{"id":948,"date":"2013-08-12T23:35:56","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T03:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/?p=948"},"modified":"2022-10-05T09:09:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T13:09:52","slug":"a-brontosaurus-in-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/a-brontosaurus-in-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brontosaurus in the family&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most common &#8220;off-brand&#8221; RC monster trucks is the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hspracing.com\/product_view.asp?id=908\">HSP Brontosaurus<\/a> (aka <a href=\"http:\/\/amazingrcstore.com\/volcano-epx-pro-110-scale-electric-brushless-monster-truck\">Redcat Volcano EPX Pro<\/a>, aka <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nitrorcx.com\/brtr.html\">Exceed Infinitive<\/a>). It comes brushed or brushless in a rainbow of colours, and has been rebranded by a dozen different companies. Is it a race machine? No. Is it cheap enough you don&#8217;t care if you break it? Yes! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>I saw a great used deal online and couldn&#8217;t say no: it came ready-to-run with a space parts chassis:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_01.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_01.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/thumbs\/thumbs_1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_01.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"1670\"\n             data-title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_01\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_366913a1bd5b339d06e9bf287881ae14\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/cache\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_01.jpg-nggid041670-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_01\"\n             title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_01\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It actually came with so many extras I sold some to offset the cost, but first I took it out to bash in the local park:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontosaurus_02.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontosaurus_02.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/thumbs\/thumbs_1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontosaurus_02.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"1673\"\n             data-title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontosaurus_02\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_d4d897e922eae44ebd7bed7ea71acdb5\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/cache\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontosaurus_02.jpg-nggid041673-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontosaurus_02\"\n             title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontosaurus_02\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This model of truck has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DuCP9ZJmY2w\">known problem with the rear suspension<\/a>: the stock dogbones are a bit too long and prevent the chassis from making it all the way to the ground.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_03.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_03.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/thumbs\/thumbs_1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_03.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"1671\"\n             data-title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_03\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_3b3ea9a839bd510ea1099054168c0daf\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/cache\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_03.jpg-nggid041671-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_03\"\n             title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_03\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The fix is simple enough: use shorter dogbones&#8230; but after reading a number of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ultimaterc.com\/forums\/showthread.php?t=164732\">forum posts<\/a> I couldn&#8217;t figure out what part numbers were a bit shorter and which were the same length. Since they were only a few dollars each shipped on Ebay&#8230; I just bought a bunch of them \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 336px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_04.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_04.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/thumbs\/thumbs_1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_04.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"1672\"\n             data-title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_04\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_e1a82b177763cddb73c682ff644db03d\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/cache\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_04.jpg-nggid041672-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_04\"\n             title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_04\"\n              width=\"336\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you have a Brontosaurus\/Volcano\/Infinitive you want <strong>HSP part number 06022<\/strong>. My stock dogbones, HSP 08029 and Redcat 08059 were all exactly the same length: too long. I tried the HSP 108015 universal but it was also too long, even to long to be put in the front of the truck. With those slightly shorter 06022&#8217;s swapped in the rear of the chassis could make it all the way down to the ground: success!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_05.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_05.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/thumbs\/thumbs_1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_05.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"1674\"\n             data-title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_05\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_29d77babf3e936bd596d12a1ca639e34\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/cache\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_05.jpg-nggid041674-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_05\"\n             title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_05\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The stock tires were pretty horrible so I sold them, and swapped in the ProLine Badlands I was running on my old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/heart-of-the-leopard\/\">Redcat Caldera<\/a>. Time to go back to the park!