When I heard there was a new truck in the office based on the basher of the year truck, I jumped on it!
At first look, the Thunder Tiger ST4 G3 looks tough. It uses a popular style body in the industry right now. The laid back cab and embellished front fenders makes it look like it is moving while standing still. Knobby tires and a truggy wing add a hint of the race-ability. So does the ST4 G3 live up to our expectations? Keep reading to find out..

From: Thunder Tiger
Direct Link: Thunder Tiger ST4 G3

Review By: Wrench (aka Bill)

Specs:

RTR or Kit: RTR/ARTR
Length: 588mm (23.14″)
Width: 400mm (15.75″)
Height: 196mm (7.71″)
Wheelbase: 360mm~365mm (13.75″-14.37″)
FR/RR Track: 335mm~345mm/340mm (13.2″-14.37″)
Weight: 3800g w/o Battery(8.37lbs.)
Ground Clearance: 48mm (1.88″)
Price: $479
Needed to run
AA Batteries x6 for transmitter
2x 2S Lipo with deans plugs or 4S Lipo.

Under the body you will see the familiar chassis of the MT4 G3. The 2000 KV motor with 80A Brushless ESC is powerful enough to pull the front wheels off the ground until the center diff brings them back to Earth. While testing, the tires offered a lot of grip on grass and blacktop, but lacked on the track would get a little loose. In the air, the truck can be controlled and corrected at will. It was easy to put the nose of the vehicle at any angle you wanted making landings a breeze. Taking corners with the supplied 8kg full metal steering servo was never an issue. There is more power in this truck than most people would know what to do with. At the track we were dishing out the pain, mostly on other vehicles we were running over at high speeds.. check out the one shot of the soon to be dead short course…

BUILD QUALITY: While testing, I did run into a few problems. On the first run, the rear shock caps came off on some rather small bumps. I was able to fix this problem with some sleeves I made out of ¾” conduit. Then I found the rear dog bones were slightly to short and would pop out of place under power. A quick adjustment of the camber links fixed the problem, and kept them securely in the truck.

Primary Competition: Traxxas Brushless E-Revo, HPI Trophy Truggy Flux.

TEST VENUES: Open fields, parking lots, Leisure Hours Raceway (indoor track), and a Local dirt oval.

SET UP: The truck was tested stock and with some slight mods to fix the issues I talked about previously.

TURNING: The ST4 G3 turns great. The steering servo has plenty of power to turn the wheels lock to lock. Under power there was a slight push on the track, but this is something that could be fixed with proper track tires. With high speed turns, you will find the usual push, but the truck did not roll over. It was great the way it’s low center of gravity and wide stance kept it planted to the ground.

JUMPING: The Thunder Tiger handles the big air great. I did have the usual chassis slap you find with all truggies. The four oversized oil-filled shock absorbers with 16mm Diameter Pistons did a great job absorbing the force of the impacts, and the wing helped keep it level in the air.

ON-Road- This is a track truck, but being bashers, we had to run on some blacktop. The tires gave out a lot of noise while turning. There was some slight body roll, but you have to expect that from a truck. We were still able to keep the tires planted and had a blast hitting the street ramps.

GRASS: The ST4 G3 is a blast in short grass. The brushless power and 4WD just eat it up! With a center diff, it will not hold a wheelie long, but it will pull the front wheels off the ground when you grab the trigger at any time.

POWER: I tested the ST4 G3 with a Track Power 4s 6800mah 70c battery. The BLC-80C ESC and Ripper IBL40 2000kv have more than enough power to shred the tires off of a lesser truck. If it wasn’t for the center diff, the truck would be on it’s lid with a full trigger pull. The top end did feel a little soft, like it ran out of gear. This could be attributed to it being more of a track truck. The power it puts down on the low end will pull you out of a corner fast.

RADIO: The COUGAR P3 2.4GHz transmitter is standard equipment with most Thunder Tiger vehicles. It is a good RTR 2.4 radio. All the end points and trims are set with dials. The trigger and wheel are in their traditional positions and it also has a fold over antenna. It takes 6 AA batteries, which is a little different than most of the 4 or 8 we usually see.

Broken Parts Although nothing really broke, the problems with the shock caps did require leaving our test spot to go back to the shop to fix. The dog bone problem was fixable in the field. We beat this one up good. At the track we were jumping front double and LEAVING the track slamming the pavement, bleachers and or garbage cans, and this was done more than a few times… on purpose.

Best mod under $5 Home made shock cap collars.

Best mod over $5 For racers it would have to be a good set of tires. The supplied tires are great for bashing, but lack traction on the track.

Summary:

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

Time To Bash: C You’ll need to supply a LiPo, but Charging batteries and installing AA batteries are all you have to do.

