We here at Off-Road.com welcomed the start of Dune season last fall with open arms. We just love going to the dunes but hate it when the temp is running at about 4 million degrees. The cooler temps were just what the doctor ordered! On my first trip to the dunes I feasted on all the expected sights. You know, quads of every description, sand rails, buggies, a multitude of fabulous babes( that's for you Mr.Dune!) RV's and off road vehicles of every type. But their was something else that was blasting around the sand. Something different. Something worth investigating. What could it be you ask? I was asking myself the same question so in the time honored method of investigation I went and checked it out! It seems that at a camp site near you people are racing full blown off road vehicles. R/C off road vehicles! At first sight I knew this was a "must do!"

Ok,so I am in. Now tell me what this is going to cost me. Well as luck would have it, not much. The subject of this review, the Tymiya Stadium Raider, can be found at you local hobby shop for around a hundred bones. Toss in a radio, the Futaba Magnum Sport in this case, a 6 volt battery and a charger and you will have blown 300 bucks or so. Of course this is only the stuff that you would need to get the truck up and running, but as you may or may not know no self respecting hobbyist can go to a hobby shop and get only what he needs. If you are into customizing with aftermarket goodies you are going to love the world of RC. The only limit is the one on your credit card!

I chose the Stadium Raider mostly for its looks. It has the Pro-Truck/Stadium racer look to it and of all the low budget RC racers it was by far the most appealing. This truck does come as a kit and other than the radio and the battery it is all inclusive. Kit means just that, you have to put it together. Being a RC modeler for some twenty plus years I have all the goods when it comes to tools so assembly was a non-issue. Don't get me wrong, you can easily assemble this truck with a few common tools that most people have around the house. Again, I have many years of modeling experience so it only took me one evening to complete the basic assembly and other than cutting out and painting the body it was ready to go. The instructions in the kit use a lot of pictures to guide you through the assembly process and are very detailed. If you can put string on you weed whacker you can build this truck.

Trimming and painting the body was an easy task, well easy if you have the right tools.I used a Dremel Moto tool and a pair of lexan scissors to trim the body. If you don't have a Dremel it is no big deal but do yourself a favor and buy a pair of lexan scissors as your life will be a lot less stressed when trimming RC truck bodies. These little jewels sell for about ten bucks and are well worth the cash.

After the body is trimmed up the way you want and you have test-fitted it to the chassis it is time to wash all the finger prints and body oils that you have gotten all over the body. If you don't was the body the paint will not adhere correctly. Painting is an easy task and the hardest part of the job is masking off the windows and apparently Tymiya knows this as they provide perfectly cut window masks. All you have to do is peal them off of the sheet and put them on. After the windows have been masked ( you did put the masks on the inside,right?) you are ready to paint the body. If you are only going to use one color, spray away! If, on the other hand, you have a multi-colored scheme you should start with the darkest color and work your way to the lightest. The reason for this is putting a darker color over a lighter one will change the color of the lighter color. After you have given the body time to dry you can remove the window mask and peel off the transparent plastic covering on the outside of the body. Now just add your decals and you're done.

The Futaba magnum sport pistol grip radio system provided guidence for our new ride. This high quailty low cost radio system worked flawlessly. A month or so ago our resident psyco Norm Lenhart reviewed the Mangum Sport and did a fine job. To get the low down on this radio system go here! His experience was the same as mine: flawless operation and ease of use. Nuff Said!

With batteries charged it is time to for a test drive. Check the steering for proper direction and pin the throttle! See ya, this thing really moves so it would be a good idea to have some "running room". Driving your new 300 dollar toy into a wall is no fun and results in a trip to the hobby shop for parts. Once you get used to driving RC you will have no problem slicing and dicing through tight turns and around obstacles as you see fit. The suspension on this little truck is not as plush as some of it's more expensive brothers, but for what you have invested it performs remarkably well. So with the front yard test drive over its time to head to the dirt. The Stadium Raider comes well equipped for off-roading with a full on set of spike knobby tires. At the local RC dirt track the truck was put to the test. For a entry level truck it rated high on the fun meter and the only thing that removed the smile off my face was a dead battery. Getting the truck airborne resulted in less than graceful landings but like I said before that was to be expected. This particular track had a wide left hand sweeper and throwing the truck into the corner wide open and watching it slide into a full-on four wheel drift. Nothin' like dirt-trackin', cross-steerin' action to get you heart pumping! If Ivan Stewart was two and a half inches tall I could give him a run for his money.

The original idea behind getting into RC off-roading was having something to run around the camp when out at the dunes. So off to the dunes we go. The Stadium Raider had a little trouble with the sand and often needed some nudging to get it moving. It much preferred to spin the tires and throw sand everywhere. I suspect a different set of tires would have helped that party but we wanted to test "as is". We were still able to get a little rippin' and tearin' out of this budget machine but if you are all about full-on sand domination this is not the choice for you. On the other hand, if a cheep source of entertainment is your thing the Stadium Raider fits the bill.

The Stadium Raider rated very high on the appearance scale and we felt that it is one of the best looking trucks available today. The performance of this little truck is outstanding considering its 100 buck price tag. The straight forward construction allows almost everyone to get involved without having to consult the engineering department at NASA. Replacement parts are readily available and fixing your truck is cheep and easy. It didn't really do as well at the dunes as we would have liked but for the backyard or the local RC track it works just fine. So if you have the iche to go racing but don't have sixty thousand bucks for a full blown vehicle a little RC action might be right for you.
See you at the track!