A few months ago, you saw us review the new mini monster truck from ECX, the Smash. This is a 1/18 Monster truck from the company formerly know as Electrix. They are an arm of Horizon Hobby. That being said, it is no surprise this truck shares a lot of parts with the Losi Mini T. That got us to thinking…we have a propensity for making things fast (i.e Project Overkill). With so many available upgrades for the Mini T, how fast can we make the Smash? “Operation: Smash Redemption” was born.

We started off by picking up the Smash at our local hobby shop, Buddyboys RC.

So what exactly are we doing to this thing?? Well, we need more power, that’s for sure. The stock ESC and motor are weak on AA’s. They do ok on a 7.2V 6 cell Nimh pack, reaching approximately 15 MPH. If you’ve ever driven a stock Mini Late Model, this truck is about the same speed with a Nimh battery.

Here are the goodies we started with. The motor changed almost immediately after this photo. This was the motor I was using in my mini open car at Buddyboys RC, and I fried it the day after I took this picture. Also pictured are the bearings from Fast Eddy, shocks for the Mini T, a Losi 2.4 Ghz radio and receiver, and a Dynamite Brushless ESC.

Let’s start tearing apart the Smash, and prepare it for awesomeness. If you’ve never worked on a mini RC, take it from me. The screws are tiny. Having my Cow RC Screw catcher mat under me is going to pay off this time.

The stock motor plate is going to present a problem. As you can see here, there is no adjustment built in for the motor. We’ll need to replace it with a motor plate out of the Mini T. (For what it’s worth, the motor plate from the Losi Mini Late Model will also fit)