Gravel-Hounda

They're all good for bashing. But if I had to choose my absolute favorite, it would be my (now sold) Desert Gator. (closely followed by Blitzer Beetle) I put that thing through everything. Upsidedown in my daughters blow-up swimming pool, two seperate bashings at two different skate parks, countless "Big Air" jumps at various BMX tracks, tonnes of water and mud, dirt, gravel, sand, volcanic rock fomations, hours of bashings `round home, fire, burning cans, glass, construction sites, 12 foot high jump, snow, the list goes on. Of all the beatings I only ever broke the front shock tower (skate park), and snapped the chassis just under the motor, but it still kept going regardless of how much pain it was in. What an awesome "basher buggy" Now after typing all this, I miss it. My favorite 'vintage basher' Wild One hands down-nothing comes close for scale realism. Pumpkins, WW2's and VLB's are cool, but I prefer the WO. See my showroom for 'plenty' of action pix, and a few vids. "KEEP THEM OFF THE SHELVES, AND BASH YA HEART OUT" bash on Del

"Why would you have to do anything to get the nut to fit? All the previous owner has done is cut a slot into the wheel, if you fit the wheel to the Brat the correct way round you should still have plenty of thread to get the nut on". Biggus. The nut does not fully go on. So either the Brat and Frog have different length axles, therefor what I have is an old Frog chassis. Which I might add was listed as a Brat chassis. Comparing my re-re Brat to the "so called" old skool Brat chassis, the thread sits 'flush' with the outside of the 'nylock' nut on the re-re. Where-as the thread on the 'old skool' chassis is half-way through the 'nylock' nut. Not really holding as well as it could. I know I could use two flat nuts to create a lock-nut type of set up. But that's just two extra nuts to undo, and that's not 'cool' out in the field. Cheers' Del

So can I flatten off the slot with a dremel so that the wheel nut goes completely on? Or are those rear wheels now ******ed? I hope not `cause I really want to use them on my 'basher Brat' Don't really want over-use my "pretty Brat" Cheers' Del

Cheers' terry.sc That sounds logical. But why? These wheels would look stupid the other way round. Also hard to get them centred and sitting right now. Nevermind, it's only for my 'basher Brat' anyway, and what's wrong with a couple of wheels coming off, would make for great video footage lol Cheers' Del

Hi all. Won these off a local trading site, 1st edition Brat/Ford Ranger wheels and tires. They're for my 'basher Brat', don't want to destroy my "pretty Brat". I just want to know why the rears have slots in them (top wheels in pic) I can't seem to figure out what the slots are for. I've got them on my 'basher Brat' at the moment, but haven't run it yet. Might look at trading them for a set of "rad2rads" alloys for my 'pretty Brat' if any one interested in a set of 1st edition Brat/Ford Ranger wheels and tires. PM me. Have replaced the two 'not so good looking' tires with two near new ones. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers' Del

Personaly I like polycarb for bashing, can take a fair bit of punishment. But for that "WOW" factor and light running, go for hard body. I was only going to run my hard bodied Brat for a little bit, but things change, now it's damaged (but repairable) Got a couple of polycarb (basher) bodies just awaiting some inspiration for paint. Basically............. use what you want.

IS THERE ONE IN PARTICULAR THAT GIVES YOU GRIEF, BUT YOU CARRY ON `CAUSE IT'S YOU FAVORITE??????? Well I do. One car I've always liked, and just recently aquired. A re-re Subaru Brat. Further more, I've got a Brat project too. So far I've blowen two ESC's, two receivers, and a servo, and smashed my 'hard body' into a brick wall. Everything I do to my Brat, turns to mud. There's been tears, swears and beers. Just changed back to MSC, two servos, "the old school way. See how it goes tomorrow after work. Cheers' all

Got up at 5am to go to work. Got a pay rise. Got home at 5pm. All that and only 3.5 hours sleep. APON GETTING HOME, DECIDED TO TAKE MY RE-RE BRAT (that pic from another outing at the same place) OUT FOR A SKID AT THE LOCAL ABANDONED SWIMMING COMPLEX, BUT LOOKED AT MT ORIGINAL BRAT PROJECT, AND THOUGHT"YOU COULD DO WITH SOME ATTENTION" SO I SET ABOUT PUTTING IT BACK TOGETHER. BOUGHT SOME OF THESE ORIGINAL WHEELS AND TIRES FOR IT. FIDDELED ABOUT WITH MY MUD BLASTER PROJECT, DID SOME GROCERY SHOPPING, AND BOUGHT SOME BOURBON Now I just chilling out on the net `till Man vs Wild and Top Gear come on.