Workability: B The work I had to do was easy to get to and took little effort or time to do.

Car Show Rating: B The body style and racy look are always a head turner.

Bash-A-Bility: C Once the shock and dog bone problem were fixed, the truck took a hell of a beating, but we did have to make some small mods to get it there. So long term, it’s a good basher, but out of the box, you may need to do a little work to get there.

Fun Factor: B It’s always fun when a truck can handle the big air with ease!

Handling: C Bashing handling is great, but on the track the tires hurt the handling.

Value: B A 1/8th scale truck that you can beat on and take to the track for some fun with this much power is a good value for sure!

Parts Availability: C Parts are readily available on-line but it might be a while before most local hobby shops build up any stock.

BigSquid Rating: B- The biggest thing that brought this ratting down was the out of the box issues. It is a truck that can take a great beating and come back for more! Everyone should have a electric 1/8th scale truck that can handle some big batteries, and to have one you can bash and fly at a track is a big plus!

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.

Monster trucks are the weapon of choice for a true basher, their large tires give them plenty of ground clearance for grass driving and driving over large clods of dirt. One of the latest entries in this product categories comes from Helion, a division of Firelands Group and an exclusive product at HobbyTown USA. We’ve been trying to destroy the new Helion Invictus 10MT for weeks now. Did we succeed? Read on…

From: Helion RC
Direct Link: Invictus 10MT
Unboxing Pictures: Unboxing the Invictus

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: 1/10th
Length: 16.61″
Width: 13.27″
Wheelbase: 10.83″
Motor: Radient brushless, 540, 3500kv
Speed Controller: Non-sensored brushless, Radient Reaktor
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: Helion HRS-3.1, 2.4 GHz, 3 chan
Differential: 2 gear diffs
Slipper Clutch: No
Driveshafts: Bones
Shocks: Plastic bodies, oil filled
Servo Saver: Horn type
Screws: Phillips
Spur/Pinion Pitch: 32 pitch
Bearings: Yes
Tires: Helion chevron pattern, foam inserts
Battery: 8 cell, 1800 mah Ni-MH
Part Number: HLNA0248
Top Speed (measured by BSRC w/ 2S Lipo): 26 mph
Warranty: 90 days limited
Street Price: $290

Primary Competition: Traxxas Stampede 4×4

What’s Needed To Complete: Four AA batteries

Build Quality: We saw no leaking shocks, nothing was binding, no excessive flash, camber/toe settings were in the ballpark, everything appeared to have been assembled correctly.

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

Test Venues: RC Outlaws in Collinsville IL, Cliff Cave Park in Oakville MO, CostCo parking lot, and a backyard.

Set-up Notes: We ran the Invictus bone stock initially, then went to a 2S 6500 mah MaxAmps lipo with Traxxas connector adapter later in testing. We used a Hyperion 720iNet3 to charge both the stock pack and the MaxAmps.

Turning: Just like the rest of the Helion line-up the Invictus has a LOT of steering, in fact too much on high bite surfaces, and so much the truck is hard to drive in a straight line. The front end is overly planted making the rear very loose. In a typical corner the Invictus plants hard at turn-in and the rear starts sliding around.

Jumping: The Invictus is a backflip machine. Leave the gas pounded off a jump face and the Invictus loves to backflip, even on small jumps. If you are coming from 2wd or from 4wd with a center diff, the Invictus is lots of fun to backflip but for normal jumping the lack of a center diff makes the truck ultra sensitive to trigger input. A slight stab of the brakes on a 2wd barely nudges the front end down, on the Invictus a little brake drops the front like a brick. Otherwise, due to the large tires and decent suspension take offs and landings are a joy. The big tires and all the travel can soak up crazy amounts of airtime. For example, when jumping off a second story roof the suspension/tire combo soaked up the ultra high impact landings arguably better than many other vehicle we’ve recently tested.

Bumps/Whoops: The Invictus is a beast in the gnarly stuff. Once again those large diameter tires and ample wheel travel can soak up some very rough terrain. We found the spring and damping rates worked well with the chassis, just point it and pin it, it will blast through the chop like a champ.

On-Road: Overall, the over-steer of the Invictus makes it hard to drive on-road and in the corners the rear end likes to slide out. It certainly soaks up pot-holes and road-joints very well, but generally it was hard to drive. There is an upside, the Invictus can be made into a much better on-road machine with a few simple changes.

Grass: The Invictus drives quite well in grass. It has decent ground clearance and those chevron tires give just about the right amount of side-bite.

