Top-Force
Model Number: 58100
Released
26-Nov-91
Drive
4WD shaftdrive, balldiff front and rear
Suspension
Wishbone with upper link, coilover oilfilled shocks
Chassis Description
MantaRay derived, FRP plates
Body Type
Lexan polycarbonate
Motor
RS-540S
Wheel Base
270mm
Scale
1/10
Essentially a rehash of the Manta Ray, the Top Force attains collector status mainly by virtue of being the 100th Tamiya RC kit. Body's green colour harks back to the Valliant green of Tamiya's 1st RC car, the Porsche 934 RSR. (Original description by Willy Chang)
Reviews
Percymon
My current restoration and a very enjoyable buggy to strip and rebuild. The performance improvements over the lesser Df-01 chassis'd car (Manta Ray etc) are really obvious and make the whole build so much more satisfying. Adjustable turnbuckles, double deck chassis plates, solid propshaft and other upgrades really show the advantages of Tamiyas racing experience at the time. Add some nice Hi-Cap shocks for an even better look and silky smooth suspension control. My most enjoyable rebuild to date. First run jsut reinforced all my thoughts fromt he build process - so much more solid and responsive over the plastic tubbed DF-01s. Deserves its #100 model number , even though the slightly later Evo gave further improvements for racers.
Bigwheels_inc
This has to be one of Tamiya's best buggy's,
yes it looks low and its old but dont let that fool you. with it's metal spur and drive gears and full bearings the gearbox's are almost indistructable, The only parts i've learnt do need attention and watching besides the ones already mentioned are the red front hubs, These have a tendancy to crack/split under heavy use causing the screws to fall out,
the front hubs can be replaced with either std TA-01 items or alloy replacments from someone like GPM,
Besides these points as Evoman says these buggys realy can keep up with and beat todays modern buggy's due to there brilliant design and very smooth 4wd.
If you dont own a Top Force or hav'nt driven one you will be amazed when you do, Ive had tamiya 4wd buggy's before and I was'nt impressed with there speed or handling But the Top force is a totaly diffrent story with speed and handling to rival alot of the newer buggy's out there
Evoman
this is a great car i have 3 of these and as flyby said the weak points are the rear shock tower but also if you pound one today with hot motors and 3000 batterys (like i do) there are some other things you should know
the rear gearbox housing is the bane of this car.the shock mount bends so cut some of the gear side away and put small nut's on that side to keep the shock tower in place also the wishbone holders break and the 2 chassis screws vibrate loose.the only other things are the top gear plate bends between the idler gears if you put too mutch of a power motor in it and you must use the ali motor mount if you go off road with it as the plastic one snaps
apart from all these things that i found when putting the car against new cars(and winning)with new motors and batterys it's the best off roader that tamiya made
except for the evo but thats a different story
evoman
flyby
Well i think that this model is more than just tamiya's 100th as it rocks out of the box , the handling is very good and the speed is fantastic even by today's standards with a hot motor, obviously the evo is better, but there are many many upgrade's available for the top force and it could soon become a evo or better, and with parts from the manta ray , terra conqueror , etc.. fitting , spares shouldn't be a problem. The week points on this car are mainly the rear shock tower, if you catch some air and land onto or flip onto its roof it can have a tendency to rip the screws out holding the shock tower in at the gearbox, also the front hubs can get battered if your rough or do lots of big jumps, but that aside they really do look the biz and go really well, if you don't own one then get one !