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!

Check out THIS LINK for more Durango news right here on BigSquidRC.

Do you eat, sleep, and dream about nitro? Check out THIS BigSquidRC link.

* Improved diff couplers front and rear
* Larger bearings in the steering blocks and uprights
* New front shaft
* New wheel-axles with rubber dust boots
* New larger rear CVD’s
* Part #600035

Early November is the expected release date and you can find out more information on Serpents official Website.

Looking for more Serpent news? We have it right HERE.

Another vehicle we have been looking forward to testing is the Helion RC Dominus 10TR which we just got our hands on. A 4WD Brushless Truggy for under $260 is the stuff bashers dream about. Testing starts soon, so watch for a review in the near future. Till then, enjoy the pictures.

Click through for more pictures..

Need more Helion RC News?

* Factory-assembled 1/8th scale 4wd RTR
* Low CG chassis based on the nitro ST1
* Super-strong suspension arms
* Fully adjustable ride height
* Fully adjustable pivot ball system for easy toe, camber and caster tuning
* Front/center CV style drive shafts
* Front/center/rear metal gear differentials
* Powerful Ripper IBL40 2000kV brushless motor
* 80A Speed controller, water and dust proof case
* Cougar P3 2.4GHz radio system
* Four exciting colors- red, blue, purple, grey
* Over-sized oil-filled shocks, 16mm dia. pistons
* Precision-milled hard coated 7075-T6 aluminum chassis
* 8kg metal gear high torque steering servo
* Machined adjustable aluminum motor mount
* Molded battery tray supports two 2S or one 4S LiPo battery pack(s)
* Soft compound high grip tires
* Racing dish wheels
* Full ball bearings
* Comes with Deans® Ultra Plug®
* Requires- 6 AA radio batteries, two 2S Lipo, and charger
* Length: 23.1 in (588 mm)
* Wheelbase: 13.75 in (400 mm)
* Wheelbase: 13.75-14.37 in (360-365 mm)
* Height: 7.7 in (196 mm)
* Ground Clearance: 1.9 in (48 mm)
* Weight without battery: 8.37 lb (3800 g)

Street price is $480 and they are available right now. Click THIS link for the official Thunder Tiger America website.

We have loads of Thunder Tiger news HERE on BigSquidRC.

Team Durango has announced the official DNX408T Nitro Truggy Kit page has gone live! In true Durango form, it’s a beautiful looking vehicle that is beyond engineered. Looking back, we first mentioned the DNX408T was on the radar back in November of 2010! It’s amazing how much R&D these guys put into their vehicles, every piece is like a work of art. As it is a kit, you will need to supply a radio, servos, engine and a few other things to put it together. Street price for the kit is just under $600.

Make sure you head over to Team Durango DNX408T site for all the details and a TON more pictures to drool over.

1/8th truggy
Can u tell me who makes a 1/8th truggy. Kit roller rtr does not matter just wanted to know who has them.
Matt N.

Cubby- Can I tell you who which companies make 8th scale truggy’s? Of course I can, but will I? I don’t see that happening. You see there is this little thing called “Bing”, it’s a search engine that actually works quite well. Simply go to the “Bing” website and enter “1/8th truggy” and you get just over 130,000 search results. Try it sometime, I think you’ll dig it. Btw, “Bing” works on all sorts of other questions as well, I kid you not.

Or… if you are actually looking to buy a truggy you can go to the Tower Hobbies website and enter “truggy” into their search box. There you’ll find all sorts of truggy’s, from Associated to HPI to Hot Bodies to Mugen to OFNA, I think you’ll find one to do whatever your non-search-engine-using-brain desires. Btw Matt, I must say I can’t condone buying a truggy as they fall into the Martian category of rc vehicles that I hope falls off the face of the Earth.

Hey Bigsquid RC, Love the site, And the reviews are great! I recently purchased a Futaba 4pl Radio after reading your review, and was curious about one thing, Does your power button “wiggle” Mine feels awful loose, and I was curious is this was a widespread issue, all of my RC buddies have spektrum or i’d ask them. I’d appreciate it if you’d get back to me! Keep the awesome reviews and news coming!

Thanks!
Dave “The Ladies Man”

Cubby- What’s up Dave and thanks for the props. How’s the lady hunt’n been going? I can’t tell from your email, but if you just happen to live in Ohio maybe you or one of our other readers can get us the hook up on some lovely ladies to work the BSRC booth while we are in Cleveland. All they gotta do is stand around and look hot, rc knowledge is a plus, but definitely not required.

We’ve been using our Futaba 4PL on a weekly basis for months now. Most recently we used it to pilot our Axial EXO and I gotta say we dig the radio as much today as we did back when the review was posted.

