THE Cub Report, Version- It’s Becoming A Small World

I am soooo looking forward to a short week, hopefully you are too. Although, I still imagine I’ll be driving (or flying) some sort of rc every single day this week. As I write this Iron Mikeee is charging up packs so we can work on our Tekno MT410 review, one of several new vehicles we’ll be abusing this week.

Oh, and welcome to THE Cub Report.

First up… as I’ve mentioned before, it looks like small scale crawlers are going to be HUGE this Christmas. The Pro-Line Ambush has been a big seller, the RC4WD 1/18 Gelande II is always sold out, and there are a couple of more big releases to be announced shortly in the segment. RC4WD has announced numerous accessories for their 1/18th scaler and I hear a bunch of cool aftermarket parts aren’t far from being released for the Ambush. I myself look forward to racking up some miles on my personal Ambush inside my man cave when the weather gets ridiculously cold in the coming months. If you haven’t jumped on this bandwagon yet, don’t be skeered, cut the check, your body will thank you for it as the temps keep dropping.

We’ve passed the cut-off date for entries in our Pro-Line Wipeout Video Contest and now we are busy narrowing down the field on the videos that all YOU folks will vote on as your favorite. The winner of the contest, that is voted on by YOU, will win a grand in cold hard cash from Pro-Line, while the runner ups will also take home some very cool Pro-Line gear. I have seen a lot of the entries and have to say that some of you guys didn’t hold back on the carnage, which has been a lot of fun to watch. Voting on the finalists starts soon, so keep your eye on our front page (like you don’t already).

Oh yes, Black Friday isn’t just for Macy’s anymore. Pretty much every rc company is going to be doing something special for “Black Friday” and we’ll be posting many of them. Our buddies over at A-Main have already been running some pretty cool specials, simply click one of the side banners to save yourself some cash on the cars/parts/stuff that you need.

I was going to do my annual “What the BSRC Bash Crew Wants For Christmas” Cub Report this week, but have pushed it back to next week so I can talk a bit about a few of latest bash truck releases.

First up are the Outcast and Fazon from ARRMA. You’ve probably already read our review of the Fazon, which is an excellent Nero based truck, and the Outcast is shipping to consumers right now too. I have to applaud the crew at ARRMA for both trucks. Why is that? Because both show that they pay attention to their consumers and try to give them what they want. The Fazon is a great option, perhaps the best ever produced, for all you guys that like to bash a monster truck on pavement. The Outcast is aimed right at the extreme dirt bashing crowd, which is also a huge percent of people in our hobby. It still blows my mind that not that many years ago many in our industry attempted to completely ignore the bashing crowd, while now days there are companies that have embraced them and make products especially for them. I would like to think that BigSquidRC was a big part in making the art of “backyard bashing” acceptable, or even cool.

There is one other big vehicle that got announced last week, that was the Tekno MT410. The Tekno is truly a “high-end” bash truck, something that was unthinkable not that many years ago. IMO the first “high-end” bash truck was the Pro-Line PRO-MT, which I still consider to be like a factory works bike for bashing, but now Tekno is has jumped in to the high-end bashing scene. While a lot of bashers like to stay at lower price points, there are still plenty of them with big bank accounts that don’t mind paying extra to buy the best. The MT410 promises to be the best handling and most durable monster truck to ever hit the market, which is a big statement for sure, and is something that we will find out as we finish up our review. More interesting to me still is… if the MT410 becomes a huge seller, will other big name companies like Losi, Associated, etc, be forced to jump into the high-end bashing arena? I also have to wonder if bashers will actually buy a kit that doesn’t come with wheels, tires, or a body, no matter how good it might be? Time will tell, but all I have to say is that right now is a Great time to be a basher. The products have never been better and we’ve gotten more “rc mainstream” acceptance than at any other time in the history our hobby.

So there ya have it, that’s all for this week. As I always like to say, support your local hobby shops and bash spots when you can.

YOUR Cub Reporter