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I love what you've done with the decals, they look ace! 👌

Something like this is helpful: https://www.amazon.com/Dynamite-Ultimate-Clip-1-5MM-5MM-DYNT1107/dp/B07XG91TS9 I'm not advocating that one, never used it, I'm sure you can find the equivalent for less.

Did you consider filing down the arm so the 33's could fit? I think there's a lot of opportunity for dirt/crap to get between your washers and cause binding issues.

That's so cool, bucketing down with tropical rain and you safe and dry RC'ing in an open-sided basketball court!

I'm not sure that people realise that even a 1990's buggy had tons of tuning options and to be competitive, even at club level, you needed to understand how to tune a chassis, just like you need to today. We did have way less carpet back then though. Ball diff tuning, gear diff tuning with gunk, springs, shock oil, shock position, toe, camber, castor, weight distribution, ride height, Tx ramps, tyres, inserts, etc, etc... 98% of people never understood most of this back then, I reckon the numbers would be the same today. We just used a lot more shims back then, nowadays you can mostly get tuning parts to swap in instead of shimming standard parts.

IMHO... A vintage/re-re Tamiya buggy (e.g. TF/E) could compete with modern buggies but just not on modern dirt tracks, the jumps are too high and the double/triples are too aggressive. Only the most technical modern tracks would challenge the tuning options on a 1990's buggy. A DB-01 with the right Hop-Ups and in the right hands could absolutely take on a modern buggy and I'd put my 501X (retired) or any of my 511's up against any modern buggy on any modern track, including carpet. Carpet would require a complete reconfiguration though but this doesn't concern me, I'm experienced enough to set up ball diffs and slipper clutches pretty well although I realise many people can't/don't/won't do that. I don't see any possibility that the TD-04 chassis could be remotely competitive against the other-brand modern competition, I'd bet on a well sorted DB over the new TD. I'm very dubious about the laydown front shocks and some of the other design elements, I hope I'm proven wrong.

I have a number of TA02SW/Porsche 934 projects in the pipeline... the chassis/body mismatch is bit disconcerting, is there a good thread I can read up on discrepancies that somebody can point me to?

Yep, that's what I was saying (agreeing) + the R35 GT-R and all variants of the GTS-4. All other Skylines were rear wheel drive only (IIRC).

How discrete?

Yeah, there's no way the UK is (or even was) less expensive (on balance) than continental Europe for anything other than UK made goods.

Build it! They're so awesome and heck, it's a re-re, they're made for building. This is mine... have a vintage NIB also.

A GTR and GTS-4 yes, the rest? Not so much (most of them are RWD).

Buy from Germany (or even France). After making the preposterous decision, on dubious grounds to Brexit, the UK doesn't really deserve foreign money. The UK is an easy decision if you speak English as a second language but it's going to become less and less desirable/economic so you might as well get used to Deutsch or Français.

My reason for not being overwhelmed with joy for this new chassis, and I don't need/expect anyone to buy into this, is that they seem to be trying to reinvent the wheel rather than building on prior success. Why not double down on the DB/DF chassis and just continually evolve/tweak them? This TD04 is a vastly inferior chassis to either of those based on videos alone, yet so expensive. Why? To me, it seems like they've created a new model for the sake of a new model and then wasted the 'Avante' moniker on it. Other than creating a platform for a bunch of new, overpriced TRF Hop-Ups, I just don't get the point. And now (since 2017) they've told us TRF is being repurposed for "entry to midrange" rather than competition and pro parts, we can assume they'll be mediocre to middling as well, they certainly wont be competition derived which was the core value of TRF parts in the past (now it's just an expensive brand). Unless, as above, it's been made to appeal to a niche Japanese market, die-hard Tamiya fatals (myself probably included), or pure suckers I'm not sure what it's actually for.

What a weird kit... why would you go to the effort to make it then produce less than 20 of them? And FWIW TRF didn't exist way back then.

That was awesome, thanks for taking the time for the final cut, I enjoyed that. 👌😎

I might have to get the Ti shafts if I can't find the stainless set. Do you (or anyone) know if the front outer Ti shafts (with the ball studs) can also be used in the rear? Front and rear are the same length so it might just be a clearance issue (I wouldn't intend to use the ball stud at the rear, effectively just using it as a low friction shaft). If I can get the stainless set I'll settle for that. Didn't know those damper tops existed... do they fit the mini M-Chassis alu dampers for sure (they're not the later TRF versions)? Supply of some of this stuff is a challenge because I can't use my credit card on eBay because they use PayPal to process payments and I've been banned from PayPal (apparently for life) because I moved countries and kept using the same (valid) email with a new (valid) credit card, PayPal rules don't allow that (I now realise). This will (hopefully) be fixed when I get a new credit card number (which isn't blacklisted by PayPal). PITA.

Installed the parts that the postman brought me... Into my M-05 Pro... And started cataloguing my stuff, more details in the M Chassis thread...

