked fine for the first few tanks, but then had a short in it causing the car to lose electrical power (read- runaways are pretty gnarly on a car like this). The stock receiver pack consists of putting AA’s in a plastic holder, this is just begging for issues and I highly suggest you install a proper receiver pack before you do much driving with the car.

Our car turned tighter to the right than to the left. We had the travel maxed out but still couldn’t get enough throw for full turning both directions.

Did we mention the Nissan GT-R has a pretty insane power to weight ratio? Ya, it hauls, and more importantly, we had very few engine tuning issues during our testing period.

We experienced some “spider cracking” in the paint job on our review car. Not a lot, but some. Perhaps there was an issue at the factory while applying the paint.

The wing and rear view mirrors on our test machine did not get destroyed during testing, a nice surprise.

Best Mod Under $5: Spare glow plugs. Our stocker burnt up on the 3rd break-in tank, you should always keep a couple spares in your box.

Best Mod Over $5: Ditch the stock receiver pack set-up and switch, buy a real receiver pack to keep from having a dreaded runaway.

Summary:

Time To Bash: C You are looking at roughly an hour to charge up the roto-start pack, then perhaps a couple more hours breaking in the engine. The Duratrax doesn’t take longer to get going than another nitro vehicle, but it will take a few hours before you are up to full tilt.

Workability: B The Nissan is logically laid out and easy to work on, but we wish it came with hex hardware.

Car Show Rating: A The Nissan GT-R is the best looking Duratrax vehicle to ever hit the market, and overall one hot scale machine. The body, wheels and tires all look top notch. It looks so good you have to think long and hard if you really want to scratch it up by driving it.

Bash-A-Bility: B We did end up breaking the Nissan GT-R, but it withstood a lot of abuse with no issues.

Fun Factor: B Big power, 2 speeds, and good handling result is a machine that is a blast to drive.

Handling: B The Duratrax drives well, you can point and shoot it, or drift it all day long.

Value: A The Duratrax is $30 cheaper than the Associated TC3 Nitro and a whopping $160 cheaper than the Traxxas Nitro 4-Tec 3.3, yet performs at least as well. The Duratrax Nissan GT-R is the best value in its class.

Parts Availability: C Out of three local hobby shops none of them stock many Duratrax parts, and none had the parts we needed for repair. However, they were easily found, and in stock, on-line.

BigSquid Rating: B The Duratrax Nissan GT-R provided quite a nitro thrill at a very reasonable price point. If you are looking for the nitro experience, the Nissan GT-R is a solid car.

We reviewed the TrakPower 10.5 MS Series system a few weeks and found out it was indeed a high quality product. Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the 8.5 turn version. Is it a lot faster than the 10.5? Is it the best sensored system money can buy? Hit the “read more” button and lets find out…

From: TrakPower
Direct Link: MS Series 8.5 System

Reviewed by: Cubby
Pics by: Cubby

Part #: TKPC6025
Street Price: $260

Speedo Specs:

Waterproof: No
Motor Limit: 2.5 turn (on 2S)
Input Voltage: 3S Lipo max
Rated current: 100 amps cont.
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
BEC: 6 volts, 3 amps
Motor Connectors: Direct solder
Battery Connector: None
Reverse: Yes, programmable
Sensored- Yes
Weight: 55 grams
Dimensions: 24 x 33 x 36mm
Wiring: 12 AWG
Blinky mode: Yes
Programming: Manual
Fan- No

Motor Specs:

Size: 540
Sensored: Yes
Turn: 8.5
Max Voltage: 3S Lipo
Shaft Diameter: 3.175mm
Dimensions: 35.9mm x 52.4mm
Weight: 175 grams
Top Speed (measured by BSRC): 38 mph

What’s In The Box: Speedo, motor, double sided tape, wires, sensor wire, sensor clip (clamp), and instructions.

Direct competitors: 8.5 sensored systems from Viper, Novak, LRP, and Tekin.

Build Quality: Both speedo and motor felt, and looked, of very high quality.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, Jason and Iron Mike

Test Venues: RC Outlaws in Collinsville IL, Leisure Hours in Joliet Illinois, baseball diamond, cul-de-sac, and a grassy backyard

Set-up Notes: We installed the TrakPower 8.5 system in an Associated B4 buggy. A Futaba 3PKS was used for signal, a Hitec servo was used for the steering duties, and we used a Pro-Match 2S 5000 mah Lipo for power. Our B4 was geared stock spur (81) and a 25 tooth Robinson pinion. We changed two speedo settings- we cranked in 20 degrees of timing and added reverse.

Ease of Use: The instructions were brief yet informative and easy to understand. Programming is done manually on the Trakpower, and both calibration and setting changes were quite easy. The Trakpower is set-up for the racing crowd so it requires the end user to solder up all the wires. This takes some time, but is the way to go if you are looking for a perfect install.

Drivability/Feel/Powerband: Just like the 10.5 TrakPower system we reviewed a few weeks ago, the 8.5 system had an impressively smooth powerband. From a dead stop the Trakpower 8.5 took off without a hitch every time, then pulled smoothly through the rpm range. There was no massive low end hit like some non-sensored systems, it was the type of smooth power where the more trigger you gave it, the more power you got, with nothing unexpected in between. If you are looking for an exceptionally smooth and easy to drive brushless system, the TrakPower is it.

Thermalling: We did manage to thermal out the speedo one time. The ambient temp was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and we were driving the low slung B4 in relatively tall grass. After we dropped two teeth and backed off the timing we could no longer thermal the speedo out.

