The biggest tip we can give you is of course, use the right tool for the job!  So, you will need:

• Tire glue.  We like Losi and AKA tire glue.
• Glue Tips.  Zap makes awesome ones.
• Glue Bands.  Panther and RC Pro Products both make really nice Glue Bands.
• Paper Shop Towels.  We like the blue ones. (From the hardware store)
• Motor Spray.  We use Dynamite Magnum Force 2.

For this article we’ll be gluing up some Pro-Line Suburb 2.0′s in MC compound with Trinity/Team Epic Bomb One foam inserts and we’ll be putting them on JConcepts Rulux wheels.

Step 1: Clean everything.

Due to the way tires are made they all have a coating of slippery “mold release” on them.  Mold Release compound is specifically designed to keep things from sticking together.  This is of course the exact opposite of what we want a tire to do!  So, bust those new tires out of the packaging and use some motor spray on a shop towel to clean the mounting beads (the part that seats into the groove in the wheel) throughly.  Skipping this step is the single biggest mistake folks make when gluing tires.  We cannot stress how important this step is!

Step 2: Vent and mount.

When dealing with *1/10 tires, we usually drill at least 2 1/8″ air vent holes in each wheel to let trapped air escape, but Jconcepts has already done that part for us so we can skip right to the fun part!  Mounting the tires on the wheels!  Go ahead and stretch your tires (don’t forget to put your foam inserts in) over your wheels and seat the mounting beads into the grooves.

Note:for 1/8 Buggy and Truggy, we use a #2 leather punch to make 2 holes in the tire itself instead of venting the wheel.  This lengthens the life of the foam insert greatly.  If the 1/8 wheel we have chosen already has air vent holes, we tape over them.

Step 3: Lock ‘em down.

After the tire is on the wheel, install glue bands around the edge of the tire directly over the mounting beads.  At this time you will want to fiddle with the tire to ensure the fitment of the bead to the wheel is as tight and even as possible.

Step 4: Glue ‘em down, Boss.

Install a glue tip on your glue bottle.  These glue tips really make all the difference in how the glue is applied to the tire bead as they really allow the glue to be applied in just the right amount.  Too much glue makes a mess and too little means a blowout.

Gently pull the tire away from the wheel and apply a nice, even bead of glue.  You do not need to pull the tire all the way off the wheel to try and get glue under the bead.  Work your way around the tire in 1/2″ to 1″ increments until you have glued all the way around the first side of the first tire.  Try not to leave any gaps in between your glued sections. 

Wipe away any excess glue with a shop towel.

After the first side of the first tire is glued, move to the first side of the second tire and then come back to the second side of the first tire etc… This way you won’t end up with glue all over your fingers….like Corey did!

Step 5: Security checkpoint.

After the glue dries, remove the glue bands and pull on the tire to check for any gaps in your glue job.  If any gaps are found, fill them in with glue and wipe away any excess.  You should end up with a nice, uniform glue line all the way around the bead.

And that’s all there is to it!  Hope you all find this little article helpful!  Feel free to print this out or email a link to your buddies!  

Gallery of all shots used in this article:

Feature List:

Pretty impressive list ‘eh?  Crawler guys will love the MOA & 4WS mixes along with the 3 position switch, while racing folks will love the super fast latency!

Here’s what she looks like out of the box!  The MT-4 comes with a receiver (more on that in a bit), an RPM sensor, temp sensor, optional 2nd grip, dry cell receiver battery holder, switch etc…

Controls:

The MT-4 has a user friendly layout and is very comfortable to hold in your hand.  All of the knobs and switches are user-assignable!  So, you can make the MT-4 work FOR YOU.  The lever pictured to the left of the wheel is a 3 position switch, which is great for those running a DIG setup or perhaps an electronic winch?  The MT-4 also features 4 individual digital trim switches, one for each channel.

Airtronics includes this new #92010 4 channel receiver with the MT-4.  This receiver is very small considering all of the things it has to offer!  3 telemetry ports, 4 channel ports.  This receiver operates on a new 2.4ghz modulation. FH4T.  The MT-4 can also use any other FHSS receiver in the Airtronics line!

All in all, the MT-4 looks and feels like a winner!  Make sure to check them out at www.rpphobby.com!  We hope you enjoyed reading this quick look!  Once we get a chance to test this awesome new system, we’ll work on a more in-depth review!

