wldnas

LOL that sounds like an apt description of a MARUI buggy but seriously I think you may hav stumbled on something there, Tamiya have used the KING tag on a couple of its cars now, but I think if used in combination with previous names it could open up a number on interesting naming possabillities like for intance... Sand KING Scorcher KING Buggy KING Ranger KING Blazing KING Super KING (not that one cos it sounds too much like a Packet of cigarettes) Champ KING Wild KING Sabre KING Thunder KING Sonic KING Dragon KING Terra KING Bush KING Devil KING Storm KING Blitzer KING Fighter KING I know some of them are a bit naff, but then you know Tamiya go for crazy sounding names like this, but this is just a few Ideas

Tamiya have realy lost the plot as regards to how to make an RC Buggy I've just seen their latest offering the BAJA KING (58301) and its a right abortion, its a cheaper entry level 4WD Buggy based on the Baja Champ, the chassis (TL-01B) is very similar to that of the Baja Champ and is again based on its popular Touring/sports car chassis but the body for the King is horendous its a full lexan shell that has a mock pipe frame section at the front and it has exhaust bulges in each side of the cockpit ontop of the side panniers, and its painted in a gaudy yellow, black and silver with dayglow splash decals. They can do better than this? we all know they can, its just they have gotten too lazy when it comes to designing Buggys cos they are no-longer "in Fashion" and instead make them llok outlandish to appeal to kids who just want a flashy car that goes over dirt. they would never be this careless with the design and detailing if they was designing a Supercar like a Ferrari or a Porche or even a Rally or Touring car so why do they make their buggys look so deformed and unrealistic, they even have the cheek to say its inspired by REAL cars that are used in the BAJA races held in califoria every year? I dont think so I'm sorry for the ranting, and I should be grateful that Tamiya has made a new buggy seeing as they rarely bring new ones out anymore, but does it really have to look like this?

Whats a "Perfection"?

I've just re-arranged one of my showroom entries and added a picture of the Super Sprint, its a bit scratchy cos I had to resize it from a much bigger scanned image but it gives you an Idea of what the Sprint looks like, very similar to the Dash except its got all the hop ups as standard. except for the carbon chassis. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/getuserimage.asp...003222804_1.jpg

Your soooo lucky I got to admit I'm very envious of you, how long before you post pictures of it in your showroom? I do have some scanned pictures taken from the 1991 catalog of the car but they are not very detailed, if you could take a few detailed pitures of the car and put them in your showroom I would really appreciate that

**NOTE** I contacted bkiser with an offer to buy his Radient and he replied to say that he had just restored the car and decided to keep it.

If I was you I'd try oz_rc he's the main man for Kyosho stuff like this on Ebay, hes the main Ebay power seller based in Australia and he does some great deals and seems to readily be able to get hold of stuff like Raider bodies though for some unknown reason when he sells a body he never sells it with the decal sheet? but hes a great guy to deal with, 10/10 in my book

Luckily someone has come to my rescue..... SPIKE! anyway now I have a copy of the the manual and more importantly the spares list I know what I need to complete my Shogun. Im looking for the following spares using parts bag numbers.... 328 Bumper set (in GREY plastic) 340 Rear damper set (in YELLOW plastic) 452 Spike tyre and wheel set (1 or 2 packs) 453 Damper stay set (in GREY plastic) 454 Driver figure set and... 455 Shogun body set (optional if I can get one) if anyone knows where they might locate any of the above spares bags them PLEASE let me know. Thanks

Where the HECK did you get a Dandy Dash from!!! I only just found out about the Dash and its Hopped up brother the Super Sprint last week when I borrowed my Friends 1991 NIKKO catalog and in it were these two really cool looking buggies. Im after a Sprint myself but I'll settle for a Dash as a substitute anyday. Is it in your showroom, have you got any pics of it? Do you think the Dash looks a bit like the Kyosho Rocky with that Yellow body with Blue decals?