Cogging: Even when attempting to get it to cog, we experienced none.

Power: With the TrakPower 8.5 system in a light, low rotating mass B4 buggy, and with relatively tall gearing (with a bit of timing kicked in), the system had impressive power. For instance, when driving for the radar gun to get a top speed reading our buggy could wheelie on demand at pretty much any speed. For an 8.5 sensored system that is some serious power. At the baseball diamond our TrakPower 8.5 buggy had more power than our buggy could put down on the loose dirt. On a hard packed track the TrakPower allowed our buggy to easily make every jump on the track. No, the 8.5 TrakPower doesn’t put out the huge wattage figures of some non-sensored systems on high cell counts, but for a sensored system, it put out more than enough power to do all sorts of fun stuff with.

Brakes: The brakes were just as smooth as the powerband. If you gave the TrakPower a little trigger you got a little bit of brakes, if you gave it a lot, you got a lot of brakes. Very predictable, yet more than strong enough to get the job done.

Fit: One thing I forgot to complain about in the TrakPower 10.5 review was the length of the sensor wire. In both our 10.5 install (in a Pro-Line Pro 2) and with the 8.5 system (installed in an Associated B4) the sensor wire was barely long enough. Yes, it was long enough to work, but not so long as to allow us to mount the speedo in any position we wanted to. The motor wires were plenty long for any application, but with a short sensor wire it makes the longer motor wires moot.

As far as the actual speedo and motor were concerned, they mounted up without issue. The speedo has a relatively small footprint and the motor is a standard 540.

Summary:

Time To Bash: C The TrakPower is easy to program but soldering up all the connections can take some time.

Car Show Rating: B The BSRC Bash Crew liked the “murdered out” black look of the Trakpower system. Black is all the rage now days and the Trakpower system looks good when mounted in a car.

Bash-A-Bility: B We experienced no day ending issues, but it did thermal out on us while driving in grass. When we geared it properly we experienced no issues.

Fun Factor: B The TrakPower 8.5 system shows what “mod” power is all. It isn’t slow and sedate like a 17.5 or mild brushed set-up, it’s legit fast and capable of pulling wheelies at nearly any speed. It has the type of power that one yank of the trigger can put a smile on your face.

Drivability: A Our testers have spent hours talking about just how impressively smooth the TrakPower system is. To date we have to say it is the smoothest, most drivable that we’ve ever tested. The combination of the speedo programming and the way the motor puts out its power results in a HOF smooth powerband.

Power: B For a sensored system the TrakPower 8.5 puts out impressive power. No, it’s not in the same league as some of the non-sensored systems on the market, but the TrakPower 8.5 has good yank that is easily controlled.

Value: B When we tested the TrakPower 10.5 system a few weeks ago it had decent power, but not the type that was really impressive. The 8.5 had more power on tap, enough to do wheelies on command at pretty much any speed, and that’s the point where you get a really good taste of what brushless power is all about. Combine the impressive power with perhaps the smoothest power delivery that money can buy, the $260 price point becomes a good value.

BigSquid Rating: B The TrakPower MS Series 8.5 system had good power with exceptionally smooth power delivery. Is it the best high-end sensored system on the market? I think only a shootout can answer that question for sure, but we were extremely impressed by the TrakPower 8.5 and recommend it to you.

I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that the Vaterra Twin Hammers Rock Racer is the biggest vehicle release of 2013. Its scale looks got a lot of peoples attention, while its unique chassis layout got others to look its way. So what exactly is the Twin Hammers? It’s labeled as a “1.9 Rock Racer”, but with its cantilever suspension and two speed transmission it just might be a versatile bash machine. Lets cut to the chase and find out what the Twin Hammers is really all about…

From: Vaterra RC
Direct Link: Twin Hammers Rock Racer
Unboxing Pictures: Unboxing the Twin Hammers

Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby

Specs:

RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Waterproof: Yes
Scale/Size: 10th scale/1.9 crawler
Speeds: Shift on the fly 2 speed
Length: 18 in.
Width: 5.9 in.
Wheelbase: 11.6 in.
Motor: Dynamite 15 Turn Brushed
Speed Controller: Dynamite Tazer 12T
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: Spektrum DX3E 2.4 GHz
Differential: Gear diff front, locked center and rear
Slipper Clutch: Yes
Driveshafts: CVD’s
Gear Ratio: Low: 4.05:1 High: 2.27:1
Shocks: Metal bodies and caps, oil-filled
Servo Saver: None
Screws: Hex
Spur/Pinion Pitch: 48p
Bearings: Full set
Tires: Vaterra “Race Claws” with foam inserts
Battery: Dynamite 2S 7.4v 2000 mah Lipo
Part Number: VTR03000
Warranty on truck: “… will be free from defects in materials and workmanship at the date of purchase.”
Battery Warranty: 1 year
Street Price: $400

Primary Competition: The Axial Wraith and Axial Exo seem to come closest, there aren’t many hybrid 1.9 rock racers on the market for a direct comparison

What’s Needed To Complete: Nothing, everything you need comes in the box.

Build Quality: Giving the Twin Hammers a quick once over yielded two discoveries related to the assembly quality. First off, one of the front shocks was lacking in oil, and second, one of the rear tires was crooked and extremely out of balance. Otherwise, everything else looked well assembled and ready to jam.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, Tim, “Iron” Mike, Jason and Sam “The Noob”

Test Venues: Dirtburners in St Louis Missouri (a muddy off-road track at the time), Cliff Cave Park in St Louis Missouri, St Joe State Park in Park Hills Missouri, a high school running track, a skate park, a backyard and a cul-de-sac

Set-up Notes: Our Twin Hammers was tested bone stock with the exception of ditching the stock EC3 connectors in favor of Traxxas. Also, we didn’t use the included wall charger, we used a Hyperion 720iNet3 instead.