Thanx eddy. Yeah I'm well impressed with the difference. Great photos 'yes', but I took about 25 and these were the best two. Yeah I'm loving my Brat, it's such a cool Tamiya. Cheers' Del

THAT"S BETTER Now we've got some power. Standard gearing it is. Got more power to do this.......................... Thanks to all that replied

Hi all. thanks for that. Seems the general reply is standard gearing, and bearings. I robbed some bearings out of one of my other R/Cs last night, so I'm half way there. Will swap out gearing tonight and let you know how it goes. Forgive me for being stupid. But what is the water break-in? Do you just drop into a cup of water and give it full throttle? Does a Sport Tuned need to be broken in? I've got a Dyna Run motor, might throw that at it and see. Yeah I add some issues with a 101BK and a RZ motor. ESC didn't like it, yet it ran a Dyna Run. Go figure. Cheers' and ta Del

Hi all. Finished building my new re-re Brat over the weekend, and it's great. Only thing I need some advice with is the choice of gearing. I opted for speed, but I'm not impressed. I've thrown a Sport Tuned at it, and it seems to have some speed. With the re-re kit you get the option of 'Standard' 'Speed' or 'Torque' gearing. I'm after that "pulled the trigger back and there was dirt flying all over the show" feeling. I am only assuming that if I swap the 'Speed' for 'Torque' am I going to get that feeling, or is the 'Standard' gearing the way to go?? Anyone who has found the right combination, can you please let me know, as I really want to enjoy my Brat. I've been waiting 26years to own one. Here's a pic. Metallic Red, not showing up to good under the lounge light. Cheers' and Thanks Del

I think I win the prize for longest wait. Bought an old Ferrari F-40 chassis from some "expletive" tosser in the US 5 years ago, still haven't received it

Well as it turns out, seems the heatshrink tubing has done the job. Ran three batteries thought the Wild One today after work, snapped some pics of it too. See latest showroom entry. Seems to be going fine, wether it's just a matter of time remains to be seen. Going out of town with work next week, taking the WO and DG plus the camera, hope to get some good action shots. Hope to have a set of Rough Rider wheels and tires before my away trip, so I'll try and find a nice beach somewhere on the West Coast to get those "wow factor" shots. Sobeit I'll be by myself, but I'm used to driving R/C's on my lonesome, apart from when Renco5012 comes down to visit. Thanks for all the advice and knowledge given to me on this topic, it's been printed off and put away in my " R/C playhouse" for future reference. Del

Hi all. Well after spending most of the past five days trying to figure out why my Wild One's gearbox has issues, I've given up. Never been beaten by a R/C car yet, but my all time favorite Tamiya has done it. Over the last five days I've taken the gearbox apart so many times, I've lost count. Started off fine, the day I got it I put in an ESC and Sport Tuned, no worries. Then all of a sudden along came the most horrible sound I've ever heard. I wasn't doing anything rash, I was just cruising `round my back garden. I did notice that the internal spline of the left & right bevel gears is a little worn. But to fix that problem I forced some heat-shrink tubing over the two Short Joint Shafts, seems to work but still get the horrible noise coming from with-in. It's sounds like the left & right bevel gears aren't meshing properly with the small bevel gears inside the differential spur gear. All the correct parts are in there, apart from the 'usual 850 brass bushing plastic spacer replacement' I have ordered some re-re Frog Universals, but I doubt wether that will be the cure. I can now say that the only other option is to put it on the shelf, (which as most of you know is not really a option with me) or to replace the intire gearbox inners, (I'm sure my local hobby shop will have some 22year old WO parts lying around ) or to try some type of transmission transplant, as seen at this link............http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=3614&id=456 If anyone knows what transmission has been transplanted please let me know. Please help, I love the Wild One and it seems a shame that it's let me down. Cheers' Del