Saw this over on our good Italian friends site Modellismo Hobby Media who have some pics from the Nurnberg show. It looks like HPI is going to be releasing a 1/18th scale Savage called the Savage Dwarf! Odds are good that’s just the European name, it will probably be called something like the Savage Mini here in the USA, if it comes here. It looks a LOT like the Hot Bodies Minizilla! But that’s a good thing, I love my Minizilla, and would gladly take a little bit more durable Savage version!

If you are running a Hot Bodies D8, your probably in the need of some new air filters. The folks at VP-Pro have you covered with their new high performance filters.

Long time no see, but welcome back to yet another edition of the industries most litigated opinion column, THE Cub Report.

So what’s the scoop on some of the newest product releases? Well, let’s just dive right in.

RPM is in the Big Squid RC Basher Approved hall of fame. They are one of the few companies that actually have their heads screwed on right, making good looking, good fitting, and no hassle product. Well, they recently shot out pics of their new Slash rear bumper/Mud Flap combos. Awesome, just awesome! I hope they sell a zillion of them. One step closer to realism, with the uber reliability of RPM. If you’ve been watching the 1:1 Torc series races on ESPN, you’d notice the only major cosmetic difference between your Slash and those racing on tv is the lack of mudflaps. The RPM bumper/mupflap combo is just what your Slash needs.

Seen the new Traxxas teaser video? Pretty much any type of “teaser” makes me want to have rabid multi-orfice fun with a porcupine excited now days. With that said, I give the new Traxxas teaser vid a B-. Slick production, but just slightly above average as far as general hype goes. I figured they would have waited to unveil their new beast at iHobby, as you could do one hell of a cool intro in front of the masses, but I hear they’ll be unveiling yet another platform at the show.

Big Props go out to Traxxas and RC Pro Series for their support of Rick “Too Hip” Johnsons Torc series. Awesome tracks, all the big name players, decent tv package, and Traxxas is plastered everywhere. Most media exposure ever for our industry. Even if you aren’t into short course racing, try to catch one of the 1:1 Torc races on the tube.

Horizon released info on a left hand thread kit for their 8 and 8T series of 8th scalers. What this boils down to is a few left hand screws for 5 bucks that should have been a running change on the new kits, but are being sold as a hop up. The HPI/Hot Bodies 8 series buggies and truggy come standard with these, cost far less, and won the worlds last year. Hummmm… wonder what the better value is.

Speaking of HPI/Hot Bodies- their Blitz’s are almost here! Get on the pre-order list at your LHS ASAP.

RC Pro Products released info on their uber new 8th scale wheel wrench. Nice to see a product designed by actual common sense racers, built to last, works correctly, that doesn’t empty the bank account. Quality tools are worth their weight in gold, thankfully, the RC Pro Products have all the quality but not the insane price tag.

Every JConcepts body I’ve ever seen looked uber trick. All their bodies for “race” type vehicles are really cool. Sadly, JConcepts has released pics of their new Slash body called the BAJR. Lets say you took the top off a VW body, the rear off a quad racer body, and the front off a Herbst truggy body, then molded them all into one- then you’d have the JConcepts BAJR. Wow. Like, you gotta be kidding me kinda fugly. If you want to turn your good looking Slash in a sort of Martian Turd looking machine, the BAJR is the body for you. Excuse me while I wash my eyes out with battery acid.

Well folks, you made it to the end of yet another Cub Report. Thanks for reading, and please get out and support your LHS’s and local tracks.

Your Cub Reporter

So you have already seen the official Hot Bodies Ve8 Unboxing pictures, so it’s time to get going with some of the kit build pictures! It’s late, (or early, depending on how you look at it) so not much of a description for these. Note, you will be cutting your motor shaft so it fits where the battery sits, and even then it’s a TIGHT fit.

Click Here to see all the build up pics, including the final setup, just awaiting the body.
Read the rest of this entry »

What seems like one of the most anticipated buggy releases in a long time, the Hot Bodies Ve8 buggy has arrived for it’s unboxing ceremony!
Here are some of the first photo’s of what you can look forward to when yours arrives!

Wow, a true kit! Haven’t seen one of these in a long time! It doesn’t even come with tires! First reaction, the chassis is good and stiff. No flexing this with your bare hands. We were not really expecting that, but glad to see it. It’s going to take a few days to build up, and I’ll make sure to post photos as we go.

