RC Car Action April 2022

We’re excited that RCX is coming up soon. If you don’t know what that is, it’s the Radio Control Expo and its happening in sunny Southern California at the Fairplex in Pomona on March 26 and 27. Make it out if you can. It’s sure to be filled with all sorts of RC goodness and the RCCA crew will be out in force. Come out have some RC fun and say hi, won’t you? In the meantime, we’ve got a jam-packed issue for you this month. Our cover features Redcat’s latest RC lowrider, the 1979 Monte Carlo. It features a completely new chassis, new body and is packed with a compliment of five servos. Read more about it later on in this issue. We also assemble and drive Tamiya’s latest high…

1. Tamiya Modeler’s Side Cutter A quality side cutter is an essential tool in any hobbyist’s toolbox. Make yours stand out by selecting one of Tamiya’s unique color variation handled cutters. This tool is designed to cut plastic parts such as those from plastic model or RC kits, and is now available with handles in fluorescent green. P/N: 69940 MSRP: $15 tamiyausa.com 2. Traxxas X-Maxx WideMax Kit The WideMaxx kit builds on the X-Maxx’s already legendary performance by widening the stance 60 mm for even greater cornering stability. The X-Maxx WideMaxx kit includes extended versions of the extreme heavy-duty suspension arms for a 2.36” wider stance. Molded from tough composite material, the new arms offer just enough flex to resist breaking, even in cold weather. Five different color options available. P/N: 7895 MSRP: $199.99 traxxas.com 3. Black Fabrica Stainless Steel…

A NEW WAY TO SUBMIT YOUR RIDE! We now have an easy new way to submit your Readers Rides to RC Car Action online. Just go to Rccaraction.com/readers-ride-entry-form/ to fill in your vehicle’s info and upload your pix directly to us! As a bonus, it will generate a shareable link that you can send to your friends or share on social media to show off your ride to everyone! TAMIYA GRAND HAULER SHANE MCMANUS « MACHESNEY PARK, IL Shane tells us that he’s been in the hobby for well over 10 years and always wanted to build a semi truck. In the beginning of 2020, after a friend got a semi, he bit the bullet and purchased the Tamiya Grand Hauler kit. Shane goes on to say, “I didn't want to just build a…

Share the wealth, submit your Pit Tips: pittips@airage.com Thread Lock It We all love driving our RCs, but have you ever driven your vehicle so much that the wheels fly off of it? This can happen with worn wheels, wheel nuts, and axle threads or if your vehicle is so fast and powerful that the wheels just can’t hold on. Try using a dab of blue thread locker to make sure your wheel nuts stay on nice and tight. Remember to use blue colored thread locker, which is non-permanent. Serrated Wheel Nuts Losing a wheel during a race or during a bash session can end your day prematurely. Ensure that doesn’t happen by opting for serrated wheel nuts. The teeth on the reverse side of a serrated wheel nut dig into the wheel to…

AT A GLANCE TYPE Off-Road SCALE 1/10 PRICE $579.99 The Traxxas Maxx is a domineering force in the 1/10-scale RC monster truck world. Its awe-inspiring size, strength and speed have rewritten all that has come before it in the ready to run monster truck genre. As such a dominant specimen, what does one have to do to improve on such a beast? Traxxas is well known for finding ways to improve upon that which is thought upon as perfection, or at least near perfection. Traxxas presents the newest version of the Maxx, which now comes with performance upgrades such as a wider stance, longer chassis and beefier tires. This improved go-fast monster truck properly embodies what we love about its bigger brother, the X-Maxx, but in a sleeker, more compact package. Traxxas Maxx is smaller and lighter than the…

TYPE Off-Road SCALE 1/10 DRIVETRAIN 2WD POWER Electric BUILD Kit PRICE $376 One may think that the glory days of Tamiya’s off road buggies spanned only from the early-80s through the early-90s and it’s easy to see why that’s the case. This remarkable decade of buggy releases kicked off with 1983’s The Frog, which was immediately followed by The Grasshopper only a year later. The high frequency and caliber of kits being released during this era excited RC enthusiasts and said a lot about how dominant Tamiya was in the off road RC realm. By the end of the 80s, the company released the most technical buggy to date, Avante, a model whose DNA helped propel the brand’s releases well into the 90s which ultimately took the form of 1993’s Top Force Evolution. It’s a testament to the company’s advanced engineering and styling…