retroman

My mate kev is up for it, I think he's bringing "The Badger" (as we call it! Grasshopper chassis, Baja shell) King Cab, and maybe a TL01 Looks like it's going to be a good day out! :-)

Hi Dazaa Excellent choice of SRB!! I think that the Champ is a some what underated car, when you look at the silly money that Scorchers are fetching. Personally, I'd hang out on ebay, and wait for a proper Champ body to turn up. They don't tend to fetch the daft money that Rough Rider, and Sand Scorcher bodies fetch. I picked 2 bodies up off ebay, and they were about 30 pounds each, in good condition. Rear bumpers and brackets are also available on ebay new, and so is the upper stay bar that goes round the top of the gear box casing. With your front bumper, I'd be tempted to dunk it in brake fluid, and strip that old brush paint off. If the bumper turns out to be discoloured from stress marks, you can always mask the metal rod parts out, and spray it black, which would look much nicer. Hope it's going to be a runner!! If you look at the thread I started "First drive of a SRB" elsewhere in Vintage Discussions, in my last post there is a link to pictures of my Champ in action at a recent meeting in Nottinghamshire. It was a real blast driving it on a sandy surface. Good luck with your project :-)

I'll be there, with plenty of toys!

Errmm...... I think Ill avoid ramping it!! Still sat on top of my tool box waiting to be cleaned. The B4 was that filthy I wound up taking the electrics out of it, and dumping the whole thing in the sink!! The Sand Scorcher rear tyres worked a treat on the sandy surface. Mark took some cracking pictures of itclumber meets gallery

Will do!! Hopefully get some decent action pictures of it. Tamiya monkey has quite a talent for that one! He got some great shots of the Frog in flight :-)

Todays fun and games out on my ranch; Serviced the mrs Mk2 Escort, including changing one engine mount. Poor thing had split away. That will explain the clutch judder then!! I'm now getting ready for tommorow's Clumber Meet. I've just given the Super Champ a thrash round the back yard, and also given the Associated B4 a thrash round as well, just to make sure that they are going to stay in one bit!! Very impressed with the B4 :-)

Gave the Champ another run this evening, much better this time!! Gave some thought to the problem, and decided to try the following things; increased the rear spring tension on the mono shock, tightened the ties up a little from the band stoppers to the rear FS plate, then fitted a set of "Super Gripper" tyres to the rear, that are originals, with not much tread left!! Vast improvement, and really enjoyed it this time. Seems like the trick to getting an SRB to turn is power oversteer! I've had plenty of sideways action, and destroyed the old tyres!!!!! Oh well, they were pretty dead anyway :-) Oh yeah, this time it didn't try and flip over once, just had the front steering linkage shake to bits! More thread lock, and tighten everything up a little more, me thinks :-)

Thankyou, that explains everything. :-)

Hi Chaps, Hope this doesn't sound too dumb.......! What's the difference between Type A, and Type B tyres?? Can I expect any improvement over the kit standard tyres on my F201? Just looking for a bit more grip. Are there any aftermarket tyres that are any good?? I've not had the car very long. I've got the car feeling a lot more balanced by changing the front and rear spring rates, with the Tamiya hop-up spring set, and also changing the damper oil, it just feels like the tyres and inserts are letting it down a little. Thanks in advance, Richard :-)

Sorry, I forgot the obvious one........ Is your battery pack in good condition?? Might be worth asking a racer with a decent charger/ discharger to check ot for you. :-)

I get really good run time with my TL01. Is the 19turn motor you have a stock, or a modified?? Firstly, get a full ball bearing set. Probably the best upgrade for the TL01 there is, as all those plastic bearings cause a lot of drag in the transmission. Another trick is to flush the grease out of the new bearings using motor cleaner, or car clutch and brake cleaner, then put a drop of light oil in them. Upgrading the original steel prop shaft for an alloy one might help as well, as the steel one in the kit weighs a tonne............ And fit a decent ESC in place of the original mechanical one. When you rebuild the car with a full set of ball bearings, give all the gears a good clean, and use a light grease, such as Tamiya's ceramic grease sparingly. Build the front and rear gearboxes into the chassis first, then without the propshaft or motor fitted, check that they spin really freely, before fitting the propshaft. Well, that's how I do my TL01's anyway :-) with the above upgrades and advice, you should find your TL01 faster, and with better run time. Hope this helps :-)

Best one I have ever seen was on a Porsche, TOO 510W. Bernard Manning had 1 LAF on his Roller!! I think her Majesty gets the best deal, she doesn't have to display number plates! Basically it is because she does own the road :-)

Like the photo :-) I think the next run I'll give the Champ will be on dirt, at the next Clumber Meet. Don't mind getting it dusty dirty, but I think I'll avoid mud! At one point it was getting so it was looking too nice, and in danger of becoming a queen. So..........I stopped myself from polishing bits,etc, and built it as a very clean and tidy runner. Can't wait for the weather to improve a little bit, so I can try again! :-)

Thanks Dude, another question well answered. I'll have a think as to whether I'll go the MFU route. Would like working lights though :-) It's great to be able to use a community forum like this one, and get advice from people who have experience of building these things, and are willing to pass the info on to trucker newbies!! :-)

Sorted out the "new" front end for my scorcher project. Bought a second hand complete front end off ebay, looked OK in the pictures, but when it arrived it was a bit on the grubby side, and I stripped it and rebuilt it just to be safe........ Only one of the front arm shafts was straight!!! So it was out to the garage, clamp in vice, and CLANG, hit with hammer, then roll on flat surface to make sure that they are straight. Also used some slightly better uprights that I had kicking around, and now have a decent front end. WOOHOO!!!!!! Been having a sort out as well today...... too many 1:1 scale cars!! So my Ford Capri is going, complete with all my spares. I've just bought an absolute time warp Mk2 Escort 1600 Ghia automatic, which compliments my wifes Mk2 Escort nicely, and I've been tinkering with that as well today, although the weather is pretty poor in this part of England today.