Direct link to the MT-4 at RPP Hobby: http://www.rpphobby.com/product_p/air751571.htm

The manual is full color and keeps everything clear during assembly.

We epecially like the warnings as they match our current RPP Hobby shirts!

All parts are organized into lettered bags that correspond to the steps in the assembly manual.

Now, we’re not going to go through every detail of the kit here, rather we are going to give an overview of the build process.  Kind of like a sports highlight show!

Assembly starts with building the middle slipper clutch/spur gear setup.  One thing that we do is compress all the springs a few times before installing them onto a new vehicle.  This is because springs tend to lose a little length after the first few compressions.  This shortening can cause inconsistencies as the spring seats itself over the first few runs.

Here’s a shot of the complete slipper setup.  Gotta love the lightening holes on the hubs!

After the slipper it’s right into the diffs. The Differentials on the DEX410R are what set it out from the crowd.  Instead of the traditional ball diff such as those found on the AE B44, the DEX410R features 8 Scale buggy style fluid-filled geared differentials.  One advantage of geared diffs is that they do not slip, meaning the Durango should be a rocket ship down the straights!

On our car we used 7K Mugen Silicone Diff Oil in the front diff and the kit-supplied Durango 2K in the rear diff.

From there it was onto building the center universals.  Here it becomes apparent that Team Durango pays attention to the details, all of the driveline components are laser-etched with their length and even the pin size!

After the drivelines are assembled, it’s time to stick the main chassis together.  The DEX410R features an aluminum main chassis that has plastic “flex control” side plates to keep the dirt out.  Durango has also incorporated a transponder mount into the right side plate!  It’s all in the details people!  If you look closely, you will notice that we opted to install the upgraded aluminum front arm mounts (TDR330006 and TDR330004)

This kit has one of the coolest steering setups of any vehicle we’ve seen.  The servo fits into a mount that goes all the way across the front of the chassis and also holds the ball bearing supported bellcrank setup.

For steering duties we are using the awesome Savox SC1257TG Digital Titanium Gear servo.  With a transit of .07 seconds and torque output of 139oz this servo gets the job done RIGHT.  In testing with the RPP Hobby Race Team the Savox line of servos have proven to be very reliable and super smooth.  They are quickly becoming the Team’s top choice for servos!

Like most 4wd electric buggies, wiring the car can be a bit of a……job.  In this shot you can see that we used a trick little wire clip called a wire keeper from Calandra Racing.  These things are the best kept secret in R/C and are just invaluable when it comes to cleaning up a wire install!

After the steering/servo setup is mounted in the car, it’s basically just bolting on the bulkheads and shock towers and then we get to the fun stuff!  One thing that we just absolutely love about this car is how easy it is to install/remove the gearboxes.  Basically, 4 bolts and the gear box slides right out of either end of the car!  TRICK!  This makes diff mantenance/oil changes a breeze!

At that point it’s time to build the suspension up.  The DEX410R uses your standard camberlink upper/a-arm lower suspension setup that is found on most rc vehicles these days.  We did install Team Durango’s Titanium Camber links/tie rods (TDR330045) on our car for the extra strength.  Durango setup the car to use pin drive rear wheels and hex drive front wheels meaning that AE B44 Wheels should be a direct fit.  Team Durango Wheels are of real good quality and the price is super low.  At $5/pr they are probably the lowest price for wheels on the market!

Hard anodized bodies, bleeder caps, dual seals and prescision machining make for some truely high end shock absorbers!  When it comes to shocks, smooth is the name of the game and these Durango units do not disapoint!

Here they are installed on the front end of the DEX410R.  This car sure is pretty!

Some other things we thought we cool were the aluminum motor mount and the finned rear skidplate.

Here’s a shot of the completed chassis before the rest of the electronics were installed!

To power our DEX410R, we went with the LRP SXX TC Spec. Electronic Speed Control and Vector X12 7.5 motor combination.  This system is super reliable and makes AWESEOME horsepower!

Like we said earlier, wiring a 4wd electric buggy can be a bit of a “job”.  Well the DEX410R is no different, it definitely takes some planning and a bit of creative problem solving to come up with a neat wiring installation.  One thing that was a pleasant suprise was the use of a removable plastic tray for the ESC and Receiver to sit on.  This means it’s possible to take the electronics out with just 2 screws and a minimum of disruption to your wiring job!  NICE!

