Boothy

I love Clods

Hello guys, I am going to fit some Dark Impact wheels to my fire dragon when the EZrun chews through the standard set up, however looking at tyres the Tamiya mini pin spike tyres are £25 a pair, ie £50 for the complete set. Thats sounds a bit OTT to me So I am looking for something similar for less (unless the Tamiya ones are the best) I have seen the Schumacher ones at about £8 a pair, but I am not sure which compound to get? the car will do a little on road but also on gravel and grass. Other than that what are the other options? cheers Boothy

Sorry for being a little thick but I am confused by pinions, I only know to look for 15t but the sizes etc are different so what else am I looking for? Also I cant seem to find Robinson Racing in the uk so does anyone know who stock them over here or a different make? Thanks Andy

Cool vid. One thing I have noticed is that when you push down in the car at full compression of the suspension the bottom of the chassis will touch the floor, I am guessing thats normal but is there a reason for it? I am guessing the chassis hitting the floor from jumps would cause the car to be unstable or damage the chassis. Is it am idea to fit bumpstops? I have never noticed anyone doing it. cheers Andy

Ahhh top man! thats nice and easy Now I just need another mount to turn up on ebay, missed out on one last week when I forgot about the auction end. I'll get Albert painted and put some more pics up. I cant help thinking she looks like a QD beetle with those wheels (King blackfoot) and if I did it again I'd go red and not tamiya bright red, still overall I'm happy (maybe I am just being fussy) Andy

So you can dial the power back on the esc? I think I'll be doing that at least to start with. I'll go with the 15t then, where can I get a steel one to fit the FD? Thanks Andy

Cheers guys, I ordered a 9t EZrun last night Can you point me in the right direction for a steel pinion? also should I go 14t or 15t do we think? I am thinking 13t will shread tyres pretty quickly it it adds alot more torque. Andy

Well guys time for an update on this very slow re build (Hornet and Fire dragon getting in the way). She is pretty much done now, just needs the driver painting and fitting and I will now have to get a new rear bumper as the antenna holder has been broken off at some point. My friend just had it tied around the rear body supports but I have tried this and at anything over ten feet away the thing goes dotty. One thought I have had is to feed the antenna through the sunroof as my blitzer body has a hole in the sunroof. Has any one else tried this? Oh I still fancy new shocks at some point too

Thats what I wanted to hear I managed to track down a FD rather than get an off the shelf Boomer as I planned to run it and wanted something Vintage but that would hopefully perform a little more like a modern buggy. Do any of you guys run brushless in yours? I stole the Fire Dragons ESC and fitted it into my Monster Beetle but I figured that as I can get a 9t EZrun set up for £50 off ebay its cheaper than a Superstock TZ and an upgraded ESC to run it. Can I limit the top speed of the EZrun? I would rather it was not too quick while I get used to it? also should I use the stock 15t pinion? cheers Boothy

Cheers guys, yeah I figure I'm just goint to fit the Ezrun and get it bedded in When I took it apart the gears did seem to bed pretty well but I am pretty new to all this so probbably missed something and it was getting late so I'll use tiredness as my excuse I have enjoyed the build so far though, its been enjoyable and the rolling chassis seems like a pretty robust bit of kit really. Hopefully it wont end up on its roof as much as the Hornet. Boothy

Hello guys, I have been building my Fire Dragon re re and last night I got the wheels on for the first time, however I have found I get a clicking sound if you push the car forwards (or back) from the rear gearbox, you can feel the click as if something catches slightly. A little disheartened I stripped all of the rear gear box back down even though I was convinced I built it correctly the first time, I have checked and re checked and everything is spot on to the instructions, the diff spins freely and the main gearbox turns fine without the gears for the 4WD fitted. The two side gears are as the instructions and I cannot see any faults with them, each fitted on their own in position and they spin fine but put them both in position and re fit the cover and you get the click. So has anyone else had anything similar? I know the gears are located correctly as every thing turns freely until the point of the click when you get a slight binding, I would say that it happens every complete rotation of one of the gears. My thoughts now are to just drive through it and see if it beds in, as its plastic I am guessing it should do? So I guess what I am asking is has anyone else had anything similar and has anyone got any advice or tips for me please? Also when I re fitted my rear wishbones one of the pins will no longer go really tight in the B8 part, if I turned it more it feels like it will just strip is that a problem? It seems quite tight and I am pretty sure it wont just pull out but I would not like it to fly out while I am out bashing with it. Boothy

Which tyres are those? they look pretty cool

I have just started to build my re re Fire Dragon, I now have a front and a rear gear box Also I have the adjustable upper arms as per Power Surge. I look forward to seeing your pictures! I have just ordered a new servo and reciever to save messing around and will be ordering an EZrun 9t set up as I stole the Tamiya 101 and stuck it in my very slow build Monster Beetle. I did find the gears a little poor in quality though, I had to shave some off the edges to stop binding as they kept sticking. Possibly its just me not cutting enough off when removing from the parts tree but there did not feel like any left over stump. Hopefully they will run in ok. cheers Boothy

