Thunder Tiger DT-10 - Nitro RC Stadium Truck
In my post about the Kyosho Wild Dodge Ram I mentioned I was looking for something quicker for my next foray into nitro RC trucks. My search began on the internet, looking around for a truck that would fit my new criteria, the selection was vast and needed narrowing down a little! A trip to my local hobby store allowed me to see some of the trucks I was considering in the flesh and see what they were really all about.
In the end I settled on a 1/10th scale Thunder Tiger DT-10 stadium truck, largely because I had seen a friend’s DT-10 in action and I was impressed by just how rapid the little gas powered RC truck was. I’m not sure if it was ever available as a kit but mine came in ready to run (RTR) form. It too had a .15 cu engine but this time in a stripped down lightweight stadium truck form with the QRC assembly gone and a disc brake in its place. This little truck really did move, both on and off road, its acceleration and top speed were both far far superior to that of the Kyosho Wild Dodge Ram I owned previously.
Sounds great and it was, at one stage we had 3 identical DT-10 trucks thrashing around improvised courses which was a whole lot of fun! So what were the downsides to these rapid little beasts? Well, we soon found out that stadium trucks aren’t built quite as tough as monster trucks and the repair bills were coming in more frequently than they had before. Nothing horrendous but things like suspension parts, exhausts and drive train components were changed multiple times over their lifespan either through crash damage or general wear and tear.
The DT-10 had a nasty tendency to roll or flip under hard cornering at speed as their stock suspension setup was extremely soft and allowed the truck’s centre of gravity to shift around rather more than would be ideal. This was rectified by stiffening things up (especially at the front), making a much more drivable truck than its stock trim. Being a 2WD truck the soft rear tyres were easily chewed up if running on tarmac so some aftermarket tyres were soon on the shopping list. The biggest niggle with this truck though was its scary ability to destroy differentials! I lost track of the number of times these were replaced on the three trucks in our group. A case of just too much power being put through a drive train that wasn’t quite up to it I suspect.
Overall the DT-10 provided many many hours of nitro truck fun and I wouldn’t have changed my time with it for anything. In the end it moved on to make way for a new rc nitro truck, what could it be I wonder? You’ll have to wait and find out in part three! If the DT-10 sounds like the kind of truck for you then you might be interested in the Traxxas Jato 3.3 Nitro RC Truck, a modern day nitro RC stadium truck
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