Turning: At speed the Twin Hammers has a lot of steering, so much that it easily traction rolls on pavement, grass, and on higher bite dirt surfaces. You learn quickly to take it easy on the wheel to keep it from flipping. Those high bite/large sidewall tires combined with a prodigious amount of chassis roll yields a very tippy machine at speed. At lower speeds, like while trail driving on low bite surfaces in low gear, the steering is just about right. When working your way up a tricky trail you might want to turn a few inches to miss a rock or root and the Twin Hammers easily goes where you point it. If you are using the Twin Hammers in its element it steers very well, if you try turning at high speeds or on high bite you are just asking for trouble. If you get into some serious crawling action the stock servo just isn’t up to the task. It’s too weak and has too much play it in for serious crawling.

Jumping: We tried a bunch of different jumps with the Twin Hammers and it always jumped much better than we ever expected, and worlds better than a full blown crawler. We hit small wood ramps, jumps at the track, jumps made from sand, a 2 foot tall wood stunt ramp, and various ramps at the skate park, all the while the Twin Hammers was a pleasure to jump. It would typically maintain a slightly “front end high” attitude while in the air, while stabbing the brakes would instantly flatten things out. Maybe its low top speed kept it from getting into trouble in the air, but the Twin Hammers was a much better jumper than anticipated.

Landings were a bit on the brutal side. The suspension doesn’t allow enough “up travel” for the chassis to bottom out on the ground, this results in a lot of bounce while rebounding from the landing of a jump.

Bumps/Whoops: The Twin Hammers has a lot of suspension travel to soak up all kinds of nastiness. Generally it soaked up gnarly bumps quite well.

On-Road: You really don’t want to take the Twin Hammers on-road, at least not in stock condition. All the attributes that makes the Twin Hammers work so well in incredibly gnarly off-road conditions work against it when driven on pavement. The Twin Hammers has a very low top speed (for a bash machine or any on-roader for that matter) and traction rolls at the hint of turning on pavement. Yes, mods can be done to turn the Twin Hammers into a better on-roader, but bone stock you won’t have much fun with it on pavement.

Grass: The Twin Hammers gets around well in a straight line due to its 4wd and ground clearance. However, its low top speed and tendency to traction roll hurt it as an overall grass machine.

Off-Road: Here is where we get to the nitty grittty of the Twin Hammers. The Twin Hammers can’t do hardcore crawling like a dedicated 2.2 machine can, but it can run circles around crawlers when not in big rocks. Because of its smaller tires and front diff the Twin Hammers simply can’t climb like a 2.2, but it has a lot better handling (and more top speed) in open areas. The Twin Hammers can’t keep up with something like an EXO on open ground like a park or a track, but it can handle hardcore trail driving and crawling better. At the end of the day, the Twin Hammers is a hardcore off-road machine intended for natural trails and smaller rock crawling. Yes, you can use the Twin Hammers anywhere and everywhere, but unless you are driving where its high ground clearance and locked diffs (center and rear) really come into play, then you really aren’t seeing what the Twin Hammers can do.

Tires: Nice scale look featuring medium density foam inserts, the stock tires offer loads of traction on most any surface.

Power: A 15 turn brushed motor isn’t a lot of pure wattage, nor is the truck geared for massive speed. To boil it down, the Twin Hammers is definitely not going to blow anyone away with pure power. Top speed is around 16 mph and it doesn’t really get there in a hurry. But, there is an upside to the soft power. Soft power is easy for noobs to drive, and when in the really tightest of spots it can come in quite handy. For example, while out on a trail drive we came across a log that had fallen across an inlet to the Mississippi River. The log was probably 20 feet long and was about 6 feet above the water. Yes, of course we were going to drive across the log, but falling off of it ment losing the Twin Hammers to the mighty Mississippi forever. I can assure you the soft manageable power was the only type of power we wanted while driving across the log (see the second pic in gallery #2).

Radio: The stock radio is the Spektrum DX3E. Ergonomics were quite nice, the grip had soft inserts for comfort, the wheel had a foam donut on it, and the trigger was properly designed (even for guys with fat fingers). The grip to wheel relationship was also comfortable. Also of note, we got better range out of the DX3E than expected, we don’t know if something has changed or it was simply our imagination. We also seemed to notice an increase in range on the two previous Vaterra’s we have reviewed.

Broken Parts: We broke two parts on our Twin Hammers, the front top deck and the spur gear. The first part, the top deck, broke when landing from a relatively small ramp to grass. No doubt the fact that the Twin Hammers chassis can not bottom out put extra forces on the top deck causing it to break. We’ve jumped dozens of different rc’s off the same ramp without issue, but the top deck on the Vaterra gave way and the truck got no higher than 4 feet off the ground. The spur blew out after a mandatory huck off the roof of a pavilion.

Misc Notes:

The tires are vented on the carcass not in the rim. This is the first time I can remember seeing this from the factory.

The green anodized parts looked trick on the Vaterra.

Yes, the cage is screwed down and takes a while to get off for any repairs or maintenance. The quickest way is by removing 12 screws.

Old school collars are used to adjust the pre-load on the shocks. At the $400 price point I would expect threaded bodies.