Tires: Obviously the stock tires are chevrons so they look scale (which is very cool in our book). For actual rc driving they weren’t bad. They give very good bite in mud and they are manufactured from a compound that lives a long time but isn’t rock hard. For their intended use on a monster truck the stock tires hit the mark quite well. The foams were right in the ballpark, not too soft nor too hard.

Power: The included Radient Reactor brushless system has decent overall power. It provides enough power to wheelie, backflip, and throw crazy roost. However… the stock power system cogs like crazy and it runs really hot. The Invictus is overgeared out of the box, and the stock battery pack is not capable of putting out enough current to quench its demands.

Even by simply holding the Invictus up in the air and hitting the gas it cogs and takes a long time to hit max rpm (and it gets worse when the wheels are actually on the ground). Stock, the power system just isn’t set-up for a vehicle of the rotating mass of the Invictus.

We did drive the Invictus multiple times with the stock set-up, meaning stock gearing and battery. The 8 cell Ni-MH ended up running even hotter than the motor (more on this later), proving the stock pack just isn’t up to the task it is being asked to do. When switching over to a lipo (that we know first hand can handle some pretty insane current demands), it still cogged more than we’d like to see, indicating that it was over geared or the brushless system just wasn’t up to the demands of the rotating mass involved.

To get down to what the truck actually drove like, all stock it coggs a lot and often times took a while to get moving (in both forward or reverse). Once actually moving, after its soft low end programming, for sure it had good yank. It had decent top end (although it couldn’t pull its entire gearing) and had enough mid-rang snap to make big jumps, blast up hills, etc. Going to a quality Lipo cut most of the issues out, still some cogging, but a lot more mid-range yank.

To boil it down, yes, you can drive the Invictus with the stock battery and gearing, but I would highly recommend dropping as many teeth on the pinion as will mesh up, and going directly to a quality 2S Lipo.

Radio: The stock Helion radio had great range and weight distribution. The trigger was of a decent size and was nicely located in relation to the grip and wheel. The wheel had a decent foam on it and all the spring rates felt perfect. Overall, a decent and very usable RTR transmitter.

Broken Parts: We did not break one part on the Helion Invictus, even after crazy/stupid abuse. However, we did have some issues. The first thing we do with a new test vehicle is do a mph test. That takes about 2 minutes then we start taking pictures. While we are taking pics we are somewhat cautious to not break the vehicle. So… halfway through the first pack while taking pictures the Invictus spit out one of its front driveshafts. Our local HobbyTown USA didn’t have one in stock yet, so it was a day-ender. We hate day-enders, especially when we didn’t even crash or abuse a vehicle and it happens. Because it might take a while to get a replacement (They are at local Hobby Towns now, but we got our truck early) we dug through our parts box and found an Axial 96mm shaft that was just slightly shorter than the one the Invictus spit out. The Axial bone was much thicker than the Helion part, so we had to bust out the Dremel and do some mod’ing. An hour later the Axial bone would fit in the Helion’s outdrives. When we put the front bones back in we tightend up the pillow balls to make sure they couldn’t accidentally pop out again.

We then went on with our normal testing and didn’t break anything. The Helion lived through some massive crashes, deep water dives, and generally proved tough as nails. If a test vehicle lives through normal testing we start doing stupid stuff. The first “stupid” test was to huck the Invictus off a second story roof. We did that (3 times) to grass with absolutely no broken parts. We then flat landed to pavement from two stories up and ended up bending the center driveshaft bad enough that we will need to replace it.

Misc Notes:

The Helion motor runs hot, but the battery runs even hotter. The hottest day we drove the Invictus on was 70 degrees Fahrenheit, yet we saw motor temps over 160 degrees and over 165 on the battery. The battery got so hot its heat shrink shrunk, the high temps have us concerned about the stock battery life.

The Invictus is very waterproof. We had it over its roof in water multiple times with no ill effects. Kudos to Helion on how waterproof the Invictus is.

The speedo fan was quite loud, but things get hot, and it apparently needs it.

We didn’t notice this out of the box but after a bunch of runs the rear hubs had developed a lot of slop, causing a wobble in the rear tires under power.

We had a lower front shock screw back out. No biggie, but something to keep an eye on.

The clear pinion/spur cover looks neat and helps keep the nasties out of your gears.

We measured run-time at 9 minutes. The stock pack is listed at 1800 mah, but we measured it just over 2000 during a 1C discharge. 9 minutes run-time sounds like a long time to an old schooler, but feels quite short compared to the “norm” now days. When we popped in a 6500 mah MaxAmps it would run longer than we felt like driving it for.

The stock body clips are of a nice design. Sadly they are a bit too thin and bend easily (then disappear).

We’ve been blown away by the packaging from other manufactures lately, the artwork on the Helion box is a bit disappointing.

