Features « Big Squid RC

‘Features’ Category

The 2WD Monster Truck Shootout is Ready!

Posted by Brian @ 12:40 pm. Filed in: Big Squid RC, Featured Posts, Shootouts

We have been working hard on this one for a while! The 2WD Monster Truck Shootout is finally completed and ready for your reading pleasure! We get a TON of emails asking us what truck is better, and which one someone should buy. We decided to take some time and actually put them all to the test! Unlike those ‘advertisement’ rags, we actually come up with a winner, and show you how we got there!

The three vehicles we picked are the current ‘most asked about’ 2WD Monster Trucks. We put the Traxxas Stampede, the ARRMA Granite, and the ECX Ruckus all in a room, and said ‘FIGHT!’

While we have reviewed all these trucks separately, it’s always a different story when you can drive the vehicles back to back, and literally feel and see the difference right before you.

Hopefully all the hard work that went into this one is appreciated! Thanks to Tim, Cubby and Craig for all their time getting this one out the door, and special thanks to Slot & Wing for letting us come bash at their new locations just days after their move.

Ok, ok.. enough blabbering, lets get to the 2WD RTR Monster Truck Shootout!

PS: When you guys link this thing all over the web (like we know you will) please use this link so people can find/start off on the first page.. thanks! (http://www.bigsquidrc.com/2wd-rtr-monster-truck-shootout/ )

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Unboxing the HPI Super 5SC Flux

Posted by Brian @ 1:34 am. Filed in: HPI Racing, Unboxing

I think a lot of folks are wondering how the HPI Racing Super 5SC Flux is going to do. It’s priced right, it’s big, and it’s 4WD! We had the chance to unbox one with our good friend Steve from the Hobby Town in Orland Park, IL. First impressions are decent. It’s big and heavy, but only time will tell if a 1/8th scale power system can take the abuse we plan on giving that vehicle. Over all it feels pretty sturdy.

HPI RTR Baja 5B Flux Gallery

There are a ton more pictures so keep reading.. READ MORE

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Axial EXO RTR Unboxing Pictures

Posted by Brian @ 11:26 pm. Filed in: Axial, Unboxing

We recently posted the Axial news about the EXO RTR coming soon. Well today it showed up at the office, so here are a few pictures before we go beat up on it and start the review process. You can see the Castle system in a few of the shots.

Axial EXO RTR Unboxing Gallery

If you haven’t seen our review of the Axial EXO Terra Buggy Kit make sure to hit that link

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Pro-Line Performance Transmission Unboxing

Posted by Brian @ 6:32 pm. Filed in: Pro-Line, Unboxing

We just got our hands on the Pro-Line Performance Transmission, and everyone is fighting over who’s going to get to install it and review it! Cubby literally had Wrench in a headlock while they were trying to get their hands on it. Maybe hanging it from the ceiling like a pinata and telling them winner gets it was a bad idea.. uh oh, here comes Adam the Intern with a crowbar! I can’t look!

Pro-Line Performance Transmission Gallery

Check the Pro-Line Site for all details, and come back soon for our full review of the Pro-Line Transmission!

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Modding The Helion Dominus Part 5 – Installing Upgraded Off Road Tires

Posted by Tim Mohr @ 9:55 am. Filed in: Helion RC, Projects

Modding The Helion Dominus Part 5 – Installing Upgraded Off Road Tires

The Helion Dominus has proven itself an extremely poplar bash machine, so popular in fact that it won BigSquid’s March Bashness contest against some very stiff competition. Many of the people that have chosen the Dominus as their basher of choice use it strictly off road. While the stock Dominus tires do a sufficient job off road, they are far from offering the best traction possible. Over the last few months we have tried a multitude of different tires on our Dominus and have determined that we like the Pro-Line Badlands the best for all around off road bashing.

Here is what is needed to properly install a set of Pro-Line Badlands on your Dominus….

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Modding The Helion Dominus Part 4 – Installing A Brushless System

Posted by Tim Mohr @ 5:46 pm. Filed in: Featured Posts, Helion RC, Projects

Modding The Helion Dominus Part 4 – Installing A Brushless System

No other single modification will give your Dominus such a dramatic increase in shear power as the installation of a brushless power system. Today I’ll be walking you through what it takes to install a brushless motor and speed controller in your Helion Dominus. If you are an old pro you can do this in your sleep but if you are new to the hobby I hope these instructions help you out.

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Building the Mini-Rossi – Modding the Kyosho Mini Z Motorcycle

Posted by Manny @ 5:24 pm. Filed in: Featured Posts, Mini RC, Projects

Well to say that I was excited to see that Kyosho was bringing out a Mini-Z Motorcycle would be a major understatement. Then you toss on the layer of details that Mini-Z is known for and that it was going to be a replica of the Yamaha M1 and I pretty much had to buy a bib cuz I was non-stop drooling at every pic I could find. Being the type that can’t stand running the same rig as everyone else has I had to put my spin on it. For me there is no better rider than Valentino Rossi when it comes to on-road motorcycle racing so I had to pay homage to him on this one. Like most involved in this Hobby I love all things with wheels and details and some of what I collect are scale motorcycles. Maisto is a huge supplier of said bikes that can usually be had for under 5 bucks at you’re favorite toy stop. Doing a quick search I found they made a copy of his 06 ride with Camel being the lead sponsor. Oddly enough I didn’t have these in my stable yet so I ordered up a couple. The details and fit and finish are really good on these scale beauties right out of the box so the only problem was could I make them fit onto the Mini-Z Moto that is already too small to possibly have as much going on as it does. Keep reading to get the details of the build..
READ MORE

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Kyosho Mini-z Moto Racer unboxing and video

Posted by GregZ @ 10:11 am. Filed in: Kyosho, New Products, Unboxing

The Kyosho Mini-Z Moto Racer bikes finally came out last week and I eagerly picked up 4 of them to add to the Chicago Mini R/C fleet.

