I’d like to welcome a new sponsor, DragRaceConcepts.com. It’s a new online shop that will stock a lot of RC Drag Racing parts and vehicles. As many of you know, it can sometimes be difficult getting stuff for the RC Drag Racing hobby, and this store is going to try fix that issue.
It’s being run by a good friend of Big Squid RC, so we wish them all the luck in the world with their new store. Click the banner, and head on over to check it out.
Here is the latest from the folks at Parma. It’s their new FASKOLOR FASTHINNER. It’s formulated to properly thin and improve the flow of FASKOLOR paint for airbrushing. It helps when using lower air pressure with gravity feed airbrushes as well as speeds up drying time! Click the image for details.
Check out the Pro-Line Racing Epic Bead-Loc wheels. The design was created to make changing tires much easier. The one sided bead-loc captures both sides of the tire evenly. No gluing needed. The are built to fit the Traxxas Slayer front and rears.
News from Team Associated about their upcoming e-Conversion kit for the RC8, RC8T, and SC8. It’s designed to neatly convert your nitro to electric power. Comes with straps, battery tray to support 7.4 to 14.8v LiPo packs, new sealed receiver box for proper electronics placement. Also comes with two pinion gears and two spur gears and all needed hardware to mount the components to the chassis. The RC8 conversion will need the RC8e body. MSRP is $129, so you should see it for less when it ships in late December. Hmm.. if only I had a motor RC8T!
You are seeing it here first! We got our hands on the new Castle Creations Mamba Monster 2200kv Combo a little early! It comes with the Neu/Castle Motor, (designed by Steven Neu and Castle Creations), a Pinion, and the Castle Link. The street price when it starts shipping to the public should be $299.
Some additional info: 18 Cell NiCad/NiMH or 6S LiPo ready. Brake is proportional with adjustable curve. Can reverse with lockout, low voltage cutoff is programmable. ESC size is 2.2″ x 1.9″ x 1.4″, connector type 6.5mm bullet.
Neu-Castle 2200KV is intended for 6S (25.2vold) operation, and built for monster trucks and buggies.
I’m a big fan of the Castle Link and software. We will be doing our best to get this into a vehicle for testing ASAP! Stay tuned!
Here is the winner list and drawing for the November 2008 Big Squid RC Contest! I’d like to thank all of our readers for their support, and for sending in those awesome Fan Pictures! Keep sending those pictures in! Next month is the Grand Prize Drawing for the brand new RTR Duratrax RT-X 27 Monster Truck! ALL names go back in the hat for this drawing! We will have a few extra prizes this year as well!
Here is the video! Wow, I need some better lighting. No idea why it came out so red.
Congrats to our winners! We will be contacting you shortly.
1) Fredo – Illinois
2) Igor P. – Europe
3) Jacob T. – California
A new company has asked us for help in a new RC radio survey. You will see the banner floating around here and in the forum for the rest of the month. It’s a little long, but it’s for a good cause. If you have ever wanted to let someone know your feelings about the current state of RC radios, here is your chance! You can tell them what you like, what you don’t like, and how to improve them.
So if you have an opinion you want to share, click the blue banner and let them know! Oh yea.. and you could win $250!
Our good friends over at Modellismo Hobby Media dropped us a line about some info and pictures they got on the new HPI Racing Cyber 10B! It sounds like it will be shipping in very early 2009 in Japan, and is aimed at the newer more amature racer. It’s electric, and 4WD.
It showed up a few days ago as a possible Hot Bodies vehicle, complete with picture.. but it sounds like HPI has claimed dibs! It will be interesting to see what name it’s under if it shows up in the US!
Just a quick note, there is now an official Mini RC Forum over in our forums area. We used to get a pretty good Mini/Micro crowd around here, as well as doing a lot of videos and reviews in the 1/18th scale area and thought it might be a good idea to get something started with the coming of the 1/16th scale E-Revo and Slayer-EX in the near future! I’m sure people will want to discuss hop-up, motors and batteries, but also know that there are a ton of people really into the Mini/Micro scene! Heck, we have some of the top 1/18th scale drivers in the world already in our forum and posting news on our page, so it seemed only appropriate!