Nice going OLDFORDGUY you snagged a lynx Ive got a Doberman the Lynx's Black Coloured 2WD brother, unfortunatly my Doberman isn't is too good condition and Ive had to cobble it together with what parts I could find for now. I would like to see some pics of your Lynx though, I know the two cars were very similar but I've never actually seen a Lynx before so apart from it being a white bodied 4WD version of the Doberman I havnet a clue what its looks like, I am keen to see how the 4WD system was implemented on that car.

kyosho OUTRAGE definition: Cheap Plastic Ultima clone with strange bulbus body, current Kyosho entry level buggy, usually come in ARR or RTR formats, was also converted to IC/Gas power in Sandmaster disquise, assembled in Korea, not upto previous Kyosho Build quality standards.... come back Pegasus all is forgiven

Now that Ive compared the two cars closely, its appears that although the Aristocraft Hi-tec chassis shares a lot of characteristics with the Samurai, when you look closer there are a great number of diferences, the Hi-tec chassis is much simplified in nature, its also slightly longer and the gearbox although of a similar design is tilted back on its mountings to give it a different orientation to the Samurai, personally I wouldent recommend bodging up a Samurai using a Hi-tec Dolphin chassis as a basis, there are just too many differenses, if you keep you eyes out you can buy good quality used Samurais quite cheap, its just a question of being patient

Having just bought a Couple of MIB old stock Hi-tec Cras off Ebay recently, its come to my attention that the chassis on the aristocraft cars bear a striking resemblence to the Marui Sanurai? of all the RC buggies in Marui history the Samurai must be unique in that the chassis used on that car was only used once. ann the other Marui cars re-used existing chassis designs as least twice, but the Samurai is the odd-man out in that its inovative, sophisticated and compex design would only grace a single RC car..... or so I thought? I'd heard of these Hi-Tec cars before from old Magazine Adverts from the late 1980's they seemed to be basic toylike Buggys which showcased the then new Hi-tec radios and Electronic Speed Controllers, they sold a number of pugnation designs and were all named after animals, Kangaroo, Koala, Dolphin, Wilderbeast and such like, but they all shared the same design of chassis. When my MIB Dolphin and Koala kits arrived the other day I noticed that the Chassis looked awfully familure, then it occured to me that they looked remarcably similar to the that of the Marui Samurai, so I got my Sammi out and compared it with the Dolphin (4WD) which was the closest of the two in terms of design and spec. The Basic layout is the same, doublw wishbone front suspension and Trailing arm rear, with 3 Oils shocks, Mono on the front, indervidual on the rear, the Chassis is considerably different but shares common characteritics, open space frame, wide battery shelf, chunky front stock and bulkhead, similar front bumper fitting, the wheels two are attached using the same tapered cones with serated face as the Marui car. however the diferences and quite obvious for all to see. gone is the elegant and decreat front tortion bars instead there is a spring on the elogated top shock mounts over the body, the gear box although simlar is mounted at a different orientation, the chain drive is totally enclosed, gone is the 3rd adjustable diff, the rear shock are mounted horizontally ALA frog stylee and the Speed Controller is perched on a shelf over the rear gearbox and pokes through the roof!!! the steering servo has also changed orientation from the Horezontal to the vertical. The build quailty is very "toy" like and the chassis is all over black plastic instead of the Sammis colour coordinated look, in running the thing, its quite similar to the Sammi, the transmission makes the same noises, its fairly slow when standard, and the steering is lazy. on summary this car is I believe a direct decendant of the Samurai, but as with most licence made goods, its been suitably altered to look diferently and produced more cheaply than the Marui original, but the simularitys are irrifutable, so much that Im sure you couls easily fit Marui parts directly onto this distant cousin and effect a reasonable hop up in the process. Its just a shame that this sad Chinese copy of a Great car is the final resting place of the Samurai design, one wonders why Marui dropped it in favour of the more conservative (and Successful Ninja) and so ended Maruis aspirations of invention. they are Citreon of the RC world, known for Quirky Inovation but sold out to produce conformist boxes just like everyone else. no wonder they turned to RC Godzilla's and Replica Firearms?

I've just got a used Marui Shogun, It uses the same Chassis as the Ninja but for some minor modifications, I also have a Ninja and I own a copy of a Ninja Manual, but my Shogun has had some suspension modifications and I want to know what the standard set up is like, for this I will need copies or scans of the Pages from the Manual that are different from that of the Ninja, most importantly the front and rear suspension layouts. I will also need the parts list page as well, so if someone out there has a Shogun manual they could scan the nessasary pages from them please get in tough with me at wldnas@hotmail.com Thanks

