| Thursday, July 03, 2008 |  | | Companies I want to Make a Crawler and Why | | |
That's not me
I spend a lot of time daydreaming about RC, and I recently got to thinking about who I want to make a crawler ...
> Traxxas because if they bring out the stops like they did on the Revo, it will be sick
> Associated because Losi makes one and... |
| posted by Matt Higgins at 5:45:14 PM |  3 comments | | | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 | | | Fun and not so fun | | |
RC is fun. Plain and simple, it's fun or we wouldn't do it. That said, there are things in RC that are really fun and some things that are not so much fun ...
Fun:
> Racing
> Jumping (I could spend all day at the skate park)
> Wrenching and building
> Thinking about... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 5:02:18 PM | 3 comments | | | Monday, June 30, 2008 | | | Worst Yard Tool Ever | |  This doesn't relate to RC other than it made me realize how good even the most finicky gas or nitro engine is compared to the junk pile I rented this weekend. I'm talking the Mantis tiller. The piece o' garbage floods every time you stop it with the kill switch and turns into the world's biggest pain to restart. When it does run, it's a complete workout. I'll admit that it's a huge time saver, but it such a whimpy tiller... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 8:20:27 AM | 1 comments | | | Friday, June 27, 2008 | | | Cha, cha, cha, changes ... | | |
RC as we know it is changing. It changes all the time, so don't fall out of chair just yet. These just happen to be big changes. First, here are some small changes:
> Electric is making a comeback
> Scale is making a comeback
Now, here is the big change:
> Car guys are no longer only car guys and plane guys are no longer only plane guys. Plain and simple:... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:32:27 AM | 1 comments | | | Thursday, June 26, 2008 | | | NASCAR and RC | | |
I believe that RC is missing a great opportunity by not embracing the NASCAR world. There are three big releases (only two are valid) that NASCAR and RC don't get together too often. First, NASCAR is simply expensive. It's extremely popular and to get officially licensed NASCAR logos and spnsor logos is big bucks. I believe the answer might be... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:14:50 AM | 0 comments | | | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 | | | Are you watching RCNet | | | I hope you know by now that we feature new daily videos on www.rccaraction.com. These videos, RCNet, cover all aspects of RC. It's like having your own RC show or news program. If you aren't yet "tuning in," click here to take a look. |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 8:23:03 AM | 0 comments | | | Monday, June 23, 2008 | | | Best Part About the Celtics Winning | |
 I'm a Celtics fan, so like millions of other people, I'm thrilled they just won the NBA championship. That alone is great, but what makes it even better is that now the Kobe or Jordan debate is over. Sorry Kobe fans. Jordan lost more than he won, but he would never had gone down without a fight. As a whole, in game six the Lakers looked paniced in the first half and played sloppy. In the second half they just packed it in and... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:04:04 AM | 1 comments | | | Thursday, June 19, 2008 | | | Is Touring Car Racing Dead? | |
 Without getting into a huge rant on how all RC racing is broken, let me tell you I do love RC racing. I wouldn't still be in this hobby if it wasn't for racing. I love electric off-road, oval and touring car racing. Those are my favorites, but as much as I love touring car racing, I can't help but think that--at least compared to its glory days--that on-road racing is pretty... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 7:54:18 AM | 3 comments | | | Tuesday, June 17, 2008 | | | My old trucks | |
 Back in the day--as in the days before wife, kids, house, etc--I was really into trucks. From rock crawling Jeeps to mud-runnin' full-size pick-ups, I loved trucks. I was mostly a Ford and Jeep guy, but I like just about all of it. Now that my life doesn't quite fit with having a bunch of bombers all needing working in the backyard, I get my off-road fix through my RC rock... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 8:53:49 AM | 2 comments | | | Sunday, June 15, 2008 | | | Happy Father's Day | | |
Happy Father's Day, ya all! I hope you have a good one and get to do something fun today.
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| | posted by Matt Higgins at 10:14:59 AM | 1 comments | | | Friday, June 13, 2008 | | | Beefin' up my Tamiya CR-01 | | |
Tamiya recently hooked me up with some of their Hop-Up Options for the new CR-01. The reinforced wheel axles will go right on--I'm runnin' brushless, ya know. The aluminum battery holder looks too good not to put on and the aluminum servo bed should add some strength to a part of the truck that takes a pretty good beating.