So, after @berman 'encouraged' 😉 me to spend more money on hopping up my M-05 Pro even further, I did just that. The parts arrived and I've installed them, at the same time I pulled out the box that had the cards for all of the existing Hop-Up and started my official RC catalogue. Based on my experience today, one car took 2 hours to catalogue, I'll finish my collection by the time I'm about 126 years old. I did discover that I actually had a stabiliser set, not sure why it wasn't installed, so I've ended up with an extra one that I'll sell. I also realised I still need a few Hop-Ups... 53235 M-Chassis Stainless Steel Suspension Shaft Set 54319 M-Chassis Lightweight Hollow Shaft Set 54542 M-05 Aluminium Rear Suspension Mount Here's how it stands now... I really like these blue springs, I didn't know the "Tamiya Blue" was indeed "Mica Blue"... And the lightweight UJ shafts... And the list of installed Hop-Ups... 47314 Touring Car Short Spring Set (Mica Blue) 50568 M-Chassis Radial Tyres 51239 1050 Ball Bearings 53162 4mm Anodised Aluminium Flange Lock Nuts (Black) 53204 M-Chassis Inner Sponge 53341 Mini Cooper Reinforced Wheels 53536 3x12mm Titanium Countersunk Hex Head Screw 53570 Clamp Type Aluminium Wheel Hub (4mm Thick) 53597 M-03 Assembly Universal Shaft Set 53642 5mm Aluminium Ball Connector (Blue) 53869 5mm Aluminium Short Ball Nut (Blue) 53924 DF-03 Heat Sink Bar Set 54000 M-Chassis Aluminium Damper Set 54177 M-05 Aluminium Front Upright 54180 M-05 Titanium Screw Set 54182 M-05 Adjustable Upper Arm Set 54183 M-Chassis Reinforced Freewheel Axle Set 54184 M-05 Aluminium Motor Plate 54191 M-05 Aluminium Racing Steering Set 54192 M-05 Aluminium Steering Link 54193 M-05 Aluminium Steering Post 54194 M-05 Ball Differential Set 54195 M-05 Aluminium Turnbuckle Steering Rod 54224 M-05 Lightweight Aluminium Battery Holder 54236 M-05 Front Aluminium Damper Stay (Blue) 54237 M-05 Low Friction King Pin 54239 M-05 Stabiliser Set (Front & Rear) 54408 M-05 Aluminium Servo Mount 54409 3x14mm Low Friction Step Screw 54410 30mm Lightweight Aluminium Swing Shaft 54538 M-05 Aluminium Counterweight 54776 Aluminium Damper Retainer 54862 Aluminium Servo Step Screws 54863 Aluminium Hi-Torque Servo Saver Cap Which is in addition to the Hop-Up contents of the "Pro" chassis kit... 49442 M-03R Aluminium Rear Uprights (Blue) 51000 Hi-Torque Servo Saver 53159 4mm Aluminium Flange Lock Nuts (Blue) 54120 Aluminium Horn for Hi-Torque Servo Saver (Blue) 84225 CVA Oil Damper Super Mini (Clear Blue Cylinder) Short Springs for TRF Dampers (Soft/Medium/Hard) 1150 Ball Bearings 850 Ball Bearings Aluminium Ball Connectors (Blue) 5mm Aluminium Ball Connector Nuts (Blue) 2.0mm Setting Spacers (Blue) 3.0mm Setting Spacers (Blue) Nearly there! 🤔😎

A bunch of bits for my Hopped-Up M-05 Mini, I got more than I needed, including stuff I subsequently found I already owned, that's what happens when you have a few vinos before going RC parts shopping! Oh, and I blame @berman for this (not the drinking!).

lol - I remember when discussion, let alone links, about repro decals was forboden. Bans were issued FFS. In a similar era I was told to STFU when I suggested that the OP should be able to change the title of their own threads... which I see is now also permissible. Good to see TC catching up with the real world. 😂

Agreed, that's really cool. I am so glad that Tamiya faithfully re-re'd the Scorcher and I was able to pick one up, they're so iconic. The end of that video tempted me into thinking I should take my professionally painted and wonderfully enhanced version out for a spin... must.say.NO.David!

What happens after 24h if you lick them?

The comparison is invalid... Machine threads aren't self-tapping... so they're not a direct replacement for self tapping screws, period. You'd never interchange them. You can get thread forming machine screws but that's not what Tamiya sells and they're referred to "thread forming" rather than "machine" (to avoid the ambiguity). Machine thread screws are made to mate with a tapped or threaded nut or hole. What's actually important here is that Tamiya make utterly rubbish screws, regardless of whether they're JIS, socket, self tapping, machine, titanium or anything else. For 1/3 of the price of a Tamiya screw kit you can get a far, far superior product from somebody that knows how to make (or procure) proper screws. The titanium screws that Tamiya supplied in the early 90's were 1000% better quality than the (Ti) ones they provided for their TRF kits in the mid to late 00's. They cheaped out on their customers. The JIS v Philips v socket head screws is a different discussion.

NP & thank you. Tuning is very subjective, that's why you'll typically get vague answers, or none at all. There are some common tips that are worth sharing when the subject comes up. Not knowing what oil is in them is a challenge. You need to get a baseline, drain and rinse oil, put your preferred (known-quantity) in and adjust as you see fit. The key is a baseline that you know the parameters of. Edit: you may not need to change the springs, start with the oil and preload, that's cheap. Edit #2: I recommend you pick any (reputable) brand of oil and run it for a few years to get used to the changes in viscosity. Once you can "feel" this, then you can cross brands quite easily. To be honest the low consumption rates make even Tamiya oil affordable for shocks.