RC Monster Trucks

Remote control monster trucks (also known as radio control monster trucks or RC monster trucks) all have one thing in common. Whatever their size, power type, or performance capabilities, they’re designed to look like the massive full-size trucks that thrill crowds at fairs and in arenas with their loud engines and spectacular stunts. Monster trucks with remote control have proportionally huge tires for their size and often outrageous body trim schemes. Like the real monster trucks, many can do backflips and wheelies.

In full scale, monster trucks are generally defined as off-road vehicles that have been customized for competition or entertainment use with large displacement engines, heavy-duty suspensions, four-wheel steering, and oversized tires. Over the past 40 years they’ve evolved into 1500 horsepower machines that can jump, do backflips, and perform sustained wheelies and endos that drive crowds wild.

Like those full-scale monster trucks, remote control hobby monster trucks attract enthusiastic fans of all ages. If you like your remote control vehicles over-built and over-powered, RC monster trucks are for you!

Hobby-quality remote control monster trucks go beyond simply reproducing the looks of real monster trucks. Many RC monster trucks are engineered to take part in events that are run just like full-scale monster truck competitions. The radio control trucks compete head-to-head over identical courses, similar to a drag race but with turns and jumps. Then, when the race is over, the drivers display their skills at freestyle action.

To develop remote control monster trucks that recreate the full-size trucks as closely as possible in every way, hobby manufacturers including Losi® and Axial® collaborate with prominent organizations and individuals in the real monster truck world — such as Monster Jam® and Dennis Anderson, the “godfather of monster trucks.” Anderson built his iconic Grave Digger monster truck brand by selling T-shirts as he traveled from fair to fair, where he demoed that now-iconic truck.

The Grave Digger is faithfully represented in the Losi RC monster truck lineup by the 1/10 scale brushless LMT Grave Digger. It’s also available in a lower-priced brushed version from Axial®. Both of these RC trucks come ready-to-run and are officially licensed by Monster Jam.

The impressive scale detail you can enjoy in your remote control monster trucks often includes headers, driver figures, and even LED lights. And beneath the exterior realism, manufacturers incorporate tough internal engineering comparable to the real trucks for all-out performance. Whether you’re a scale modeler, a basher, or a racer, you can find a monster truck with remote control that’s well-suited for almost any driving purpose. Tower Hobbies® offers an enormous selection of remote control monster trucks in many different sizes with a variety of performance capabilities.

You might naturally assume that anything called a monster truck must be big. Remote control monster trucks like the Redcat Racing Rampage MT will reinforce that assumption. Measuring more than two feet long with a wheelbase over 20 inches, it combines huge, 1/5 scale dimensions with authentic 32cc gasoline engine power. Large, loud, and fast, this remote control truck earns the name monster! At the opposite extreme, however, there’s the 1/28 scale Associated MT28. Very affordable and under six inches long, it’s a mini electric RC monster truck that anyone can own — and run almost anywhere, even on an indoor obstacle course.

The 1/8 scale brushless electric RC monster trucks from ARRMA® demonstrate the extreme performance capabilities possible with remote control monster trucks. If you crave speed, the all-terrain KRATON® 6S delivers with up to 60 mph possible in optimum conditions using a 6S LiPo battery and the included optional speed pinion gear. The ARRMA NOTORIOUS™ 6S has equal speed potential, plus a tough chassis design that’s ideal for long wheelies, tight donuts, high leaps, standing and aerial backflips, and more freestyle monster truck stunts.

Remote control monster trucks are available from Tower Hobbies in kit form and ready-to-run (RTR). The ready-to-run RC monster trucks are ideal for anyone who wants to start driving immediately, and they’re especially good choices for beginners. They come assembled and finished out of the box, with most of the required accessories included. You may need a battery and charger, so be sure to read the product description when ordering. Though ready-to-run remote control monster trucks make good beginner models, don’t assume they’re less powerful than kits. Check out the ready-to-run Redcat Racing Shredder, for example. This 1/6 scale brushless electric RC monster truck is over two feet long and can charge across terrain that stops some 1/10 scale vehicles in their tracks.

For those who’d rather assemble their own remote control truck, RC monster truck kits are available at varying levels of completion. The Axial 1/10 SMT10™ Raw Builders Kit is a tube frame chassis very similar to those used in full-size monster trucks. The body, electronics, tires, and radio are not included so that experienced modelers can choose their own. Again, read the kit product descriptions for details on how much building you’ll have to do and what additional components you’ll need to buy.

Replacement and optional parts for your remote control monster truck are also available from Tower Hobbies. Like full-scale drivers, see what you can do to make your RC monster truck go faster and jump farther!