Here’s how we mounted the LRP TC Spec. ESC alongside an Airtronics 92477 FHSS-3 Receiver.  Remember those CRC Wire Keepers we mentioned earlier?  We ended up using 3 in total.  One on the front of the servo, one on the back and one on top of the receiver to secure our wiring.  The LRP cap is secured via double sided tape to the top of the receiver.

For the motor, we wanted to make sure the wires did not come into contact with any moving driveline parts so we had to get creative with the orange wire and run it in from the front of the chassis.  We also opted to use a Novak 4″ short sensor wire instead of the provided 200mm unit.

We are pretty proud of this wiring job!  In this shot you can see the AMB transponder mounted on the DEX410R’s sideplate.

Racer’s Edge Batteries have been a longtime favorite of the RPP Hobby Team.  We used their new 5200 45c saddle pack to power our DEX410R.

Fits like a glove and horsepower is off the chart; this pack dumps harder than Sandra Bullock Dumped Jesse James!

Fail

Couldn’t resist on that one!  Anyway, here’s a shot of the completed chassis before we mounted up the body and some Pro-Line Holeshot 2.0 tires.

And here’s “DEX” before the first run out at J&S Raceway.  Paint by Blake Cannon of 707 Graphics.

How does the DEX410R fare on track?  Glad you asked!  From the very first lap at J&S we could tell that this car would be very fast…and it was very fast indeed!  Team Driver Joe Nolasco easily lapped the field to take home  the win in 4wd Modified!

All in all, the entire RPP Crew can agree that the Team Durango DEX410R is going to be a top contender in the 1/10 4wd Buggy class!  Thanks for reading our review of this awesome kit!  Checkout our Team Setup page for the setup sheet used!

Here’s a gallery of all the images used in this article:

Article by Joe Nolasco

This past Sunday (Feb. 28) Mendocino Raceway in Ukiah, CA. hosted their 2010 Season Opener.  The race was well attended, with around 40 entries.  Not bad at all considering this is the newest facility in the Northern CA. area. 

Classes included on this day were: 1/8 Nitro Buggy, 1/8 Nitro Truggy, 1/8 Electric Buggy, Short Course Stock, Short Course Open and Short Course 4×4.  The SC classes were divided into beginner and expert classes.

The track:

John and Rick of Mendocino Raceway have put a ton of work into the track since the last event!  Racers were pleasantly suprised by a brand new raised pit lane in front of the drivers stand!

Also lurking in the center of the track was this large table top complete with very professional looking sideplates:

This table top would become instrumental in my plan to “Clobber” Blake Cannon’s Hot Bodies D8T with my new Losi 8IGHT-T 2.0.

Before the race day got started we also used this tabletop for a little photoshoot as we had some new hardware to unveil!

My new Orion .21 MTE Powered Losi 8IGHT-T 2.0

Blake’s Orion .21 MTE Powered Hot Bodies D8T

Korey’s New Tekin RX8 Powered Losi EIGHT 2.0 electric ride

Racing:

Racing started around 11am or so.  This gave everyone tons of practice time!  Blake and I both easily got over 2 tanks on each vehicle in practice, and still had time to help out our other friends with engine tuning, etc. 

Blake and Korey ran 1/8 E Buggy as well.  Here’s a shot of Blake’s Ve8 (Pronounced VeeEight) getting some air on the triple:

Here’s a shot of Blake’s Ve8 in the pits.  We tested 2 things on his car.  1.VP-Pro Tires and 2.Venom’s new 40c 5000mah 7.4 LiPos.  Both worked out very well!

Nothing super special to report in qualifying other than who tq’ed:

In 1/8 Nitro Truggy it was yours truely (Joe Nolasco) taking TQ with a 12/5:04.464