Hi Guys, I'll get some pics up as soon as I can, I think the noise may well be the pinion then as it is quite worn. I went with the tyres as they were £15 for four and I have spent a fortune on getting it back to shape so I cut a corner and as I always say "you buy cheap, you buy twice" ******. Looks like I will have to get the Tamiya ones, I just wondered if there was something similar for less, but I guess I just need to get my hand in my pocket... Andy

Hello guys, My Monster Beetle long term restore project is finally getting near completion, however I have a few questions for those in the know Firstly I bought a set of four new tyres off ebay. They are repro not official Tamiya, however all four wobble on the rim when the wheels spin... they are seated on the wheels fine and the wheels look spot on but the tyres are a mile out and actually cause the car to wobble as it drives. So the question is do I put up with it? or Junk them? also has anyone come across ths before? And any tips for better tyres? Secondly I gave it ts first blast around the living room last night and the gearbox seems noisey compaired to my Hornet (well I think its that and not the motor) so is that normal? every thing went together fine and the diff spins very freely and the noise only sees to happen under load. ie its not so bad when you lift the rear off the floor and power the motor. thirdly the old servo saver is fubared so are there any cheapish ones that will do the job? I bought a tamiya one of ebay but the holes are too small to ft the ball connectors for the steering arms. thanks in advance, this thing has cost me well over £200 now but I have faith one day she'll run again Boothy

Hi, I got a set of KBF wheels for my monster beetle (I have hex adapters) I got them from modelbuild.co.uk, so he may be worth a punt? Andy

LMAO, thats the best comment I have read all day Car is looking sweet, I am going to look into those tie rods and servo saver. What do you make of the yeah racing dampers? Boothy

Hello and welcome I'm new too so I can't really offer much advice but batteries seems to be abit of a mine field. I have a 3700nimh basically because thats what the guy in the local hobby shop gave me. It seems though that you need to be a little careful when picking brands of nimh batteries and if your starting out and can strech, lipo seems to be the battery of choice. Andy

If we all liked the same thing it would be boring I must say even though I like the MB, I really dont see the thrill in the sand scorcher (I know I am going to get shot for that ) it just never did anything for me, or the buggy champ or the wild willy, as kids I remember all my mates wanted a wild willy but to me it just never looked right. Now I'm really in trouble Boothy p.s should I shut the door on the way out

This thread makes interesting reading Having just got my Hornet and put it on its roof quite a few times running on tarmac, On sunday I took it to my parents house to show my brother (he used to have one as a kid) My dads lawn is a good size and was nicely frozen. I have to say I saw the car in a new light, bouncing around and power sliding was great fun and really suited to chassis, I only flipped it once. I think from now on I'll stick to short grass and shale/dirt for Hornet bashing.

The list makes for interesting reading but I am not sure it fully kills the thread as this thread will probably read more like a wish list rather than I own list? However for me the ones I really, really like are the Avante and the 959 just because they are really works of art and fantastic engineering however I would never really spend that sort of money on a kit so will never own them... maybe... I have always loved the monster beetle as it always looked great in the model shop window as a kid, always loved the VLB because well... its a lunchbox and I have always had a thing for Clods as they look cool because of the size. Did you say I could only pick one

I tried the search for A5 and got Audi's, so I tried tamiya A5 and got tanks I have now ordered two sets of upper arms and bearings tho so all I am waiting for is the Kit, once I have run it a few times I'll change to the new wheels then the shocks. So the next question is do I go box art? I do quite like the red but something inside is telling me to try something different... do we have any suggestions for a cool looking dragon? Andy

Hey Mad racer, I have done a member search for Pargu 2000 but I cant turn anything up? can you still get them? I think at some point I am going to get the TRF damper set for mine along with the DF03 wheels. Even though it seems to be uncool to like the shots/dragons, I think there is some secret underground love going on. I think we need a shot chassis area or a thread for all those fire dragon lovers out there Do we know if a thundershot ball race set is the same as the fire dragon? I am guessing it is? Andy

All looking very nice so far My other half went spare that I took over our dining room to re build the monster beetle and build the hornet, she thinks she has it back but little does she know fire dragon is on his way bwa ha ha As a related question, I painted the hornet shell no worries with the tamiya polycarbonate paint, however I am a little unsure about how to paint the blitzer shell for the MB, do you need to use a primer on the hard plastic shells and do you still have to use polycarbonate paint or is there another type? Also I notice you have sprayed without the nose cone fitted, is that the best way to do it as I have seen it done that way before. I am guessing spraying the rear lights separate is fiddly? cheers Andy