Hi there, awesome thread and awesome to see it maintained for so many years.
Soldering newb here, bought a couple short course trucks to get back into the hobby with a friend after a few years off and got some Turnigy Trackstar sensored motors/ESC/Batteries to put in them.
To put it bluntly, everything holds together well but its messy. I need some help and am very worried.
After calibrating my control to the ESC yesterday, a shower of sparks fired out the ESC where the motor wires are soldered but everything kept running till I shut it off. I also noticed the 4MM HXT connectors were VERY hot after just a few seconds. Haven't plugged it back in out of caution since then.

I can take a pic, but here were a couple questions. If Solder has run from one ESC post to the next, could this be shorting out? Also are those wires supposed to be 100% covered in solder? I can see a spot or two where there are wire thats a bit exposed.

Thanks in advance for any advice.