You are browsing the "The Backyard" category archive.
Greetings all, and Happy Friday — and more importantly, Happy Black Friday! Every year, my local hobby shop rolls out an in-store–only Black Friday deal that’s just too good to ignore. I always tell myself I’m “just stopping by to look,” but the moment I walk in and see that glorious store-wide discount sign, it’s over. Next thing you know, I’m [...]
Greetings all and Happy Friday! If you’re a fan of old-school scale trucks — and let’s be honest, if you read this column you probably are — RC4WD just dropped something that hits every retro nerve in the best possible way. Their new TF2 “LWB” RTR W/ Chevrolet K10 Scottsdale Hard Body Set (Scale Dept. Edition) is a full-on love letter to [...]
Greetings all, and Happy Friday! Welcome to The Backyard. We’re sliding into that time of year when the temps drop, the trails get muddy or frozen, and a lot of us quietly migrate from the backyard to the workbench. This is the unofficial start of bench racing season — when the trucks get torn down, the parts bins get reorganized, and [...]
Greetings all, and Happy Friday! Servos might be one of the most hotly debated pieces of gear in all of R/C. Scroll through any group or forum and you’ll find people passionately defending their favorite brands — or proudly showing off a $20 import they swear punches above its weight. And honestly? I get it. We’ve seen a lot of off-brand servos [...]
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 [...]
Greetings all, and Happy Friday! If you’ve been reading The Backyard for a while, you might remember my column — “I’m Shocked That R/C Rally Racing Isn’t More Popular.” Well, it looks like the hobby gods have answered, because Traxxas just dropped a new rally machine that’s about as good a reason as any to check-out the category — the Mini [...]
Greetings all and Happy Friday! Las Vegas isn’t just about neon lights and blackjack tables this week — it’s also home to one of the coolest RC events of the year. The Team Associated Vintage Championships are happening right now at The Orleans Hotel & Casino, bringing together racers, collectors, and die-hard fans to celebrate the machines that built the hobby. [...]
Greetings all and Happy Friday! The big Pro-Line By The Fire annual crawling event is happening this weekend in Apple Valley, CA, and as is tradition, it’s brought with it a wave of new product reveals from across the industry. One of the biggest announcements making waves on the rocks? The REEFS XP10 Plague Founder’s Edition. REEFS RC built its name on [...]
Hey all, Happy Friday! As if the last couple weeks weren’t crazy enough with all the product announcements, this past week in Las Vegas was the annual National Retail Hobby Store Association show, better known as NRHSA. It’s always a unique one on the calendar because it’s not just about the manufacturers showing off their latest toys, it’s also about the [...]
Greetings all and Happy Friday! Hooooo boy, this past week was a wild one on the announcement front. Practically every major player in the R/C crawling world had something to unveil, so let’s hit each of them and then tie it all together. Traxxas surprised everyone with the TRX-4M Nissan Pathfinder, sporting a fantastic licensed body that nails the late-’80s/early-’90s vibe. It’s [...]
Hey everyone, welcome to The Backyard! ICYMI, last week Team Associated publicly called out Horizon Hobby for alleged “unauthorized price reductions” of their vehicles. These kinds of disputes usually stay behind closed doors, so it was eyebrow-raising to see Associated frustrated enough to air it publicly. And funny enough, a big hobby shop near me is having a major in-store sale right [...]
Greetings all. It’s Friday and you know what that means- time for The Backyard. I don’t really have a through line this week as there are a variety of topics I want to discuss. Let’s get to it. RIP to Hall-of-Fame Monster Truck / BIGFOOT 4×4 Driver Dan Runte. There has been a lot written and posted about Dan on various [...]
Happy Friday all, welcome to The Backyard! The middle stretch of 2025 has looked a little different than usual in the RC world. Early in the year it was business as usual — a handful of flashy RTR bashers, some monster trucks, a crawler or two. The kind of stuff you’d expect to headline the news cycle. But somewhere around late Spring/early [...]
Happy Friday all and welcome to The Backyard! This week Team Associated announced another version of their RC10GT stadium truck – the 1/10 RC10GT Richard Saxton Edition Kit, and once again it’s wearing that classic look from RC’s golden age. It’s hard not to smile when you see those old-school stripes and sponsor splashes come alive on a brand-new kit. I mean [...]
Greetings all and Happy Friday! Welcome to The Backyard. One of the things I love about this hobby is how it tends to creep into everyday life. Vacations, weekends at the lake, camping trips — RC always seems to find its way into the packing list. Next week I’m heading down to Branson, Missouri, for a little time at a cabin [...]