What you get inside the box is the new KT-19 transmitter, the motorcycle itself (assembled and ready to run), a USB charger (mini-USB on the charger, standard USB on the power side), a 120mah 1 cell 20c lipo, plastic tweezers, and an allen wrench for adjusting the front forks.

Detail on the bike is great! The side bars don’t take away from the looks too much. They are not removable.

Getting a little closer we take the rider off and get a shot of the tank detail, front and rear end. You’ve got a cast wheel up front. Would it have been cool if it was actually a little mini chain drive rear end? Of course! Does the fact that it isn’t rob from the looks? Not really.

Kyosho is using standard mini servo for the front. The battery door clips in. A quick test to see if one of the many mini-lipos I had would fit resulted in failure. The kyosho battery doesn’t have the plastic end cap and shaving down the fins on 2 of mine couldn’t get it too fit. Some folks are taking the plastic end caps off on their own but I’ve been too nervous to try it myself.

The new KT-19 FHSS 2.4ghz radio system is styled after the KT-18 we’ve been using for Mini-z and dNaNo vehicles. They’ve integrated a stand now. Adjustments include Low and High speed gyro adjustments as well as steering trim. 4 AAA batteries are used to power the radio and they retain the “magazine” loading style of the battery tray.

Finally, our unboxing video and some running in the store, our RCP track (I need lots of practice) and some pavement running outside. A quick note from most everyone who saw it run, it’s surprisingly fast! More details also available on Kyosho’s website.

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Traxxas Funny Car unboxing and (pre)view

Posted by GregZ @ 12:13 am. Filed in: New Products, Traxxas, Unboxing

What you see above, is the Traxxas John Force Funny Car at around 1pm today. The cleanest it’ll ever look and it didn’t last long. What you see below is what happened 5 hours later or about 3 cycles on a 5000mah 3s lipo. From what I’m told, if you participate in the current drag racing scene, that’s about 3 weeks of running.
READ MORE

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HPI BULLET MT FLUX Unboxing

Posted by Brian @ 9:50 am. Filed in: HPI Racing, Unboxing

hpi Bullet mt flux

Well we finally got our hands on the HPI Racing Bullet MT Flux! I have to say, out of the box, the initial impressions are darn good! We really dig the paint scheme with the sort of candy grey paint. Everything looks solid, and the new TF-40 stock radio feels good in the hand! I really dig the orange aluminum.. I would of like to have seen it on the shock towers as well, but they have to save something for hop-ups right?

Watch for a review coming soon.. for now enjoy the pics.

HPI Bullet MT Gallery

HPI Bullet MT Gallery

More pics after the break..
READ MORE

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Kyosho DBX VE 2.0 Buggy unboxing

Posted by GregZ @ 3:34 pm. Filed in: Kyosho, New Products, Unboxing

The review of the Kyosho DBX VE 2.0 buggy has begun but until it’s done, this unboxing should hold you over. I know it isn’t a short course but on paper, the closest thing I want to compare this to on “features for the price” is the Traxxas Slash 4×4. Given that, at $369.99 street it appears it’ll be a bargain. Let’s take a closer look at what is inside the box.

The buggy is fully assembled and ready to go. It includes two sets of decals (yellow and gold) to dress up the buggy as you like.

Under the body is a protective cover the shields the electronics from dust and debris. It should help with a few small splashes but this is not advertised as a waterproof model.

Tons of pics and a video after the break…
READ MORE

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Axial Ridgecrest AX10 Unboxing

Posted by Brian @ 11:48 pm. Filed in: Axial, Unboxing

We just got our hands on the Axial Ridgecrest. So before we go out and beat up on it, here are the unboxing photos while it’s still nice and shiny. I think Adam the Intern has been wanting to get his hands on one, and since he’s been the resident scale/crawler guy lately, I’ll be handing it off to him to get started on the review.

Axial Ridgecrest Gallery

While snapping the photos of the box, I thought wow.. that’s some crazy lens they used to take the pictures of the truck with because the tires look huge.. well after getting it out of the box, the tires still look huge!

Axial Ridgecrest Gallery

More pics after the break…

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We Have Our Winners!

Posted by Brian @ 10:00 pm. Filed in: March Bash-ness

First, I would like to thank all of our fans as well as our sponsors for making this years March Bash-ness another amazing event! There were surprises and upsets at every turn, and it was a blast to watch the voting.

Now to the important stuff! All of the entries were put in a database. We then used a random number generator to choose two different numbers. We matched those up with where they were in the database, and that’s how we got the winners.

We picked the winner of the Dominus first, since it won in the voting. The winner of the Helion Dominus 10SC RTR is Christopher Beardsle! (cbeardslee@)

The winner of the Thunder Tiger MT4 G3 is Nathan Moser! (mosernathan6@)

Congratulations to both winners! You will be contacted by email to get some more information.

Didn’t win? Still want a Dominus or MT4? Head to the over to the Hobby Town- Dominus site, or the Tower Hobbies MT4 where you can order one for yourself.

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