Radio Control Car Action - September 2009

Monster trucks aren’t your style? Don’t worry. CEN offers this truck in a stadium truck version with a sleek body and smaller stadium truck tires. It’s called the MG10-TRII and is a blast to drive. Check out CEN’s website for more details.

❯❯ Runs great out of the box ❯❯ Good radio ❯❯ Scale-like monster truck performance +

The CEN MG10-MT3 is an all-out basher meant for rough surfaces, backyard bashing and BMX tracks. The large monster-truck wheels on the MT3 can be quite fun. It makes the suspension seem extra plush and bouncy, when in reality, the tires contribute to this fact a lot. At full speed, the truck can get unsettled in bumps, and it does have a tendency to flip if a big enough bump is hit. I could not keep the truck at full throttle off-road for long times. The truck’s handling characteristics are very predictable, however; you can save many tip-overs by countersteering or applying throttle or brake at the correct moment. After a tank or two, I was able to drive on two wheels for extended periods of time. It really gives me the feeling of driving a scaled-down version of a full-scale monster truck, just the way it should be. The included radio gear worked great. The truck came trimmed from the factory, and I only applied a very small amount of steering trim. The servo-saver is a bit weak and causes the servo to struggle when turning the tires when the truck idles. This will save parts in the long run, however, I don’t see any immediate need to change to a different setup if you’re just having fun. The brakes surprised me with their effectiveness. I could stop instantly at almost any speed, and could only grab a certain amount of braking power before I was afraid I might flip the truck. It is always good to know that your truck will brake properly when you tell it. Landing jumps was also easy. With the strong brakes, you can bring the nose down in a hurry, or a blip of the throttle will bring the nose up. The extra large tires provide plenty of rotational mass for in-air corrections, and the suspension seems to be set up perfectly for small to medium jumps. I am amazed at how realistic the suspension works when landing a jump; I’d swear I was at a monster truck show driving this thing. I had great luck with the 3.0cc engine included with the MT3. It fired up instantly and continued to do so within one or two short pulls each time. The engine was set very rich from the factory; I could not proceed to break it in without leaning the high-speed needle considerably. After a few tanks for break-in, I was very surprised by how the engine behaved. It had such a smooth power band, that full throttle pulls were very easy, and it got up to 36mph in a hurry. Because the power was delivered in such a predictable manner, the power was easily managed without any tendency to spin out under hard acceleration. At the end of the day, I only broke a body post after flipping over a few times while trying to get up to speed on rough terrain. Everything else held up fine after multiple tanks of fuel. PERFORMANCE

❯❯ Flimsy shock
towers/body posts
❯❯ Some of the Phillips
hardware is stripped
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The CEN MG10-MT3 is a nice basher that can be run with success right out of the box. It’s a great first vehicle for newcomers to nitro, or to the hobby in general. The scale looks and strong performance make the truck a blast to drive. I had a lot of fun two-wheeling and making scale-like saves after a few jumps. This seems to have been lost lately in most of the high-performance trucks nowadays; with this truck, it’s back to the basics. And it couldn’t be more fun to drive. A high-quality radio and engine along with quality assembly from the factory make the MT3 a winner. VERDICT

SOURCES Byron Fuels byronfuels.com CEN Racing cenracing.com MaxAmps.com maxamps.com

SUSPENSION. The shock absorbers are nice and long and allow plenty of articulation. Limiters are placed on the shafts to help prevent unnecessary bottoming out. I suspect if you raised the ride height on the truck, you can play with the limiter to get even more suspension travel. The shocks seemed to squeak after a few runs, and upon further inspection, it was the shock ends ball joints making the noise. A little WD- 40 fixed this

“problem,” and they performed flawlessly for many runs. The shocks are placed at a somewhat aggressive angle to allow for clearance of the body.

MAINTENANCE. Maintenance is a breeze. CEN designed this truck to be easily broken down and maintained as quickly as possible. For example, the differentials can be taken out by removing eight screws. When I was working on the truck, everything came apart very

easily, without the need to take off multiple pieces to get at critical areas in the truck. My only complaint is that the Philips screws can strip if you aren’t careful. However, using these types of screws allows the newbie to get going quickly without having to buy an expensive set of hex drivers.

STEERING. The steering setup is simple and works effectively. I found the servo-saver to be a bit soft; the included steering

servo had difficulty turning the tires unless the truck was in motion. A stiffer servo-saver may help improve response; however, I would leave it with the stock setup to help preserve the servo gears and take as much stress as possible off the steering. The servo for the throttle/brakes is fantastic and will stop the truck on a dime— much better than some RTRs in the same category.