See the two neat little flags on the back of the body? Look fast, because they won’t last there long.

The red anodized pieces that come stock on the Invictus look cool.

The drivetrain on the Invictus rolled exceptionally free. This is a good thing, it means nothing is binding, giving you longer runtimes and more performance.

The stock servo is quite slow. Normally that is a bad thing, but on the Invictus it helps take some of the bite out of the trucks over-steer.

I was getting the truck ready for the first top speed testing when I realized there were no AA batteries for the transmitter in the box. I dug through the box and searched all over for them, I simply couldn’t find them. I then called Brian and chewed him out for “stealing the AA’s” out of the Helion box. Brian is quite the practical joker, and he owes me about a hundred pranks, so I thought the missing AA’s were his idea. I was wrong, the Helion comes with everything you need to get running except AA batteries. Helion, can ya please just drop in some cheap AA’s? Thanks in advance!

Best Mod Under $5: A new pinion, any pinion smaller than the stock.

Best Mod Over $5: A high quality Lipo battery.

Summary:

Time To Bash: C We didn’t use the included charger. Why? Because the manual says it takes “4-5 hours” to fully charge the pack. That is forever in the RTR bashing world. If you are using an aftermarket charger you can hit the track in about an hour.

Workability: B Good layout but we are not fans of Phillips hardware.

Car Show Rating: C Scale looking tires with good looking rims couldn’t overcome the body and graphics. We were just not feeling it on this one.

Bash-A-Bility: B Having a “day ender” on the first pack isn’t good, but at the end of testing we didn’t end up breaking any parts. This leads to some serious potential!

Fun Factor: C We had a blast running the Invictus through water holes, over mulch piles, and across a rough field, but the cogging and over-steer held back its fun factor score.

Handling: C The Invictus had its upsides- great suspension and ground clearance, and it’s downsides- too much steering and too touchy to trigger inputs while jumping.

Value: C The Invictus is $290, the Stampede 4×4 is $430, that’s a $130 difference. The problem is that it will probably cost you over $130 to catch up the the Stampede in electronics quality.

Parts Availability: C Our local HobbyTown USA didn’t have the front bone we needed to get going early in testing, but we knew we had the truck before it actually shipped! Helion parts are only available from a HobbyTown USA location, and as of this writing, they do have the parts in stock.

BigSquid Rating: C+ You have to admire the Invictus for taking the best we could dish out without breaking any parts, and with a few mods it can be an epic basher. However, out of the box its power system, over-steer and dog-bone issues keep it from hitting the mark.

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.

The RC world was very surprised when ECX announced they were going to have two 8th scale buggies added to their lineup! It just wasn’t something we expected from the brand. We were very excited to get our hands on both Revenge versions. This review is of the electric version. Did it live up to our expectations? Was it a good representation of the ECX brand? Keep reading to find out..

Review By: Adam the intern  

Specs:
Type: 4WD electric buggy
Scale: 1/8
Length: 19.1 in (485mm)
Width: 12.1 (309mm)
Wheelbase: 12.7 in (323mm)
Weight: 6.7 lb (3039 g)
Chassis: 3mm plate 6061-T6 aluminum
Suspension: Independent
Drivetrain: 4WD
Tire Type: All-terrain
Motor or Engine: 550 4-pole non-sensored brushless
Radio: Spektrum DX2E
Wheel Size: 3.21 in (81.5mm)
Kit/RTR: RTR
Shock Type: 12mm aluminum oil-filled.

Primary Competition: Other RTR 1/8th scale buggies.

 What’s Needed To Complete: Your choice of a battery and charger, out of the box the car can handle up to 3s but in order to get the full power of the esc on 4s you will have to upgrade the motor.   

Test Drivers: Brian, Wrench, and Adam.

Test Venues: Leisure Hours Raceway, parking lots, and a couple of parks.

Set-up Notes:  The buggy came completely ready to go and had no problems out of the box. We installed a 3s Dynamite Speedpack Lipo and everything went smooth.

Turning: The steering on the buggy is a little bit too slow so at the track it defiantly takes some getting used to when you first start to drive the car. We checked to see if there was anything that was too tight in the steering and everything was smooth. Although it was slow the servo took some punishment and didn’t have any problems.

Jumping: The buggy did great at the track and handled jumps well. It ended up being slightly nose heavy but when we slid the battery towards the back more it evened out the weight and it stayed nice and level in the air. We took the car off some bigger jumps in an effort to test its limits and it survived a few 30ft. jumps and is still in perfect drivable condition.

Bumps/Whoops: There were no problems gliding over anything that got in its way on and off the track. Even got the chance to hit some parking lot speed bumps which was a lot of fun.

