All of our iHobby Expo 2008 news in one place! The videos, all the pictures like the Traxxas 1/16th scale vehicles and summit, the booth models, and everything in between! Enjoy!

I put together a quick video I shot while doing our iHobby Expo 2008 demos for the crowd. Sadly, because I was the guy on the mic as well, I didn’t get nearly as much footage as I would of liked! Next year I’ll have to get a MC or cameraman. Anyway.. enjoy.. it’s short and sweet.
Thanks again to all the fans that came out to the show and screamed their lungs out!

I’m working on another video that will be a walk-through of the entire show!

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The iHobby Expo 2008 pictures just keep coming! I’ll try not to overload the front page, so you will probably have to click the ‘read more’ button or something on the bottom to see the rest.

The LargeScaleRC guys are cool. They don’t even beat me up when I do stuff like this!

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We still have a bunch of iHobby Expo 2008 pictures that we haven’t published, so I think we’ll just post them up in sections. I don’t want to overload the page here with pictures, so you will probably have to click the ‘read more’ button or something on the bottom to see the rest.

These first few pictures are showing off the Big Squid RC Basher Approved awards. We recently awarded Team Novak with one for their GOAT Brushless system, and also to Team EDS for their amazing tools. The Basher Approved section will be updated shortly to reflect this. For now, enjoy the pics.

At a lot of events and shows, I always run into Bob Hastings from RC Driver. I usually snap a picture or two because he’s always trying to get out of the way of my shots.

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O’Donnell Racing has issued a press release talking about their new O’Donnell Z01-T Truggy. It’s 1/8 scale, 4WD, and built to race! I had the pleasure of talking to ‘THE’ Steve O’Donnell himself last week. He’s really a great guy, and cool to talk to every time I see him. They really put a lot of thought into this vehicle! From the captured hinge pins to the large box for the electronics. (I thanked Steve for that.. finally a little room to move around!)
There were a lot of Nickel-plated steel parts like the front and rear drive shafts, outdrives, steering and camber links. There was also a ton of hard anodized aluminum parts! Even though this thing is build for racing, I’m willing to bet it can take some bashing abuse! If we are lucky, maybe we’ll get our hands on one to review!
Check the NEW Product Forum for the full press release.
Here are two shots I got from the iHobby Expo 2008.

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Duratrax has put out the full press release on their new 1/18th scale Vendetta TC. It’s a 1/18th scale touring car, it comes RTR with 4WD! I got a chance to check it out at the iHobby Expo last week, and it was a pretty sweet looking car. The full press release will be posted in the NEW Product Forum.

Here are my pictures I took of the vehicle at the iHobby Expo. I must admit, the shot on the left actually looks like I know how to use a camera!

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During the iHobby show, I made a quick stop over in the
Axial Racing booth to say hello, and to see what new goodies they had coming in the near future. I think the coolest was the Bender Customs SWX Chassis kit. The setup looked pretty darn cool, and it looked like a true upgrade that would probably handle very differently. This wasn’t just some bolt on hop-up, but a fundamental change.
They also had their RTR stuff as well as a new tool tote they were showing off with all their tools.

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I’m pretty sure that the first few times I walked the show floor, these vehicles were not anywhere to be seen. Then one late evening, just before the show was closing for the day I spotted these two vehicles on a counter in the Thunder Power RC booth!
The 1/16th scale looked sweet! The sign reads:
1/16 4WD Truck.
Brushless/LiPo Powered RTR Truck
100% factory assembled and read to run
Includes 3S 11.1V 900mAH LiPo battery and balancing charger (NICE!)
Capable of speeds up to 40mph right out of the box.
When I questioned one of the Thunder Power employee’s, he said it was a project that has been sort of on again off again for a while, and they were looking to get back into it after the show. He had no release date or an official name for the vehicles. If they could keep the price down, I imagine these vehicles could have a chance at catching on! Lets hope for something affordable!