That spare tire you see hanging off the back, yes, it’s the real deal not a fake.

The front a-arms have some webbing but are solid, good luck breaking one of those.

Do you break a lot of front shock towers? You won’t on the Twin Hammers, it simply doesn’t have one.

We measured runtime at 9 minutes. This was done on a small course in a backyard, half on pavement, half in the grass, and all the driving was done in “high” gear. 9 minutes comes across as a bit short in this day and age, and is no doubt due to the small’ish battery pack.

The highest ambient temp we ran the Twin Hammers was 70 degrees Fahrenheit and we experienced exceptionally cool motor and speedo temps. The highest temp we measured on the motor was 105 degrees.

We really liked the fact the stock speedo was waterproof, but in serious off-roading or crawling it drove us nuts. Most of the time the speedo would take multiple stabs to get forward or reverse to kick in.

Shifting between the 2 speeds on the fly is a LOT of fun, more fun than I remember from the old E-Maxx days.

The Twin Hammers comes with Vaterra branded wrenches and a extremely nice owners manual. Nice touches.

The stock servo while waterproof, centered horribly and lacked power for crawling or serious trail driving.

The stock battery is stated to be 2000 mah, when tested on a 1C discharge it only put out 1710 mah.

Best Mod Under $5: Heavier stock oil front and rear. We went to AE 60 in the front and AE 40 in the rear. This helps keep the truck flatter in the corners, helps it absorb jumps better, while not really losing any performance in crawling situations.

Best Mod Over $5: The stock servo centers very poorly, has a lot of play in it, and doesn’t have enough power for serious crawling. Putting in a Hitec HS-5646 waterproof servo will solve those issues.

Summary:

Time To Bash: B Everything you need comes right in the box. We didn’t need to make any adjustments before driving (albeit we drove it with one shock low on oil) and the included wall charger should take slightly over 1 hour to charge the Lipo.

Workability: C It takes 12 screws (ok, it can be done in 10, but it is simply easier to do the extra 2 screws) to get the cage off the Twin Hammers to work on anything. Once the cage is off the buggy is quite easy to work on.

Car Show Rating: B The entire BigSquidRC crew really liked the scale, yet aggressive, looks of the Twin Hammers.

Bash-A-Bility: C The Twin Hammers broke its front top deck on a relatively small jump, then we blew out the spur gear landing from a roof jump.

Fun Factor: B Despite its low top speed we had a great time with the Twin Hammers. How so? It was just a nice combination of crawling prowess mixed with more speed.

Handling: C Now this is a tough one. In extremely gnarly off-road conditions like crawling or climbing natural terrain, the Twin Hammers did quite well. But… on general “bash” surfaces like a baseball field, grass, hard packed dirt, or pavement, the Twin Hammers was out of its element.

Value: B Two of the closest competitors to the Twin Hammers, the Wraith and Exo RTR’s clock in at $400 and $350. The Twin Hammers is right in their ballpark in price point and bash-a-bility.

Parts Availability: C After checking 3 local hobby shops neither of the parts we broke were in stock, however, they were at both Horizon and on AMainHobbies.com.

BigSquid Rating: B- Raining outside? No problem, grab the Twin Hammers. Going to the beach? No problem, grab the Twin Hammers. Wanna do some rock crawling? No problem, grab the Twin Hammers. Going to hit the local park for some hill-climbing? No problem, grab the Twin Hammers. The Twin Hammers is a decent hardcore off-road machine, that is also quite unique and great fun to trail drive with.

Vaterra made quite an impression when they introduced their entirely new line-up of vehicles at Nuremberg a couple of weeks ago. People went gaga over their uber scale looks and impressive specs. For our first Vaterra review we’ve been thrashing the heck out of the Kemora, a 14th scale rally car. Vaterra is a brand aimed right at bashers, what kind of first impression have they left on the BigSquidRC Bash Crew? Read on to find out…

From: Vaterra
Direct Link: Kemora Rally Car
Unboxing Pictures: Unboxing the Kemora

Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby

Specs:

RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Waterproof: Yes
Scale: 1/14th
Length: 13.19 in
Width: 7.15 in
Wheelbase: 8.27 in
Motor: Dynamite Fuze 280 4500 kv brushless
Speed Controller: Dynamite Fuze brushless
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: Spektrum DX2L 2.4 GHz
Differential: Gear front and rear
Slipper Clutch: Yes
Driveshafts: Bones
Gear Ratio: 2.46:1
Shocks: Plastic body, oil filled
Servo Saver: At servo
Screws: Hex
Spur/Pinion Pitch: 0.5 MOD
Bearings: Full set
Tires: Gravel spec, foam inserts
Battery: Dynamite 6 cell 7.2v Ni-MH 1200 mah
Part Number: #VTR01000
Top Speed (measured by BSRC w/ 2S Lipo): 21 mph
Warranty: “… will be free from defects in materials and workmanship at the date of purchase.” Also note that the Dynamite Battery has a 1 year warranty.
Street Price: $289

Primary Competition: Traxxas 1/16th Rally

What’s Needed To Complete: Nothing, zero, nada. Absolutely everything you need is in the box.

Build Quality: The transmitter felt exceptionally nice for an RTR unit. The body on the Kemora was also exceptionally well done. Our pinion/spur mesh came slightly too loose (more on this later) and two of the velcro pieces that kept the under-tray in place were loose. Drivetrain was nice and free spinning, wheels were properly tightened, and we didn’t find any large pieces of flash on the plastic parts.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, Tim, Iron Mike, and Sam The Noob

Test Venues: Dirtburners in St Louis Missouri, two different city parks, a backyard and a cul-de-sac.