So… does the power switch on our 4PL “wiggle” or have a bunch of play in it? No, ours does not, if anything ours feels a bit on the tight side. Although… you gotta remember our 4PL has been knocked off tables, drivers stands, house decks, and when I leave the track for the day I literally toss it (read- throw it overhand style) into my truck. Ours has certainly had a brutal life, perhaps one of our “drop tests” made our power switch a bit harder to turn on and off than most.

Ok, listen up ya knuckleheads, we’ve decided to up the ante a bit for our “ASK Cubby” column.

If your question makes our front page you’ll get free BigSquid stickers, but even better, if I chose your question as “Question of the Month” you’ll win a free uber BigSquid T-shirt.

So… submit your questions, they might very well win ya some free BigSquid stickers or a T-Shirt! Submit your questions, answers, excerpts, brain burps, and written projectile vomiting to Cubby at BigSquid dot com!

YOUR Cub Reporter

From now until next Friday, the 23rd, AKA Racing is having a 30% off sale on their entire line of EVO Truggy wheels and tires. There’s a ton of options and I need to get my word count up, so I’ll list most of them for you. On the tire side you can get yourself some of AKA’s I-Beam, Cityblock, Gridiron or Impact tread patterns in your choice of super soft, soft or medium compounds.  You can get them unmounted or premounted on white or yellow 0-offset EVO wheels with red inserts, or you can by the red inserts separately.

No need for a coupon code or anything, just start shopping on the EVO Truggy Sale page of the AKA Racing web site.

A couple of Redcat Racing‘s vehicles have appeared in the review section here on Big Squid over the last few months.  And they’ve gotten positive numbers and comments from those that have tested them.  It was because of those reviews that I decided to purchase a Redcat Monsoon XTE, which is a 1/8 scale brushless truggy.  I first saw this truck at the IHobby 2011 expo and was somewhat impressed by what I had seen.  So that got me thinking that perhaps Redcat’s products have changed for the better.  Maybe they’ve learned something from their rather durable and well built large scale cars and applied that to their new line of smaller stuff.  Possibly, Redcat has made a good kit.  I’ve been trying to review this truck for quite a while now, after many false starts and nagging issues.  There comes a time when one has to stop and say “I’ve been fooled.”

Disclosure: I paid for this truck out of my own pocket and bought it from a third-party retailer.  Redcat did not send the Monsoon XTE to be reviewed by us and while they may have been aware of us reviewing it, I never identified myself to Redcat as a Big Squid RC contributor.  All customer service calls and orders were made as a normal customer.

Specs:

• Age: 15+
• Length: 550mm
• Width: 440mm
• Height: 198mm
• Wheelbase: 370mm
• Ground Clearance: 42mm
• Weight: Slightly over 10 pounds with batteries
• Chassis: 6061 Aluminum
• Drive train: 4 wheel drive, 3 sealed gear diffs
• Shocks: Oil filled Metal Shocks
• Radio: 2.4GHz Radio System
• Motor: 1755kV Brushless
• ESC: 80 amp, 4S
• MSRP: $459.99
• Street Price: ~$400

What’s in the box:
The truck is 99% assembled, you just need to put the wheels on and thread the antenna through the tube.  A no-frills, rather cheap feeling 2.4 GHz radio system is included.  It works well enough but I dumped it in favor of my Futaba 4PK after the first couple runs.  You’ll also find a small parts and tools bag.  Two unbranded 2S, 30C, 3600 mAh LiPo batteries and a slow balance charger pretty much round out the package.  The manual isn’t specific to this model and includes generic instructions for all of the types of vehicles Redcat makes.  It’s kind of odd finding nitro engine break-in procedures in a manual included with an electric vehicle.

Build quality:
Hit and miss might be an apt description of the Monsoon XTE’s build quality.  Some things that were done on this truck at the factory were good and proper.  Others were rather puzzling as to how they could have messed it up.  The nicer items included properly set gear mesh between the pinion and spur gear, fully filled shocks that didn’t leak, preload spacers installed to give a good ride height, thread locker on all the metal-to-metal screws that I checked and neatly managed wiring.  A few of the issues included a lower cap on one shock that was overtightened and stripped, a missing shim in the rear differential that would later cause problems and an overtightened screw that had stripped the threads out of a plastic part.

The sealed differentials showed evidence of receiving at least a little grease to keeps things running smooth but no diff fluid was present, though there was no sign of leaking on the chassis or in the box.  I filled them and they are still full after a few runs so the seals and bearings are doing their job.

Overall build quality was unsatisfactory for my kit.  I generally give manufacturers the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their product assembly.  Just because mine wasn’t assembled perfectly, that doesn’t mean that every product that comes off the line is the same.  If you decide to purchase a Monsoon XTE, your experience may differ, but I highly suggest you give it a good inspection before driving it.