If you are into the Mini’s, make sure to head over to the new Mini RC Forum and check it out!
Over in our RC Reviews section I have posted up the written version of the Gears of War 2 – RC Centaur Tank Review!! Is it really the worst RC vehicle to hit the market recently? Could someone make a vehicle that can’t roll and steer at the same time? Head on over to the RC Reviews section or click the picture and find out!
The video review is there as well. Also the video has now been posted over on Youtube. So if you want to see it there, just search on BigSquidRC Gears and it should come up.
Here is a video review of the Gears of War 2 Centaur Tank from Best Buy that you could get with the special edition pre-order OR buy outright for $30. I’ll post up a full web review later today, but I wanted to share the video review with everyone since that part is done and ready to go. Basically it’s junk. It’s one of the worst RC vehicles I have ever seen or touched, and I have seen a ton of them. This is worse then any cheap Toys R’ Us vehicle you could ever buy! Do NOT buy one of these!
Now that everyone has recovered from their turkey induced coma, let’s get down to the nitty gritty-
Tebo is signed up to the hilt with the K-crew. Ya, ya, I know you heard the news days (weeks?) ago, so it’s no huge surprise. What is a bit surprising is Tebo leaving his electrics at AE, having also signed up to exclusively run Kyosho electric trucks/buggies. The nitro MP-9 is more than up to the challenge of winning, K-car electrics, well, have not been dominant for a long, long time. Also, I suppose some people that are not so deep into the sport might think that Tebo changing over to AKA tires and Orion electronics might be a surprise. But seeing as Kyosho owns AKA and runs Orion America, most likely it was just part of the deal. Tebo is nearly 100% Kyosho now, except for now running Byron’s fuel (best fuel on the market, or at the least, the best people behind the fuel, IMO). Before, Kyosho had an “American Dream Team” of talent, now, with Tebo on board, it’s even more so. Here’s hoping the very best to JT with his new Kyosho rides, and here’s hoping that Kyosho and their even stronger “Dream Team” can come up with cars/trucks/buggies that someone wants to buy.
AE, the biggest, baddest, gnarliest American car manufacture announced their way-super-dope RC8 electric conversion this week. Smart move? Those 8th scale electrics aren’t flying off dealer shelves as one would have thought a year ago, so perhaps just putting out a conversion kit is smart. On the other hand, AE is just throwing their hat into the ring of the conversion market, along with Novak, Castle, Tekno, ect. If they’d just sell the buggy already outfitted for electric, there would BE no conversion market.
While I’m on the subject of 8th scale electrics, I had heard weeks ago that Caster Racing might be submitting a buggy for an official BigSquid test. Maybe it takes months to get one? Just say’n…….
Now onto this weeks “Hot Deals!!”.
Traxxas has announced that they will give you two free 7 cell battery packs when you purchase an E-Revo. Props to Traxxas!
HPI has become the second manufacture to announce factory cash back. Buy certain HPI/Hot Bodies products, ship’em your receipt and UPC code off the box, and get $100 back! Props to HPI!
And perhaps the best deal so far? A Tower Hobbies internet special where you got $20 off a $50 purchase. This deal just expired, but every week Tower seems to come up with new hard to resist savings. It’s obvious Hobbico/GP/Tower is trying hard to get your business.
Just a note to all you BigSquidRC readers- if you happen to get a flier in the mail or email box that shows huge savings, forward it to Brian at BigSquidRC dot com so he can share the savings with all our readers.
Lastly, it seems the “Cubby Awards” has taken on a life of it’s own. I get paid per reader, and Brian has always told me I only had 3 readers, resulting in diddly crap for net take home pay. Well, either my 3 readers have been voting 20 times a day, or I have more than 3 readers, because votes for the Cubbies have been pouring in at a rate that even freaks me out. If you have not Voted, it just takes a couple minutes, so start mashing those keys!
Till next week, support your LHS, support your local track, and get those votes in.
Your Cub Reporter
Recently we posted some news about the Caster Racing USA ZX1.5R and that it would be shipping in December. Well, we just received a bunch of new pictures of the vehicle, so I’m guessing Caster Racing is getting ready to start shipping them! Enjoy the pictures.
