Big Squid RC

For Bashers, By Bashers!
Recent Reviews

What's new: Friday, February 17th, 2012

protrac suspension

A while back we got a Sneak Peak of the Pro-Line ProTrac Suspension Kit for the Slash 4×4. Well it’s no official, with some less sneaky looking pictures. The kit will include longer Front and Rear suspension arms. ProTrac wheels that keep you ROAR Legal width and new longer turnbuckles. Sounds like a good kit for $50.
Pro-Line has also let us know that the following MIP option if you are looking for more heavy duty CVD options.
MIP #11104 X-Duty CVD Kit (2 Required for Front and Rear)
MIP #10133 X-Duty Front Axle (2 Required for Front Left and Front Right)

Head over to the Pro-Line website for details.

April 2012 marks the five year anniversary of the Axial AX10™ and the peeps from Axial felt that it was time for the product that launched them into the crawling segment to undergo some evolution and receive some trickle-down technological advancements of its own! They have not changed the original scope of the vehicle; the AX10™ Ridgecrest™ is still the “Leatherman” of the Axial product line and it’s where backyard crawling begins.

The AX10™ Ridgecrest™ is a highly capable, affordable starting point for anyone looking to get into the RC crawling game. If you are not sure what you want to do and how you want to do it within the various segments of crawling, the AX10™ Ridgecrest™ is the most versatile truck with scale looks, performance driven components and the right amount of speed mixed with technical crawling prowess – all in one rig.

Here are the specs (AX90019):

• All-new tube style chassis design.
• AR60 OCP-Axles™.
• 87/20 gearing (87T spur gear, 20T pinion gear).
• Competition legal 12″ wheelbase.
• Adjustable tray that accepts standard stick packs or lipo batteries.
• Adjustable suspension and shock mounting positions.
• WB8 Wild Boar™ splined driveshafts.
• Ripsaw™ tires mounted on Raceline Renegade wheels.
• 4-link suspension.
• Double shear link mounts.

MSRP is $575.00, street price should be a bit lower.

Head over to the Axial website for more information

Kysoho is going to release their MR-03 in yellow. Limited quantities will be made available but we have confirmed that some will be making it to the U.S.

● You’ll be etting RM, MM, and LM motor pods in the special yellow color  
● Ball Bearing Set
● Rear Oil Shock Set
● Faster motor
● Ball Differential Shaft for LM

Also in the limited gold color you’ll be getting
● Color Nylon Nut
● Ball Differential Set
● Tie Rods in various settings
● A tire guage that is used in races overseas.

Also, READ MORE

A few days ago Cubby mentioned that we have been putting the Traxxas XO-1 Super car through our standard insane testing, and he even mentioned that we jumped it. Shortly after we got a a few emails saying ‘why would you jump the XO-1?!?! You didn’t really jump it did you??’

Well…

traxxas xo-1

It’s a Traxxas vehicle… they are supposed to be ready for bashing right.. right?

Watch for the review coming soon..

What's new: Thursday, February 16th, 2012

New from Team Associated is their Reedy branded 6500mAh 65C lipo. Fancy descriptions and buzz words are not needed for this 7.4v competition level battery. The specs speak for themselves and here they are:

•High capacity for maximum duration, 65C discharge rating for maximum power output
•Durable hard case
•Industry-standard 4mm socket connectors
•Designed for 1:10 on-road and off-road vehicles
•R.O.A.R./E.F.R.A./I.F.M.A.R. approved

Head over to the Team Associated website for more information

Cubby

Hi Brian my name is Josh Pease I’m a big fan of your site. Anyways I’m emailing you to ask some questions about your site. I have just launched my own site which is still under construction but live none the less. I have watched your site for a very long time and like your idea. The same kind of idea is going into my site. I don’t want it to be just a racer site or just a basher site I want it to serve both as well as have lots of info on different things like setup build tips etc. What my question is. Is how did you get started? How did you go about getting site sponsors and product to review etc. I dont expect you to give me all your secrets lol I’m just looking for some help. Ive been in the RC industry for over 20 years as a factory driver a independent driver as well as running tracks and hobby shops.The reason I started the site was I always get people all over the US calling and asking how to do this or do that. So I thought well I’ll put it into a website to better serve the community. I would also like to put up a link to your site on my page if at all possible. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Josh Pease

Cubby- Hey what’s up Josh, I stole your email from Brian and here you are on the front page of BSRC.

How did BigSquid get started? I have zero idea on that one, but if I had to guess I’d say Brian was sitting around exceptionally bored one day, had an extra $20 in his paypal account, and figured what better way to waste an afternoon than to start a website. Seriously, that is just speculation on my part, but probably pretty close to the truth knowing Brian as well as I do. LOL

How do you get site sponsors (read- advertisers) and product to review? You simply ask. But… asking manufactures is the easy part. I mean it only takes 30 seconds to fire off an email saying “I have a website, wanna pay me $800 a month to advertise and send me free stuff to break in half?”. The hard part is getting anyone to actually do it. Getting them to pay/send you stuff boils down to one thing- traffic. Your website has gotta be pull’n higher numbers than the other thousand websites that request stuff every month.

