[suicideneil]

Had one MMM V3 & sold it, only to buy another one the same- am I reading that right?

1) possible- that motor is wayyy too big, and the kv wayyy too high for that voltage (6s lipo). You should have choosen either a ~1500-1600kv motor for 6s, in the 1515 size at most, or the 1515 1y (2200kv) for 4s lipo use. Seems you had a setup that was pulling more current than either of your escs could safely handle.

2) nope. The heat of the fire & current draw would have been enough for the solder to melt on one or more of the plugs, but it wouldnt melt in a tidy or orderly fashion- like you said, just a firey melt down.

3) Unlikely. The design is such that they couldnt short out unless you made a poor soldering job, but since the esc ran fine for a while, that rules out the connectors or bad wiring more than likely as the cause.

Bad setup is my verdict- I suggest having a look in the 1/8 scale buggy & truggy sections to get an idea of what others are using in similar vehicles to yours, but your motor choice is way too big and fast for the size, weight and voltage you were using...