The on-road vehicle sign just talks about batteries, no car details.

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So let’s jump right into the good stuff.

What was the hottest news at the show (besides the BigSquidRC and IMEX booth babes)? It was a hard call this year. I think the general consensus would have to go to the Traxxas Crawler. It was on display in all it’s glory, and looked really gnarly. Although, in my opinion, it looked a little more “monster truck” than “crawler”. Any which way, it was big, had huge tires, and looked like it could go over or through anything that might get in it’s path. Will it be more well received than the Slash? No way, but as with anything the Golden Child Traxxas touches, it will be a steady seller.

Traxxas had their first entries into the “mini” market also on display. The Mini E-Revo and Mini Slash were both shown under glass because they weren’t even plastic models, they were foam mock-ups. First time I looked at them, I thought they may have been shrunk down models of their larger offerings just for show. But, they are actually going to sell these. The rc world has been waiting for Traxxas to jump into that market for years, and during this time, 18th scale has gone from “hot” to “has been”. These two trucks are destined to pump much needed life into the “mini” market, and become all time favorites of indoor bashers. 18th scale trucks tend to be very durable, have insane run times, and are a blast to drive in your friends driveway or garage. With a Traxxas stamp on top of one, they should set new standards for all the above.

You couldn’t move two feet without seeing a Traxxas Slash at the show. I had personally totally dismissed the Slash when introduced, but it has become the “next T-maxx”. It’s everywhere, and when you watch them being driven, you just have to have one. At most local tracks, rules are strict, keeping them nearly stock. But bashers are having none of it, bolting on every hop-up they can bolt on. A company by the name of Xtreme was showing aluminum chassis’s, towers, and even hub adaptors to run 8th scale buggy wheels/tires on the Slash. The guys at the local track will tire of running bone stock sooner or later, so I can’t wait to see what direction the aftermarket takes with Slash hop-ups. Also can’t wait to see Associated and Losi’s rebuttal’s.

You also couldn’t move two feet without running into a booth selling brushless and li-po. The “new technology bastard” is now being sold by Everyone. It’s amazing satisfying to watch all the “old school” companies who hated this stuff when it was first introduced sell their soul to the devil while peddling it to keep their doors open now.

Sign of the times? Booths featuring 8th scale gas truggies were getting very little attention, yet a booth with a bone stock Slash in it had people stopping and taking pictures.

Btw, pretty much every year for as long as I can remember, the Hobbico/Great Planes/Tower Hobby booth had the prime real estate right at the entrance of the show. This year, there was a full size Traxxas CORR truck parked in front of it.

There were many large companies that didn’t come to the show. Big hitters like Kyosho, HPI ect didn’t make the trip out to the midwest. That didn’t keep exhibitor numbers down, as there seemed to be ten little companies show up for every one of the big guys that stayed at home.

BigSquidRC didn’t just get their name on the map at I-Hobby, nor did they just get their name on the radar of the mainstream dead tree magazines, they showed they are a legit, uber urban hip, and trend setting/digital era media source. The combination of hot booth babes, great view numbers for advertisers (with very reasonable cost per view rates), and very professionally done track demo’s, made BigSquidRC the break out hit of the show.

While walking the show on Sunday, I asked around about attendance numbers. Seems Thursday dealer day was nearly a ghost town, Friday dealer day was steady, Saturday consumer day was extremely heavy, and Sunday seemed about an average turnout. It’s obvious the show organizers have worked really hard, both to provide lots of activities at little to no cost for consumers to enjoy, and also with/for exhibitors to get them good deals on booth spaces and demo areas. The 08′ show might very well have had a record number of exhibitors, and from looking at the demo’s, that might have been a record as well. Nearly all the times were sold out for the BigSquidRC demo track, but there were also tons of airplane demo’s, monster truck racing, tractor pulling, and robot fighting going on. So props to the show organizers, they have their chit together, and put on one hell of a good show. It’s hard to pull record amounts of exhibitors and consumers in such a rough economy, but they pulled it off. All the exhibitors seemed to have gotten their money’s worth, and the consumers looked happy as larks.

