If you were to pick one, which would it be?

[neverfollow 599]

I have a birthday coming up and my wife wants to treat me to a new kit. I don't want her to spend too much money, so I narrowed her options down to two kits. A TA05 V2 or a TB02.

So which would you choose, and why?

Thanks in advance, pics of the two kits attached.

[dutch_rc 71]

It would have to be the TB for me, as I am a shaftie.

[XV Pilot 1936]

For me it would come down to where I was planning to run it. If the car was to be run on an average carpark-type surface, with small loose stones, etc, I would go for the TB02 with its enclosed diffs and shaft drive.

However if it was to be raced on indoor carpet tracks, or similarly clean, stone-free settings, I would go for the TA05V2, which in my experience has a slight edge in terms of overall performance.

[SteveU30 1011]

Might I suggest one more to consider, belt drive but sealed for 'bashing' purposes, this is going to be my birthday present in a couple of months:

You can even get the Pro version which comes with TRF dampers and TA06 suspension.

[alfagta 126]

if you go for the tb-02 you must budget for hop up diffs as the plastic diff half's are weaker than a weak thing from a weak place not to mention the diff screws have a habit of snapping too , i shredded 6 pairs of diff halves and many screws running a 27t epic brushed motor , never had the ta-05 so cant comment on it , i would go for xv-01 if the car is going to be used in the street and on track .

[ChrisRx718 4470]

I would say the TB02 is getting on a bit now, and whilst the shaft drivetrain is more hard-wearing the parts will be harder to obtain than those for the TA05, so out of the two I'd get the TA05.

However, much like the posts above, there is no right 'answer' since the TA05V2 may not be entirely suitable either!

The XV01 is nice and (relatively) new, I think we'll see more hop-ups / versions of this in due course.

The TB02 has been superseded twice, both the TB03 and TB04 have followed.

Anything BUT a TT02!

[Percymon 2184]

For me it would come down to where I was planning to run it. If the car was to be run on an average carpark-type surface, with small loose stones, etc, I would go for the TB02 with its enclosed diffs and shaft drive.

However if it was to be raced on indoor carpet tracks, or similarly clean, stone-free settings, I would go for the TA05V2, which in my experience has a slight edge in terms of overall performance.

+1

if you've never had a belt drive car its interesting to own one, for the difference in drivetrain noise when running.

[neverfollow 599]

Thank you gents for all of the feedback.

I own 2 TA03's and 2 TA04's, and a TA05 would be nice to add to the collection.

I'm not really concerned about the TB02 being old, since I prefer older kits, and searching for hop-ups, etc.

The only other shaft driven 4wd touring car I own is a TT01.

The XV is a very nice kit, but call me silly, I'm more after the body of either the TA or TB. I know the Porsche is becoming more rare, since I heard Tamiya had licensing issues when releasing that kit.

I do not race, just some Tarmac bashing/driving. And so far, all of my touring cars (with many hop-ups) have been fine for how I drive them.

I think I'm leaning more towards the TB, because the TA may be more readily available in the future.

But I'd still love to hear more feedback. Thanks again!

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

I'd avoid the TB02 for a few reasons:

- The solid prop shaft also doubles as pinion shafts in the gearboxes. When the chassis flexes, the pinion gears plunge into the ring gears. The TB03 is a better design with a floating prop shaft and separate pinion shafts. The mesh between the pinion and ring gears is not affected by chassis flex.

- The diffs are built with the springs right underneath the thrust bearings. It's almost impossible to have a straight spring and get consistent thrust bearing loading. The diffs are known to loosen on their own. Both the TB02 and OFNA JL10 share this design issue, and both have problems with the diffs loosening on their own. The TB03 is a better design with the spring opposite the thrust bearing (in the other diff half).

- The steering is sloppy and needs the aluminum steering set to fix it. The TB03 is better out of the box, but can be made almost slop-free with a drill bit and a set of flanged bearings.

- The chassis tub is a bit large; I'm not sure if it is made of ABS or nylon; the TB03 chassis tub is much lower profile and used glass-filled nylon.

Between the TB02, TB03, and TB04 my current recommendation is TB03. TB04 has some alignment issues between the center gearbox and rear gearbox. Also, the TB04 needs more attention paid to shimming the gears than the TB03. The TB04 is not 100% sealed against debris like the TB03. The TB04 requires a thin motor mount hopup to get a wider range of gearing; the TB03 is a bit more open to gearing.

Tower still has a few TB03 kits available.

[Tamiya1/10 382]

i don't know too much for either of the models. but i prefer shaft drive over belt and if you are a porsche man and a licence issue, than the tb is your choice. You know the saying about porsche...there is no substitute.

[Jason1145 3986]

On 22/09/2014 at 2:54 PM, speedy_w_beans said:

I'd avoid the TB02 for a few reasons:

- The solid prop shaft also doubles as pinion shafts in the gearboxes. When the chassis flexes, the pinion gears plunge into the ring gears. The TB03 is a better design with a floating prop shaft and separate pinion shafts. The mesh between the pinion and ring gears is not affected by chassis flex.

- The diffs are built with the springs right underneath the thrust bearings. It's almost impossible to have a straight spring and get consistent thrust bearing loading. The diffs are known to loosen on their own. Both the TB02 and OFNA JL10 share this design issue, and both have problems with the diffs loosening on their own. The TB03 is a better design with the spring opposite the thrust bearing (in the other diff half).

- The steering is sloppy and needs the aluminum steering set to fix it. The TB03 is better out of the box, but can be made almost slop-free with a drill bit and a set of flanged bearings.

- The chassis tub is a bit large; I'm not sure if it is made of ABS or nylon; the TB03 chassis tub is much lower profile and used glass-filled nylon.

Between the TB02, TB03, and TB04 my current recommendation is TB03. TB04 has some alignment issues between the center gearbox and rear gearbox. Also, the TB04 needs more attention paid to shimming the gears than the TB03. The TB04 is not 100% sealed against debris like the TB03. The TB04 requires a thin motor mount hopup to get a wider range of gearing; the TB03 is a bit more open to gearing.

Tower still has a few TB03 kits available.

Thanks for all this info Speedy, makes me feel much much better about just purchasing a new TB03 kit from Tamico.

I’ll start a build thread on it when I have time and am looking forward to adding this new chassis to my collection. I think it comes with oil shocks and 0.6Mod gearing but that’s all I know about it so far

[Kingfisher 1171]

I was about to vote. 

[Badcrumble 4203]

15 hours ago, Jason1145 said:

Thanks for all this info Speedy, makes me feel much much better about just purchasing a new TB03 kit from Tamico.

I’ll start a build thread on it when I have time and am looking forward to adding this new chassis to my collection. I think it comes with oil shocks and 0.6Mod gearing but that’s all I know about it so far

Resistance is useless!

[Jason1145 3986]

14 hours ago, Kingfisher said:

I was about to vote. 

You’d have voted for TB03 right????

[Jason1145 3986]

2 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

Resistance is useless!

I’d never last under interrogation

Another 4WD for me though... yay!