ScorpionPerformanceRacing & Scorpion Cigar Reviews

  I have several R/C cars that are being modified.  The first R/C car I bought is a Duratrax Nitro Evader BX.  I started modifying it when I got tired of repairing it with stock Duratrax parts.  I have mixed parts from various suppliers on everything from the tires/wheels to the spoiler to the front bumper.  I added a roto-start system, as the starter box became nothing but a royal pain in the butt to use.  I've added a battery pack and sealed all the electronics against water/dust.  I got this thing tuned pretty well and it will fly at a good 40+ mph on the street and will get airborn if I don't have the suspension set right.  With the paddle tires on, it is a lot of fun to take to the sand dunes at Lake Michigan.  I'm pleased with the results so far, so I'm leaving it alone for a while.

  My second nitro car is an HPI Savage 25.  I'm still working on the tune, as the 2-speed tranny makes it difficult to get the motor up to speed.  The only mod's I've done here so far is adding a reverse modual, battery pack, and sealing everything to make it more water/dust proof.  I'm kind of at a loss here.  The transmission shifts way to soon, then the motor boggs down and it won't shift back into 1st gear.  I've been battling it since day one.

  The newest additions to the collection are two Losi 1/36th Micro Desert Racers.  These things are very small and are great for indoor running.  They are pretty fast in stock form (15 mph right out of the box) and can be hopped up with powerful Lipo battery packs and performance motors and gearing for faster top speeds and longer run times.  These things will do doughnuts on a hard, smooth surface until the battery dies. You can even run them on carpet (just not shag carpet) and will get some nice air on jumps and with the performance battery, motor and gearing, they'll do wheelies on demand!  Even in stock form, they'll spin the tires on tile floors.  These little buggers have all the functionality of their larger R/C counterparts...including throttle trim and steering trim/rate and have reverse!  You really can't go wrong with these.  Just keep them on a clean surface and you'll get lost in time playing around with them.

  I also have 2 older electric R/C's that I bought used off ebay.  My goal was to get my son involved...he wasn't satisfied with the "toys" from Newbright and Tyco as they weren't fast enough or durable enough and he couldn't control the fast nitro cars.  Plus, I thought that rebuilding one of these would be a good father-son activity, but he doesn't seem interested at this point, but he was pretty young when I bought them, so we can try it again some day.  One is a Kyosho Turbo Ultima 2 buggy, and the other is an AE stadium truck.  The buggy needs work constantly, and parts aren't easy to come by.  The AE stadium truck is a little easier to find parts for, but neither are high on my priority list right now. 

  Remember "zip-zaps"?  They came from various manufacturers under different names, but they are all VERY tiny (smaller than matchbox cars).  Some ran better than others and came in several car models and even in motorcycles.  I found one that was pretty good and was quite inexpensive and I still run it occasionally even almost 10 years after purchasing.  These have an internal "battery" which is more of a capacitor that charges off the remote's two "AA" batteries and will run the car for about 2-3 minutes on a 1 minute charge.  The motor is actually from a pager or a cell phone's vibrate feature.  Because of their small size, they are only good on clean, hard surfaces. 

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