ASK Cubby- Yet Another Week With Your Questions

“Losi Baja Rey

I just want to share my frustration with someone who might care I bought my Baja Rey about 4 weeks ago and for what it is it’s great but as far as getting parts for it is terrible I’ve been told 2 months for a driveshaft is that crazy or is it just me?

Ryan H.”

Cubby- Yo Ryan, guess what? Because I forgot to name one last week, yours is now proclaimed as “Letter of the Month”. Therefore, if you send us your snail mail and shirt size, you’ll get totally hooked up with one of our uber t-shirts.

So, about the Losi Baja Rey. We received one for review and bashed it for weeks, the full review should go up any time now. I am a huge fan of its scale looks, awesome power, and how realistic it looks while being driven.

About parts… I have no inside scoop for ya. After scanning the HorizonHobby.com website, it looks like they have a lot of parts in stock for the Baja Rey, but also have several high wear/often broken parts on back order.

I swear, the absolutely hardest job in rc is the guy who has to order/keep parts in stock. There are so many different models, with so many different part numbers, and lacking just one of them can be enough to keep a consumer like you from driving your new truck.

However #1… you didn’t mention which driveshaft you are waiting on, but try these two things. 1. If you have an awesome LHS, hit them up and see if they have something similar in stock from another model that might work. 2. Give the guys at MIP a call, they might have something that can be made to work. After all, if you busted a stock driveshaft already, installing another stock part isn’t going to be a good fix. The best way to do it would be to replace it with a heavy duty aftermarket piece.

However #2… the guys over at Horizon/Losi monitor BSRC every day. I’m sure the actual person in charge of Baja Rey parts will either read this, or have it forwarded to them. If somehow that particular part slipped between the cracks, this should make sure they get all over it.

Thanks for the email and hopefully your Baja Rey will be back up and running ASAP.

“Running Time

After reading your review of the Traxxas Bigfoot I went out and got one. In your review you measure run time at 12 minutes but I routinely get over 15 on mine. How do you test run time and why is yours so different than mine?

Stanley F.”

Cubby- Well hello there Stan Da’ Man, thanks for the email.

We test runtime in nearly the exact same way for each vehicle. We have used the exact same course for as long as we have been posting runtimes. The course is half pavement, half grass, and has a wood ramp in it. Before testing runtime we fully charge up whatever pack we are using, then go at it.

There are a few vehicles that we can not test on our standard course. For example, the 1/18th scale Dromidas that we reviewed recently simply couldn’t drive in the grass, therefore they were only driven on pavement during that part of testing. Another example would be touring cars, but we attempt to use the exact same course whenever possible and we drive them as fast as possible. Oh and, we also do not count the time after a crash when a truck is on its lid waiting to be marshalled.

Why would your runtime be different than ours? The answer is… it could be a bunch of different things. Maybe you aren’t driving WFO all the time. Maybe you aren’t driving yours in any grass. Maybe you are not using the stock NiMH. All we can do is attempt to give the most accurate, most uniform results that we can, and we truly do put a lot of effort into providing accurate runtime and MPH figures.

Yup, I’m all done for this week. Don’t be shy, the worst I can possibly do it publicly shame you, so shoot me an email. thecubreportrc at gmail dot com is my address and if your letter makes the big time you’ll get a free sticker pack. Better yet, if it is named “Letter of the Month” you’ll get a BigSquidRC t-shirt. Until next week, go fast, have fun, break everything.

YOUR Cub Reporter