Set-up Notes: We tested the car bone stock. We retained the EC3 connectors, but did not use the included wall charger, instead we opted for a Hyperion.

Turning: Excellent. No, the stock servo isn’t fast, but the front end is planted and goes where you want it to. On dirt the steering is really very good, on pavement it can be a bit much. Our noob driver was not overwhelmed by the potent steering and could generally put the car where he wanted to without too much over-correction. Handing the reins over to the pro-driver guy, well, he looked amazingly dialed with it (ok, so he’s that way with pretty much any car). The front end of the Kemora sticks well on almost any surface yet the rear end stays relatively well behaved.

Jumping: Better than expected. The low nose of the rally car often scrapes on take-off and the under damped shocks often bounce the car in a strange direction, but the 4wd system really helps with the mid-air corrections.

Bumps/Whoops: Hay wagon. The stock spring rates seem right on point but the shock oil is way too thin. The shocks simply blow through their travel too easily and rebound too quickly. This under-damping results in a ride that resembles a 9 year old kid after three Red Bulls on a trampoline (or a hay wagon in a rough field). Also, because this is a rally car, the nose often digs into bumps and ruts, effectively removing the suspension entirely from the equation. The good news here is shock oil is cheap, put in Dynamite 800cs all the way around.

On-Road: Fun but challenging. The Kemora has a lot of steering, combine that with a lot of body roll and good mechanical grip and you have a car that over responds to every steering input when driven on pavement. Is that horrible? It is a lot of fun, but makes it difficult to hit the exact line you are looking for. The Kemora doesn’t traction roll (at least not without aid of a pot-hole or crevice), and gets better than expected mechanical grip out of the tires. If anything, it probably drives a whole lot like the full scale car would.

Grass: Better than expected. We really didn’t expect the Kemora to be drivable in grass, but guess what, it manages just fine. No, it doesn’t ignore grass like an HPI 5B would, but you do not instantly get high-centered in the green stuff. In fact, on shorter grass the Kemora is actually quite fun to drive.

Tires: Very good. Nice scale tread that worked better than expected on all surfaces. Nice mechanical grip on pavement, enough edges to keep you going in the grass, and soft enough to get grip on a hard packed dirt surface. The foams were quite soft which helped gain traction in the fluff.

Power: Cogging off the low end to a nice mid range snap to a very mellow 21 mph top speed. Yes, the Kemora comes with a brushless system but the stock Ni-MH pack really holds it back. There is enough yank for a noob to be impressed, for example our resident noob Sam got himself into trouble several times by the power. But… if you are an experienced hobbyist you will be putting a Lipo in ASAP.

Radio: The included Spektrum DX2L is an exceptionally nice RTR radio. Ergo’s were very good, the trigger was spot on (except for those with exceptionally large/fat fingers), the grip was quite comfortable with a molded rubber area that matched up against the webbing of your hand, and the wheel was sport’n a foam donut. Rounded edges everywhere also helped make it extra comfy. The only thing we’d change would be a tackier foam on the wheel. Overall a very light and comfortable radio to use. Range also seemed better than other Spektrum units we’ve used, go figure, maybe they are finally getting that worked out.
Finally, the DS2L does have the ability to dial down the throttle (low, medium, high) so if you want to hand the radio over to a less experienced driver, and not worry too much about them going wide open into a wall, your set.

Broken Parts: The pinion/spur mesh on our Kemora came rather loose, but instead of tightening it we decided to run it and see if it would live. Well… it didn’t, it lasted about a pack. Thankfully 2 extra spurs are included with the car. Our review Kemora lived through the “normal” portion of our testing so we had to go into brutal mode. We ran the Kemora full speed into a railroad tie a half dozen times at full speed. This did break the plastic lower front bumper, but this wasn’t noticeable while driving. Next up was jumping the Kemora off the top of a 2 story house. On our first attempt the car accidentally rolled backwards and fell off the roof ripping a rear shock shaft out of its rod end. We shoved the shock shaft back in and it was back to game on. Next we jumped it off the 2kd story roof twice, both times landing at bad angles (like upside down) and did not break anything. The battery slid out of its tray on both jumps, but this didn’t keep it from driving. Overall- we attempted to destroy the Kemora, and while we did screw up a couple of parts it pretty much drives as well today as it did when it came out of the box. Impressive.

Misc Notes:

We didn’t test the waterproofing of the Kemora but for all you water hounds the Spektrum receiver that comes in the car is completely sealed. If you run in a lot of water (and use a Spektrum transmitter) you will want the receiver that comes in the Kemora.

We experienced a lot of cogging from the Kemora’s brushless system. Trying to get going from a dead stop was a nasty experience, and the cogging is very hard on all the electronics involved.

I can’t stress enough just how good looking the body on the Kemora is. It’s quite obvious the design team spent a lot of time on it, but even more surprising is how much time the assembly crew spends on each one. There are a lot of stickers on the outside of the body to give it a perfectly scale look, and those eat up a lot of extra time. The side view mirrors and rear spoiler are also very nicely done and took someone at the factory extra time to put on. The body was so good looking we really didn’t want to destroy it, and that’s mighty rare for us.

On that same note, even after some pretty sadistic abuse the body still looks amazingly good. The rear view mirrors and wing are still attached, and the body as a whole held up fairly well.

A very nicely done (and model specific) manual comes with the Kemora. Nice touch.