There are a googolplex rc websites out there, I’d hope your main reason for starting one isn’t simply to “serve the community”. While quite noble, there are plenty of resources out there that are a Bing search away to help anyone with any rc problem. My advise is this- if you start an rc website, start it as an expression of yourself, a site you’d contribute to every day even if you knew you wouldn’t get one hit from it. Trust me on this one….


In Flight Control

Hi, Me and my dad have been disagreeing on weather the engine has any control of the pitch of an rc truck in the air? I was saying that the engines torque and momentum can raise or lower the nose depending on the dirrection but my dad says the engine has no effect if it is in full forward or if you throw it into full reverse mid flight. basically i am wondering if the engine will control the truck in the air as in nose up or down? also how do you control the truck in the air? it would be appreciated for an answer. Thank You

Justin F.

Cubby- Hello there Justin, thanks for the email.

Ya know, there is a dern good reason science classes exist. Not only are they good for learning such things as the heat death of our universe, but science classes also come in mighty handy for rc.

So… your Dad is wrong, you are correct. But don’t rub it in, that can have an adverse affect on your weekly allowance. :)

To boil it down, when you hit a jump and the nose of your truck is too high, simply tapping the brakes will stop the heavy rotating mass of your tires and this will bring the front of your truck down. If you hit a jump and the nose of your truck is too low, you can mash the gas making your tires rotate faster and this can help raise the front of your truck.

And it’s not so much the stopping or starting of the motor/engine as it is the stopping or accelerating of your tires. The tires have much more mass, therefore having a much greater effect on the pitch of your truck.

Lastly… by using steering in addition to throttle/brake while in the air (especially with 4wd’s) you can also affect the roll and yaw of your truck. This is much harder to master, but can yield some pretty spectacular effects (including the ability to Bubba Scrub). Brian and Wrench did a pretty tubular write up on how to jump rc trucks a few months ago for HobbyTown USA, you can take a look at it HERE (starts on page 16).

Practice makes perfect, so get out there, huck some big air, and have a great time showing your Dad the physics of rc. Oh and… shoot us some pics of your airborne antics!


That’s it for this week, submit your questions, jokes, randoms thoughts on string theory, etc to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com!

YOUR Cub Reporter

ARRMA Granite

During our Forum Chat Night Evan was posting pictures of the ARRMA Granite 1/10th scale rc Monster Truck unboxing live for everyone to see. This was pretty cool because people could ask for different angles, or questions about the truck live, and he was giving them the answers right there. Thought we’d post the pics here to the front page for everyone to see. Some interesting things to note, the body and a few other parts do look different than when we got a preview of the truck at iHobby Expo. You can also head over to the insane forum thread we had, where the live unboxing happened. (along with a lot of other stuff!)

Make sure to hit the http://www.arrma-rc.com site for more vehicle details if needed.

What's new: Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

The Flyzone Sensei RTF Review

flyzone Sensei

We don’t do a lot of airplane reviews, but we do have 3DBill, our resident pilot. Brian and Wrench like to dabble with flying now and then, and by flying I mean ‘Falling with Style’. So we know there is a little crossover with bashers and the flying scene, so why not review a couple of planes now and then. The Flyzone Sensei is a new trainer, so it seems like a good place to start. We will keep it short so we don’t bore the car guys. How’s the Sensei do? Keep reading to find out…

READ MORE

squid group 3

Cubby keeps mentioning it, the guy likes to chat in the Big Squid RC Forum! So tonight a few of us are meeting in there around 10pm cst (Feb-15-2012). Look for new topics being put up in the general area.. we will be discussing some of the new releases, thoughts, ect. We had a great turn out last week, even Cubby showed up to dish out his usual verbage.

If you need to sign up/ join the forum.. make sure to drop me an email so I can make sure you get approved. It helps keep out the spam bots. I’ll keep an eye on the email and get you approved as soon as you ask.

See ya there!

What's new: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

venom 8000mah lipo

New from Venom is the 2S 8000mah Hard Case Lipo. It’s the same 20C pack used in their soft version, but now a little bit tougher for the off-road and heavy hitting action. It comes with the Venom Universal Plug System and a XH Balance connector. Best part, price will be about $80.

Make sure to visit Venom-Group.com page for more information.

Team Associated just annouced parts availability for their SC10 4×4. These parts with be available in March. Most of the parts are slipper, chassis, or battery brace related.

Head over to the Team Associated website for more information.

Hello everyone – Even though Old Man Winter has given most of the lower 48 a break this year. For us here in Chicagoland, there is a couple of inches of snow on the ground which is perfect for the snowmobile conversion from Integy. Rear treads and front ski’s are available. For those of you in a milder climate, these bad boys will work great on sand as well. These kits are available for the 5B/T, Savage Flux, Revo, Summit and T/E Maxx.

Head over to the Integy website for more information

rpm sc10 bumper

RPM has a few new products for the SC10 2WD. They have a new Rear Bumper which is wider than the stock bumpers giving a little more protection. The top has also been raised to help protect in case of a crash. The rear bumper also has mounting points for the RPM tail light set, mud flaps and number plate. The bumper will run you about $10, and the mud flap and number plate kit about $11.

Check out the RPM website for more info.