We all make New Years resolutions but how many ppl actually honour them, I havent actually made any as such, but I can think of some easy tasks to set my self for 2003 by making a list of the RC cars I really WANT to add to my collection.... some of you will already know that I like to collect RC Buggys and Trucks of all kinds and makes, I especially like rare and unusual stuff, not just Vintage Tamiyas, the period of RC history Im working to is anything make between 1979-1992? though I might start to branch out a bit as I get all the cars I want from this period. This should give you an Idea of what Im lloking for this year..... My most WANTED top of the list: Tamiya Wild Willy 1 Most Wanted Kyosho: Original Ultima To complete the sets: Tamiya Super Champ/Mountineer Might be intrested in Buying: Tamiya Avante/Clodbuster/any XC chassied car? Want to add new brands: AYK, Nichimo, Hirobo Wild-Card additions: Bandai Mad Wolf, Nichimo Cosmo Shooter, Hirobo Bearcat/Alien Mid 4, AYK Radiant/Buffalow/Sidewinder Not a hope in hells chance: Yankee Electra, RCL Incident, PB Mini-Mustang Looking to Expand on a Brand: Marui Super Wheelie/Big Bear Just for Fun: Kyosho Baja Bugs 1:20 scale Ultima or Optima Buying a Piece of RC History: Original Associated RC10, Traxxas Bullet A right rare Beast: Varicon Big Grizzly and anything else that comes my way at the right price That should give you some Idea of the sorts of Cars Im after (and YES DARRYN I know you already have most of that stuff you lucky begger but does anyone else have any plans for collection addition in 2003?

OK Im NOT taking 27 cars this time, Im only taking a few cars to RUN, no more than a dozen tops, the list so far (which could change at ANY time depending on any new additions I get in the mean time...) TXT-1 I gotta, only this time it will be modded Bruiser? I've got one on the way, should have it by then Blazer I didnt run it at the last one but I sure gonna try this time Adonis when its kitted out should be quite competative Fox very impressed with its first test runs, one to watch Sand Scorcher x2 an original one and my Sporty Scorcher project? Lunchbox lots of fun, will be run again Hotshot 2 needs to be breathed on first Grasshopper for the basic 2WD races and Scorpion should have it going for that That should be more than enough but I will allways leave room for more

if you check my showroom you will see my current sorry excuse for a falcon in the shape of a mankey old chassis, I is my intention to restore this car back to its former glory eventually but as you can its a bit of a tall order, toady I was shown a collection of Falcon parts that I will be buying off a friend in the new year for £30, it includes enough parts to practically make a brand new Falcon chassis. so when I get it I can turn that into complete restored Falcon instead but will be left with that tatty old chassis.... I though occured to me upon getting home that the Falcons chassis tub was used to form the basis for most of Tamiyas budget 2wd buggies through out the nineties and had many modified part produced that will bolt straight onto the old Falcon tub... using this knowage perhaps its possible to create an updated version of the original falcon using some of thses new and improoved parts, and with that knackerd old chassis I have the perfect candidate with which to experiment... so I plan to start a new project in the New year by making a FALCON II (codename: project Peregrine so far my plan consists of using the standard Falcon tub as a basis, I will use a modified version of the original front suspention (to give good ground clearance and long travel, Bearhawk gear box and rear suspention complimented maybe with uni shafts, Wild one/Fox type wheels and tires will be used and I plan to top it off with a modified Mad Fighter body and perhaps use a combination of decals from the Falcon/Bear hawk and Mad Fighter cars. Im only doing what tamiys would have done if they had made an updated Falcon, regurgitating old stock parts and throwing them together to make something new

I've just found a new trick for renovating old window glass parts that might have yellowed with age or got some mild scratches or gravel rash. I've tried this on a set of Sand Scorcher glass and I'm quite surprized at the result, all you need is a soft cloth and a can of Pledge furnature polish, the kind im using is the Springtime fresh Furniture Polish. as with most polishes it has fine very grains in it which acts like a mild cutting paste and can smooth out mild marks and scratches. all you do is spray a small amount directly onto the plastic then start working it in with a circular motion with the cloth, once the polish disolves, wipe down with a dry part of the cloth to bring out the shine, if its covered with scartches then you might have to do a few coats, inside and out to get the finish down to something acceptable, it dosent get rid of yellowing completely but it does reduce it a little. My scorcher glass was dirty and "rashed" but after a few goings over with the polish has come up really well. why noy try it yourself if you have some old marked glass work youd like to reserect.

