The Backyard – Frankenstein’d Monsters!

Greetings all, and Happy Halloween! Welcome to a spooky edition of The Backyard!

It’s the day of the year when witches, spooks and monsters take center stage — though, for R/C fans, we’ve been creating our own kinds of monsters all year long. And no, I don’t just mean the kind with giant tires and chrome roll bars (though those certainly count). I’m talking about the true creatures of the hobby — the ones cobbled together from spare parts, questionable decisions, and pure imagination.

Every hobbyist has had that “Frankenstein moment.” Maybe it was bolting monster truck tires onto an old short course chassis, strapping a brushless system into a crawler “just to see what happens,” or resurrecting a long-forgotten project with parts that definitely weren’t designed to fit. They might not always drive straight, but they’ve always got personality — and usually a story behind every scratch.

The Frankenstein’d monster buggy you see here was built by one of my best friends (and long time BSRC review helper “Claude Buster”) and is one of several that he’s built. For whatever reason, he loves putting monster truck tires and big power systems into Traxxas buggies. He also built this crazy looking twin tired scaler, just because he had a bunch of extra parts laying around.

That’s the soul of R/C right there. Even in a world full of polished ready-to-runs, there’s still something special about creating your own beast in the garage. Whether it’s a finely tuned comp truck built to the 9’s or a lurching backyard brute, every monster build reflects its creator — and that’s what keeps this hobby alive (insert lightning strike here).

So this Halloween, here’s to the monster trucks, the garage-built freaks, and all the hobbyists who can’t resist throwing the switch just to see if it moves.

Happy Halloween, friends! Be safe out there!

Until next time, keep it on all 4’s.