Make sure to visit Hot Bodies Online for details or where to get yours!

Pro Driver, basher, occasional writer for Big Squid RC, and awesome guy, Tim Mohr has officially signed on with Hot Bodies racing! Tim will be racing the new Hot Bodies Ve8 Electric buggy! Congrats and good luck Tim!

Holy Moly, look at this buggy! The new Hot Bodies Ve8 looks sweet! Some of the big highlights, Molded composite chassis, big bore shocks, fit Novak, NEU, and Castle Motors, Optional Mechanical brake!!
Talk about trying to revolutionize the 1:8 buggy market, these guys are pulling out all the stops! I really look forward to seeing if that chassis can take a basher beating! One probably with current buggy design for bashers, after a day of big air, your chassis looks like a pretzel. Optional Mechanical Brake?!!? How sweet will that be? Spiral cut diffs, your gonna need them with the brushless power this thing is going to handle!

I’d like to see a little more realistic / scale body with that being the current trend lately, but I’m sure someone will come out with something for it. I look forward to giving this vehicle a good bashing! Can’t wait for the release!
HPI and Hot Bodies have really been making waves in the RC industry lately! I’m glad to see it.. the people on top have been taking it too easy up there, they keep resting on their names, and HPI/HB is going to be king of the hill before too long.

Get it? Gaining Traction? Made that up myself! Anyway, news from Hot Bodies about Jesse Robbers big win at the 2009 ROAR Fuel Off Road Nationals warm up race over at the Leisure Hours RC Raceway just up the road from us. He was running the new Hot Bodies Khaos Tires on his D8! Congrats to Jesse and HB on the Win!

One last post for the day from our good Italian friends site Modellismo Hobby Media have been covering the big Japan Hobby show, so we are going to try and cross promote and bring you some of the news.

Hot Bodies is introducing the C10 RC Rock Crawler. It looks like this is a pic of the prototype version they were showing last week. Hard to tell from this pic if it has anything special to go up against the popular Axial products.

Our good Italian friends site Modellismo Hobby Media have been covering the big Japan Hobby show, so we are going to try and cross promote and bring you some of the news.

Now this is some exciting news! Hot Bodies is introducing a D8 Flux Edition! Basically a Electric Brushless D8! Take the winner of the IFMAR 2008 Worlds and make it electric. Seems like a good plan!

Available for the Cyclone, Hot Bodies has introduced the smooth Murdelgo body in 190mm form! This design allows for awesome downforce and excellent steering response on the track. Includes window masks for easy painting, decal sheets for adding a realistic finish, plus all the mounting screws and nuts.

Stop by Hot Bodies to check it out and then jump on over to your local shop and get yours!

Hot Bodies is on a roll and listening to the crowd. D8 racers can now drop a little weight and gain those precious tenths of a second needed to secure a win with the new D8 Lightweight Chassis. Non critical areas have been milled and chassis integrity has been maintained so you can be assured your D8 will still have a stiff chassis.

Jump on over to Hot Bodies or your local shop and scope it out!

Look out racing world, Hot Bodies has the steering setup to get you through the chicane. Just announced are their two new servos that will be twisting tires before you can think about it. Just look at the specs:

HB DSJ-1SS (67991)
* Speed: 0.06sec/cm
* Torque: 13kg/cm
* Steel and Aluminum hybrid gear construction
* 40.5mm*40mm*21mm

HB DSJ-2ST (67992)
* Speed: 0.09sec/cm
* Torque: 16kg/cm
* Steel and Aluminum hybrid gear construction
* 40.5mm*40mm*21mm

Keep tabs on your local shop or drop by Hot Bodies and check them out!

What do you do when your buggy wins the biggest race of the year and proves it’s worthy of making cash? You make a bigger and better truck out of it! Hot Bodies has presents the D8T Kit. Some features are a longer chassis, no E-Clips (Yeah!), new clunk fuel design that can get to your fuel if you are upside down or right side up, and a one piece tray.
Personally, I think this thing looks pretty good! With the Hot Bodies price points, it would probably make a decent basher.

Did ya know ROAR will crown at least 23 national champions this year? Holy cow, that’s probably a higher number than the reincarnations of the Horizon/Losi Mico-T, Mini-T, and Mini-LST combined! (And nearly as high as the number of hate mails I get each week)

Remember how that el’ cheapo 8th scale buggy won the IFMAR worlds last year? Well, it’s got a big brother now. Hot Bodies announced the D8T truggy this week. Looks awesome, and once again, it hits a good price point.

