New Site Format
     As you know
  StampedeProject has
  become way more than
  just Stampede, Traxxas,
  to now include other
  RC brands, accessories,
  and cars. I still don't sell
  anything, I just
  enthusiastically promote
  those RC products I think
  are great.
     Take a look through
  the above links.
  I simply had too much
  information for my
  old site format.
  More fun projects
  coming...
  - Tony

  StampedeProject.com

  Please Private Message
  me Here on the
  Traxxas Forum    

  Copyright 2007
  all rights reserved 

REVIEWS
As some of you may know I am now a contributing writer for R/C Car magazine and a Beta tester for more than a few manufacturers.  Following are a few of the reviews I have done.

DNA Engineering/VF Wheelie King Rock Crawler Conversion Kit
September 2008 - Out on Newsstands Now
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - September 2008

Tamiya Durga DB01 - 10th Scale 4WD Buggy
September 2008 - Out on Newsstands Now
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - September 2008

Pro-Scaler Rock Crawler Conversion Kit
August 2008
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - August 2008

Tamiya Lancruiser 40 Rock Crawler - CR01
August 2008
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - August 2008

Axial Scorpion Crawler Tuning Part 2 - Loading the Stinger
June 2008
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - June 2008

Castle Creations Sidewinder Brushless ESC Review
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - June 2008
June 2008

Axial Scorpion Crawler Tuning Part 1
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - May 2008
May 2008

Proxxon Mini Mill - A mill that you can't afford to be without.
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - May 2008
May 2008
 

Tekno RC Revo Brushless Conversion
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - April 2008

April 2008

Hacker's Brushless C50S Maxx Class Motor
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - February 2008

HPI Rock King - Rock Crawler Conversion
Phase 2 Wheelie King Crawler Conversion
By Tony Arnold – StampedeProject.com
RC Car - February 2008

Rock Crawling 101
Crawling Basics & Building a Crawler
By Tony Arnold – StampedeProject.com
RC Car - January 2008

Wanna start rock crawling?
This article gives you the ins and outs of crawling.

Axiom V10 Hand Wound 85T Crawler Motor
By Tony Arnold – StampedeProject.com 
RC Car - January 2008

One of the best brushed crawler motors made.

FLM Stampede Kit
The Next Evolution of Your Favorite R/C
by Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
2007 November Issue of RC Car Magazine

Lithium Power 101
Understanding Lithium Based Batteries & Chargers
by Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
2007 November Issue of RC Car Magazine

Neumotor SuperMassive 6700Kv Brushless Motor
As published in RC Car Magazine -  September 2007

Were some are just nuts over Nitro, I am completely besotted by brushless.  In my quest for ultimate brushless dominance, I found Neumotors ("New Motors").  Along with powering more than a few boat world speed records holders,  Neumotor has also powered the current RC Car record holder at somewhere North of 130MPH.  What caught my eye was their brand new 2.8HP SuperMassive 6700Kv 2000 Watt motor... now this looks interesting...

Castle Creations Mamba Max 6900 Brushless System
Creating a Bandit Sleeper
As published in RC Car Magazine - June 2007

Traxxas XL-5 Bandit Review
As published in RC Car Magazine - July 2007

The Chicken is Back - Novak Rooster Review
As published in RC Car Magazine - July 2007

Funny how life seems to repeat itself and occasionally its for the better.  An example is my old favorite Novak Rooster ESC - AKA "The Chicken". This time around the new Rooster has been completely updated with features we always wanted...

Dyeing to Look Cool
As published in RC Car Magazine - August 2007

I think we all can agree that basic black chassis parts and dyeable white wheels will forever rule as top part colors, but what if we want to turn some heads? In this case, our house Traxxas Rustler with new dyeable gray Traxxas parts were just begging for some highly durable custom colored cool...

Revo NTB (Nitro to Brushless) Dual Conversion
My review as published in RC Car Magazine - May 2007

A revolution is defined as a significant change that usually occurs in a relatively short period of time. Our editor previously described how brushless motor/ESC and lithium-based battery systems are rapidly changing R/C'ing. The annual iHobby event was a sobering reminder of the significant influence these technologies have delivered in only the last year. Are the days of nitro numbered? I think not. However, for those like myself that want Nitro speed and power without its headaches, this brushless and lithium-based revolution now offers a convenient plug-and-play upgrade for electric cars and an alternative power source for completing NTB (Nitro to Brushless) conversions on nitro powered R/C cars. ... see the entire story here.

