At this year's International Toy Fair in Nuremberg/Germany LRP introduced the S8 Rebel BX entry-level 1/8 scale nitro 4WD buggy. Named after their successful S8 BX range of intermediate and competition buggies the Rebel completes the lower end of the range with an affordable price yet good spec offering that addresses beginners and cost oriented bashers without sacrificing performance or race-inspired details.
LRP's S8 Rebel BX is a typical 1/8 scale 4WD nitro buggy that offers a tough chassis, competition-inspired three differential drivetrain and strong suspension components in combination with a powerful .25/4.1cc engine. LRP's package also includes a 27MHz AM radio system with strong servos and more.
Overview
The buggy features a wide black anodised 3mm thick chassis plate with countersunk screws and front kick-up to allow for more ground clearance when passing jumps and landing them. The chassis itself is relatively wide with small plastic side guards attached to it. On the right side of the chassis the steering and throttle/brake servos are located in the radio tray constructed from a blue anodised aluminium plate and plastic stand-offs. Behind the radio tray the large RC box for the 27MHz AM receiver and the receiver battery is located.
On the opposite site of the servo tray the 125ml competition fuel tank is mounted to the chassis plate. The tank features a scale to estimate the remaining amount of fuel, an inner sintered filter element and a special handle for the flip-flop fuel filler cap that does away with the need to make one on your own using zip-ties or the like.
The last but not least part on the chassis is the specially designed Z.25R Sport pullstart nitro engine with 2.73HP and a maximum RPM of 34,100. The blue anodised cooling head sport cool laser-engraved logos and the recoil starter does away with the need to carry a bulky and heavy starterbox with you. A two-needle slide carburettor allows for easy adjustment of the fuel mixture and the supplied duel-stage air filter helps to keep dust and dirt away from the delicate engine internals. Coupled to the engine is a two-piece composite plastic tuned pipe that is designed to get the most out of the .25 big block engine and reducing the noise emission at the same time.
The four spider gears centre differential is oil-filled and sits in a centre bulkhead that also houses the two disc brake assembly that consists of fibre brake pads and vented steel disc brakes. The linkages allow brake balance adjustments so you can set the brake bias just like seen on real race cars.
The drive from the centre diff to the front and rear gear boxes is transferred using metal "dogbone" driveshafts which are cheaper than the universal driveshafts found on competition chassis but work as good as this more expensive solution. The front and rear differentials are identical to the centre one with four internal spider gears but set-up differently with harder 7,000 CPS oil in the front and lighter 3,000 CPS oil in the rear.
Plastic chassis braces reinforce the chassis and keep it from becoming "folded". Their clever one-piece design, especially the one up front, is a nice design touch as the brace also acts as a steering upper brace to keep the inner steering posts in place. The steering itself is of a solid design with an integrated servo saver and brass bushings that reduce friction on the steering posts and also make the steering less prone to become blocked when the buggy is used in dusty conditions.
The suspension is "competition-inspired" according to LRP meaning the S8 Rebel BX features tough wishbones, adjustable upper camber links and multiple adjustment holes for the shock absorbers, camber links and even allows for optional anti-roll bars as the Rebel comes without some. The lower wishbones also have integrated grub screws to adjust the droop of the suspension - something that is very handy to adjust the suspension set-up to various track surfaces. With the help of the two different mounting holes in the wishbones and the three upper holes in the front and four upper holes in the rear 3.5mm aluminium shock towers the damping characteristic of the large volume oil-filled shocks is adjustable.
The shocks with a diameter of 19.5mm feature thick 3.5mm shock shafts for best durability and lightweight plastic shock caps and bodies. The spring preload/ride height is adjustable using plastic clips. As the Rebel is a budget car, no shock boots are supplied as they are standard with competition-level kits to protect the shock shafts and shock seals from dust and dirt but with a bit of regular maintenance like cleaning and checking for worn-out parts that isn't much of a problem.
Track Test
Being a Ready-to-run buggy, before heading out to the track nothing much was left to do than to put eight AA-size batteries into the transmitter, charge and install a suitable receiver battery and to oil the air filter foams with air filter oil. But, as with every nitro car being a kit of RTR offering, the engine needed to be broken in. This is often a time consuming and boring part of our hobby and not less often combined with the frustrating part of bringing a factory-new nitro engine to life for the first time. With the Rebel's Z.25R Sport engine, the running in procedure was a real pleasure as the motor literally started with the first pull of the starter cord and behaved trouble-free afterwards.
We let the engine run on raised idle for the first tank and also left the carburettor's main needle untouched to help the components of the engine bed in. With the second tank the fun started as we began to drive the S8 Rebel BX round our test track. With a slightly leaner main needle setting (around 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn) the Z.25R Sport ran at around 90 Degrees Celsius which is a good temperature to not overly stress the engines liner and piston but also to ensure a proper engine break-in.
With the forth tank of 25% nitro fuel we started to further lean the mixture created by the carburettor to have the engine at around 100 Degrees. The LRP pullstart engine started to show it potential and pleased us with its massive low-end torque that started to appear after we began to extract more power from the engine. It seems that LRP made a good decision of using an "outlaw" .25/4.1cc engine that sports a larger displacement of regular .21/3.5cc race motors making them less RPM-hungry but at the same time increase the overall torque. This makes these engines ideal for the average basher as they are not only easier to adjust but also more reliable compared to the .21 "competition screamers". Despite the "lack" of overall RPM the engine propels the light-weight buggy to enormous speed levels making it almost too fast for beginners. The massive low-end torque adds to the impression of a very, very well powered buggy meaning beginners should get some assistance form experienced drivers until they are familiar with the speed levels of an 1/8 scale buggy.