Is RCX walking the green mile? Seems that way, as some of the big players are pulling the plug on their booths this year. Does this industry really need all the trade shows it has? Will we see a thinning of the crop in the trade show circuit? (Yes, I am asking that to you the reader. And yes, you can write in and respond/bitch with an answer.) I-Hobby’s show last fall was arguably the best show Ever in the sport, combined with their proximity to Hobbico and Horizon, I don’t see it going anywhere soon. But some of the other smaller shows might end up where they’ve needed to go for years- Away.

Speaking of trade shows, the German hobby show is going on right now. Big news? No show stoppers, just another wave of new brushless speed controllers/motors, more Lithium batteries, more brushless 8th scalers, but mainly, more electric, electric, electric! Who killed nitro? Hell, I hate nitro and the gas-holes that drive them (ok, only some nitro drivers are gas-holes), but even I’m missing that funky smell and burning eyes.

What’s the “hot” industry insider talk this week? Mainly, talk about who’s on the edge of going out of business. Talk with company “A”, and they’ll tell you company “B” is about to shut the doors. Talk to company “B”, and they’ll say the same thing about company “A”. Truly a comedic epidemic. Who do most insiders think are actually making money in this economy? Those with low (no) overhead, and those selling new era electric technology.

The Associated SC10 set the message boards on fire this week. Actually some of the best internet reading in quite some time (and LOADS of extremely cheap advertising for AE). For you old timers, can you believe AE is being compared straight up to Traxxas? Who would have ever thought that time would come? For you new guys/T-Maxx wave guys, you probably don’t know any different, but for the old timers, it makes you look out the window to see if any pigs go flying by.

That’s all for this week. Support your sport, support your LHS and local tracks!

Your Cub Reporter

If RC drifting is your thing, check out these new Hot Bodies Cyclone-S Drift vehicles! You have a choice of a Toyota Trueno AE86 body, or a Mazda RX-7 FD3S. There are a ton of add on and hop-up parts as well like graphite, titanium drift springs, and more. So if you are looking for a RC sport with some serious style, check out the Hot Bodies drift section!

As I sit here writing the last of this years Cub Reports, I can’t help but to wonder what lies ahead in 2009.

Will we see any of the big name manufactures close doors due to the economy? Will the sport continue to trend toward the “basher” side of the product lines? Will the Dream Team at Kyosho put out a car the average consumer can’t wait to buy? Will 8th scale brushless ever come to fruition? How many Slash clones are on the way? Will we see an avalanche of litigation towards lithium battery resellers? Will attendance at sanctioned racing events continue to fall? Will track designers ever start putting more thought into track layouts so that more than one racing line is available? Will nitro fuel ever spike in price? Will Losi continue to put out a new car/truck every couple weeks? But perhaps most importantly, will BigSquidRC see yet another huge leap in web-views like in 08? (2008 was AMAZING for BigSquid!) Any which way, 2009 begs to be a pivotal year in rc.

With no further ado, here is my list of the 2008 Cub Awards. The winners are solely based on reader submitted votes, with my personal picks mentioned separately.

08′ Car/Truck of the year- Traxxas Slash. Hands down winner here, with over 90% of the vote. Awesome price point, rugged, stylish, the list could go on and on. An awesome truck that is affordable to buy, and to drive. And above all, it’s just plain trick, no matter how bare-bones the design.

08′ Car/Truck of the year, Cub’s pick- I can’t argue with the public on this one, the Slash simply PWN’d 2008. The first time I saw the truck, I thought it was a born loser, but after seeing how the public has reacted, seeing sales numbers, and getting to drive one, I’m totally on this uber fun bandwagon.

08′ Worst Car/Truck of the year- Losi Desert Truck. Readers were wildly split in this category, with the Desert Truck narrowly edging out the win. It’s not that it’s a bad truck, as it’s based off a great platform. It’s only major downfall being that it’s just not a Slash. The narrow body, and legit 10th scale truck racing chassis (not scale) puts it just enough off the mark to leave a sour impression in readers minds.

08′ Worst Car/Truck of the year, Cub’s pick- I know I caught a lot of slack earlier in the year when I sung the idiocy of this buggy (truck?), but I sternly stand by my call here. JConcepts really is a cool company, and every other piece of gear they put out is outstanding. But, their “J82″ eight scale electric buggy conversion just makes me say, “WTF were you thinking?”.