The servo saver is extremely soft. Normally this might hamper steering accuracy, but we didn’t notice it on the Kemora. Being able to get away with a soft servo saver is great news for the life of your steering servo.

The Kemora comes with 2 extra spur gears. Sweet.

The tires make a screeching sound on pavement like the real deal. It’s very cool to do donuts on pavement and have it sound like a full scaler.

There are a lot of RTR’s now days that come with horrible body clips that are too small, hurt your hands, and are generally a PITA. The body clips on the Kemora are nicely done. They are a decent size and bent at the end making them easier to install and remove. However… the holes in the body posts are too small, making it hard to put the pins in. Sigh.

Best Mod Under $5: Dynamite CS800 weight shock oil all the way around. This helps the Kemora handle to its potential instead of like a basketball.

Best Mod Over $5: A Lipo battery. The stock Ni-MH invites cogging and really softens the power of the Kemora, ditch it ASAP for a better battery.

Summary:

Time To Bash: B The included wall charger takes just over an hour to charge the included battery pack. The rest of the rig is ready to jam right out of the box. You can go very quickly from crack’n the box to hit’n the track with the Kemora.

Workability: B Hex screws and a well laid out chassis make the Kemora quite easy to wrench on.

Car Show Rating: A The Kemora drew rave reviews for it’s looks around the office. Vaterra is setting a new standard for how hobby grade rc cars should look.

Bash-A-Bility: B We beat the crap out of the Kemora and did break a couple of parts. Thankfully neither broken part kept us from actually driving the car.

Fun Factor: C We had a lot of fun bashing the Kemora, but the cogging and low power output hurt its fun factor score.

Handling: B The Kemora is a great turning machine, especially for a 4wd. The Kemora generally had good grip on all surfaces. It did not handle bumps well, invest in some heavier shock oil to calm it down in the rough.

Value: A The Kemora has the same price point as its closest competitor, the Traxxas 16th scale rally. They also share nearly the same wheelbase and width. The Traxxas comes with a superior power system, while the Kemora beats the Traxxas in handling and style. We haven’t done a head-to-head shootout, but so far we highly prefer the Kemora. The Traxxas comes set-up for drifting, the Kemora is set-up for everything else.

Parts Availability: C So we broke/ruined two parts during testing, a front bumper set (VTR211007- $6) and a shock shaft end (VTR213007- $5). Both are in stock at Horizon and on the A-Main Hobbies website. None of our local shops had the part in stock, but the entire Vaterra line was first announced a couple of weeks ago. Will parts support for Vaterra ever hit Traxxas levels? Nobody knows that answer for sure, but for it to score higher than a “C” it will need parts sitting on local dealers shelves in the future.

BigSquid Rating: B Did Vaterra impress us with their first car? Overall yes. The Kemora’s scale looks are exceptional. The Kemora drove quite well on a wide variety of bashing surfaces. The Kemora proved it can take a fairly sadistic beating and drive away from it. However, there were some new model blues- the cogging, poorly set gear mesh, soft brushless power, and under damped suspension. Is it worth the cash? If you want an epic looking rally car that is a solid basher (and is shock oil and a Lipo away from being great) then you should definitely add one to your rc garage.

Our readers asked for it, and we finally finished it! Our second 2.4GHz Transmitter Shootout is ready for your viewing pleasure!
We’d like to thank the following companies for the radios that participated this time around. These are links directly to the products we tested. We appreciate all their support very much. If there is anything we didn’t cover in the shootout that you are curious about, or if you just need some more details, head on over to their sites via the links below.

These are the radios that took part in our second shootout.
Spektrum DX3C

Futaba 3PM-X

Turnigy GTX3

Futaba 3PRKA

Turnigy 3XS

If you are in the market for a new radio, and don’t have the time or access to a bunch of different radios to try, we hope that this article will help you make a decision. You can basically treat this as a short and to the point review of each radio.

Now head on over to the Transmitter Shootout 2 and get started!

Axial has really been cranking out the quality scale stuff lately. If you are into the crawler scene, or looking to make the jump, Axial is the name you need to know. So how does their new SCX10 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon hold up with their high standards? Does it leave the competition stuck on a trail waiting for a winch? Or does the Axial need to use the winch? Keep reading to find out…

 Review By: Adam the intern

 Specs: Width:9″ (229mm)Length21.24″ (540mm)Height:9″ (229mm) Wheelbase:12.3″ (313mm)Ground Clearance:2.7″ (68mm)Weight:4.65lb (2.1kg)Motor27T 540/550 sizeRadioTwo ChannelServosOne digital, high-torque metal gear (standard size)ESCForward and reverse ESC

 Primary Competition: Axial scx10 honcho/dingo

 What’s Needed To Complete: The truck comes pre-built and ready to go, but requires a battery and charger.

 Test Drivers: Adam the intern, Melissa, and Juan.

Test Venues: Local parks and crawl spots

Set-up Notes: After running the truck for the first time straight out of the box, I went ahead and used the supplied option parts to move the battery mount to the front of the frame. This gave the truck better weight distribution and kept if from doing wheelies on the trail.

Turning: The truck comes equipped with a digital high torque steel gear servo that has no problems turning the wheels. When i adjusted the drive range on the remote the servo was able to max out the steering in both directions which comes in handy on tight trails.

Jumping: Normally this section would be left blank during the review of a scale crawler but we decided to have some fun and really see how much of a beating the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon would take! We jumped it down stairs, off a table, over roots on the trail, off my trampoline…. you name it.. the Jeep took a fall from it! lol.

