JConcepts Tusk & Hunk Class 1 tires
JConcepts continues to muscle new scale off-road items into the market with the introduction of the Tusk 1.9” tire. After successful class 1 tires such as the Landmines and Bounty Hunters, the team focused on a new design with learned information by driving, crawling, and important input from a heap of development time by the JConcepts team. The team retained the 4.19” sizing making it an approved and scale-based tire, but the tread layout went under the scope for changes. The Tusk has an animal like instinct while it makes its way over terrain with hefty lugs and sidewall support. The centre of the tire starts with a V-shaped lug with multiple steps to the sides for additional grip while the green compound rubber flexes and contours to the landscape. The design team added large, staggered traction bars off the side continuing the V-shape pattern and while the shorter version steps in conjunction with the centre lug, the longer version fills a void underneath and meets up near the centre line of the tire.
The Mirrored aspect to the tire lays out beautifully and alternating rows provide a staggered height effect. JConcepts has added sidewall lugging for pinch grip and gap crawling and relieved a small portion of rubber for increased flexibility. All traction bars and lugging have relieved cuts and slots on the top to split up the flat surfaces for additional little edges for light dirt, dust, and debris. The sidewall lettering is highly detailed on the Tusk with naming, sizing, and identification.
The flexibility of the green compound combined with the lug arrangement gives the tire a grippy feel but still maintains the all-important scale and performance look. The overall height provides plenty of ground clearance for class 1 vehicles for an abundance of terrain. The tires include a medium open cell foam insert capable of standing up to the super soft compound but flexible enough for sharp terrain.
The pavement pounder with scale looks is what the Hunk tire brings to the proverbial table on the RC scale scene. The 3.93” overall size places the tire in the Class 1 dimensional requirements and the interlocking design has good looks and bravado to go along with it. Industry standard bead mounting diameter of 1.9” fits a huge assortment of wheels on the market so the Hunk can be teamed with just about any combination imaginable. A great all-terrain tire usually begins in the centre of the tire, this determines rolling efficiency and grip characteristics. The centre of the tire features an intertwined large feature lug that are U-shaped and have certain critical places removed for grippy edges in slimier conditions. Under hard loading situations the tire will flatten out and that is where the performance value of the outer tire tread begins to function under pressure.
Alternating husky rows of outer tread breaks through a variety of terrain and produces a paddle like effect. Hard edges and angles measure up to the centre structure of the tire giving gap consistency throughout the design. As the tread terminates into the tire body, slight angular and height changes help with deflection and will help contour to tight driving quarters. A radial sidewall rib has been added for stability and small openings added for grabbing space.
The sidewall lettering is detailed with old western JConcepts lettering, sized, and placed with appropriation. The Hunk has visible part number, overall tire sizing and low sidewall rib and hatch marks near the bead area. The flexibility of the green compound combined with the lug arrangement gives the tire a grippy feel but still maintains the all-important scale and performance look. The overall height provides plenty of ground clearance for class 1 vehicles over an abundance of terrain. The tires include a medium open cell foam insert capable of standing up to the super soft compound but flexible enough for sharp terrain.
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]
