kiasukid

For those who may have crossed paths (virtually or in real life) with WillyChang over the last 20+ years, FYI he passed away at the end of 2023 after a battle with a debilitating cancer. R/C cars and in particular Tamiyas played a major part of his life. He joined a new fangled tamiyaclub website in 2002 (as the 104th member - PandaBear) and actively participated in this and other r/c forums over the years. More recently he had been working in a local hobby shop in Melbourne, Australia and co-hosts a few of their videos such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To_8SwTdEro His favourite model was arguably the Wild Willy, and several of his friends and colleagues helped to send him off in style with several Comicals, headed by Will's WW2. RIP Panda

You could try dampers for the Losi MIni-T or Mini-B.

If you can find GT-01 spares, those came with 12mm hexes on one of the sprues from memory.

Tamiya were going to release even more TT-02 based cars, but the pandemic spared us from them.

MX-5 is 225mm

I’ve run a TF and haven’t had the chance to own any TFE yet, but with today’s tech I would rather have the TF with gear diffs as a runner. Replacing FRP plates and steel screws is obviously cheaper than carbon and titanium. Bearings are cheap nowadays, and universals and motor mounts from 3rd parties work fine. Unfortunately the weak rear gearbox casing is common to both.

I’m curious to know if the TD-2 would be any quicker than eg. a DT-03 or Zakhak on the same bit of track. I assume the TD-2 has the same issues with fitting brushless motors as per the TD-4. In terms of looks, I’d pick the TD-2 over the TD-4, but that’s like saying I prefer a bull terrier over a bulldog. They’re both dogs…

The lids of Tamiya spray cans can be used to keep the cars raised. I’m mainly using some old IKEA boxes…

I am intending to buy one of those Team C F40 bodies to test out. It is my favourite Ferrari and no other R/C manufacturer currently makes one. Some are obviously Tamiya copies, others are copies of HPI. I would prefer to buy the originals if they were available but if not, they're the next best thing. No one beats Tamiya for decals however.

Looks alright. If I bought one I’d make a tribute to Circuit Wolf car. Pic

Silver molded frame. Happy to get silver plated wheels too. The lights look a little odd however - are they 54972 in a different colour?

Here an example I had (now sold) using a repro body: Madcap & SD

It’s been mentioned elsewhere on this site but the Saint Dragon body apparently fits the DF-01 Manta Ray chassis. I’d like to get the body for that reason. It fits the Hornet and GHII chassis too but the front needs to be trimmed differently, and may not look as good as a result.

I grew up with mini-4WDs so I’ve been fond of the Dragons for that reason, even though I’ve never read the comics. I bought the 2008 re-re Fire Dragon, built it but never ran it as the gears were badly moulded and the drivetrain made a racket. I’m yet to build the new Fire and Thunder Dragons but based on other threads in this forum, that problem may still exist today. Altogether I’ve collected over the years an original and re-re Super Dragon, original Thundershot NIB, 2008 and 2020 Fire Dragons, 2021 Thunder Dragon, and NIB Saint Dragon and Dash-1 Emperor bodysets. I think I’ll have to draw the line somewhere as that’s more than enough squirreled away…

Yup, Tamiya R/C kits aren’t typically shrinkwrapped in Hong Kong either. From memory, my Super Astute re-re has no motor or ESC, and my Avante Black Special has no ESC. Haven’t built either yet.

Yeah, I think it’s my favorite of the Dragon bodyshells and the blue decals are incredibly rare (I have a red bodyset). Hope they sell the body separately. Wonder if they’ll reissue the Dash-1 Emperor or Thundershot?

As far as I’m aware, the R/C kits aren’t sold shrinkwrapped in Japan. They aren’t shrinkwrapped in Aust either, but certain distributors like Dickie do.

I think that’s down to the individual distributors? I have bought the latest Thunder and Fire Dragon kits here in Sydney and both have ESCs included. Personally I find it more annoying that they still don’t include a full set of metal ball bearings in every kit.

From memory the GT-01 came with spare 12mm hexes, so there’s so reason why standard mini wheels couldn’t be used on the GB-01/02/03 too. As much as I’m a Tamiya fanboi and I still have my mini Frog and 288 GTO from new, nowadays I’m hugely impressed with the value you get in the Losi Mini-T 2.0 and Mini-B and I’d happily recommend those. It’s hard to buy any runner without parts support and I wouldn’t expect to find any Tamtech spare parts in Australia, whereas Losi spares are sold by some local shops. Still, I’m happy to see a GB-01 re-release and hope the Hopper isn’t too expensive. I also hope they re-release some of the hop-ups, like the nerf bars.

You will need the AA parts - see manual extracts They are probably made of unobtanium now unless you can get someone to order spares from Tamiya and they still have stock.

I'm still a big fan of the TA03, especially the flexibility offered by twin gearboxes. It ran well in FWD in 540-spec racing, but it can be made into a twin motored missile. RCCA's TA03 reached 85mph with brushed motors and NiMH.

I just picked up an Scorpion re-re, so I'm still buying re-releases selectively even with limitations on space. I think Kyosho has really raised the bar on re-releases, so anything less than a 959 @ US$250 from Tamiya will just not impress! I currently have a Mini Mustang in bits on my desk, and hunting parts for that is a multi-year project.

...and yet they stay the same. Tamiya still doesn't include a full set of bearings in the basic kits.

I'm guessing the Pumpkin would look somewhat similar to this, with a roll bar: Are QD tires M-chassis sized?

Apart from fitting the Frog universals, perhaps try replacing the o-ring with a urethane bushing (http://www.rcmart.com/tamiya-53577-damper-urethane-bushing-p-14329.html)? The bushing will compress more than the o-ring and can be trimmed to fit. I had the optional FAV damper set which is extremely stiff on the back, so I doubt the suspension worked as intended anyway.