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We had the wonderful opportunity to interview Dave Hill (Director / Writer) and Trenton Waterson (Producer) on their feature length film, Flying Cars. You can read our review of the film here: Dave - What was your first RC, and what do you have now? My first RC was a Sears Lobo, haha. It hardly counts as a real RC. My first real kit was the Tamiya Stadium Blitzer. It was awesome. I kept modifying it and fixing it for years. My new kit was the Losi LXT stadium truck. That was my favorite car as a kid. I still have both of those cars in a box in my garage. Currently, I’ve been loving my Redcat Gen7 Rock Crawler. My kids love it. It’s great for family roads trips, etc. Trenton - did making this film give you an RC itch? I’ll admit I knew next to nothing about the competitive nature and enthusiasm over proper RC cars until Dave handed me this script and asked we go make this film. Over the past 3 years, I’ve had such an education, and my favorite season of making this film is what I do now when I drive around Northern and Southern California to go to RC Car racing tournaments, pass out news on our film, talk to all kinds of people in the RC family and of course: watch the races! So who was really the best behind a controller, Jeremy or Mackenzie? Dave - Um, neither?! hahahaha. Both actors trained a little before filming, but at the end of the day, I was too scared to let them do much driving for themselves. For sure Jeremy had more interest, though. What was the reasoning for making Drew a kind of anti-hero? Dave - I just wanted to tell an honest story. Drew was a guy who’s life was kind of moving forward without him being fully on-board. He was weak-willed, and let his small, bad decisions pile up until his life was totally unmanageable. And isn’t that how it usually goes for us? We don’t make changes until we are forced to. Really, the only good/decent choice he makes is near the end. The rest of the film he is pretty much just bumbling through his life, but in the end, moving it in a direction that he needed to go. Trenton - It was important to Dave that he tell a story that was personal to him, and given my friendship with Dave, what I admire most is his balls to the wall, authentic nature to just tell it like it is in this crafted-but-reckless way he approaches his personal development and his storytelling. For Dave to have written Drew to be any other kind of guys would have been a lie, to Dave and it says a lot about how genuine of a storyteller he is, and this beautiful subtext in his characters he is portraying to his audience. What were the biggest challenges while making this film? Dave - One of the biggest challenges to making this film was getting caught up in the temptation to go to big Hollywood players for money or support and then, wait on their timeline vs. just keeping the control of the movie’s budget and schedule in our hands and, well, making the movie. There’s always the temptation that if you wait you can find better financing options or more popular actors to jump into your film, but by doing this a year or two can easily pass. I’m proud that we overcame this when — one day — Dave just picked up the phone and called me and said, “Screw it. I’m making the movie. In 2 weeks.” It was a huge display of confidence and really brought the independent spirit back to our planning. What were your own favourite parts of the film? Dave - For me, the film always started picking up after he decides to buy the buggy. I love watching him fail at racing and then learn jumping with Rachel at lunch. I also really love the big argument between Rachel and Drew out in the desert. I think that’s the scene I’m most proud of. Trenton - I love the wedding cake tasting scene in the bathroom because not only is that super real for relationships, but it shows Dave’s humor in this undeniable way. I love both moments where the Sadie and Rachel both tell Drew, “You’re such a loser” — how that comes full circle to him and how it helps him finally make some decisions. I love the last look Drew gives Rachel in our film — it’s such a perfect moment that offers a lot of promise to where these characters are headed after our story ends. Did you need to use any RC "stunt" drivers to shoot some of the more complicated shots? Dave - Yea. Almost all of the driving was done by Cameron Neff and Jake Mayo. It would have been impossible for our actors to nail their lines and also hit those jumps! I personal drove the car a few times, but all the big jumps and race scenes were done by pro-drivers. How many times did filming stop while you fixed the RC car, were there many breakages? Dave - So many times! We only had 4 complete