Psylence

All very interesting info... I had no idea how many mergrs and acquisitions there had been in the industry!

I dunno.. seems like a really bad idea. I mean, only 2000 made why am I going to unbox, build and run this thing? Where will I get parts? Is this just so people can have a shelfqueen to sigh over? And does "rep" really sell THAT many r/c cars? Are they REALLY going to take a serious $$$ hit? That sounds utterly ludicrous to me but I'm not exactly an industry insider. Meh. I'm in line for one, hope I get it. Will be annoyed if its just a stupid nostalgia ploy; I really don't care about their racing products.

A 2000 limit is stupid and would be like Associated saying "We don't like money. We'd definitely like to leave a lot of money on the table and not in our accounts." All that said, I pre-ordered mine just now because businesses make stupid decisions all the time...

$240 from Tower or somethin'. I'll be picking one up for sure, why not? Never had one back in the day...

My complaint was, that in comparison to your standard Tamiya manual the RC18 book is sparse and unhelpful. I never claimed impossible to build, I just said lousy because I'm spoiled by Tamiya.

Yeah but this is the kit version of the RC18, not the RTR.

Nope, never ever seen an original manual. Only things I built from the era were tamiya and kyosho. If its as you say, it'll be fine. If it's like the RC18 T2/B2.. Ugh. And I'll beg you for a pdf of the original manual!

I really, *really* hope that they step up their instruction manuals from the paltry state that is their current lineup. I mean, I'm still going to buy the RC10 re-re but as paying customer I'm alowed to gripe RC18 kit manual is pretty much worthless, more like a few pages of exploded views. Schumacher still around? Is there anough interest for them to put out a Cat re-release? I'd probably buy one...

Welp, after a tear down and rebuild on the gearbox she's able to move under her own power. I know I'm going to regret it, but I left the ball diff in there for the time being. I cranked down on it as tight as possible in the meantime. Part of my problem might have been the small plastic gear inbetween the drive gear and the other brass gear; theres a *chance* I swapped the long and short side of that gear and that could have been part of my issue. Or just cranking the diff till my hands bleed helped. Either way. Now to start on that High-lift....

It was an ordeal finding out what the length of the rear shaft on the Bruiser is. The front? All over the internet, simple to find. Anyway, I went with the Mega Truck universal shaft 125-165mm. At its shortest, it is a couple mm longer than the stock bruiser shaft but can still easily be mounted without removing relocating or dismantling anything. It was about 5 minutes from "parts in mailbox" to "Bruiser tearing around the yard." The Ultra Scale Steel in 120-160mm would work too, and I probably would have gone that route myself but I SWEAR it was out of stock in that length as of a couple days ago..

I think the look on the face of the dude in the Associated T-shirt sums it up.

Well, put on a rear driveshaft from RC4WD and she's now back and running. Was very glad to see that the sport tuned isn't *too* fast flat out in 3rd, but I think a crawler motor may be in order as low speed torque in first could be a bit better. Or I need to lock a diff or two. Either way, best Tamiya kit I have built so far. Bad news is it may have spoiled my appetite for things that aren't tanks or 3speeds

I put the RZ motor into my hotshot re-re. I was playing with it in the shipping area where I work and there are still marks al over the floor from the nonstop 4wheel donuts and other nonsense. It's a freakin' rocketship with that motor!

I gotta know, is that classic heat sink just for show? I do kinda miss them. Don't miss burning myself, but that classic look...

You're not wrong there. Got a source for hardware? Gotta say I've never had to use outside hardware to correct a Tamiya oversight but theres a first time for everything.

That is absolutely the piece I'm looking for. Seriously, it must be a 1mm eclip since the 2mm size is far too large. I've been checking all over the area where the Bruiser ran to see if I can find it. If I don't get lucky I suppose I'll head over to rc4wd and see what sort of upgrades they have for the driveshafts. Even if I find the e-clip I'm not exactly confident in its ability to do its job; it popped off in less than 50 feet of travel on carpet. It would never survive outdoors at this rate! I looked at my high-lift manual while I was at it, and learned to my dismay that it uses the same crappy eclip system to hold the u-joints.

Sadly won't be making much noise for a while though.. Whatever size e-clip they use on the propshafts isn't contained in anything else I have. Not sure how it dropped off so quickly; I guess I sorely misjudged the use of rubber cement. At a loss for the moment. Seriously though? Rubber cement to secure e-clips? Is there a better solution, perhaps not involving e-clips at all?

I don't know how some of you guys manage to do it. There are kits I have tried to leave in NRFB condition, plastic wrap intact... but it usually lasts a week tops before I have to open up the box... smell the tires, read the instruction manual 500x each direction. Maybe it would be different if I bought multiples of the same kit, but theres always something NEW to buy. Very jealous of the collections and self control of all ya'll haha!

Aaaand she's already broken. Pin holding the rear driveshaft lost an e-clip and dropped the shaft onto my floor. Awesome. Guess they weren't kidding about putting rubber cement on those eclips eh? Ah well, at least it's not serious!

You know, I was wondering about that stuff. I swore they made polycarb paints that were in the same kind of round jars as their acrylics but then could not find them anywhere online! Whatever happened to the Tamiya paint markers too while we're at it...

Well, put her down on the floor in the house to take it for a test run since it's pouring rain outside First, wow... can't believe I got that tranny put together right and everything seems to shift PERFECT. Second, good lord thats a noisy drivetrain! Third, the Tamiya 302 ESC might not have been the best option. Too much braking; letting off the throttle abruptly makes me wince as I can envision gears slamming into each other. Doesn't appear to be adjustable, so a better, more adjustable unit might be happening sooner rather than later!

Cheaped out and just threw a TEU302 in there for now. If she turns out to be a go-er and not just a show-er I'll put in a proper crawler ESC and motor. Didn't want to tangle with too many unfamiliars all at once!

Hah! Good comparison. I'll definitely keep that in mind as I'm testing it out this week; as heavy as this thing is it's got definite ankle snapping potential This is also a very good idea... So I'm gonna be disappointed in the high-lift suspension compared to the Bruiser? That's somewhat frustrating, I'd definitely expect that later "evolution" of the Bruiser to be superior in most aspects. Guess I'll have to look into "fixing" it before it's built

Well, we shall see if this thing can move under its own power later this evening. Who knows if this will end up being a runner or a shelfer at this point... I've got a High Lift kit still to build to see the evolution of the 3 speed. High lift kit looks a whole lot less inspiring though with all that plastic... probably more durable and precise though. What's the general consensus so far on high lift vs. bruiser re-re for a runner/basher?

I gotta say the transmission was pretty intimidating to build. I'm half expecting my first attempts at forward motion to result in massive ginding noises!