GPS'ing for Speed
Speed Tuning your RC with GPS
My review as published in RC Car Magazine - April 2007

With R/C's getting faster and faster, such as the recently reviewed 60+ MPH Jato 3.3, there are more off track races going on than ever before. For bragging rights a GPS satellite receiver, has become the standard speedometer accessory of choice.  These celestial driven speedometers have even spawned virtual online racing to see who is fastest.  Don't believe me?  Look on any RC forum where hundreds of posts appear of "my RC is faster than yours" with GPS'ed verified speeds posted as undeniable proof.   see the entire story here

Castle Creations Mamba Max Brushless Motor System Review
My review as published in RC Car Magazine - March 2007

$229 - $250 Street Price

Radio Shack GP3300 7.2 Volt RC Battery Review
The path to a cheap racing battery?

$24.99 Street Price Each

Everyone and their brother talks about the smoking deal the GP3300 battery pack is from the neighborhood Radio Shack, but I though I would take a first hand look at this touted 3300Mh 7.2 Volt 6-cell pack and purchased two packs and proceeded with the testing.

Full Review Here

Review & Test of the New 2006 Traxxas XL-5 Stampede and XL-5 Rustler

Street Price as tested about $170 each.

First off let me say I am apparently not on Traxxas' radar and was not a recipient of one of the complimentary  review and test kits like a couple other notable sites...
Full Review Here

The Novak GTB 4.5R Brushless Motor Review and Install in the Ultra-Pede
Also tested in the Ultra-Rusty

First off the question you are asking is "Why a 4.5R on a Stampede?"  The answer is because no one else has done it, it brings just a stupid amount of power to the Stampede Project Ultra-Pede that makes it almost untouchable by a vast majority of electric and gas powered cars in almost any configuration, and it scares the living hell out of everyone at the track.  ...
Full Review Here

Dubro Body Clip Retainers - (REQUIRED ITEM)
Almost 4 years and 50 lbs of lost body clips later I discover this little must have item that will now forever keep my body clips from loss.  In less than two weeks this has already paid for itself on  the Ultra-Pede and the matching Clip Retainers on the Ultra-Rusty. Drill a  hole between each set out mounting holes on your RC's body and attach the rubber nub to the body.  Don't like black, no worries they also come in a rainbow of colors.

RPM Wide Bumper - (REQUIRED ITEM) What ever model you chose MSC or ESC, buy the freaking $5 RPM wide bumper.  The RPM bumper will save you a lot of money. Even in stock form the Stampede is a little faster than you would think and despite your best efforts you WILL hammer the front of the Stampede into poles, the garage, the curb, the wall, your friends, your car,...your get the idea.  When this happens without that huge RPM bumper you could crack or break the body, the front shock tower, camber links, stripe servo gears,... again you get the picture. A very wise investment indeed that will pay for itself over and over.  While you are at it also pick up some of the shock spring retainers, they will not break like the stock ones.

Traxxas Aluminum Shock Caps for Rustler/Stampede - Everyone says the stock plastic ones pop off and blow silicon shock oil every where (you don't want to have to clean this stuff up), having swapped them out the aluminum versions before even a first run, I have never had a problem. (See Mis-Behaving-RC for the how to).  Note pick up a roll of Teflon tape form the hardware store and some Trinity Buggy Blast and some 50wt Silicon Oil from your hobby shop while you are at it.  If you follow the directions on Mis-behaving-RC you will have a shock almost as strong as aluminum model at far less the price.  You will thank me for telling you this the first 2-3 foot jump the Stampede makes un-eventfully.  From a long term perspective, I see no reason for me upgrade to better shock, the rebuild takes the best plastic shock in the industry and makes it handle anything I've been able to throw at it.  

RPM Gear Cover for Rustler/Stampede - The reason for this upgrade is that the stock gear cover on the original Stampede, Rustler, and Bandit leaves a small gap near the axel and allows debris to get into the gear box., The $5 RPM gear cover one provides complete coverage.  If you are all about color, your can get the RPM cover in a rainbow of colors. The first time you pull a small twig or leaf into your gear box and shred a spur gear you will wish you had bought one.

Motor Heat Sink - Associated Motor Heat Sink TC4 #31048

This was more of an adventure than simply snapping the thing on the motor can.

First off, as expected and stated on Misbehavin-Rc's site, the transmission housing requires modification (i.e. removal of some of the motor housing.  This was no big deal, grab the Dremel with a cut off bit and make three linear cuts - done. 

Second, the heat sink doesn't fit with the lower fins so those needed to be removed, more grinding with the Dremel.

