Gravel Wolf

Thought it might be worth mentioning in this thread, I have worked on quite a few DT-01 chassis and find them very easy and fun to "tune up" and refurbish. This one has been my favourite so far: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=77602

Anyone else looked at the similarity in shape of the DT-01 chassis to the DT-03, wondered why they never released a narrower body on the DT-01 and then looked at a spare DT-03 body and went "hmmm..."? If not, here's an idea for the DT-01 lovers on TC. The car belongs to my friend and its original body keeps breaking around the thin rear frame so I had a go at modifying the newly spare DT-03 body I had. It's a perfect fit (like a glove) right up to the rear shock towers where it needs to be cut away to accomodate them. I also removed the overhang at the back as it fouled on the axles as the suspension compressed. I'm highly tempted to try this again should my madbull (GH2) body get too trashed.

That's a very simple but elegant solution, will give it a try Thanks!

I can see a few people have put regular buggy wheels on the Mad Bull, but the axles are too long to take regular wheels. I know some have swapped them over for the short ones but I have also seen spacers mentioned. I would like to be able to interchange wheels on demand and having to swap the axles out would not be practical. Does anyone know what kind of spacer is needed to make the regular buggy wheels a snug fit on the front? Many thanks!

As stated, managed to destroy the ones on mine using the wrong wheels and can't find replacements. Anyone who has a set or knows where to get one please let me know.

Can anyone please tell me where to get (cheap) replacements for the steering rods and knuckles? On eBay I can only find the steering rods as part of a pack and expensive. The ones on the car have been worn down considerably and the steering rod ends have gaps in them so likely to come off if used much.

Had 4 of the same size, the front ones on that photo are narrower. The buggy rear wheels were narrow enough to fit and not bind

DF-03 wheels do not fit the TT02B chassis, they bind on the steering linkage and front arms. Both sets of parts damaged pretty bad from just running the car for a while. Doesn't look like they are available as spares individually. Anyone after a mostly complete neo scorcher? Just getting frustrated with it and want to move on, can't afford to keep throwing money at a project that never works. Starting to wish I had just bought a mad bull and not bothered with this project now.

That's odd, this wheel database lists them as 56mm wide http://tamiyabase.com/index.php?option=com_joodb&view=catalog&Itemid=778 which is around 2.2 inches. I looked up the dark impact wheels for comparison and they are 62mm or around 2.4 inches. So I guess it's the 62mm wheels I am after? Dark impact ones would look okay but might see if I can find the yellow version from the Avante MkII

Thanks for the link, so any 2.2 will fit nicely? Thinking of going for a set of avante or vanquish wheels as I believe they are also 2.2? Would look fantastic on the neo scorcher

I did try the rear wheels from a DT-01 fighter buggy as a test but they fouled on the lower wishbones somewhat. Otherwise they would have been perfect as they were big enough to "grip" onto the tyres. The original wheels that came with the neo scorcher were narrower at the front but if I was to get two sets of rears that would work I suppose. I like the silicone sealant idea, will have to look into that if I get the touring car wheels again. Are there any tutorials relating to it? Also I have not encountered the rubberised "tire glue" before - I read that tyre glue was the same CA glue as comes branded superglue but more expensive.

Problem is the tyres I want to use (KRT crawler tyres) are a very loose fit on the wheels which are I believe standard touring car size. They are a lovely tight fit on Tamiya rear 2wd wheels but those don't quite fit the neo scorcher (foul on the rear wishbones) I tried to glue in spots on the front of the wheels but the glue just ran everywhere and parts of the tyre didn't seat properly. Big nasty expensive mess. What is the elastic band method? Is it just a gluing aid or a way to keep the tyres on?

Having just ruined £30 worth of wheels/tyres trying to glue the tyres to the rims with superglue I'm not awfully fond of the idea of attempting this again. I did look up all the tutorials and try to follow the instructions but I'm a klutz and me and messy things don't get on well. So is there any other way of preventing big offroad tyres from slipping from the rims other than buying wider rims so they are more stretched over them? Or any other glue that is more forgiving to use and can be removed from plastic/rubber if it goes awry? I got the neo scorcher in may and still haven't had a successful run with it. The plan was to run it with the suspension as high as possible and with big off road tyres and a smaller pinion. Many setbacks later I have everything sorted but the wheels. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

The mad bull seems to use different arms made of what looks like a harder plastic with little cutouts and to me the front wheels don't seem to have the same issue of pointing inwards. I would just get some mad bull arms if I thought they would fix the issue but adjustability would be nice. As for the sloppy steering linkage I can see what you mean with the ball connectors - I will have to see how easy it is to put something together.

Spray painted a grasshopper body and a fighter RX body in matt black Result: I don't know why Tamiya never released the RX in black in the first place, it looks like it was made to be that colour to me. They need to release a "black edition" - maybe with gold plated rims too