MRC Thunder King

For a few years I was out of R/C cars, basically because there was only so much I could do with the cars I had--I just got bored with them. I knew how they would handle on all sorts of terrain, how well they would take a jump--everything. The only thing left to do was practice and become a good driver! (Barf, gag! Who'd wanna do that?) Of course, another factor was that by this time my brothers weren't interested in R/C and I didn't know my friends would be, so I didn't have anyone to run with.

After I started working, I got interested in R/C again. ("Hmm... I've got money, I can get a new car...") I had been thinking maybe I would get into gas cars this time, but after evaluating how much it would cost, I dropped that idea. So one day in October of 1994 I came home with an MRC Thunder King.

This was the beast I always wanted--it was so big! (About 1/8 scale.) This thing was as wide as my other cars were long. The tires were huge (6.5" tall), the shocks and springs about double the size of any others I'd used, and two motors powered one gearbox. It was also considerably more advanced than my other cars, which also added to the excitement--so much more to learn! It has a ball differential, fully independent, double-wishbone suspension, oil shocks, a slipper clutch, and a bellcrank steering system.

Performance And Such

When I was building this monster, the only problem I had was with the shocks. I couldn't get a good seal, oil kept leaking out. After a few days (!) work, I finally figured them out, though. Looking back, I'm not really sure what the problem was. In fact, now I can't seem to not make them seal properly.

Due to its massive size and weight, this isn't the fastest truck in the world. With the RS-540 motors that this and every kit comes with, it's almost slow, actually. Don't get me wrong, the truck is a lot of fun to drive around, but don't go expecting to be competitive with someone running a totally-stock 1/10 scale vehicle.

By far, the best thing about this truck is that you can send it just about anywhere. It's so big, it just crawls over most obstacles quite happily. (Including 1/10 scale buggies, might I add. This thing is great for crushing your friend's cars. They go racing by you, showing off how fast they are--you plan your attack and crawl over the car as it goes by, making it screech to a halt!)

Storage for this beast is sort of a problem, as it's so large. Of course, when you have as much R/C stuff sitting around as I do, an extra-large truck doesn't make too much of a difference.

Hop-Ups And Modifications

The biggest trouble I encountered with this truck is with the speed control. A mechanical speed control (what it comes with) just isn't for this thing. With two motors, it just gets toasted--it can't handle it. In fact, I've replaced the speed control 3 times. (This is partly stupidity on my part--I should've gotten a high-quality electronic speed control for it, but I had the extra mechanical speed controls laying around.) While using the mechanical speed control, I ran the Thunder King with two battery packs wired in parallel (basically, a 7.2v, 3000mAh battery pack).

I'm using a Futaba MC210CB in it now. This ESC really isn't meant to handle 2 motors, but it works ok. Also, I'm now running the truck with only one battery, which puts less strain on the speed control.

I'm using two Futaba S-148 (standard servo, about 42 oz./in. of torque) servos to steer this thing. They're hooked together with one of those nifty "Y"-harnesses, allowing both servos to work together. A nice little bit of designing went into the steering of this truck. There are mounts to specifically handle two servos steering it, rather than forcing you to spend the bucks on one high torque servo. By the way, with one standard servo, this truck drifts in the general direction you want it to go. With two standard servos, it goes pretty much where you want it to on command. Still not quite enough torque to turn the tires while the truck isn't moving, though.

I sold the Thunder King on eBay in the beginning of 2003.