buggies, and they kept breaking, over and over. By the end of filming, we only have about 1-2 cars that could even drive. One chassis was completely bent in half, another car’s enter front end was destroyed. Keeping the cars running was probably the most stressful part of the whole shoot for me, and it was up to me to fix them on set. Was anyone in the cast or crew hit by an RC car? Dave - Sadly, yes! Our assistant DP, Britton Foster, was holding the camera low, between his legs. I wanted the car to zoom by right under the camera. I was driving and I ran the car into his ankle at 25mph or so. I felt terrible, but he was a good sport. His ankle was bruised for awhile! Totally a bad call on my part. What was it like filming around actual hobby enthusiasts at the track? Were they keen to be involved? Dave - It great! We wouldn’t have been able to get the shots of the races without actually being there during real events. Everyone had a lot of questions, and most people were super eager to jump in the shots, explain their setups with us, etc. We had our actor “fake interviewing” a lot of the racers in the pit areas. We went around with a stack of talent-releases and an assistant getting lots of shots to help add to the realism of the film. The really tough part was getting access to the race track. We usually only had it for 15-20 minute increments in-between the races. It was tough to pull off specific racing shots of the cars on the track with such time constraints. But overall, people were very willing to help out as long as their actual races didn’t get screwed up, haha. What is something people probably don't realise when watching this film that you'd love to tell people about? Dave - Just how much of a real passion I personally have for RC cars, and how I’ve used my own experiences with the hobby to help shape my character’s experiences. We had some pushback on how the racing in the film isn’t a huge part of the plot, but that was intentional. In my own life, I’ve always been fascinated by the racing culture, but was more drawn to the backyard jumping stuff. It was fully intentional for the film’s story to also reflect this. Trenton - For me, it’s an awareness that we took the risk of putting an RC car hobby into a movie in a world where IRL RC car fans are so fiercely passionate and driven by their love of RC cars. For those who struggle with seeing our trailer or movie and getting upset that we somehow depicted RC car culture wrong in some way, I would hope they would understand this is just one person, Dave’s take on merging a unique story, inspired by his personal life, with the RC car culture and by doing so, we are not saying we are masters or pros or know-it-all’s about this beloved hobby. Will there be a sequel? Dave - If someone has an idea of how to raise the money, of course! Chat with us, and let’s make it happen! What are you working on now? Trenton - Dave and I made a left turn to steer away from RC cars on the next movie: we are working on a script about the intersection of sexuality and spirituality, and the role shame plays at that intersection — how shame can eat you alive or hold you back from the kind of freedom and real self-respect that everyone’s meant to grasp.

New in 2020 comes the Dementor from Team Corally. Corally have been around long enough to know their onions, having won several world titles. However, they don’t just race, they bash too! Here we take a look one of their 1/8 scales, a very fast 1/8 scale Monster Truck. Out of the box you’ll get the car, transmitter and the usual paperwork. That’s the unboxing done! The transmitter is comfy in the hand with nicely weighted trigger and steer-wheel. It has the usual trim adjustments and reverse switches. The steering can quickly and easily be dialed up or down to suit either your driving style or terrain. It runs on just four AAs, but still has the right amount of weight to feel right. Now let’s get to the main event! The Dementor is a 1/8 scale, short wheel base, stunt truck. The bodyshell is heavy duty and has a simple fifties retro look to it. It also has a roll cage behind the drivers cab for extra body protection and sports a rear wing and wheelie bar, which you’ll definitely need! This truck has power, lots of power! The Dementor is designed for all weathers with moisture resistance built in to every component, from the steering servo to the receiver to the ESC. And let’s not forget rubber sealed bearings. The stance is wide on this truck, looking like it means business! Plenty of ground clearance courtesy of the huge rugged tyres and superb suspension. The shocks are aluminium bodied and fully threaded for quick and easy adjustment, and 16mm by the way! The shock