Performance testing:
The brushless system in the Monsoon XTE is overflowing with power.  The included LiPos pack enough punch to keep up with the energy sucking brushless system.  This truck just wants to go fast.  Braking is also very strong and easy to control.  The Monsoon flies well off jumps and is very responsive to throttle and brake inputs throughout it’s hang-time, despite it’s 10+ pounds weight.  It does have a bit of under-steer.  The stock suspension setup is plush, very plush.  Lifting the Monsoon just a foot off the ground and dropping it results in a VERY slow rebound and settling.  That would be fine if this were a Cadillac.  But it’s not, it’s purportedly a racing truggy.  Some stiffer springs at minimum are necessary if you plan on racing with the Monsoon XTE.  Stiffer sway bars would probably help as well, as the stock ones don’t seem to do much of anything.  Though with that super soft suspension it is pretty fun to drive in the really rough stuff and, other than bottoming out off every jump, makes for a decent bashing setup.

Durability testing:
Nothing that I’ve done to this truck would be considered extreme, even if you were to dismiss our ridiculously high standard of extreme and go with a more sane definition.  The rather light beating the Monsoon XTE was subjected to could be compared to pretty much any normal day at any track.  A couple bad landings, a few traction rolls, and some wrecks among other vehicles.  About the only qualified Big Squid test I was able to do was a high jump off a 15′ roof.  I didn’t drive it full speed into a wall or tumble it down stairs or fling it around a skate park.  I didn’t have a chance to.

On my very first outing I had a bad landing and snapped a rear suspension arm only five minutes into the first battery.  Also, remember that missing shim in the differential I mentioned above?  It caused a major problem, after just that one short run the diff’s spider gears were stripped and the truck wouldn’t move at more than a snail’s pace along with making a huge amount of grinding noise.

After repairing the a-arm, replacing the diff gears and making sure a proper size shim was installed I got back to it.  But it wasn’t long before the stock servo died without any hint as to reason.  It just went to full right lock and stuck there.  Strike two.  I put in a warranty claim on the servo and Redcat replaced it without any fuss, though the servo was out of stock at the time, so I had to wait… and wait… and wait.  While I was waiting for the replacement servo to arrive I decided to buy a much more suitable servo for the Monsoon.  The stock servo provides about 125 oz/in of torque which, in a massive truck like this, just isn’t enough.  I installed a Hitec HS-7955 which offers 333 oz/in at 6v.  Much better.

With the servo issue solved I went on back to our private bash park and started over again.  This third run proved to be the final straw.  It only lasted 25 minutes.  I hit a few jumps, did a few donuts, nothing extreme.  Suddenly I heard another terrible grinding sound.  It turned out that I had somehow broken a front axle.  I didn’t have a replacement but I decided to carry on anyway.  Soon after a rear shock shaft broke and I’m still not quite sure why.  I didn’t have any really bad landings, I didn’t seriously wreck it, it just seemed to snap from the rough, rutted and rocky terrain.

I figured now would be the time to toss the Monsoon on to the 15′ roof and jump it off, before anything else broke and I didn’t get a chance at all.  Surprisingly, this didn’t cause anything to break, the Monsoon flew flat after a slight throttle blip to level it out, landed smooth on the flat ground and drove away.  It wasn’t long after that, hitting just a regular jump and having a decent landing, that the front hub decided to snap.  And that’s when I decided to throw in the towel.

List of broken parts:
From beginning to end, all the Monsoon did was break.  Keep in mind all of this happened in the total span of less than three full battery packs, about an hour of run time.

• Rear lower arm
• Rear diff spider gears
• Front universal drive shaft
• Rear wing
• Front hub
• Shock shaft
• Servo

Customer service:
To Redcat’s credit, every time I contacted customer service or technical support, the representatives I spoke with were kind, courteous and knowledgeable.  They were able to identify parts I was explaining to them and provide proper part numbers for easy ordering.  They were able to help diagnose issues and explain the best way to resolve them.  The warranty replacement I went through was handled with no fuss, they apologized and replaced the part.  Nearly every order I placed through Redcat’s website was packed and shipped from their warehouse the same day I placed the order.  As far as customer service goes, Redcat Racing is tops.  If only their product matched their service.

Best mod under $5:
The high amp bullet style battery connectors that come stock are nice and will pass a lot of juice without any problems, but they aren’t really standard in the RC world.  I swapped them for some Deans’ connectors.  Traxxas connectors would work just as well.

Best mod over $5:
A different truck.  If you’re adamant about having a Monsoon XTE, a high torque servo such as the Hitec HS-7955 will do a much better job of swinging those massive wheels left and right.

Bottom Line:
I won’t be fooled again.

As with all of our stuff, if you see us at a bash, stop by and check out the vehicles we have with us. We may let you take a test drive, and at the very least get you some stickers!