One thing that soon became apparent was the massive appetite for fuel. With the main carburettor needle being adjusted for a relatively rich mixture during run-in, the runtimes levelled off at around 5 minutes at cruise speed. When the breaking-in procedure is completed and given a correct carburettor setting running times of around 6 or 7 minutes should be within reach.
When it came to bashing the S8 Rebel BX around the track the buggy behaved flawlessly. Even after some bad landings coming of the various jumps nothing broke or became loose. The only minor problem we spotted was the throttle linkage collar that gave too much dead band before the carb slider was engaged. Therefore we set the throttle and brake servo to neutral, loosened the collar's grub screw, slid the collar all the way back towards the servo horn and adjusted a gap of 1mm between the collar and the servo horn. This ensures a smooth working throttle without excessive dead band.
As our test track is a really rough one we gave the chassis a tad more ground clearance by using some more spring preload clips to adjust the wishbones slightly above level. This also made the Rebel jump even better although the buggy never let us down here. One thing that was obvious was that the powerful steering servo also make for a very agile steering although the metal gear servo is not the fastest fish in the pond. But the overall performance was very good and it is easy to throw the buggy from corner to corner even on tight and twitchy circuits even without anti-roll bars that normally make for a more aggressive steering feeling. The good overall impression of the buggy was also much helped by the grippy LRP VTEC Kamikaze tyres the Rebel came with. They provided loads of traction on both the soft and hard parts of the track's surface.
In Detail
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RC box The RC box features two different compartments for the 27MHz AM 2-channel receiver and the receiver battery. See our Tips & Tricks section below to choose the right receiver battery pack and we also recommend to wrap both the receiver and the battery pack in a bit of foam to safe them from the vibrations created by the high revving nitro engine. |
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Servos Often entry-level Ready-to-run cars come with cheap electronics limiting their performance especially if weak and slow steering servos are used. LRP supplies a powerful mid-range steering servo with the S8 Rebel BX that not only sports metal gears, ball bearings and a heatsink case but also delivers 9kg-cm of torque meaning it has enough power to point the wheels where you want to making for an agile handling even in deep sand or on high-grip surfaces. The throttle and brake servo on the other hand is a typical entry-level servo with plastic gears but it does the job just right and is powerful enough to make for moderate stopping performance. |
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Instructions LRP supplies a good set of instructions with the Rebel buggy. The manual not only shows how to assemble the S8 (yeah, it already is assembled) and knowing on how to disassemble and put the parts together again is a good thing when maintaining the car or if it comes to replace broken parts. The instructions additionally explain how to run-in and maintain the motor and give some basic information on suspension set-up if you plan to optimise the basic setting. |
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Clutch LRP supplies a good set of instructions with the Rebel buggy. The manual not only shows how to assemble the S8 (yeah, it already is assembled) and knowing on how to disassemble and put the parts together again is a good thing when maintaining the car or if it comes to replace broken parts. The instructions additionally explain how to run-in and maintain the motor and give some basic information on suspension set-up if you plan to optimise the basic setting. |
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Things you need LRP's S8 Rebel BX is a Ready-to-run buggy but you still need to source some parts to get the buggy running. You need at least a fuel bottle, 25% Nitro RC-Car fuel, a glow igniter, 8 AA-size dry cells or rechargeable batteries for the transmitter, a 4 to 5-cell receiver battery pack and a suitable charger for the receiver and transmitter batteries. And of course a set of tools containing at least a glow plug and wheel nut wrench, a large Phillips head driver and a large slot driver for the carburettor adjustment. Most of the parts you need is included in LRP's Nitro Starter Set #37000. |
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Technical data LRP S8 Rebel BX - Lenght: 505mm - Width: 300mm - Wheelbase: 322mm - Height: 206mm - Weight: 3200g |
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Likes & Dislikes + Strong steering servo + Powerful and easy to tune engine + Strong suspension and drivetrain parts + High-grip tyres - Some rusted parts even when new - No hex screws |
Tips & Tricks
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Receiver battery pack LRP supplies no cell holder for the receiver battery (well, at least our review example came without one but a cell holder is visible/referred to in the manual) and/but we strongly recommend the use of soldered and shrink-wrapped pre-configurated 4-cell or 5-cell receiver battery packs with 6.0V or even 7.4V LiPo packs with an additional voltage regulator as these not only boost the speed and torque of the servos but also offer additional safety as they are soldered and shrink-wrapped instead of just being clicked into the cell holder. Also possible is one of the new LiFePo packs with 6.6V that is usable without an additional voltage regulator. LRP offers a suitable one: #79955 LRP VTEC LiFePo RX Pack 2000mAh. |
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Parts quality Unfortunately we spotted a couple of already rusted parts on the Rebel. The rear drive shaft as well as a handful of screws on the centre bulkhead showed slight signs of rust. This will not hurt the performance or general usability but looks a bit unsightly especially on a brand new car. If you experience something similar simply wipe the screw heads and the driveshaft with WD40 or similar multifunctional sprays. |
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Air filter The supplied air filter elements should be treated with air filter oil such as LRP's Hi-Flow air filter oil. You can use the bag the foam elements and the plastic parts are delivered in. Simply cut the bag on the upper side, take all parts out, put the inner and outer foam elements back in, apply a good couple of drops of air filter oil, massage the oil in and assemble the air filter. There is much discussion if the outer element has to be treated too and from our own experience and talking to pros the answer is a definite YES! Why? Because the outer element keeps away most of the dust and dirt plus it seals the edged of the foam where it contacts the plastic parts of the air filter. Even if you run in very dusty conditions and have to change the outer foam every five runs or so it is much cheaper to buy new foams rather than a new engine because you killed one as a result of dust and dirt entering the combustion camber as a result of being a cheapskate! |
Links:
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