Bumps/Whoops: The jeep had no problem gliding over any bumps along the trail. Axial’s 27 turn motors provided just enough speed to get the tires spinning and bouncing over rough/uneven terrain.

Off-Road: The Rubicon is a very capable truck for an RTR it has a 3-link in the front and a 4-link in the rear which proves to be a preaty decent combination! The truck has plenty of articulation and locked diffs, add that to a bullet-proof drivetrain and improved electronics and you have a trail ready rig that comes ready to go!

Grass: The 1.9s did have some trouble in high grass but it would make it with some rapid reversing and constant acceleration.

Tires: The tires proved themselves VERY capable! Molded in R35 sticky compound the Maxxis Trepador tires are bigger in diameter than normal 1.9s and look great! The taller size helps with giving more axle clearence than the old scx10 and look a lot better with the jeep body! If only they would have been on bead-locks…

Power: Axial gave the truck a 27 turn motor which is my personal favorite motorwhen it comes  to scale crawling because it has some speed but will still crawl when geared right. The truck has plenty of power and speed for what it is made for and certainly had no problem pulling out Juan’s scx10 every chance it had.

Radio: The AX-3 2.4GHz , Axial’s new radio is one of my favorite rtr 2.4s if the remote is shut off while the car is still on the car will not take off which really is a nice feature to have! I can’t even keep track of how many times I’ve had cars launch at full throttle because I accidentally turned off my remote.

Broken Parts: The Jeep is a VERY solid truck and I had a hard time finding any weak points and only one thing has broke so far after weeks of abuse. I stripped a spur gear, which the mesh sounded a little loose out of the box so maybe it was slightly off from the factory but after I replaced the spur no other problems have happened. Other than that a very outstanding rig.

Misc Notes: Axial included an extra set of stickers for the body and a lot of other extras!

Best Mod Under $5: Defiantly some other plug besides the old style Tamiya. Normally I would have an exciting mod for this section but with this truck, that is the only small thing that I have/would change.

Best Mod Over $5: Some led lighting! Axial used to always have lights on their trail ready trucks but this rig is missing them. Would have added a very nice touch and would have been very useful during testing!

WE have a TON of pictures for this one, check out the galleries below.

SUMMARY:

A = Outstanding/Best in Class, B = Above Average, C = Average, D = Below Average, F = Horrific

Time To Bash: C The Jeep is 100% ready to go out of the box. All you will need is a battery and a charger of your choice and you’ll be tearing up the trails in no time!

Workability: C A very nice setup which isn’t hard to work on at all. A lot of the parts on the truck resemble the real thing so if you have an automotive background then working on the Jeep will come easy.

Car Show Rating: A This truck had some major improvements to it’s scale looks which made it even cooler than an average SCX10. The Poison Spider Bumpers really set off the look and scale functions! Extremely eye catching! The only thing that the truck needed that I think Axial could have pulled off.. was a driver!

Bash-A-Bility: C Would have been an A  but the spur gear  couldn’t take the abuse.

Fun Factor: B VERY FUN! Especially when you pull out the camera and capture pictures that even have you guessing weather or not its a real truck!

Handling: C Even though its not super fast the handling rating comes down to one thing.. Torque! Plenty of torque to turn the wheels wherever you want them.

Value: C Although it’s awesome out of the box the price tag may turn some people away because it’s a little steep.

Big Squid Rating: B Once again it’s a very solid truck and holds together well. It would make a great starter vehicle if you were looking to get into crawling/scaling. I have recommended this truck to many of my friends and the ones who got one loved it just like me. Great job Axial!

The off-road line-up includes-

Glamis Uno Single-Seat Buggy RTR 1/8- $439
Twin Hammers 1.9 Rock Racer RTR- $399
Kemora 4WD Rallycross 1/14th RTR- $289
Kalahari 4WD Desert Raider RTR 1/14- $289

The on-road selection includes-

2012 Nissan GTR V100-S 1/10 RTR- $279
1969 Chevolet Camaro RSV100-S 1/10 RTR $279
2012 Chevolet Camaro ZL1 V100-S 1/10 RTR $279

We will be posting more information and pictures for each of the new Vaterra vehicles later today, until then, hit up the official Vaterra Website to check out all their brand new vehicles.

Check out THIS link for more Horizon news right here on BigSquidRC.

The rc rally scene seemed to show up out of no where and explode with several companies all releases rally vehicles at the same time. The HPI Racing Ken Block WR8 FLUX was an attention grabber from the moment it was announced. The KB license was new to HPI and a surprise to many, so would the rally car live up to the hype? Keep reading to find out..

From: HPI Racing
Direct Link: Ken Block WR8 FLUX

Specs:

RTR or Kit: RTR
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Waterproof: Yes
Scale: 1/8th
Length: 19 inches (485mm)
Width: 8.9 inches (227mm)
Height: 6.7 inches (172mm)
Wheelbase: 11.8 inches (300mm)
Motor: Vektor 4000kv Brushless
Speed Controller: Flux Vapor Pro
Radio: HPI TF-40 2.4GHz
Differential: Front, Center, Rear
Slipper Clutch: None
Shocks: 4 Oil shocks
Servo Saver: Yes
Screws: Hex
Bearings: yes
Tires: Licensed Replica Fifteen52 Tarmac Wheels
Battery: Not included
Part Number: 109314

Street Price: $480

Primary Competition: Traxxas 1/10 Rally, Thunder Tiger ER-4 Mini Countryman

What’s Needed To Complete: 4 AA batteries for the transmitter and a 2S or 3S Lipo for the car.

