TLT-1 Rock Buster
Model Number: 47201
Released
TBA
Drive
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Suspension
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Chassis Description
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Body Type
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Motor
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Original Price
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Width
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Length
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Height
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Wheel Base
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Tread Front
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Tread Rear
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Ground Clearance
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Weight
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Scale
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Tires
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Rear:-
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Reviews
scollins
I purchased one of these with the intention of modifying it from the get-go. I ended up driving it around in stock form before my changes and I was impressed with its speed, but not its handling or ground clearance. I had a feeling the ground clearance would be limited in stock form with the tall chassis plates on the sides and the relatively small wheels and tires (just from looking at pictures of it). The kit itself in stock form is well designed, and has a large number of metal parts which surprised me. The smaller triangular Ni-Cad battery pack was kind of a nice touch, as it keeps the chassis compact and lighter. As everyone knows this truck kind of kicked off a new rock crawling craze, but in stock form it wont quite do it for climbing boulders. One weak point is the center diff. Even if you tighten it down really far it still tends to slip, so I locked my center diff permanently with JB Weld. Now, regardless of the motor, tire size/weight the truck has nice quick acceleration. I have yet to lock the front and rear axles solid. Surprisingly the belt used to transfer power down to that center dff is really tough and does not seem to cause issues....... Later on I discovered a Marui Big Bear body would suit the overall size of the chassis but the wheelbase would have to get longer. I just did not like the stock TLT bodyset at all. My solution ws to install the hard Big Bear body on a new bodymount system first and then stretch the wheel base to suit using HPI 50mm dogbones. Also did King Blackfoot rims and OFNA tires and thetruck now goes over everthing! Now I need to stiffen the stock kit springs to keep up with the increase in unsprung weight. .............scollins
ideal2k
I'm a bit disappointed. Was really looking forward to getting it, but as soon as I had run the car once, I was massively disappointed.
It looks great. Wasn't too bad to build. But.. the centre of gravity is waaay too high, you can not turn the slightest bit without the car flipping over, maybe great for crawler-types, but I like to run the cars at some speed.. not for me, so I've decided to sell it.
night_owl
First time writing a review so forgive me if it sucks.
The build:
A smooth and easy built as per normal with Tamiya. A large portion of the drive train parts are borrowed from the TA-04 touring cars. This is good since the parts supply for 04 cars are plentiful. Parts fit is good. The famous 'Tamiya Slop' found in some of the lower end kits are not present here. Good quality plastic/composite parts are bolt on to 2 Aluminum chassis plates and the whole assemble is very strong. For my truck, I fabricated new chassis plates out of graphite as I think the stock AL plates looks but ugly.
Rockbuster comes equip with 3 diffs. The center diff is a ball diff unit borrowed from the TA-04 while the front and rear uses gear diffs in housing made of aluminum. I swapped out the center ball diff for a TA-04 gear diff with the view of possibly locking it in the future. In anycase, a ball diff need more maintenance and I'll rather have a more maintenance free centre diff.
Kit comes only with 4 ball bearings for the ceter gearbox. You need about 20 1150 bearing if you want to ballrace the whole truck.
To power the truck, you need a special Tamiya 'pyramid pack'. Radio gear wise, the TLT will take standard size radio gear but my advise is to stick to the smaller sized ESC and receiver.
The drive:
First off, I think the truck is top heavy and it rolls too much. Must have flipped it like 20 times in the short test drive. I am using a home made battery pack with puts the CG higher than it is suppose to be so that may be the reason. Anyway, I think the truck needs heavier shock oil and sway bars.
Chassis ground clearence is quite small actually. So on slightly rougher grounds, the truck get high-center quite easily. However, bear in mind that this is a 1/18 scale truck so should not be compared to say a TXT-1.
Stock gearing is low for more torque. Should be able to gear up a couple of teeth to get better top speed.
Overall:
All in all, I am very happy with this truck. Out of the box the performance is adequate and the mod potential for this truck is very good. It's small size (to me) is a hugh plus point. Could have been a little cheaper though.