Taking it to the Next Level in Scale Detail
Through the doors of the RC Driver office pass countless numbers of cool RC products, but they are not always very original. When innovative products do arrive, the editors stop everything they are doing to go and pore over the new items. The most recent crop of products that stopped us in our tracks came from a brand new company named Killerbody.
WORDS: Paul Onorato PHOTOS: Walter Sidas
Killerbody offers a slew of great-looking aftermarket bodies, including ones for short course, 1/8-scale buggy and 1/7, 1/10 and 1/28-scale touring cars. The bodies are available clear, printed or ‘Finished’, meaning not only printed with a paint scheme, but decaled with the detail accessories already installed for you. In the Killerbody lineup you will also find officially licensed bodies from the likes of Alfa Romeo, Chevrolet and Mitsubishi. This not only gives us hobbyists highly detailed production cars at our disposal, but also some fully decked-out racecar bodies complete with all the sponsor stickers, like the 2011 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R that competed in the American Le Mans Series.
This is just a small taste of what Killerbody has to offer for bodies and scale accessories.
What makes Killerbody stand out from other body manufacturers is its massive assortment of ground-breaking accessories that add remarkable scale detail and realism to your RC vehicle. Besides the typical light buckets with LED light kits, Killerbody makes such scale accessories as functioning windshield wipers, short course interior kits, driver figures, seat belts, functioning ratchet tie downs, simulated roll cages and bumpers with light buckets to just name a few. We are going to start off by highlighting the short course side of the Killerbody product lineup and touch on the touring car products.
SHORT COURSE BODIES AND ACCESSORIES
We are going to focus this particular article on the short course (SC) product offerings from Killerbody. This is because this class is still so hot right now and there is just not enough space to cover everything that Killerbody produces. In the short course lineup, you will obviously find SC bodies along with a ton of inventive accessories that transform an ordinary short course truck into a highly realistic-looking off-road ride. The accessories include full interior kits, internal roll cage, rear roll cage, fire extinguishers, molded spare tires, functioning ratchet tie downs, side view mirrors, roof mounted light bar, light buckets for front and rear, LED light kits with control boxes, bumpers, mud flaps, light bar for the front bumper, seats, driver figures, seat belts, window net and metal protective screens. The photos will tell the rest of the story on these accessories.
The Killerbody short course body is named Monster and is designed to fit HPI, Team Associated and Traxxas SC trucks. Dimples are molded into the body so that you can properly place the holes for the body posts of the chassis for each of the aforementioned vehicle manufacturers. The Monster body will fit other brands of SC trucks but you are on your own with mounting it onto your selected chassis. The short course body is available clear or printed in one of three unique paint schemes. Shown here are the Tattoo and Mars versions. There is also the option to purchase the printed body without any accessories or ‘Finished’, which includes the roof mounted light bar, polycarbonate spare tire set, rear role bar, fire extinguishers, side view mirrors and light buckets. The finished body comes out of the box completely assembled for you. This basically turns the unassuming short course body into a badass desert race truck. One of the standout features on the printed bodies that you rarely find on other brand’s shells is the clear windows. Since the polycarbonate is printed when it is still a flat sheet of material, before it is molded into an SC body, getting the clear sections for the windows to properly line up in the exact positions when the polycarbonate is pulled on the mold is very tricky. That is why most manufacturers skip this step and simply use a sticker to simulate a window.
TOURING CAR BODIES AND ACCESSORIES
As mentioned earlier, Killerbody offers a host of touring car bodies in 1/7, 1/10 and 1/28-scales and molded in numerous hot styles. The 1/7-scale bodies are designed to specifically fit the Traxxas XO-1 on-road supercar, the 1/10-scales fit 190mm size touring cars and the 1/28-scale shells work with the Kyosho Mini-Z. Included in the list of available bodies are some special, officially licensed versions like the Corvette GT2 racecar, Alfa Romeo 8C, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Advan racecar and 2011 Chevrolet Camaro.
Shown here is the 1/10 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution body that is detailed with a molded rear wing, lower diffuser with exhaust tips, ground effects, front and rear light buckets with LEDs, stainless steel air intake mesh in the front bumper, windshield wipers and side view mirrors with integrated LED lights. This body is mounted on a Killerbody display chassis with stealth body mounts.
LINK
Killerbody www.killerbodyrc.com, sales@suntradeltd.com
Killerbody RC does make awesome looking bodies, however, trying to find a distributor or vender that carries them in the USA that actually carries the product is most challenging. The Killerbody RC website will give you a vendor map, but its not accurate. Many on the list do not carry Killerbody RC products. It’s like pulling teeth trying to get what you want. Too bad, because their product is far superior to the competitors.
Hey Jack. Their bodies are pretty cool; I really loved the look of the GT2 Corvette on my XO-1. Have you tried contacting them directly to see who carries the bodies? That might be your best bet at the moment. Good luck.