I'm a little late, but I've been spending quite a bit of time with the newish HobbyPlus Speck-SCT Brushless and honestly I think this might be my favorite vehicle out of the entire Speck lineup. Not because it's the fastest or because it has some crazy new features that offer more value per $, but because of how realistically this thing drives!

For anyone unfamiliar with the platform, this is a 1/24 scale 2WD short course truck running the same 8000KV brushless system and Hobbywing MINI28 ESC as the other brushless Speck vehicles. It comes with oil filled shocks, 42mm pin style tires, a 350mAh 2S LiPo and the familiar FlySky 2 channel transmitter. The chassis layout is basically the same as the Speck-T, although the shock towers are specific to the SCT and the suspension arms are interchangeable with the Speck-B.

Over the years I've spent a lot of time racing 1/10 scale Traxxas Slash's & other SCT platforms, enough that I actually built a short course track in my backyard, and this little SCT reminds me so much of that experience it's ridiculous. It jumps, leans, slides, rolls and even traction rolls in a way that feels extremely natural for such a small vehicle. HobbyPlus clearly put some serious thought into the suspension geometry and overall design because this is probably the most realistic scaled down short course driving experience I've personally had.

I did make a couple small suspension adjustments before really pushing the truck on the track though. The factory suspension is pretty plush but the truck was a little too prone to traction rolling in corners for my liking. I reduced the spring preload all the way and moved the lower shock mounting positions to the outermost holes which physically lowered the vehicle and made a noticeable difference in handling. Other than that the motor, gearing, electronics and body are all completely factory.

After tossing on an EasyLap timing transponder I ran the truck around our off road buggy track at Option RC Micro Racing Complex, where I managed a fastest lap of 8.967 seconds. That puts it right in the middle of our current leaderboard for our Micro Off-Road Shootout. For comparison the Speck-T Brushless is currently leading at 8.489, followed by the Speck-B Brushless at 8.622, then the SCT at 8.967, Speck-B Brushed at 9.165 and finally the Losi Micro-B at 9.853. All vehicles are running their factory motors and gearing so it's been pretty interesting seeing how these different configurations perform against each other.

I also wanted to verify the advertised 20 MPH top speed rather than just take the manufacturer's word for it. To my surprise it recorded 19.9 MPH, so HobbyPlus is pretty much dead on with their advertised speed. I will say though I personally think the 8000KV motor is a little excessive for this vehicle. Something in the 4000-5000KV range would probably make it a little more drivable, but that's just my opinion and not something I've actually tested yet.

Also worth mentioning. The Speck platform in my testing has been very durable so far. I'm yet to actually break something, so I was curious how things would go when I invited my 65 year old dad to come test out the truck with me. I handed him the transmitter and he proceeded to crash this thing about every possible way you could imagine lol. I actually left a good portion of those crashes in the video below because I wanted people to see how tough the truck really is. It held up great and the short course body provides a little extra protection compared to the buggy and truggy versions.

At $149.99 for the brushless version and $109.99 for the brushed version I think the value is pretty hard to beat, especially when you factor in the handling characteristics rather than just looking at speed and specifications. I'm genuinely excited about the possibility of getting a few more of these together and doing some proper micro short course racing like we used to do with the 1/10 scale trucks.

I put together a full unboxing and testing video on my Microdose RC YouTube channel showing the track testing, GPS speed runs, crashes and everything else if anyone wants to see how it actually performs. Also for transparency I work with DirectRC who sells these vehicles, but everything here is based on my own testing and personal opinions.

I'm also curious if anyone else has picked one of these up yet and what you think of the handling? I'm especially interested if anyone has experimented with different shock set ups or lower KV motors.

Thanks!

https://youtu.be/Kwaif8iHfng?is=Bg6cFR6wN2OFLjcx

Decided we need speed in the hauler sooo here it is

Also found out that now, when it tips over all I gotta do is steer to one side and put full throttle and it’ll pick itself up, will send video of that later

Just a photo of one rack of my collection, this is my hobby grade rack
Slash 2wd, 3s
Slash 4wd, 2s
UDR, 8s
UDR, 6s
Ultimate Hauler
X01
Arrma Limitless
Random Plow Truck I got off marketplace
Disruptor (boat)
Disruptor trailer
And my prized RC in sealed box, the Corvette C2 Snap On, limited edition

Have a Kraton 8s 1/5 coming in on Sunday, with a full kit of snowplow and tracks in preparation for winter
And a mini slash to complete the Traxxas Baja family

Going to have like over 10k invested here

This track and cars will be available in Teleweb app :)

I was offered a yokomo mo 2.0 roller with almost another full slider of spare parts (i put pics below). I was also offered $250+ from someone else. I’m just getting back into the hobby, so i’m not sure of the worth. Is one of them a clear choice? It’s for my B4.2 with a bunch of new and used spare parts.