To conclude, many say the day of the trade show is dead. While I might agree that they are on their way out the door, the 2008 I-Hobby show proved that they aren’t dead yet, and do serve a purpose, perhaps an even more important purpose in a bad economy. It pumps up those juices (and opens up the wallet) of not only the consumers that attend, but also pumps up those working in the industry.

Thanks for reading, read your BigSquid every day, and support those friendly folks down at your local hobby shops.

Your Le Cub Reporter

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Since we already covered the big 1/16th scale news from Traxxas, I figure we better show the Traxxis Summit pictures we took. The coolest thing about it, remote locking differential. Lock and unlock on demand from the remote. You can see the extra mini servo’s inside that make this happen. The truck itself is based on the E-Revo, and while a lot of it screams crawler, they really tried to emphasize monster truck. The transmitter can also shift it from low (70:1) to high (25:1) gear. It also comes with their new waterproof electronics setup and a 10-LED light system! It will be interesting to see if this can hang with the E-Revo. I could use a good electric basher truck! We’ll see how fast it is out of the box.

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Here are the pictures of our final winners of the weekend! Anyone can go buy a Traxxas Slash or a Schumacher Rascal, but I don’t even have a Tim Mohr autographed body!

This has to be the biggest smile ever recorded! Wow was he happy!

Congratulations to all the winners that weekend! Thanks for coming out and supporting Big Squid RC!

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I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone that made this year’s iHobby Expo such an amazing experience. I’m not sure I can put into words the feelings I have had these last four days. From the thousands of screaming fans (literally.. wait for the video in a few days!) to the thousands of people that stopped by the booth and said hello! Every one of you really made these days very special!
I also want to thank everyone that helped Big Squid RC accomplish what I can only describe as an amazing four days. Thanks to Tim Mohr, Jason Annis, Jim Swift, Bill (Firesprink281), Chris (thenewguy821), Anna, Ewa, Alfonso, Elizabeth, Geno, and Cubby!!! You guys all did an awesome job, and there is no way we could of pulled off such a great show without any one of you!!! Thank You!

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Wow!! What a public day for the show. We will have some full write ups soon, but it’s back to the show, and I wanted to get out a quick update! First off the show was packed! TONS of people. Second, Big Squid RC easily had the BEST demos and crowd reactions ever! Ask anyone that was at the show. When we were doing our demo, the crowd was 3 people deep all the way around, and everyone one of them was screaming and cheering! It was awesome! Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us! You guys rock!

Here are a few quick pics of some of our daily winners. Also reader/fan of the site Alfonso, and Pro Driver Tim Mohr. I have heard that we had a ‘must see’ booth.. I have no idea why. Maybe I’ll ask Anna and Ewa if they have any thoughts.

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Yesterday we reported on the new 1/16th scale vehicles E-Revo and Slayer EX, and today we have a few more pics with the prototype bodies!
Even more important is the new 2.4ghz TQ radio from Traxxas! Wow! I didn’t see this one coming either. I don’t really have a lot of details on it, and will do my best to get some more info, but I know they exist, AND I had one in our booth today! Not only that, but we installed one in our demo Traxxas Slash and got to use it! Here are two pics I snapped of it before we gave it back. One with and one without the receiver. It felt just like a normal TQ, so I don’t know if they are prototypes, or what, but I can dream about Traxxas starting to ship these with their vehicles! (PLEASE!)

Also, check out the bodies for the 1/16th E-Revo and Slayer EX. These are also prototypes, and are probably close to what will ship with the vehicles in 2009!

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What a great show iHobby has been so far. We have met a ton of people this year. We have also had a chance to meet a lot of fans of the site which is really great! Now and then we tend to forget that more then just friends and family actually read the reviews and articles up here, and hearing from people all over the US stopping in to tell us they liked a certain video or review is really cool! It’s also clear that word is spreading about the site and the photo’s. I think today has had the most visitors in our sites history! Thanks for all your support!