08′ Best piece of rc gear of the year- Spektrum DX3R. The DX3R seems it has won over the hearts, and hands, of our readers. Fast response, light in the hand, and utilizing the kick ass Spektrum 2.4 GHz technology, puts it to the top of the heap. Best transmitter ever? I don’t know, but I can say it easily won the Cub Award for Gear of the Year.

08′ Best piece of rc gear of the year, Cub’s pick- Castle Mamba Monster. Yes indeed, the Monster had teething pains when released to the public (to say the least), but in the wider scope of things, it’s exactly what was needed to get every 8th scale buggy in the country converted over to electric. It’s big, it’s beefy, drives awesome, and like all other Castle products, it’s available at a very reasonable price point. Regardless of the tough initial release, the Monster is what was needed to continue the evolution of our sport.

08′ Biggest POS rc gear of the year- Our reader submissions in this category were all over the place. No one item got more than 5 votes, so I’m throwing them all out. I did get a readers submission that I took to heart though. It wasn’t about the Biggest POS piece of rc gear, it was about the Biggest F’en A-hole in the sport. This anonymous reader suggested that the fluff-boy that sued several American companies over the “made in the USA” logo truly earned such an award. To all those sue happy pricks out there, this birds for you.

08′ Zero to Hero of the Year (person or item that came out of nowhere to pwn)- Hands down winner here from our readers- Atsushi Hara. Now, it’s not like Hara was an unknown, he certainly wasn’t. Hara has been one of the most elite racers in the world for years. BUT, his win at this years 8th scale worlds shocked the world. An “on-road” guy putting it to the world. A foreigner smoking America’s best on home turf at The Farm. And even more surprisingly, the Hot Bodies D8 he used to win has a Ridiculously low price point.

08′ Zero to Hero of the Year, Cub’s pick- I gotta go with the readers here, what Hara pulled off will be talked about for decades to come in our sport.

Drum Roll Please…….

08′ RC Man of the Year- Seems our readers liked to vote on this category, a Lot. Everyone that voted, penciled in a vote for Man of the year. While the head man at Traxxas doesn’t seem to go out of his way to get his name in the headlines, his products, and his people have made a huge statement in 2008. The Traxxas T-Maxx changed the industry years ago, showing that something new and different could set sales records. For years now, the industry has waited for the “next big thing”. Incredibly, Traxxas pulled another ace out from under it’s sleeve with the Slash. So Mike Jenkins, and the rest of the team at Traxxas, this “RC Man of the Year” is for you.

08′ RC Man of the Year, Cub’s Pick- No, he’s not some crazy snow boarder/skier/mountain biker/X-Games medalist. But, he is Shawn Palmer. Inside the industry, he’s known as the guy with the big smile, great British accent, and marketing man guru. To consumers, he’s the guy that’s willing to do anything for the goodwill of our beloved sport. In 2008 Shawn Palmer went a long ways to increasing the awareness of ROAR, Schumacher USA, and the sport in general, to hard core hobbyist as well as laymen. He’s exactly what this sport needs more of, people going above and beyond simply for the good of the sport.

Congrats to the winners, that’s all for this year Squid readers. Tune back in first week of January, Friday the 2nd (look for all 09′ Cub Reports on Friday evenings!), for the next edition of The Cub Report. Till next year, thanks for reading, support your LHS’s, and support your local tracks!

Your Cub Reporter

Our good friends over at Modellismo Hobby Media dropped us a line about some info and pictures they got on the new HPI Racing Cyber 10B! It sounds like it will be shipping in very early 2009 in Japan, and is aimed at the newer more amature racer. It’s electric, and 4WD.

It showed up a few days ago as a possible Hot Bodies vehicle, complete with picture.. but it sounds like HPI has claimed dibs! It will be interesting to see what name it’s under if it shows up in the US!