Off-Road: The Revenge handled off-road surfaces very nicely, for an 1/8th scale buggy the suspension had plenty of travel and took everything that we threw at it. The car had enough power to clear a two lane street without a ramp and continued to impress on and off the track.

Tires: The buggy has Speedtreads Watch Dog tires which surprised me especially in the snow and on ice! They were able to perform like off-road tires when needed and still got the buggy around the track with very good traction.

Power: Honestly when I saw that the buggy ran on 3s I wasn’t sure if it was going to have enough power to push around a heavy 1/8th scale platform. I was very surprised when I pulled the trigger and it had no problem breaking the tires loose! The Dynamite Fuze 2500Kv Sensorless Brushless Motor has plenty of power to handle the buggy.

Radio: The Spektrum DX2E transmitter performed great. I liked how soft the trigger was, a lot of these new RTRs from other companies have super stiff controls on their remotes and it just makes it feel cheap! ECX made a good choice to put a quality Spektrum radio in the Revenge.

Broken Parts: For this section I only encountered one break! The shocks. We broke a front shock and a rear shock. The end of the shock shaft broke off inside the tie rod end leaving no threads to put on a new one. Both shocks broke the same exact way so it could be that the shock shafts themselves are a little brittle. Other than that nothing broke and this thing got put through some serious punishment!

Misc Notes: The car is fully water-proof which is very nice because its not always nice out and its never a good day when you cant run your car because of the weather!

Best Mod Under $5: Some better shock shafts would really fix the only weak spot I was able to find on the buggy.

Best Mod Over $5: The only thing that would need to be changed is the steering servo its just too slow to use on a track.

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

Time To Bash:  C  Everything was included but the battery and charger.

Workability: C The Revenge has a very nice easy to work on platform. Everything went smooth when changing out the shocks and nothing stripped or was hard to get to. 

Car Show Rating: B This buggy looks awesome! The paint scheme and white lettering on the sidewalls of the tires really makes it stand out!

Bash-A-Bility: C The only problem was the shock shafts. If that were fixed, this car would take everything you throw at it.

Fun Factor: B The fact that its waterproof really adds to the fun that you can have with the Revenge. Being able to run in all weather conditions is very important when your a basher.

Handling: C The steering isn’t bad when your bashing in the backyard but when it’s out on the track it needs to be sped up, or you are going to miss some turns.

Value: B The price isn’t bad for the quality of the car its very durable and a lot of fun to bash or race on the track. 

Big Squid Rating: C+ This car defiantly puts up with some abuse and with some minor mods could be a very bullet proof basher!

Vaterra is the newest name in the rc game and today we’ll be taking a closer look at their Kalahari 14th Scale Desert Raider. The Kalahari comes with detailed scale looks, a brushless power system, and Spektrum 2.4 GHz radio gear, all the makings of a great bash machine. How does the Vaterra Kalahari stack up? Read on to find out exactly what we learned about the Kalahari after weeks of bash testing…

From: Vaterra
Direct Link: Kalahari Desert Raider
Unboxing Pictures: Unboxing the Kalahari

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: 13.18 in
Width: 7.08 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: Scale look, foam inserts
Battery: Dynamite 6 cell 7.2v Ni-MH 1200 mah
Charger: NiMH Peak wall charger included.
Part Number: VTR01001
Top Speed (measured by BSRC w/ 2S Lipo): 23 mph
Warranty on truck: “… will be free from defects in materials and workmanship at the date of purchase.”
Battery Warranty: 1 year
Street Price: $290

Primary Competition: Traxxas 1/16th Slash

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

Build Quality: The Spektrum transmitter felt exceptionally nice for an RTR unit. The body on the Kalahari was exceptionally well done. The drive-train was nice and free spinning, wheels were properly tightened, and we didn’t find any large pieces of flash on the plastic parts. The velcro used to secure the under-tray was loose and eventually fell off. The pinion/spur mesh on our Kalahari was spot-on.

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

Test Venues: Slot and Wing Hobbies in Champaign Illinois, Dirtburners in St Louis Missouri, a city park and a cul-de-sac

Set-up Notes: We tested the Kalahari bone stock with the exception of using a Hyperion to charge the battery pack (instead of the included wall charger).

Turning: The front end is well planted on the Kalahari, but it’s not as glued as the Vaterra Kemora. This is actually a good thing as the Kalahari corners more neutrally than the Kemora does. It doesn’t have the mechanical grip of the Kemora, so its corner speeds aren’t as high, but it easier to drive consistently around the corners.