Yeah, I've been looking at all the option parts this morning......WOW!! Not sure about the multi function unit though. Looks to me like it takes up the whole of the cab area, so you loose some of the detail, such as the front seats. I'm aiming for a good scale model, and it looks like the driver section of the cab would be full of speaker box! Also, am I right in thinking that the MFU doubles up as speed controller, and reciever as well?? I convinced the Mrs to let me have the build manual out the box last night, just explained to her that there is stuff that needs to be bought for it, such as paint colours,etc, and she was cool with that. I've ordered a full ball bearing set for it this morning, now on the look out for radio gear. For my cars I have a KO Esprit II, but I know this isn't suitable. So I'm going to look for some 40mhz FM radio gear. Definately won't be using 27mhz though....Too much risk of kids with cheap remote control cars causing interference!

Well, "The King" has landed!! arrived today, along with the pole trailer. The boxes are HUGE!! I'm banned from opening them though, the Mrs insists that I am waiting until Christmas...... Is there a particular ESC that works well with these trucks?? Just want to try and make sure that I have got all the right bits before building it :-)

I've often wondered how many cars they must have broken just to make one advert!! I think if I tried that stunt with my Champ, it would probably explode on impact! :-)

Yeah, I'd go with softening up a bit with the springs and shock oil, and maybe raise the ride height a little. Should help it handle the bumps a little. If there isn't a lot of grip where you're running the car, I'd try some wet weather semi slicks. I'm using the old Shimitzu wets on my Yokomo SSG SD, and they certainly give more grip than I get with the F201. The above advice is good with the damage to your rims. Could either be from the tyres rolling off the rim under cornering, or where they've skidded along the ground on their side. next set of wheels/ tyres/ inserts you build, clean the area on both the tyre, and the wheel, where they are to be glued, and use a good quality, thin super glue all the way round the tyre. Always pays to clean them first, as sometimes there is still release agent on them from the mould.

This is turning into an interesting thread! IMHO, it's always best to start with a relatively tame motor, such as the humble silver can. When I first started racing, I loaded my TC3 with a prety hot (for me at the time) 17 quad. It was stupid fast,and I seemed to be spending a kings ransom on wishbones, C hubs, etc. That was when I noticed that the 27 turn stock boys were having some really close racing, and didn't seem to be fixing their cars as much as me! Bought a 27 turn stock motor, and never looked back..... A few years back there were quite a few of us at my local club that had TL01 chassis cars kicking around gathering dust, so we had our own heat. You could do what you wanted to the chassis, as long as it had a kit standard silver can in it!! It was great fun, barely any crashses, and the racing was really close. and most of the time we were only down 1 or 2 laps over 27 turn!! and we were quicker than the lower heats of modified..... Mu suggestion would be to start with a tame motor, to work out what tyres and inserts work, and what suspension settings work, and the time you spend this way will greatly improve driving skills. Then when you cannot go any faster with the tame motor, work your way up from mild to wild :-) The car park I use for fun is very low grip, worn out smooth tarmac. One car I love running there is my Tamiya F201 car. It still has the kit standard mabuchi sport tuned black motor in it, and it's more than enough power. I have great fun opposite locking out of corners! Hope this helps, it's just meant as a bit of friendly advise :-)

OOPS, I think I opened a can of worms! Don't worry chaps, I'm not out to bash/ mutilate/ or harm my Champ in anyway. I've invested far too much money, and time into the build for that! It would be cool if I could get a diff that fits directly into the gearcasing, just to see if it is a little easier to drive. Mind you, my first drive was on quite grippy concrete, which probably made matters worse. I agree, there are plenty of cars that are far more worthy of bashing, I've just bought an Associated B4 (second hand) for that! Oh, and I wound up with enough spares to build a Sand Scorcher type chassis for a bit of abuse, but, it is built out of stuff that a restorer would turn their noses up at (corroded gearbox, cracked radio box, etc). I've got those promo video's for the whole SRB range on DVD. Man do they make these things look tough! Particularly impressed when the Super Champ is launched of what looks like a 30 foot drop, and then just carries on!

Cheers, I didn't realise "The King" had been around that long! One cool looking truck. I'm going to start by building it as a useable model first, then start adding all the Tamiya goodies when time and money allow.

Thanks, that's a big help. Which ESC would you recommend? Funny you should mention my wife has great taste picking "the King", as she is a bit of an Elvis fan!! Actually, that's just given me an idea for a themed paintjob.......

I had a RC12 L4, which was a really good little machine. Sturdy and competitive, handled well too! Mostly used to run mine with a 19T spec motor. Plenty of spares about as well.

I've heard of the Thorp diff, but can't remember ever seeing one! Could definately do with some form of diff in the back, because as soon as I gave it any power, it just went straight on!! I have to admit, I had the rear gearbox on my Associated B4 in bits the other day and thought "that looks a similar size", but it's way too big. I think the biggest problem is that most cars with rear diffs use dog bones on the end, where as the SRB has the UJ's bolted directly to a solid axle. I'll give the Ranger wheel and tyre combo a try next time out. I've got a Brat, so I'll rob the wheels off that :-)