Third and possibly the most frustrating part of the project was locating and positioning the heatsink so that the motor could be bolted up on the motor plate.  The stickers needed to be removed from the can (the can has a permanent mark indicating 0 for timing), and sliding the heatsink on to the shaft end.  What I finally ended up doing was installing the motor as normal without the heatsink and then marking which fin lined up with the timing mark and then removed the motor, attached the heat sink and then re-installed the motor.

The heatsink works great, I have yet to hit the 5 second touch test limit and the motor runs much cooler.  Would I do the project again? In a heartbeat, however I would recommend buying a Integy heatsink such as the one pictured without lower heat fins or one of their fan assisted models (see note below.)  I think in reality if you are gearing everything correctly you really don't need a heatsink, however everyone always over gears and/or does some high stress bashing with stock gearing when it should be geared even lower, so in my opinion this optional accessory give you motor some extra stay cool insurance.

Long-Term Update: I definitely would not go for the fan assisted model on an off road vehicle.  These is just way too much junk that ends up in the fins.  I have been exceptionally happy with the heat sink and have yet to get the motor to it's previous flesh searing temps.

Bad Horsie Shock Covers

I saw these nice little covers over in the E-Rustler forum and within 5 minutes of reading the one line post I was $8 poorer in my Paypal account with some BadHorsie.com shock covers on the way to me.



Although I have blathered incessantly about the clay soil of Nebraska and how it gets everywhere, I wanted, correction, needed a pair of shock covers to prevent almost constant cleaning of my shocks on my Stampede Project Ultra-Pede. After the entire Stampede Project has been all about reducing maintenance and increasing durability.

They arrived quickly in about 4 days via a padded USPS envelop with only a hobby accessory style bag with what looked like a ink jet printer card stapled to the top stating is was for a Stampede/Rustler/Sport SE/Bandit. God bless resourceful small businesses. Made me feel like I was supporting the little guy. No complaints, just observations. Had the shock covers been from one of our larger aftermarket accessory brethren, I am sure they would have cost twice as much.

They must have figured that installation was pretty intuitive, because no instructions or assembly diagrams were included. Note to BadHorsie.com, maybe some online documentation would be helpful for those that need a little more handholding, I think "Remove spring, slip over spring, tuck ends into inside of spring, re-install" would be enough if printed on the card attached to the bag. And that's how easy they were to install.

These ingeniously simple little accessories slip easily over your spring, the extra material get tucked inside the spring and slide back on the shocks. Everything is held in place just like normal, except you now have these little scotch guard coated shock dust-boots that keep all the junk off of the shock rods and ultimately junk from working it's way inside your shocks. They also look trick.

Wonderful. Another neat little product that is sure to reduce ongoing maintenance.

RPM two stage Shock Pistons

I talked to RPM on this a while back and they recommended the Medium to Heavy sets on the Stampede. They did say you need to understand the basics of shock tuning before you start messing around with the pistons and reiterated that it was for advanced RC'ers. I got the point, "Dear customer, don't call me when you can't figure it out". Completely understand there perspective.

In theory and practice from what I have heard these are outstanding and do exactly what they are supposed to do, help your shock recover quicker on compression or if pistons are flipped over, decompression. Seems logical to me, so I threw some on during my last shock rebuild on my Ultra-Pede and the Ultra-Rusty.

Here's my take on these and some upgrade I am hoping will work well.

First - my shock oil was disgusting, a nice nasty brownish green, was clear at one time. Ick!

Second - A previous review by Jang (UlitmateRC.com) was right, even though he was installing the RPM pistons on Big Bore shocks, fitting and sanding of both the top e-clip and the pistons themselves was required.  The top e-clips need to be sanded so that they fit inside the top piston piece loosely. Although somewhat a pain, it was relatively quick with one of my handy manicure sticks (sandpaper on a stick - the only reason to go into a beauty shop).   The key in sanding the pistons is to mount them first then allow them to roll/turn as you move across the sandpaper, a 45 degree angle works great. Make sure they do not fit inside the shocks tightly or bind at any point - they should freely move.

After a little fidgeting with the different pistons, I opted for the Med-Heavy  for the Ultra-Rusty and the Extra Heavy for the Stampede with my standard 50wt oil. Once on the Stampede Project Ultra-Pede, it seemed perfect, but some testing will be the proof.  I bash pretty hard so I wanted the extra heavy pistons rate pistons with heavy oil, you may want to go with the Red medium pistons instead for more traction on lumpier surfaces.