Shortly after this post will be another breaking news Traxxas update, so make sure to check back shortly once we get the story up.

At our demo’s today we had a real blast putting on the show. We had Pro Drivers Tim Mohr and Jason Annis catching some big air and showing off their bashing roots. They, along with Chris “thenewguy821″ in our forums were giving Elizabeth some tips as she raced our Traxxas Slash around our obstacle course. Shawn Palmer from Schumacher Racing also came out to play on the course.

Xtreme Racing had an amazing looking chassis and shock towers for the Slash. I think these will be some must have products for you hop-up fans.

Over in the Schumacher Racing booth was Nic Case’s Mi3 Speed Run vehicle! Who would of thought our Big Squid RC sticker could do 161mph! My claim is that those stickers actually add about 2mph to RC vehicles.

Jason did a real number on one of his vehicles he brought for the show. We tell everyone we bash hard, and Jason fits right in with the group!

Tim Mohr also gave us a little ‘Race Face’ behind the famous King Squid Grand Motor Sports RC Dragster.

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Ok, this was probably the biggest surprise of the iHobby Expo for 2008 so far! Hidden away in this little glass case were these two VERY early prototypes, so early, that they were almost models. The 1/16th E-Revo featured a brushless motor, while the Slayer EX had a brushed setup. They have oil filled shocks, battery compartments with snap shut doors, and they are even water sealed for mud and snow action! These things looked really cool, and I can’t wait to get my hands on them! While Traxxas might be a little late to the ‘mini’ party, I’m pretty sure they will still be the life of that party! We’ll say they are fashionably late? These vehicles should be avaliable in early 2009!

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Things were pretty hectic today at the iHobby 2008 show. This is the first time that Big Squid RC has had a booth, and first time we have had track time to demo our bashing ways. It’s great to see the reactions of people watching us launching vehicles into the air higher than anyone else even things about doing these first few days of the show. People just can’t believe that we are not that concerned with ‘breaking’ something, and are just there to have fun. Fun is what bashing is all about, it’s what we do, and we are glad to bring it to the world!
I didn’t get a lot of time to snap pictures today with running the booth, and the demos, but I wanted to mention some quick highlights of stuff I had the chance to see.
Team Associated had a TON of SC8’s in their booth. That was pretty much their big show piece this year, and the feeling I get is that a lot of people are pretty excited about this truck. It’s really a good looking truck, it’s got some nice features, and I’m looking forward to seeing them out in the world in action.
DuraTrax has a new vehicle called the Vendetta TC. It’s a 1/18th scale on-road vehicle based on the popular Vendetta series of vehicles. It looks like it can corner on a dime!
O.S. Engines had their new 21 VZ-B V-Spec II ABC - Hara Edition Speed Tuned Racing Engine. Well, at least the name is easy to remember. The engine is the same one that Hara won the worlds with just a few months back. This thing is probably gonna fly off shelves when it hits the streets.
Snapped a quick shot of Adam Drake over in the Losi driving one of their new Mini Rock Crawlers. There is something about watching a guy with that much racing talent drive at 2mph around the rocks. He was barely paying attention to the vehicle and he was navigating the course like it was a flat straight, pretty impressive. Maybe he’s over that whole ‘going fast’ phase.. I doubt it.
The guys from LargeScaleRC had some interesting stuff. First was a large scale electric motorcycle. These things looked pretty cool, and like they were built for off-road. They also had some sweet looking 1/5th scales that should be called the “Big Bling!” I’ll let you figure out what picture that one is.
Lastly, I had to toss in a picture of Adam from Schumacher Racing giving us the big ‘Thumbs Up!’. Nice.

