Surprisingly I’m still harping on about the radio tray as the receiver and battery box is also something different as the large black box hangs over the side of the chassis. There’s plenty of room for the receiver at the front of it, but behind where the battery compartment is, it’s vertical! You can drop a 4AA holder right down it and this is good for a number of reasons, firstly it lowers the centre of gravity on a high sitting truck and moves the weight to be in a more central position, and secondly it offsets the weight of the batteries against the 110cc fuel tank over on the other side when it’s full. I used a rechargeable NiMh pack instead of the 4AAs but there was so much room left over I had to fill it up with some leftover foam to protect the pack from knocks.
Bang smack in the middle of the kit is a sturdy plastic carry handle/roll cage and to further protect the fuel tank that hangs off the side, it has a plastic skid plate incorporated into its mount. At the rear is the engine of course, but mounted transversely in the same style as its big bro. The Team Associated .18 Pro engine has a side exit exhaust that uses a big bore header to a dustbin style exhaust that looks more like a small shiny drinks canteen with a flexy rubberish directional extension. The .18 Pro is a pull starter too so you won’t need to carry a 7.2V stick pack around for a handheld starter unit. On the other side of its silver cooling head is a rotary carb that has just the single adjustment needle, so it’ll be a lot less hassle to find a good tune than when balancing a carb with both high and low speed needles.
Bolted firmly to the end of the engine is a two-speed clutchbell that is already beautifully mated to the two-speed gears with a built in slipper protruding from the gearbox, and these gears will be clean and stone free thanks to the plastic shroud that envelops them. There’s more protection evident underneath with a front, centre and rear skid plate system that’s integrated to run the whole length of the chassis and then lip up at each end to keep the captured hinge pins safe, very smart.
I have left the wheels and tyres to last because I’m so impressed with the tread pattern on them. The chromed flat wheels look great and have eight holes in them which line up for adjustments to the Pillow Ball suspension. The tyres have been specially designed to run on pretty much any surface and perform well, although they look like they’ll excel on loose mud like a proper monster truck should.
Yet to come is the mention of the included radio system, it’s the standard AE edition XP3, a three channel AM steer-wheel tranny with the bonus of throttle and steering throw adjustment. It’s comfortable to hold, has a nice rubber surround on the wheel and its third channel which flips the kit into reverse is perfectly placed to be by the thumb for ease of activation without the need to look at it.
prep time
With all batteries in place and some 25% O’Donnell’s fuel in the tank, I could have slipped a D cell battery into the supplied glow starter to get it fired up but I already had a charged glow stick so I chose to use that instead… that and I don’t have a D cell here. But as an RTR kit it really does just need some batteries and the fuel before it’s ready to go out and play. The engine break-in is a fairly painless experience too, albeit a little tedious driving slowly on rich settings for the first few tanks, but it has to be done right to ensure this little engine has a long and healthy life. There are instructions on this procedure in the engine booklet, along with further instruction in the XP3 radio manual and then some more in the actual truck manual too where you’ll find little nuggets of information on setup, maintenance and explanations on how to adjust the gear change/shift point.