lohr500

It's a Drascombe Lugger 17ft sailboat. Old fashioned looking open top affair with 3 sails. Not your fastest thing on the lake, but admired by most passers by. But it has got an outboard for when the wind drops off to get us back to Fell Foot where we launch it from!! Been sailing on Windermere for years & still haven't figured out the winds! Forecast don't look too clever

Cheers Blakeatron, If all it needs is the cheaper Tamiya ESC then I might as well go for that. Things have clearly moved on since my last dabble with electric off roaders. The old NiCd packs in the original 3 speeders, didn't seem to last long at all. No doubt a combination of much higher mAh batteries now & an ESC instead of power zapping banks of reistors. I see you are from Windermere. If the weather's half decent in the morning we'll be there with the boat. We're just down the road in Skipton.

Yep, well & truly hooked!!! And the next questions: ESC So I don't have to use the Tamiya ESC unit with the Rock Crawler, but how do I decide which one to buy? Looking at various websites, there appear to be dozens of the things, ranging widely in price. Some talk about the number of motor turns, others say brushless. How do I know what to get to match the stock motor that will come with the Rock Crawler? Are the Tamiya speed controllers OK, or overpriced and just paying for the name? Which Tamiya ESC would I go for if I decided to get a Tamiya one? Battery Will any 7.2 V pack fit, or are there different sizes depending on Ah rating? Thanks everyone for your advice & input so far.

Well I've just dug out what's left of my vintage 3 speed collection & listed it all as a job lot on ebay. No idea what it's worth, but it must be of use to someone. Put a separate posting in the ebay section. I am going to start with the Rock Crawler, but you are right raysan, I can see myself ending up with the F350 as well. It's a shame they didn't make the diff locking on the F350 by some external method. Is it a pain to keep going inside the axle casing to get to whatever you need to lock/unlock it? I can imagine on road with front & back locked it is a pain to steer. Certainly was on my full sized Haflinger with both diff locks engaged!! But off road it must make a big difference.

Not sure if I can post this here, so Mr Moderator please remove if it breaks any posting rules !! Starting to pull the funds together to buy a new Toyota Rock Crawler, so I have put a nice restoration project up on eBay if anyone is interested!! Item number : 230249557309 Could be useful for anyone who needs some vintage 3 speed spares, or a restoration project for the more adventurous

I think you have convinced me!!! I'm going to go for the Rock Crawler. Now, some advice please on the radio gear. Planning ahead, and figuring I will end up buying the F350 as well once funds allow, which is the best value for money 4 channel/3 servo package available at the moment that will allow me to use the same transmitter with the F350? I am in the UK, but happy to buy through eBay or direct with Hong Kong traders etc. Which brand should I go for? Being really cheeky now, but who has found the best deal for a Rock Crawler, delivered to the UK ? And also for the speed controller. Do you have to use the Tamiya one, or are there others out there? Thanks

Wow Shodog, the Jeep looks great. Same chassis as the Pajero from what I can figure out on the site. I had better win the lottery this week, then I can have all three!! Like a little kid in the sweet shop How does the jeep perform on wet grass and steeper muddy slopes? Is the lack of 3 speed gearing a limitation on steep gradients? My head says go for the rock crawler because I will enjoy creeping & crawling over loads of obstacles. But will it be too slow for the odd blast on the flat? My heart says go for the F350, because I have good memories of the Blazing Blazer, and also it might give me more flexibility. And now there is the Pajero to think about. Now that with a nice Landrover body would look the biz. Decisions, decisions.

The pajero looks smart, but not sure if it is beefy enough for playing off road. I might go for the Toyota, but invest in 4 channel radio gear, then when I end up buying the F350 as well, I won't need a different transmitter!! Will wait though for a few reports on how they perform both on the flat & in the mountains!!

Blakeatron, billg4, Please let us know how the Toyota's perform once you have finished the build. Like I said in the 1st post, I'm not looking for a racing car, but I want something with a reasonable turn of speed on the tarmac. I'm struggling to figure out how a single speed rock crawler can cope well with the steep stuff, and also do reasonably OK on the flat.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Shodog. From what I remember of old Wild Willy, he was great on the tarmac, but after a while the novelty of his one trick show wore off I think that's why I ended up with the Blazer. bfst24. You are right. Once you get the bug, then you want one of everything But for starters I need to decide on one or the other. mymonster..... I do recall that the Blazing Blazer tended to hop, skip & jump down the road, even with the upgraded shocks!! The leaf springs on my old Landrover gave a similar ride! There were a number of spectacular rolls at the time which left bits of roof spoiler and bodywork spread all over the road. Does the new F350 in stock form do the same? Can you upgrade the tyres on the F350 to improve off road performance without major chassis or bodywork surgery? I am thinking that the F350 is probably the more versatile than the Rock Crawler, but I am more interested in playing off road than on the tarmac. If I can improve the off road capability of the F350 at little cost then perhaps this is the way to go. Wouldn't mind hearing from someone who has built a Rock Crawler though.

Newbie here, returning to Tamiya radio control after over 20 years away!! Way back then I had the Blazing Blazer & Wild Willy. Fancy building an off road model with my young son, but I can't decide between the new Toyota Rock Crawler or the F-350. The Rock Crawler looks great, but has it got a reasonable turn of speed on the flat? The promo video only shows one clip at "speed" and it looks a bit wobbly!!! Not looking for racing car performance, but something reasonable. Has anyone built on & tested it yet? How does the F-350 perform off road? Grass banks, steep inclines etc? Looking for an out of the box solution, rather than a lot of customisation. Any suggestions much appreciated.