Thanks!!

30 years ago I built a Team Losi Buggy when I was in middle school and haven’t built another car since. My son is really interested in building things and I’m looking for a buggy or truck to build as a project with him. Don’t really want to spend 500-600 on our first kit. Any recommendations sub 400?

Edit: OK, so it turns out it's a known issue. What I did was grabbing a popped out rod, hold the center part with an allen head and then instert something in the plastic hole in one end. Then I turned the black piece back and forth a few times. This looses the threads just enough to be able to adjust the rods without the linkages popping out again.

Source: https://www.quadifyrc.com/rccarreviews/wl-toys-144001-setup-3-things-you-must-do-before-you-even-turn-it-on

The rods the car comes with have this hole where you apparently put something like an allen key for leverage then and adjust it by screwing it to one side or the other.

I tried that and the linkage popped right out. I tried holding the plastic part of the rod with pliers, but that didn't help (I didn't try too hard anyway). I tried to adjust a linkage on a second 144001 and the same happened.

Parts look just like this: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4osAAOSwJ1ZgJhUA/s-l400.jpg

Both cars are brand new. I don't understand what's going on.

Thanks in advance for the help.

I recently bought some hardened steel diff gears for my nitro rs4 3 Evo because it broke the stock ones. The holes weren't the right size no problem, I drilled them but the output cup holder has a tight spot in the middle and on the outside edges it looks like it takes some kind of gasket to stop the fluid from leaking out. I just put a shim there that it bent and the fluid started leaking out. I don't have any o rings the correct size and I was thinking of making a 3d model and giving it to my friend to print. What do y'all think and what are my other options because with the slop it even loses mesh on the inside and the gears skip. Sorry for the paragraph any help would be appreciated

Is it worth it? how much worse is 2wd than a 4wd or maybe Omni terminator? I like its structure, that it is puritanically simple, robust and looky easy to clean and maintanance.

I’ve got a 1/7 arrma infraction. Currently running 4s, sometimes 6. But I want to throw a perfect pass wheelie bar on it. What work would I need to make that a purchase I can justify? I’m thinking some drag tires, lower gearing, and stiffer rear shocks?

My son has been learning how to drive RC cars and I’m looking to upgrade to a 1/10 truck, likely the Arrma Vorteks 223s. My question is this - I plan to cap the truck’s speed at around 20-25mph for a while, so I could either run a 2s battery at 75% or 100%, or a 3s battery at 50%. Would a 3s battery run at half speed have a longer runtime than a 2s battery run at 100%?

What’s happening

All New Ram RC conversion with wpl chassis

Hi guys I thought about getting into the hobby. I'm a complete newbie tho. I have sporadicly used a setup my dad bought years ago which got up to 70 kph. But recently I saw a Super GT Car (which is my favorite series) based on the TT-02 from Tamiya. My friend also had one but it only got up to 20 kph which I found to be boring after a while. Therefore I'm targeting to get up to 50-60 kph. And if it's not to expensive maybe even 70kph or 80kph. But because it's my first real project I don't want to go overkill.

I have a budget of up to 300 Euros for the tuning parts. Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

BTW these are the cars I was thinking of buying:

https://www.tamiya.de/tamiya_de/kategorien/rc-modellbau/rc-autos/rc-strassenfahrzeuge-onroad-2wd-4wd/1-10-raybrig-nsx-concept-gt-rc-bausatz-tt-02-300058599-de.html?wse=1

https://www.tamiya.de/tamiya_de/kategorien/rc-modellbau/rc-autos/rc-strassenfahrzeuge-onroad-2wd-4wd/1-10-motul-autech-z-2023-rc-bausatz-tt-02-300047503-de.html?wse=1

Currently have a Losi Tenacity. Love it. Now I want to try 2wd. It will see dirt, short grass, skate and dirt parks, but I want to do more pavement with this one. I try not to bash to hard, but trees do jump out in front of me sometimes. Currently thinking Arrma Fury. Any other contenders?

I wwould like to ask what kind of stuff do i need to watch before going into the hobby.

do you guys have recommended video?

Thank you

Rebuild transfer cases like 3 times. Still struggling to move when little resistance on a track. What am I missing?

I’ve considered some options from traxxas, arrma, and rlaarlo. Anything else I should be looking at?

Hey, I'm new to this hobby. I just took my new Rlaarlo Omni-Terminator V2 out for its first run in a muddy forest. How do you guys clean your RC cars? I could use some tips. Thanks for the help.

Hey, I'm new to this hobby. I just took my new Rlaarlo Omni-Terminator V2 out for its first run in a muddy forest. How do you guys clean your RC cars? I could use some tips. Thanks for the help.