astute77

Dimblum, thanks very much for your detailed post and photos. Nice, clean lines on your window mask - I am really terrible at this part. I haven't painted the body yet on my Durga (I'd kind of like to emulate the Oople paint job, but it probably requires airbrushes and some skill, neither of which I have). I guess I will be running my Durga with no shell for a while, since I have no body posts and will have to wait until I've painted it before I can put the velcro tape on it. Your wiring looks much better than mine as well - mine interferes a little with getting the shell to sit flush...

Is it likely to cause problems (melting) having the wires tied down close over the top of the motor? The motor get pretty hot towards the end of a run and I can imagine the insulation melting off the wires...

Mine are all at the stage where they are almost perfect, and only need a quarter of a turn or so to get it running dead straight (although my DB-01 has a fraction of understeer, so I also need to neutral out the little bit of toe in I gave it). I guess I will just tinker with it little by little to get it right. I have to say that I really do love the flexibility of being able to adjust the steering to the nth degree. I'm not so keen on the adjustable length upper arms though - I think that is a bit of overkill for a basher. I don't think I will ever really need to adjust the camber of my wheels. I guess that racers love that level of adjustment as well. At least the adjustable arms look great though (especially the ones on the DF-02 MS).

Awesome, thanks very much for that!

I have finished the build part of my Durga (and taken it for a few runs sans-shell). I read the Oople review, and decided to copy them by not using body posts. Does anyone have a suggestion for the best spots to put velcro tape? Also, does anyone know what the really thick sponge tape in the kit is for? Thanks!

Hi all, Is there a good way to quickly and accurately adjust turnbuckles without removing them from the car? I love the idea of the steering turnbuckles to allow me to get things just perfect, but so far I am not getting the benefit out of them. I used the tool supplied with my DT02-MS to prepare all the turnbuckles on the DT02-MS and the Durga, and found it to be really tedious. I thought that once I had the turnbuckles mounted, the ball joints might keep them in place while I adjusted the nut in the middle. No such luck - the joints just pop off. It looks like you need to be able to hold both of the end parts securely at the same time and then turn the nut. Does anyone have a good tool, or perhaps just a good technique to adjust these things? Thanks!

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Hmmm... 82.

Just completed my first 5 minute bash around the backyard with monster wheels on the BK (no other modifications). My observations: 1) The motor (standard 540) was REALLY hot. I don't think it was too happy about the substantially higher final drive ratio. 2) I broke a front upright on the first (very minor) collision. I hit the edge of a concrete path, probably about 5 or 6 cm higher than the lawn, and expected that the truck wheels would make it over. No such luck. On the plus side, it went reasonably well around my lawn (which is quite lush and in need of a mow at the moment), although the combination of the 540, the stock gearing and the big wheels did feel a bit sluggish (not really enough torque in the motor to handle that drive ratio). So, my TL01B truck project is on hold, at least until I get a new upright.

Wow, that clone in Blacque Jacque's showroom is an exact rip off of the BK. I thought that they would at least change the shell... Thanks for all the tips, guys! I will try the big wheels with the stock silver can and standard gearing and see how it goes. The wheels I got are from a crawler, and are really quite heavy. Another question - does anyone know if there are any Tamiya truck shells that will fit on the TL-01 chassis? I guess I could always pick up one of the pre-painted HBX shells (its probably an exact rip-off of a Tamiya shell anyway).

Hi all, I mentioned in another post that I was considering converting my Baja King to a monster truck. As it stands, my BK is pretty much stock with a few hop-ups: full ball bearings, a lightweight drive shaft and some el-cheapo oil shocks. I've found some quite nice monster wheels with tyres that a 12mm Tamiya hex. What do I need to do to the drive train to make this a decent truck? I figure that with the much larger (and heavier) wheels, I probably need to reduce the gear ratio to keep the motor from being overloaded. Is there a smaller pinion that will be suitable to use? The stock pinion is 19 tooth, and the manual lists larger 21 and 23 tooth pinions as options, but nothing smaller. Also, what's the easiest way to increase the ground clearance? The big wheels give a moderate improvement in ground clearance, but a couple more centimeters would be good. Cheers!

I like the look of the Baldre shell. Seems to be a bit more room in there for taller electrics and spaghetti-tangles of wires My Durga shell pushes doesn't seem to leave any room for air to circulate underneath it. I don't really like the way you have to run wires directly over the motor and then squeeze the sell over the top. I imagine there is a pretty good chance of getting some of the insulation melting off the wires...

I originally came here because I dug my Boomerang out from under my sister's house and thought "Man, I loved this car. I wonder what it would take to get it going again?". I loved doing the restoration, and some of the guys on the forum helped me to find some vintage parts to finish it off. Then I ran it a few times and broke it a few times and realised that vintage parts can cost a fortune, even for a Boomerang. From there I wondered how the hobby has progressed in the last 20 years or so, and decided to check out some modern Tamiyas. So, a TT-01, Baja King, DF02-MS and Durga have all been bought, built and bashed and I have come back here for advice about the modern stuff as well. I really love the vintage stuff and I've spent hours looking through the photos of NIBs, New Built and freshly restored classics in all the show rooms. However, I can't really justify the expense of trying to own the old vintage stuff myself. I did make a $550 play for an Egress (my all-time favourite) on ebay recently, but just missed out. Even if I did manage to get my hands on some of the classics that I loved as a kid, they would only ever join my Boomerang as "light-use" runners, to enjoy some Nostalgia with little chance of breakage. To sum up, I love the vintage stuff but the modern stuff is what I will be running with. So I will keep coming back to TamiyaClub for all the info I can get on both!

Mad-Ax: Great summary! At this point I'm leaning towards buying a Pumpkin, but I am also keeping an eye on ebay for some cheap monster truck wheels for my TL-01B. I saw a few of the HBX branded TL01-knock-off monster trucks on ebay as well, and they look okay, so maybe I will give my Baja King a bit of a makeover...

Thanks Terry! I won't bother trying to stick my DF03 wheels on my Durga then