Upgrades - Replaced all bladders and o-rings with a new silicon shock rebuild kit. I added an O-ring under the lower e-clip under the piston as a soft up travel limiter replacing my hard plastic one, this works great and keeps the shock shaft from slamming to the extended position. I added three o-rings above the shock end as down travel limiters, had 2 needed 3 then added a small washer so the o-rings have something to deform against when compressed. About 2 months ago I found some stainless steel front shock rods in the clearance bin for $1, so I swapped those out for the stock chrome ones on the Stampede's front shocks.

All said and done, the adventure was far less painful than I remember.

Do they work, yep they go faster up than down (i.e. they recover much faster than my previous 2 hole pistons).

Update - Man these things are tight.  Definitely on my list of recommended upgrades.  For jumping no question the Extra Heavy are the way to go and are nice and stiff for higher speed endeavors on smooth surfaces, but I would recommend either a lighter weight oil or going with the heavy or even medium pistons for lighter general bashing.  The heavy pistons with heavier oil allow bottom out free jumps of 3-4 feet.

Really like these the more I use them. They way they improve handling is subtle but very noticeable and well worth the install effort.

MRC Super Brain Charger - The 959

At around $50 the MRC 959 SuperBrain is probably the best charger value on the market.  It will charge pretty much any RC NiCad or NiMH battery you will ever buy, automatically detect the cell count and capacity of the battery and stop charging when the battery has peaked during the charging cycle, all with a push of just one button.   Idiot proof, works like a charm and can even function as a charger by running off your real car's battery.

I have heard a number of people say that the MRC false peaks on occasion, I have found this to be true in two circumstances, first when the charger is in its second or third battery charge right in a row and becomes too hot, or because I didn't allow the batteries to cool enough prior to a re-charge.  On Mis-Behavin's site he suggests a false peaking remedy for the first generation SuperBrains, but I have it on good information that all the Superbrains less than four-five years old have already had this issue resolved during manufacturing.  One issue that does seem to be a little bit of a problem when charging batteries in succession is that the charger does heat up - not hot just very warm. Many people will simply wire in a Radio Shack 110V fan into the charger and mount it on top to keep the charger cool during these high use times.  What I did that seems to work pretty well after over two years of use was to remove all the secondary vent covers.  These are the pieces on the inside that don't allow you to see directly into the charger through the vents. Removing all these little covers (quite the fun little task) greatly increased natural circulation, cooled the charger and eliminated any problems I have experienced with the charger overheating from multiple in row battery charges since.  I have successfully charged over six packs in a row with no false peaking or overheating issues if the unit stays cooler. 

Keeping in mind this a really good charger, fantastic even for the price, there are a couple little issues that slightly annoy me.  I would like full control of setting the delta peak instead the .5 increments provided.  As an example a 3300 should be charged to a delta of 3.3 but on the MRC you can either choose 3.0 or 3.5.  Yes I know it isn't much of a difference, but annoying never the less.  I would really like a discharge cycle that will allow me to discharge to my voltage or some type of automatic "Delta low" so that I know I am always properly cycling my batteries.  Another feature I would like to see added is the ability to store some battery preferences for battery A, B, C, ...etc that eliminate me tuning the charger for each battery when charging in manual mode.  But these are features that higher end and more expensive units provide and honestly really isn't the focus of the charger.  

The MRC 959, is designed for the person who wants to just plug in a battery and know it will be charged safely and efficiently.  As a beginner R/C'er you really won't have the need to perfectly tweak your batteries, that comes much later as your become much more nerdy about the whole process.  As a beginner, you want and need a charger that will charger the batteries quickly and correctly without having to remember what to do.  That is the real beauty of the 959 charger.  It does give you some flexibility with charging rates if you want to go that route, but the strength for the 959 is being able to just grab a battery, plug it in, hit start, and walk away.  Within 20-30 minutes you have a freshly charged battery - couldn't be simpler.  As you get more and more advanced or pickier, one of MRC's higher end models would be a good choice and the 959 can be utilized as a dedicated bashing packs charger when you need to charge more than one battery at a time.

Overall I have had my charger since I started this hobby, well over 3 years ago, and have been very happy with it's charge times, and battery care.  I still have 3 year old batteries that perform outstanding due to the SuperBrain's ability to not overcharge my NiMH batteries (very key).

MRC 959 SuperBrain NiCad and NiMH charger - Highly Recommended

Note - The new higher end SuperBrain Charger will also charge LiPoly batteries and promises to remedy the overheating complaint from multiple charges in a row, provides a discharge cycle, and can perfectly recognize delta peaks for a competition level battery charge.  If the newer higher end models are anything like old venerable 959, then they will become one of the most popular chargers available.