1/8 Nitro Buggy was also TQ’ed by me with a 12/5:09.351

1/8 Electric Buggy was topped by Blake Cannon with a 12/5:11.444

Short Course Stock Beginner TQ was London Austin with an 8/4:54.232

Short Course Open Beginner TQ was Dennis Cannon 9/4:56.248

In Short Course Open Expert TQ was taken by Ben Kobetz with a 10/5:15.772

Short Course 4×4 was bested by Wes Marshall with a 10/5:10.608

Mains

The first Main up was 1/8 Nitro Truggy.  This field consisted of 5 trucks on this day….all of which were bought through RPP Hobby!  The 20 minute main turned out to be an epic battle royale between the Hot Bodies D8T of Blake Cannon and my Losi 8IGHT-T 2.0.  There were at least 5 lead changes and since we were running the exact same engine, any potential pit stop advantage was thrown right out the window.  This one came down to the very end with Blake making a very nice pass through the triples with 2 laps to go.  I knew I only had one more shot at Blake with 1 to go so I stuffed my truck between Blake’s and the inner track pipe coming onto the front stretch.  The trucks were dead even going down the straight away with my truck to the inside and Blake’s on the outside.  I of course overcooked the straight away and almost spun the truck out in the 90 degree left at the end.  This caused Blake to swing wide and then we both wrecked on the triple after an inflight collision.  We both started rolling at about the same time after the wreck with me somehow in the lead.  After this, I was able to hold it together for the last 3/4 of a lap to take the win!

1/8 Nitro Truggy Finishing Order:

Joe Nolasco 47/20:14.527

Blake Cannon 47/20:15.222

Alden Johnson 42/20:17.573

Wes Marshall 41/20:10.837

Justin Lawson 31/20:16.604

The rest of the mains were a blur for me as I was really, really tired….not enough sleep.  So I’m going to take the easy route and just list the rest of the results!

Short Course Stock Beginner:

London Austin 7/4:57.215

Matthew Laberdie 6/4:51.406

Ariel Laberdie 5/506.505

Short Course Open Beginner

Dennis Cannon 8/5:14.904

Bob Franzen 8/5:15.943

Beau Franzen 8/5:16.903

Short Course Open Expert

Ron Williams 11/5:23.206

Alden Johnson 10/5:00.056

Dave Krider 9/5:507.081

Korey Williams 9/5:26.181

Ben Kobetz 9/5:30.228

Arthur Knight 8/5:20.571

Wes Marshall 6/2:53.372

Steven Carter 5/3:337.637

1/8 Nitro Buggy

Joe Nolasco 45/20:14.606

Alden Johnson 42/20:02.565

James Spears 40/20:01.780

Wes Marshall 40/20:17.710

Ben Kobetz 40/20:30.061

Arthur Knight 32/18:49.858

Korey Williams 22/10:27.974

Blake Cannon 19/12:07.386

1/8 Electric Buggy

Blake Cannon 19/8:04.029

Alden Johnson 8/:18.900

Steven Carter 16/7:42.201

Korey Williams 5/2:08.494

Justin Lawson 3/1:15.608

Short Course 4×4

Wes Marshall 16/8:28.194

Justin Lawson 15/8:16.444

Arthur Knight 15/8:40.793

Here’s a gallery of pics from the day

All three RPP drivers did well.  Blake finished 3rd in Expert Truggy with his brand spankin’ new Hot Bodies D8T ride.  Coming off a little break from racing Bryan put in some very good runs with his D8 and qualified 3rd in Sportsman Buggy.  In the main, Bryan clawed his way up to the lead only to have a rogue car jump a lane and break his left front suspension with only a few laps to go!  Bryan was far enough ahead that he still managed to finish in 3rd place.  It was an unfortunate end to a really strong showing for Bryan. In Buggy Expert, Joe qualified 3rd for the 20 minute “A” Main Event.  After some rather intense battling he worked his way into the lead and stayed there to take home the win!  His Losi 8IGHT 2.0 Buggy and Orion Alpha Line ABI .21 were spot on all day long.

All in all, this turned into a great race day where everyone got tons of track time!   Between the 3 of us, we burned just under 2 gallons of Nitrotane 30%! Team RPP would like to thank everyone at Rattlesnake Raceway for having us and going the extra mile to get the track into racing shape!  We will be back often!

Writeup by Joe Nolasco

Products used/mentioned:
(click to view on www.rpphobby.com)

• Hot Bodies D8T
• Losi 8IGHT 2.0 Race Roller
• Hot Bodies D8 Buggy
• Orion Mike Truhe Edition .21
• Orion Alpha Line ABI .21
• Hitec 7950/7940 Servos
• Airtronics M11x Radios
• Losi Nitrotane 30% Race Blend

Here are a few pics from the day:

We all know Corey likes shiny objects and this was no different!  Here he is posing with the plaque!