caps are also aluminium for extra style and durability! This helps make short work of rough terrain and, of course, jumps! Bolted to the aluminium chassis you’ll find beefy A-arms designed to take on the most demanding of terrains, plus droop-screws for fine tuning. Sway bars are fitted front and rear to help keep the truck planted through the twisty stuff. Another worthy point is the towers, they’re CNC machined! And if that’s not impressive enough, the front tower is 4mm thick and the rear tower is a full 5mm thick! Up front are precision CVDs, while the rear has super tough dogbones to help cope with extreme power from the 2050kv, 4 pole motor! The Dementor is fast on 4S! On 6S........brace yourself! Corally claim 70mph, I’ll let somebody else test that! This truck rips, the power is brutal, but the drive-train is engineered to cope thanks to true 1/8 scale diffs and heavy duty drive-cups. The centre diff is a masterpiece of engineering with an ally diff cup and six planetary gears! The layout of the chassis is nicely optimised for weight bias, both front to rear and side to side. Right hand side has the servo, Rx box and motor. Left side is ESC and battery box. In the very centre is the CD mount topped off by a bodyshell support, nice touch! (Again!) The servo is all metal geared and provides 25kg of turning power, more than enough to get the job done. It’ll run up to 7.4 Volts for that extra zing when you’re avoiding trees, lamp posts and benches! (They do have a habit of moving around!) This truck is a great drive, providing smile inducing speed and handling! The rugged tyre tread is perfect for slinging up some impressive rooster tails, but don’t forget, too much throttle and this truck is airborne! The fun is all thanks to the great combo that comes pre-installed and ready to rip! (That’s RTR, get it?) The ESC is a beauty to look at, but the looks aren’t everything, it’s also what’s inside that counts! It’ll run either 4S or 6S, and counts out the cells with audible beeps so you know how lively things are about to get! The onboard BEC is not to be sniffed at either, it provides a maximum of 6 Amps, and is switchable between 6 Volts and 7.4 Volts. Of course the ESC has over-temp and overload protection to help keep the fun going all the way to cut-off! The motor is a 4 pole design with a 12 slot stator, this provides all the power and torque you could possibly need, and does it seamlessly and without breaking a sweat. The power delivery is silky smooth with no hint of cogging, Corally definitely got this right however the low gearing might make it a bit tricky to keep all 4 wheels on the ground. If you’re looking for an easy drive with controllable power, stick to 4s Lipo, otherwise, go off the rails on 6s! Who doesn’t love a one-wheel-wave?

Watching the trailer, Flying Cars might seem an unusual topic for a film but as an adult still playing with RC cars, it covers a lot of familiar stuff about the hobby - it’s pretty cool. “...you won’t find another opportunity to watch a full length RC movie” Written and directed by Dave Hill, who grew up with RC cars and is all about the casual bashing scene. The story follows the character Drew, with a dead end office job, little money, a rocky relationship but a true passion for what we all know is a fun and expensive hobby. Like many of us who were newbies in the RC scene, Drew’s first efforts in connecting with the RC community was to try racing and also like many of us who have played pinball bouncing around barriers at a track, we thought “nah”... launching them over jumps at your local BMX track is way more fun! “...the inner geek in you will probably start an easter egg hunt of how many RC brands you can spot” Drew soon ditches the racing scene and goes on an RC bashing rampage, he also ties in another passion a lot of RC enthusiasts share - making videos, as he films various attempts of launching his Associated RC8.2e off a homemade ramp and over his house, editing them together whenever he gets a chance. This doesn’t go down well for his fiance Sadie, who won’t take the hobby that Drew feels passionately about, seriously. A joke we pass around quite often of “don’t tell the wife” is amusingly present throughout the film. There are a lot of big names that will catch your eye and the inner geek in you will probably start an easter egg hunt of how many RC brands you can spot, there’s no hiding brands in this film, Team Associated, Reedy, Turnigy, Proline and many more make an appearance. During his RC endeavours Drew meets a talented girl, Rachael, at the local RC track who he shares his passion and adventures with throughout the story. Rachael is a young “I’m better than you” kinda girl when it comes