I have a trick to stop the "Torque Twist" in TXT-1 chassis during accelleration, it's a simple trick to do and whats more dosen't need any additional parts just a slight re-orientation of the existing suspension set up.... Ive found that this Mod is best performed with the front suspension ONLY, you can leave the rear suspension stock except perhaps to add a thickish spacer to each of the springs to stiffen then up a bit. on the front suspension all you have to do is turn the shock push rod bell cranks upside down... in other words instead of having the long arm facing down, swap it round so its facing up instead, the best way to do this is take the cranks off from both sides and switch them round while turning them upside down at the same time, otherwise you would have to un-screw all the the ball ends and put them in the other side, once you have swapped the cranks over, reconnect the push rods and shocks and you will find that the suspension is much stiffer at the front and it practically eliminates any twist... the only downside to doing this is that it lowers the ride hight slightly and reduces the suspension travel in equal measure, but its a small price to pay for sorting out the twist problem and it gives the truck a slight agressive "nose down" attitude. I did it to my truck and it works great. on the subject of Official Tamiya TXT-1 hop-ups Ive seen some funky light weight chassis side frames in anodised purple and some equally spiffing purple aluminium battery covers, they were being sold on Ebay by one of those Hong-kong MIB merchants so I imagine they are quite new bits out and will take a while to filter over here, he was retailing the Chassis sides at about $55 the pair. but un-official Hop-ups.... Im planning on fitting 2x15T triples to my TXT-1 with Duel 8.4v 3000Mah Sanyo power, should give the performace a kick up the back side.... or strip the nylon transmission gears.... good thing the kit comes with a spare set Oh and Ive tried gluing just the rear tires onto the rims, might dumb down that tire slippage syndrome a bit whilst not twisting the teeth off the gears and making it a bit "loose" at the back end

I have a aftermarket body to fit a Hornet that I believe is made by Parma, its an all in one desigh thet slopes up to a high wing at the rear end. there are some pics of it in the Hornet post in my showroom... http://www.tamiyaclub.com/getuserimage.asp...002230639_4.jpg now that Ive got an original Tamiya shell I no longer need this one, I was considering making a spare Hornet chassis from the numerous spare parts that I have and topping it off with this Parma shell.

I personally have found Hirobo buggies quite hard to find on Ebay, if you put "Hirobo" into the search engine (internatioanlly available) you get load of RC helicopters and associated spares (which is Hirobo's main business now), but rarely do you see their cars, when they do come up they tend to go with fairly high prices, (more than equivelent period Marui or Kyosho cars) they seem to be quite elusive and exclusive cars, an bit like Ayk, Im after a few myself, Bearcat, Zerda and Alien Mid4, probably wont find any though, but I keep checking just in case. But you say they keep comming up cheap as in Marui Cheap? see as your an Auzzie does this mean that Austraila is a hot bed of bargain Hirobo buggies???

I know this isnt from any movie but on one of the previous series of "SCRAPHEAP CHALLANGE" the two team were given the task of making radio controlled bomber aircraft to bomb a target at the bottom of a quarry, but as they was ferreting about the scrap pile I noticed that both teams just so happnened to stumble on a load of RC car chassis and Radio Transmitters. one of the chassis recovered was a mint looking Jugganaut chassis which they proceded to tear to peices to retrive the radio gear from to power their RC Bomber

Thats the Puppy Darryn only the one I saw was painted "PINK" of all colours and it had different wheels (white 5 spoke) and strange V block pattern tires, it was quite tidy almost new built in fact and came with Radio,ESC,Battery,peak charger and manual. I could have bought it but needed the money to service my car which I did today in the freezing cold wind... BRRRRRRRR []

Actually Id say that the Ninja is probably one of the best Buggys that Marui has produced. The chassis was a more simplified and conventional shaft drive arrangement that was quite light and rugged and proformed quite well, back in the late 80's it was by far the most popular buggy that Marui have ever sold, I can remeber quite a few ppl at the local club owning and racing a few of them with some success and I think it was popular cos of its futuristic looks, it came out while the Tamiya Hotshot variants were at their hight but they were chunky and clumsy looking when placed next to the lean and nimble Ninja. The only *** in the car armour that Ive found was the rear drive train gears, especially the bevels on the shaft drive, they were prone to jumping as the bearings wore thin and increased the mesh gap, which could lead to some unsavoury nosies of chewing gears from the back end of the cars. so sucessful was the Ninja chassis that it was modified for use in the Coors Melling Thunderbird and the last Marui 4WD Buggy the Shogun.

I think you guys are missing the point, this car was a stock kit original, it came with a manual and the manual was for an Optima Mid Custom special and it also had original custom special decals on it as well, it didnt appear to have been modified, it was built this way out of the box, I just wanted to know weather it was some kind of Rare special edition car that I was foolish to turn down.... I wish now I had taken a few pictures of it