Test Drivers: Brian, Wrench, Adam the Intern, 3DBill

Test Venues: Leisure Hours Raceway On and Off-Road Tracks, and a local cul-de-sacs and parking lots.

Set-up Notes: We didn’t do anything special as far as setup goes. We did all the testing stock out of the box.

Build Quality: Out of the box we didn’t appear to have any issues till we started to run the vehicle. Just rolling it was much louder than it should of been. We double checked the gear mesh and didn’t initially see any problems, so we decided to run it, and figured whatever the issue would show itself. Sure enough after maybe a minute of running the pinion gear lost some teeth and we busted the motor shaft. It appears we had the wrong pitch pinion on the vehicle. Our guess is someone grabbed pinion out of the wrong box during assembly. We replaced the motor and pinion gear and it’s been good since. There were no other build quality issues, no leaking shocks or anything else that needed attention.

Turning: Turning really came down to the surface. On the smooth on-road track we were drifting corners, doing donuts, and having a blast trying to correct for the power this vehicle had. Off-road drifting wasn’t so easy. As soon as you broke the wheels loose you were going to be in some trouble which resulted into some painful wall slams.

Jumping: We did bring it to the off-road track and jumping was doable. Our biggest problem is that the vehicle rides pretty low, so jumping small was no problem, but the big air resulted in some pretty harsh landings. The Chassis and body were taking some serious abuse whenever we went big. The rally also seemed a little nose heavy. On the big jumps we were fighting to not go into the ground nose first.

Bumps/Whoops: The rough stuff was handled pretty well, but if you weren’t landing flat between the whoops it would bottom out. The suspension did ok in the bumps and rough.

On-Road: We had a blast drifting on-road. The vehicle really shines if you are looking to just have fun. If you were trying to put down some super fast laps you are going to need some different tires and some tweaking. If you were out there to have fun and pretend you were a mini Ken Block trying to go all RC Gymkhana, this vehicle would bring a smile to your face!

Grass: Grass wasn’t happening. It’s just too low to go anywhere.

Off-Road We mentioned some details about off-road. It is totally doable in the Ken Block Rally. You don’t want to be going huge, but the vehicle can do it, and take it. We got lucky that the track layout happened to be relatively smooth with only a few small jumps, a table top and maybe a double. Driving the track perfect wasn’t easy though. It was difficult to nail the landings, you were just happy when you landed it on all four and were able to keep driving.

Tires: The tires are about what we expected and wanted them to be. There was minimal wear on them after many drifting sessions and mega donuts. They were hard enough to give us big drifting turns, but had enough traction to keep us on the track.

Power: Serious power. The FLUX Vektor 4000KV motor was a rocket on 3S and had the ability to break the tires loose on demand. Acceleration and top speed were both fast.

Radio: The included HPI TF-40 seems to be a love it or hate it thing around the office. I think it’s a big improvement over previous rtr transmitters from HPI.

Broken Parts: We did end up trashing a pinion and motor shaft, but this was due to a gearing pitch issue. We haven’t broken anything else yet, and the rally has been slammed, bashed, jumped, rode hard and put away wet. We really expected some other broken parts by now, but nada.

Misc Notes:
HPI did a good job of making a scale rally car that’s fun to drive. We’d really like to see some sort of ‘rally’ class catch on that involved on-road, off-road, jumps, etc. Ken Block fans will dig the detail of the body, it looks good and gets attention anywhere we drive it. The bad gearing out of the box was a bummer. We have heard that this isn’t a problem right now, but was a small issue with the first handful out the door.

While the Velcro straps look cool, we did loose a battery during some of our harder bashing sessions. While it’s quick to get in and out with Velcro, and lets you put in any size pack without a problem, we are fans of the bar and screws of the Blitz to keep things secure.

It’s tough bringing the HPI Rally to a off-road track because the track just isn’t set up for the scale of the vehicle, but if you are adventurous, and have a few buddies with rally cars, you could probably make pretty fun custom course.

Summary:

A = Outstanding/Best in Class, B = Above Average, C = Average, D = Below Average, F = Horrific

Time To Bash: C We had some bad luck with the gearing out of the box, but 99% of the people shouldn’t have the issue we did.

Workability: B We got to experience working on the vehicle pretty early, and overall it was good. Most things were easy to get to.

Car Show Rating: A The body, the wheels, everything about it looks awesome.

Bash-A-Bility: B We have been beating on it good. Big air, wall slams, landings to pavement, and have had nothing break after our first fix. Strap those batteries tight!

Fun Factor: B The drifting has been fun. It’s not set up with true hard drift tires, but could be pretty easily. The amount of power the car has is more than enough to keep everyone happy. Jumping could be better, if you kept things tame and ‘to scale’ you’d be fine, but we don’t like to ‘go tame’.

Handling: C Handling is a tough one here. It’s not as good on road as a on-road car, and it’s not as good off road as a off-road. It does both well, which isn’t easy, but neither are great.

Value: C $480 isn’t peanuts. You do get a lot of power, durability and looks for your money though.

Parts Availability: C HPI has a few WR8 Vehicles now, so ordering parts online isn’t bad, but finding them at your local shop will be surprising. Our replacement parts took a while to come in.

BigSquid Rating: B- If your a Ken Block fan, a Rally fan, or a Gymkhana fan, you will want to look into the HPI WR8 KB Edition. It’s durable, fun to drive, and looks good doing it.

Need more pictures? Check out the unboxing photos HERE.