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R/C eXpo 2004
RC Solutions
The RCS guys continued their characteristically brutal demo regimen, thrashing the living daylights out of their test trucks on the tracks. Two things they were not able to break on site, though, were their "cyberskeleton" roll cages and their new tool steel T-Maxx spur gears. The spurs are heavy, but virtually indestructible for high-power applications with .21 conversions & such. Scott McCracken showed me the truck he had been running and it looked like it had been to hell and back, yet it was still structurally strong at its core and running (save the two repairably blown-out shocks from landing vertically on the corner of a near-vertical kicker ramp, attempting to land a near-vertical jump from a similar ramp). The spur had small nicks on the side and tooth corners from various pieces of solid debris flowing through under power, but with the flick of a thumb it spun free & true. The only caveat of the new spur is that it uses a .01 metric pitch, the standard used on 1/8 th scale buggies, and thus requires a 1/8 th scale clutchbell & flywheel. Such assembly is longer than the stock T-Maxx setup, so an extended chassis or custom engine re-mount is necessary. It all looked great on the RCS extended Cyber-Maxx setup.
Scott went on to show me the RCS bulkhead system, which employs a lateral pin brace at the front to combat tearing forces, and double-captured mounts for the rear a-arms. The sets come with hardened & tempered suspension pins that are held in place with set screws. Perhaps they would have used e-clips if the suspension pin material wasn't so tough that it's altogether too difficult to groove. Thank goodness. Nobody likes e-clips anyhow.
Scott also showed off the Monster GT and Savage roll cage systems you can see and purchase on www.RC-Solutions.com, as well as the new XTM Mammoth cage. Unfortunately the demo Mammoth didn't get a lot of track time, as it kept breaking front lower a-arms (no fault of the completely unrelated roll cage). The Monster GT cage system and shock towers together change the position of the shock mounts slightly, allowing the truck's skid plates hit the ground before the shocks bottom out, thus increasing shock survivability.
Last but not least, RCS is starting to sell their long-lasting spring-steel bumpers in RC10GT and Losi XXX-T/NT flavors, offering a functional alternative to the stock "mini-bumpers" that don't serve much purpose at all.
Custom 6WD X-Factory
Just as I was heading towards the door Friday evening, I saw something most peculiar near in a XTM pit area beside one of the demo tracks. See for yourself.
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John (alias "dyslexicracer ") at XTM Racing created this amazing, completely unique vehicle based on the X-Factor platform. The trick is, this truck is fully 6WD and fully articulated. It features dual side-mounted fuel tanks, working exhaust stacks and a body that has everyone asking where to buy it. Sorry, it's been discontinued for "about 10 years" and was made by McAllister, to be mounted on an old Bolink pan car. Go figure. I think John's setup is as fitting of an installation as you could possibly do. Anyone from the major magazines reading this? You guys need to do a feature on this truck! More info can be found in John's post on the XTM forums here.
Tamiya
The Tamiya booth was, as always, a tribute to elegance & excellence from a layout & presentation perspective. I was happy to see the new Pajero-based Touareg in person (I'd like to do a project on one of these eventually). The full option TLT-1 was a little sight to see as well. The racier, more agile Terra Crusher-derived TNX started shipping, but there were no truly new products at the show. Check out that clean new "Super" Clod Buster, though. It's been a long time since a vehicle made from those molds was displayed in a trade show booth as a contemporary product!
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Expect to see a lot more from Tamiya around the URC Network in the next year or so with the opening of UltimateTamiya.com.
Bonus Pics
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owned by a SoCalEvo.net member)