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As Cubby mentioned earlier, iHobby Expo 2008 is coming up! This is the first year that Big Squid RC will have a booth at the show, so we decided to go BIG! How Big? We are the demo track sponsor! How nuts is that?! We called up a few pro drivers to put up some big air during our demo times and it’s going to be a blast!

There will be FREE Big Squid RC stickers at our booth (while supplies last), so everyone make sure you pick some up! If you have been wanting to send in a Fan Picture for the Big Squid RC Contest, but never had any stickers, NOW is your chance!

Also, make sure to keep your browser dialed to BigSquidRC.com all week long because we will be bringing you EXCLUSIVE iHobby news and pictures starting Thursday!

If you are going to be out at the show, PLEASE stop by the booth and say hello, we love to hear from all of our readers!

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Hello fellow rc hobbyists. This Wednesday, all the makers and shakers of our most beloved industry will converge on Chicago, home of BigSquidRC, and also home to the largest expo in our industry. Pallets, crates, and two wheel dollies will be filled to the rim with booth making materials, where all day Wednesday industry types come in and set up their latest display of their wares. Thursday and Friday are “industry only” days, where local hobby shop owners are allowed to walk the floor uncluttered by thousands of Boy Scouts. Nothing against the Boy Scouts of course, but they can ask some of the darnedest questions. Then of course, on Saturday and Sunday, come the throngs of the public, looking to get their hands on some free stuff, take a look at new show product, and generally hang out with their fellow rc’ers.

So what’s in it for you if you show up? First off, you get to meet many of the people you only read about in magazines or talk to on the phone. The Drake is typically running some Micro and Mini-T’s around the Horizon booth. Lett, Anderson, and others are showing off the trick new AE product. Hell, every booth is packed by the people behind the product and stars of the sport.

Some of the manufactures still release a few “new” items at the show, so you can be the first guy on your block to see it in person, go back home, and be able to describe the intricacies with real world perspective.

Certain booths even offer some serious swag. Free T-shirts, stickers, product, it varies by the year. As you enter the expo center you are given on of those big “trade show bags”, and few, if any, consumers have ever left the show with it empty.

Many booths feature the affectionately named “booth babes”, and they are exactly that. No, they don’t know much about the product, hell, most have never driven an rc car before. But, what they lack up for in rc knowledge, they more than make up for in “other assets”! So bring your camera as you’ll need to have your picture taken with a few booth babes (just to make the guys back home envious).

I-Hobby also features a number of demonstrations. This year BigSquidRC is stoked to sponsor the primary demo track, and will be putting on demo’s twice a day. These aren’t your local tracks demo’s, these are the WFO, who can hit the rafters type of demo’s you’ll only see at a huge trade show. (Btw, the “rafters” in the expo hall are at least 30 feet high) Everyone has heard the term “go big or go home”. Well I-Hobby is THE biggest of the trade shows, and nobody goes bigger than they do inside the Rosemont. There were years where Castle Creations would go through pallets of trucks during their demo’s, but they put on one hell of a show. And how could anybody forget The Drake busting some of the gnarliest air in history with his XXX-NT?

So in closing, support your sport, and support the city of Chicago. Get your butt, and your rc buddies butts, down to the show. You’ve been telling yourself that “one of these years” you were gonna make it to the show, well make it this year. If you need just one more reason to go, make it for BigSquid. Brian and crew are having their very first booth at the show this year, and as I’ve already talked about, he isn’t holding back. BigSquid Babes will be there for your eyes enjoyment. Brian is having in pro drivers Tim Mohr, Wesley Dennis, and Jason Annis to bust out huge moves during demo track time for BigSquid. And if you hit the booth and say the magic word, you’ll even get some free stickers! For the industry types, he’ll have the hit numbers to show BigSquid isn’t some poser site, it’s a legit way to get a lot of bang for the advertising buck.

See you at the show, booth 2611, right across from the IHP and Axon booths, and right next to KY Model and Kershaw Designs.

Your Cub Reporter

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