RC Car Action April 2021

Who else can’t wait for spring? It’s nice to romp in the rain and snow but it’s nicer to RC out when you don’t need to wear five layers of clothing. Who’s with me on that? I for one can’t wait to get back out there in balmy weather to RC in the great outdoors. We’ve got plenty of racing, bashing and crawling to do after all. As you can tell from the cover of this month’s issue, we’re looking to get into plenty of RC action. This issue is packed with some great content beginning with our cover story. The article is about completely upgrading the Traxxas Hoss 4x4 VXL with every single upgrade part we could get our hands on. Check out the article to see what our results…

1. Pro-Line 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor True Scale Clear Body Pro-Line’s 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor True Scale Clear Body for short course trucks includes plenty of scale detail molded into it and comes with a detailed sticker sheet for extra realism. If you are a Raptor fan (who isn’t?), then this is the body for you. P/N: P/N: 3461-00 MSRP: $44 prolineracing.com 2. Traxxas Hoss 4X4 LED Light Kit Designed to handle the toughest action and most extreme stunts, the Hoss high-output LED light kit extends your adventures long after dark. A front high-intensity light bar integrates into a new rugged front bumper while bright red taillights flank the wheelie bar in the replacement rear bumper. Its power supply is included. P/N: 9095 MSRP: $50 traxxas.com 3. Du Bro 5 Piece Metric Ball Wrench Set Ball wrenches make it possible to…

“Big Bertha” is the extensively modded Traxxas TRX4 Bronco built by Jordan “Buck” Valenzuela of Buck’s Unique Customs. To get the look he chopped the shell and resurfaced it with a rust and chip effect. The most distinctive feature – and the one that gave Bertha her name – is probably the addition of Pro-Line Racing’s 1.9 Dually Wheels with dual-stage foams and Interco TSL SX Super Swamper XL tires. The interior is upgraded with a ton of detail, starting with a Pro-Line classic interior which Buck augmented with a lot of custom touches. For power he chose Hobbywing 1080 ESC managing a Tekin Heavy Duty 35T brushed motor. He tells us Bertha is a beast on the rocks, and she also brought home the Show ‘n’ Shine award at…

About a year ago Drue sent us pix of his first monster truck build and shortly thereafter he started drawing out designs and picking a chassis and a body for this build…and then the pandemic hit. Drue put the idea aside to focus on school, and in October he came back to it and started ordering parts. He had it mostly built, needing only wheels and tires to finish it off. JConcepts’ tribute rims and matching BKT replica monster tires looked perfect, so those got bolted on. Drue tells us his next project isn’t a truck—he is going to try to start a club for solid axle monster trucks in his home of Montgomery, AL! BUILD HIGHLIGHTS - Chassis: Axial SMT10 raw builder’s kit- Body: Various (JConcepts)- Motor and ESC: Traxxas Velineon…

These little beauties were a collaboration project between Jacob and his two brothers—all in their early teens, which makes the end result that much more impressive! Jacob tells us he was getting bored with the look of the stock half-cab bodies so he bought a couple 1/24 plastic model kits—a Ford F-100 (black) and a ‘66 Suburban (teal). The Ford has a wood decal bed that looks authentic but he felt the Chevy needed something more so he designed and 3D-printed a roof rack for it. He also added wheels from a 1/24 Pro-Line Ambush to both. He’s looking at adding some other 3d-printed scale accessories to both trucks in the future, but for right now he likes them the way they are. He mounted the bodies with pins in…

Many years ago Andy’s dad owned a CJ7 nicknamed “Snoopy” that he used to run off-road races with as a member of the Jolly Jeepers. He sold it before Andy was around to see it, so he decided to build a scale replica of his dad’s CJ using old photos of the original. It is based off of a Tamiya CC01 Jeep Wrangler that he retrofit into a CJ7. It rides on scale Mickey Thompson wheels and tires, and Andy upgraded to aluminum bodied shocks. The axles, motor and speed control are stock to the Tamiya CC01 kit, and he used Tamiya orange and black paints to apply the vintage paint scheme, with hand-painted CJ7 graphics. The lights are Tamiya items too, and he borrowed a radio system from an…