Now that everyone has recovered from their turkey induced coma, let’s get down to the nitty gritty-

Tebo is signed up to the hilt with the K-crew. Ya, ya, I know you heard the news days (weeks?) ago, so it’s no huge surprise. What is a bit surprising is Tebo leaving his electrics at AE, having also signed up to exclusively run Kyosho electric trucks/buggies. The nitro MP-9 is more than up to the challenge of winning, K-car electrics, well, have not been dominant for a long, long time. Also, I suppose some people that are not so deep into the sport might think that Tebo changing over to AKA tires and Orion electronics might be a surprise. But seeing as Kyosho owns AKA and runs Orion America, most likely it was just part of the deal. Tebo is nearly 100% Kyosho now, except for now running Byron’s fuel (best fuel on the market, or at the least, the best people behind the fuel, IMO). Before, Kyosho had an “American Dream Team” of talent, now, with Tebo on board, it’s even more so. Here’s hoping the very best to JT with his new Kyosho rides, and here’s hoping that Kyosho and their even stronger “Dream Team” can come up with cars/trucks/buggies that someone wants to buy.

AE, the biggest, baddest, gnarliest American car manufacture announced their way-super-dope RC8 electric conversion this week. Smart move? Those 8th scale electrics aren’t flying off dealer shelves as one would have thought a year ago, so perhaps just putting out a conversion kit is smart. On the other hand, AE is just throwing their hat into the ring of the conversion market, along with Novak, Castle, Tekno, ect. If they’d just sell the buggy already outfitted for electric, there would BE no conversion market.

While I’m on the subject of 8th scale electrics, I had heard weeks ago that Caster Racing might be submitting a buggy for an official BigSquid test. Maybe it takes months to get one? Just say’n…….

Now onto this weeks “Hot Deals!!”.

Traxxas has announced that they will give you two free 7 cell battery packs when you purchase an E-Revo. Props to Traxxas!

HPI has become the second manufacture to announce factory cash back. Buy certain HPI/Hot Bodies products, ship’em your receipt and UPC code off the box, and get $100 back! Props to HPI!

And perhaps the best deal so far? A Tower Hobbies internet special where you got $20 off a $50 purchase. This deal just expired, but every week Tower seems to come up with new hard to resist savings. It’s obvious Hobbico/GP/Tower is trying hard to get your business.

Just a note to all you BigSquidRC readers- if you happen to get a flier in the mail or email box that shows huge savings, forward it to Brian at BigSquidRC dot com so he can share the savings with all our readers.

Lastly, it seems the “Cubby Awards” has taken on a life of it’s own. I get paid per reader, and Brian has always told me I only had 3 readers, resulting in diddly crap for net take home pay. Well, either my 3 readers have been voting 20 times a day, or I have more than 3 readers, because votes for the Cubbies have been pouring in at a rate that even freaks me out. If you have not Voted, it just takes a couple minutes, so start mashing those keys!

Till next week, support your LHS, support your local track, and get those votes in.

Your Cub Reporter

Seems that I started a little firestorm last week with the announcement of my “Cubbies” awards. So to simplify it for those that went into full panic mode (self promotion mode?), here’s the low down. Instead of getting 100 emails with 100 different suggestions (usually the person writing said email) who the “man of the year” is, I’m throwing in some good early suggestions. Of course you can still “write in” anything you want, but here are some good starting points for Car/Truck of the year and Man of the year-

08′ Car/Truck of the year- Traxxas Slash- they sold a billion of them, Hot Bodies D8- the buggy that changed the face/price point of 8th scale racing, Axial AX10 Scorpion- the truck most responsible for the crawling boom

08′ RC Man of the year- Carlton Eppes- head man at RC Pro Series, the most progressive racing organization in the biz, Shawn Palmer- perhaps the best “marketing” type person ROAR (and Schu) has had in decades, Mike Jenkins- the man behind Traxxas and their huge selling trucks

I’m not going to touch the other categories right now. They are probably left wide open for interpretation.

Brian has been really busy posting up all the press releases this week. A lot of new gear and buzz was going down last week. But here is one piece of info that’s been under tight wraps- one of the aftermarket companies is Really close to releasing their AE T4 and Losi XXX-T short course conversion kits. These kits will basically make a T4 or XXX-T look and drive like a Traxxas Slash does. The kits allow for the proper mounting of the Pro-Line short course bodies, use big bumpers, and allow the use of Slash type tires. From what I’ve heard they are uber trick, but will they make it to market before AE gets out their own electric short course truck? Will they make it out before Losi re-designs their “desert truck” to use a full width body? We’ll see in time of course, but it sounds like the aftermarket conversion kits will be announced just after the first of the year.

That’s all for this week ya crazy rednecks. Support your local hobby shops and tracks!

Your Cub Reporter