THE Cub Report – Fully Sent

Hola there rc hobbyists, industry types, and/or people who clicked the wrong link, welcome to this week’s Cub Report.

First up, I would like to welcome to the crew at RPM as one of our website supporters. If you are old school, I certainly don’t have to tell you who RPM is, but if you are new to the hobby, RPM is best known for their incredibly durable plastic upgrade parts. And while RPM is best known for their rc upgrades, they also do medical supply parts, so they’ve been able to stay open full steam during the Covid-19 pandemic. Right now RPM is absolutely crushing it and we are super stoked that they’ve signed on as an advertiser here at BigSquidRC. With record sales and a great team, look for RPM to continue their rise in the coming months.

On the opposite side of that equation are hobby shops that have been forced to close. For me, that means ALL hobby shops close to my house, although a few have been doing curb-side pick-up, the majority are locked up like a safe. For those hobby shops with a strong on-line presence, some have also been crushing, but most are “mom & pop” shops that are only set-up for brick and mortar sales. Those shops are literally getting zero income right now, but their rent and other bills sure haven’t stopped. Here at Big Squid we hope you guys weathering this storm the best that ya can.

In product news…

So, who won the coolest new release last week?

IMO that would be the crew at Cross RC with their new large scale crawler. Coming in at 1/7th in scale, the Cross UT4 has all that luscious scale realism that you want, plus it is larger in size, thus allowing it to cruise over rocks that would stop a “normal” 1.9″ sized crawler dead in its tracks. When rc rock crawling, size matters, and I am still amazed that someone like Axial Racing, Traxxas, AE/Element, or Vaterra (are they still a line?) hasn’t dropped a 1/8 rig. When we sit around the offices bench racing, we can’t think of another genre that would be bigger news (read- sales $$$) than a large scale crawler. Anywhos, to get back to the Cross, it is super heavy on scale realism, but it just doesn’t have the brand recognition of the big players, and we’ve heard that a mere handful of the UT4s are coming to the states, so if you want one, you seriously need to be on a list TODAY.

Also in product news, the RC4WD crew announced a pair of new RTR crawlers last week. Both trucks come on the RC4WD G2 chassis and of course, have some pretty insane scale realism. Years ago when RC4WD first started putting out product, I reallyyyyy could not wrap my head around their gear, but thankfully now days I can truly appreciate what they are doing. And nope, a lot of RC4WD products aren’t “cheap”, but then it costs some cash to design and manufacture that type of high-end scale goodness.

Lastly, I’ve been a big fan of the Kyosho Blizzard for many years. Designed for use in snow, the Blizzard was loads of fun on any surface. To bring something new to the plate, Kyosho did a number of changes to make a “trail friendly” version of the Blizzard, which they have named the Trail King. IMO, I doubt I’ll see any of them bone stock out on the trail, but I do believe I’ll see some custom built versions. I can absolutely see a bunch of guys using the new Trail King as a base platform for some incredibly wild custom builds. Good for Kyosho for putting out a product that is certainly outside the box, those tend to be the most fun!

And there ya have it ya bunch of lunatics. Until next week, support your hobby any way that ya can.

YOUR Cub Reporter