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_06.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_06.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/thumbs\/thumbs_1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_06.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"1675\"\n             data-title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_06\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_72da1edb1bc1de965573d6c4b1625ccd\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/radio-control\/cache\/1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_06.jpg-nggid041675-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_06\"\n             title=\"1_2013-08-12_hsp_brontasaurus_06\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of the Caldera, I&#8217;ve seen some people asking about it, especially since the brushless Redcat Caldera (BSD rebrand) and Redcat Volcano (HSP rebrand) aren&#8217;t too far apart in price. I&#8217;ve owned both (the Caldera much longer) so these are my thoughts so far:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redcat Caldera<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tougher build and thicker plastic parts (some the same as the 1\/8th and 1\/6th models)<\/li>\n<li>Comes with a less powerful 370 (finned 540) motor, and ESC<\/li>\n<li>Stock shocks have some binding out-of-the-box, but are perfectly servicable (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/spring-in-your-step\/\">and can take Revo\/Jato springs<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Crappy tires<\/li>\n<li>Limited aftermarket. There seem to be fewer BSD rebrands so Ebay isn&#8217;t as full of cheap aluminum hopups and doodads (and those that are there are more expensive)<\/li>\n<li>Parts won&#8217;t be in your local hobby shop, but there are lots of Redcat dealers<\/li>\n<li>Thick axles and large bearings all around: easy to switch to OEM 17mm hubs if you want<\/li>\n<li>Universals all around, but they&#8217;re soft: the front CVAs will bend all the time after even minor impacts<\/li>\n<li>Stock front plastic hubs aren&#8217;t mounted well: the bottom screw pivot will always fall out. But metal hubs are a cheap upgrade and threadlock solves the pivot issue.<\/li>\n<li>Goofy battery tray: the batteries mount sideways so you&#8217;re limited on how large a pack will fit, and the wires can only come out of the pack in certain directions<\/li>\n<li>The stock differentials <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/heart-of-the-leopard-2-bypass-surgery\/\">are a bit soft<\/a> if you upgrade the motor, but the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ultimaterc.com\/forums\/showthread.php?&amp;p=1601828\">hardened 1\/8th-1\/6th models drop right in<\/a> (and appear bulletproof: I&#8217;m feeding them 6S <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/20-more-red-10-more-cat-shredder-sc\/\">in my Shredder<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Body mounts aren&#8217;t great: they look weak and the posts are close together, but I&#8217;ve never broken them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Redcat Volcano<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Suspension components look frail compared to the Caldera, but I haven&#8217;t snapped any A-arms yet<\/li>\n<li>More powerful motor stock, I think it&#8217;s a bit faster out-of-the-box<\/li>\n<li>Shocks are horrible. The pistons are loose and have huge slots in them: I put in 100-weight oil and it&#8217;s still too thin<\/li>\n<li>Crappy tires<\/li>\n<li>Lots of HSP uplifts bits on Ebay<\/li>\n<li>Parts won&#8217;t be in your local hobby shop, but there are lots of Redcat dealers (plus very cheap parts on Ebay! Did I mention Ebay?)<\/li>\n<li>Short thin axles and smaller bearings: my Traxxas rims are almost too thick in the middle to mount (not enough thread left sticking out of the axle to get a locknut on all the way<\/li>\n<li>Dogbones seem to get a slight bend to them easily&#8230; but continue to run (at least the fronts). I need to run into more things to tell if the front setup is tougher than the Caldera. Wish it came with universals<\/li>\n<li>Regular battery tray: no problem fitting standard 2s hard\/soft lipos<\/li>\n<li>Diff strength is currently unknown. I bought this truck used and I haven&#8217;t opened things up to poke around. I&#8217;m also using the stock motor<\/li>\n<li>It seems to get sand caught in the spur much easier than the Caldera<\/li>\n<li>The plastics feel overall more flexible than on the Caldera<\/li>\n<li>Body mounts and posts are more substantial and mounted firmly to the shock towers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both trucks are based on a core onroad platform with NiCAD\/NiMH cell cutouts on the bottom &#8211; those slots are basically a cheese grater against the dirt if the chassis ever slaps, so sand and dirt will get everywhere. Overall both are good bang-for-your-buck entry-level trucks and it&#8217;s hard to pick between them. If I were forced to buy one or the other today &#8230; I think&#8230; I would choose the Volcano\/Brontosaurus. Why? Three main reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The constant bending of front CVAs on the Caldera was ultimately why I sold it. Perhaps the Brontosaurus has a similar fatal flaw but I haven&#8217;t driven it enough to find it yet<\/li>\n<li>The Caldera sideways-battery-mounting setup was annoying. Many vanilla hardcase lipos wouldn&#8217;t fit as the wires didn&#8217;t come out in a place that would fit<\/li>\n<li>Based on the limited number of parts I&#8217;ve had to order so far&#8230;. HSP\/Volcano parts are much more plentiful (and cheaper) online and on Ebay than BSD\/Caldera parts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s it for now: I&#8217;ve been feeling sick all afternoon and it&#8217;s time for bed. I had these photos queued up for so long I just wanted to get them posted&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most common &#8220;off-brand&#8221; RC monster trucks is the HSP Brontosaurus (aka Redcat Volcano EPX Pro, aka Exceed Infinitive). It comes brushed or brushless in a rainbow of colours, and has been rebranded by a dozen different companies. <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/a-brontosaurus-in-the-family\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  A Brontosaurus in the family&#8230;<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ptY4v-fi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}