Jumping: The 4wd system on the Kalahari aids greatly in making mid-air corrections, but the lack of damping in the shocks make take-offs and landings quite interesting. For example, if you hit a dirt jump with divots in the face you typically get kicked off the lip at a strange angle, typically requiring some mid-air correction to flatten out. When landing the suspension blows through its travel bottoming out hard. After bottoming out, the Kalahari has very little rebound damping, thus the truck tends to bounce a lot after hard landings.

Bumps/Whoops: The Kalahari does a lot of bouncing around in the rough stuff. While the springs are in the ballpark, the shock oil (water?) is way too thin, so the Kalahari blows through its suspension travel and has very little damping on the rebound side, resulting in a very bouncy ride in the rough.

On-Road: The Kalahari is a decent little pavement machine. It doesn’t traction roll and has more than enough ground clearance and suspension travel to soak up bumps and road joints.

We also got a chance to test the Kalahari on a carpet on-road track. On a prepped high bite carpet track the Kalahari would traction roll, but after taking a few laps to get adjusted you quickly learned to not yank on the wheel.

Grass: You would think the little 14th scale Kalahari would have no shot of driving in grass, but that is not the case. In short grass the Kalahari can manage its way just fine. But… hit a patch of tall grass and all the fun comes to a quick halt.

Tires: The tires on the Kalahari are slightly smaller in diameter (but are wider) than those found on the Vaterra Kemora. The tread pattern looked quite scale, but because of its larger and more rounded off lugs, and less surface pressure because of their additional width, the tires on the Kalahari provided less mechanical grip than the Kemora tires. The smaller diameter of the Kalahari tires also hurt the trucks ability to get around in grass and over larger rocks/clods.

On the up side, the reduced mechanical grip of the Kalahari tires made it easier to drive on high bite surfaces than the Kemora. Where the Kemora might bite hard going into a corner and start 3 wheeling, requiring immediate correction to keep from crashing, the Kalahari tended to stay flat, making it easier to drive.

Power: Our Kalahari had more power than the Kemora we just reviewed. The Kalahari had 2 mph more speed on top and had more yank off the bottom. Both of these Vaterra vehicles use an identical power system, so it was a bit odd that the Kalahari was noticeably faster. But… even though it was noticeably faster, it was still quite slow for a brushless vehicle. The power off the bottom was quite soft (after it cogged from a dead stop), followed by a brief but snappy mid-range, ending in a short winded top end. If you are true noob there is enough power to get you into trouble, but if you are an experienced hobbyist you’ll be looking to pop in a Lipo and get some real power kick’n.

Radio: We’ve gotten a lot of time in with the Spektrum DX2L lately and the more we use it the more we like it. For an RTR radio it’s about as good as it gets. Ergo’s are nice and range seemed better than previous Spektrum gear that we’ve used. The trigger is spot on for nearly everyone (fat finger guys found it tight), the wheel comes with foam, and the grip handle is quite comfortable. Also, the relationship between the wheel and trigger is light-years better than most RTR radios. Very nice. One final note about the radio, it does offer a low, medium, and high throttle setting allowing you to hand off the vehicle to a total newb and not worry about them going wide open into a curb.

Broken Parts: The Kalahari made it through our “normal” portion of testing without any breakage, so of course we had to step up our game. We ended up breaking two parts, the front bumper (part #VTR211009, $7) and one of the battery bar posts (part #VTR211002, $5). We broke both these parts on our first full speed slam straight into a cement block wall. But… I must add the ambient temp was only 23 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold days are tough on plastic parts no doubt.

Misc Notes:

The Kalahari came with a very nicely detailed body that obviously had a lot of work put into it. The wheels and tires also looked very scale. Mad props to the Vaterra crew for spending the extra time and money to put out a great looking vehicle.

Vaterra states that the Kalahari is “waterproof” and we would definitely agree with that statement. We drove the Kalahari in all sorts of water and nothing died. Some of the water we drove in was 6″ deep, more than enough to totally submerge all the electronics and running gear, and after proper post run maintenance our Kalahari shows no ill effects of being underwater.

The Kalahari comes with better than average body pins, but the holes in the body posts are too small, thus making them hard to put in. Also, the holes in the rear posts need to be rotated 90 degrees, the rear pins are even harder to put in because the rear wing gets in the way.

The Kalahari comes with exceptionally nice packaging and a model specific manual that is also quite well done. Someone at Vaterra spent a lot of time on these items and it shows.

Two extra spur gears in the box is a nice touch.

The stock servo saver is extremely soft but that’s a good thing for servo life. And… normally a super soft servo saver is bad for steering, but the Kalahari had plenty, so it wasn’t really an issue when driving.

Our Kalahari didn’t cog as badly as the Kemora we just reviewed, but it was still there and still quite nasty.

Best Mod Under $5: No doubt, thicker shock oil for the win. I highly recommend a much heavier weight all the way around.