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| | posted by Matt Higgins at 2:04:33 PM | 2 comments | | | Thursday, June 12, 2008 | | | Go Junior! | | |
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| | posted by Matt Higgins at 11:32:50 AM | 2 comments | | | Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | | | Biggest RC Race Ever | | |
For those of you that don't know, this year the 1/8-scale Off-road Worlds will be held here in the U.S. I believe this will be the most important RC race to date. The 1/8-scale buggy market is the biggest it's ever been and the two U.S. off-road big dogs, Losi and Associated, have joined the fight with new 1/8-scale buggies. It's not just between these two. You also have Kyosho, O'Donnell, Mugen, OFNA,... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:12:23 AM | 1 comments | | | Sunday, June 08, 2008 | | | Heat Wave | | |
August came early to CT this year. This weekend we started what has turned out to be a 4-day heat wave. With temps over 90 and over 100 with the heat index, we are about 25 above where we normally are this time of year. |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:02:12 AM | 0 comments | | | Thursday, June 05, 2008 | | | Driving the Slash | | |
Ooops, wrong Slash. I got a chance to drive the Traxxas Slash around, and as if we didn't know already, Traxxas has a hit on their hands here. Here's the quick and dirty: it's pretty quick. It's not blazing fast, but can light up the tires. It's fast enough that I will not be upgrading the motor any time soon or ever. The all-metal gears in the transmission make some noise, but it actually sounds cool. The... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:12:51 AM | 3 comments | | | Tuesday, June 03, 2008 | | | Yeah for me | |
 My local rock crawling club holds comps regularly, and while I've won Super and the Trail (kinda Scale) classes and always place well, I have never won the 2.2 class. Not only have I never won 2.2, but it's the class I enjoy the most and most want to win. This last Sunday we had a comp, and while the turnout was low, the most competitive rigs were there. Two of the somewhat... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:01:29 AM | 4 comments | | | Monday, June 02, 2008 | | | RCNet's 100th Episode! | | |
If you like bloopers, you'll like this video. Enjoy!
We've now made a hundred RCNet videos. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as we have enjoyed making them. |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 11:24:30 AM | 2 comments | | | Friday, May 30, 2008 | | | Let There be Light | |  Tamiya hooked me up with its LED Light Unit. It includes bright white and red lights and is fully expandable. The install looks pretty simple. I'm going to install it this afternoon in the Bronco body and will have pics up tomorrow morning. |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 9:42:44 AM | 0 comments | | | Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | | | Bronco shelled CR-01 Hits the Rocks | |  Here's my Bronco topped Tamiya CR-01. The body is an HPI classis 1973 Bronco. The wheelbase is just about perfect. I painted the body using all Parma Faskolor. I haven't picked up an airbrush in over five years, so I was a bit rusty to say the least. As much as I want to say I'll practice, I'm not so sure. Even this super-simple paintjob was a lto of work. I have to confess I spent 75% of the time mending a bad airhose that kept... |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 6:04:49 PM | 4 comments | | | Friday, May 23, 2008 | | | Go Broncos | |  Okay, I'm no Broncos fan, but I do love the Ford Bronco. I've owned a few, but kids, wife and house mean those rigs are a thing of the past--for now at least. I can, however, live out my off-road fantasies with RC. Check out how this body is going to look on my new Tamiya CR-01. Of course, it will look even better painted, but you'll have to wait until next week to see that. |
| | posted by Matt Higgins at 5:03:35 PM | 5 comments | |
|  Matt Higgins
New Milford, CT
Executive Editor
Bio:
I was born in CT, and after living in New Hampshire for about ten years, I now find myself back in the ol' constitution state. I’m married and have a young daughter and an infant son. I went to Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire and graduated with a degree in English. Before working for RC Car Action, I worked for a few different publications and newspapers.
I've been into RC for over 20 years. I got into RC during the '80's when electric off-road was extremely popular, and the first vehicle I owned was a Rock Buster that I briefly raced at Branford Hobbies and then at East Lyme R/C Kar Klub. The Rock Buster was a copy of the Tamiya Grasshopper--only made out of super cheap plastic. I broke every single part and replaced each with actual Tamiya parts. I learned a lot racing that simple buggy--mostly that mechanical speed controls and solid axles suck for racing. These days, I race a little bit of everything, but mostly electric off-road, touring cars and oval. I also race nitro 1/8-scale buggies.
| | | View my complete profile | | |