to RC and while she might make you cringe at times with her dorky personality, it becomes apparent that she is mostly hanging about because she becomes a little attached to Drew - something his soon to be wife Sadie is not okay about. I watched Flying Cars with my girlfriend, who is not at all into RC, her thing is horses - and I’ve seen every horse movie there is (and there’s a lot of them), so this was my turn. Because I was bouncing off the walls telling her what every RC car I saw was, it was good to get a normal(?) persons perspective, of which she enjoyed the casual, romantic adventure. It’s a steady paced film. Drew is somewhat an anti-hero, questionably likable with his actions, which is unusual for a lead character - but life can be like that, some people just aren’t likable. In a nutshell, if you enjoy bashing your RC about and watching YouTube videos of others doing the same, you won’t find another opportunity to watch a full length RC movie you can geek off to and casually enjoy a fictional story along with it. Go check it out! Flying Cars is available to watch now on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Vimeo and Apple TV, find out more here: www.flyingcarsfilm.com Read our interview with Dave and Trenton, the men behind the movie here: Trailer

Hands on review of the Corally Mammoth 1/10th 2wd Monster Truck RTR and Corally Moxoo 1/10th 2wd Desert Racer RTR Upon opening the box, you could see these were well thought out models, which was a welcome surprise considering the brushless version will only set you back about £200. Corally might be new to the game when it comes to these style of fun, bash about models but the Belgium company has been around since 1984, making some of the highest spec gear in the R/C racing scene. They know their stuff and it shows. The Mammoth and Moxoo are on the same chassis but there are some minor differences. Lets go over the looks, The Mammoth is the 1/10th Monster Truck, featuring a cabin roll bar and wide front and rear bumpers. The shell is much more dominant and has a wider looking stance. The Moxoo, is the 1/10th Desert Racer. Large cut out wheel arches, a full roll cage (with lightpods to fit LEDs!), short front bumper - and a rear wheelie bar. Then to complete the scale look a driver and co-driver. It looks so much fun and convincingly life like when thrashing it around. The chassis feature adjustable shock which are well balanced, body mounts (which allow the shells to be easily interchangeable), steel turnbuckles, strong HiCC8 composite plastic, that is also found on their bigger models and the best part, a full metal gear transmission (no stripped gears here on your first outing!). The design of the chassis has a basher in mind, the bulk is only where you want it, thick suspension arms, extra thick suspension pin holders and in the places that matter most when you hit a lamp post at full speed. The full metal gear transmission also allows you to do what you want when it comes to the throttle, the power will be put down without the awful whirring of a stripped plastic gear! Time to go get these dirty. Straight from the box, the Mammoth was equipped with their Brushless Kuron, 3500kv 4-pole motor with my own 2s 5000mAh Lipo and the Moxoo was running their Speed-X 550 15t Brushed Motor with a 7.2v NIMH. These setups are available in both models. It was fun to run these side by side, it's been a while since I’ve used a brushed model and it went quite well, there was some elegance with the Moxoo Desert Racer at a steady speed, especially in the tighter areas, it handled it well. Still no match for brushless though, I wish I had a 3s Lipo with me, which is what both the brushed (yes, brushed on 3s!) and the Kuron B/L setup is capable of. The Mammoth had plenty of torque and a great pace, I was thirsty for more. 3500kv is a good middle point in 1/10th models, you have the speed, the torque and also the run time. It’s easy to get tempted for higher kv ratings but I always found myself going back to something more reliable with my other models. It’s the perfect choice by Corally. Wheelies were plenty in the Mammoth, despite the Moxoo having a wheelie bar, it struggled to get the front end up in the wet grass on the brushed setup. On the damp concrete, both had lots of time going sideways as the rear powered wheels kicked the back end, I got a little carried away doing donuts and attempting to soak spectators with the rooster tail of water! Overall, there’s not much bad to say about these, for the price they are an excellent model and if you can afford the brushless, it is absolutely worth it. To find out where to purchase these models, go here: https://www.cmldistribution.co.uk/model-shop-finder