Best Mod Over $5: A Lipo battery instantly livens up the Kalahari.

Summary:

Time To Bash: B The included wall charger isn’t that fast (just over an hour), but the Kalahari comes with everything you need to get going in the box.

Workability: B The 14th scale Vaterra platform is laid out well for wrenching and the hex hardware is nice.

Car Show Rating: B Nice scale looking body, wheels and tires.

Bash-A-Bility: B We had to go to the “extreme” portion of our testing to break the Kalahari. During the normal portion of our testing we slapped boards, tapped curbs, and hucked wood ramps to pavement for pack after pack with no breakage.

Fun Factor: C While the Vaterra is fun to bash with it would have scored much higher if it didn’t cog and had more yank behind the trigger.

Handling: C Incredibly thin shock oil holds back the Kalahari’s handling score. Also, while the tires on the Kalahari make it a more predictable turner than its brother car the Kemora, their smaller diameter and less aggressive tread hurt its handling in typical bash conditions like grass or loamy dirt.

Value: B Lets compare the Kalahari to its nearest “direct” competitor, the 16th scale brushed Slash. Both have similar wheelbases and widths, but the Slash is about $80 cheaper, doesn’t come with brushless (but has arguably a superior power system out of the box), doesn’t come with 2.4 GHz, and handles incredibly well. The Vaterra has incredible looks, takes a good beating, handles quite well, and is a Lipo battery away from having some serious power. We’d have to drive both back-to-back to clearly define a winner here, but as it stands we feel the Kalahari represents an above average value.

Parts Availability: C Parts are readily available on-line but it might be a while before most local hobby shops build up any stock. Both parts that we broke were in stock at A-Main and on Horizon’s site, but were not in stock at any of our local hobby shops.

BigSquid Rating: B- We liked the Kalahari and it proved itself to be a solid basher. It withstood our normal abuse, loved being driven in mud-holes, and handled quite well for a 14th scale machine. The included Spektrum transmitter is stylish and a joy to use. The downsides it has (under damped suspension, low power output and cogging) are fairly easily (and cheaply) solved.

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.

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 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.

The Thunder Tiger TS2e certainly is an interesting vehicle. From the outside it looks like a run of the mill touring car, but when looking under the hood you find it’s a belt driven rear wheel drive only car. Needless to say there are millions of rwd cars on the full scale road, but they are extremely rare in the rc touring car world. Does this rwd basher hold up under abuse? Is it as fun to drive as a rwd full scale car? Let’s find out…

From: Thunder Tiger
Direct Link: TS2e RTR Touring Car

Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby

Specs:

RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 2wd
Shaft or Belt: Belt
Electric or Gas: Electric
Waterproof: No
Scale: 1/10th
Length: 16.5″
Width: 7.5″
Height: 5″
Wheelbase: 10.2″
Motor: 540 brushed
Speed Controller: Ace Veloci RS
Radio: Cougar GP2 2.4 GHz
Differential: Rear
Slipper Clutch: None
Driveshafts: Bones
Shocks: 2 Oil shocks in rear
Servo Saver: Yes
Screws: Philips
Spur/Pinion Pitch: 48 p
Bearings: Some, also uses metal bushings
Tires: Unbranded street tread with inserts
Battery: Not included
Part Number: 6580-F283 (for orange)
Top Speed (measured by BSRC w/ 2S Lipo): 17 mph
Warranty: To be free of defects at time of purchase
Street Price: $150

Primary Competition: There aren’t a lot of rear wheel drive only touring cars out there, but it would be competition for basically any on-road specific bash vehicle.

What’s Needed To Complete: Six AA sized batteries for transmitter, a 6 cell Ni-MH the for car, and a battery charger.

Build Quality: Belt tension was a bit tight on arrival. Pinion/spur mesh was quite loose. Right height was a bit off. Everything else looked good to go and well assembled.

Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, and Tim

Test Venues: City park, various parking lots, a backyard, and a local cul-de-sac.

Set-up Notes: We used Venom AA batteries in the transmitter and a Dynamite SpeedPack 2S Lipo to power the car.

Turning: The TS2e pushed when on-power but found traction and held a good line when off-power. To get it to turn you might let off the gas. Quick 180 pivots are easily accomplished by a quick stab of the brake. Because of it being rwd only, you can’t get on the throttle nearly as quickly as a normal 4wd after the apex. You can break the rear end loose by smashing on the throttle just after the apex of the corner, but because of the limited brushed power the rear won’t stay out there for long.

Jumping: Hey, this is a touring car, how well do you really expect it to jump? For the record it does not jump well. For having very little weight up front it jumped extremely nose heavy and it was nearly impossible to make corrections in the air. Of course you can jump the TT, but I don’t recommend it.

Bumps/Whoops: Yes, we attempted to drive the TS2e outdoors on various dirt surfaces, and no, you don’t want to. For a touring car the front suspension is quite limited, making for some seriously rough driving in whoops/bumps. With no sort of damping on the front of the car, much of the time the front wheels were bouncing in the air, making the TT next to impossible to drive on a ball diamond.

On-Road: Overall, the TS2e tracks and drives well enough. A light touch is needed on the throttle until the tires get warmed up, even with the anemic stock power. When taking the TT out in an empty parking lot, it doesn’t take long to get used to its handling characteristics, soon you are pulling off all the fun on-road maneuvers that touring cars are known for.

Grass: Sorry, this is a true on-roader, it simply does not have the ground clearance for any type of grass running (yes, we tried).

Tires: The Thunder Tiger street treads provided decent grip after being scrubbed in. These aren’t race tires, but for bashing purposes they work well.

Power: There is not much power on tap with the TS2e. Not much torque, not much spank from a dead stop, the mid-range is super soft, and top-end power falls off quickly. Top speed was only 17 mph and it took some time to get there. If you are a first time noob the soft power makes it easy to learn how to drive, however, if you are an experienced driver you will quickly grow tired of how slow the car is and want to upgrade.

Radio: This is the same unit that came with the TS4e we recently tested, and it performed in exactly the same manner. We did not measure range, but the Cougar gave us more than we ever used while testing. It uses 6 AA batteries, which made it feel a tiny bit bottom heavy compared to radio’s only using 4, but that didn’t bother any of our testers. The foam on the wheel felt fine while the trigger size and throw also felt good. The grip had a notch on the front (that rests on top of the middle finger) that was a bit hard edged for our taste. Overall, solid radio that worked fine for us.

Broken Parts: The TS2e didn’t break until we started jumping it. On it’s maiden voyage off the ramp (about 18″ tall) we broke a front steering block when landing.

Misc Notes:

The front suspension is said to be “F1 type”. Well, it might very roughly look like F1 front suspension, but it isn’t set up anything like F1. It is the worlds simplest set-up, springs at the hubs, with no type of damping. Did this make the car drive horribly? No, it was still quite drive-able, but a more modern/standard shock set-up with have been much preferred.

With the type of suspension it uses, the front a-arms have no way of moving up and down. And… the front body mounts are directly bolted to the a-arms.

On a driving note, the TS2e pulls a great J-turn.

A stock brushed Slash eats the TS2e alive in a drag race.

Motor temps were exceptionally low with stock gearing. To get a bit more yank we added some teeth to the pinion and motor temps shot up quickly, so high in fact that we overheated the stock motor and were forced to install a new one. If you are looking for more speed, don’t over gear the stock motor, bolt in a new power system.

Best Mod Under $5: Cut that stock connector off ASAP and solder up a quality unit.

Best Mod Over $5: Easy answer on this one, an upgrade for the power system. Even a low-end brushless system will be much faster than the stock set-up.

Summary:

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

Time To Bash – C - We spent a couple extra minutes setting the rear ride height and adjusting pinion/spur mesh while waiting for the battery to charge, otherwise it was quick and easy to get running.

Workability – B - Anything you might need to work on is right out in the open and easily accessible.

Car Show Rating – C - While the BSRC Bash Crew liked the look of the TS2e body, which featured some well done graphics, there was no bling to up the cool factor.

Bash-A-Bility – B - We slammed the TS2e around pretty hard and it didn’t break until we hit a ramp with it.

Fun Factor – C - On the upside- the rear wheel drive gives it a unique and more “realistic” feel for a touring car. It was a blast to kick the rear end out when coming out of corners. On the downside- the power system is one of the softest we’ve tested.

Handling – C - There aren’t many cars of its type to directly compare it to, but it drove well enough. It does not have a ton of over-steer, an attribute that would have made it hard for a noob to drive, in fact it is exceptionally easy to drive. However, its front suspension holds the car back, reducing its overall performance.

Value – C - The TS2e certainly comes with a reasonable enough price point, $150. For that cash you are getting a 2.4 GHz radio set-up, but a slow brushed system and old school front suspension.

Parts Availability – C - You won’t find replacement parts for the Thunder Tiger at every hobby shop, thankfully, they are readily available on-line.

BigSquid Rating – C+ - If you are big fan of rear wheel drive, you are a first time noob looking for an exceptionally easy to drive car, or you are looking to save a few bucks, the Thunder Tiger TS2e is a viable option. However, if you have the extra cash I’d recommend its big brother, the TS4e, it simply handles better and has more power out of the box.