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Pablo68

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Posts posted by Pablo68


  1. Great thread and even greater project. Enjoying watching this thing take shape.
    Being perhaps a bit too fair to Tamiya, they were known at the time for making buggies that handled quite a lot like their 1:1 counterparts. I can say with experience that Beetle front ends were quite light. The front brakes and general handling was always a lot better when I had my tool box in the front under the hood/bonnet.

    • Like 2

  2. 22 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

    You're not totally off base. Every car in the series following the Avante is improved and better sorted. The original Avante is most different of the bunch. 

    The Avante comes out as beautiful, but heavy and somewhat fragile. It has a center ball diff and planetary f/r diffs. The geometry built into the car I mentioned earlier plus short wheelbase, slop in steering and wide front wheels make it twitchy. Aluminum rod ends are heavy and can pop off and the rods themselves, bent in collisions.

    Tamiya doggedly persist with the platform offering many upgrades to help :Ballraced steering rack to cut steering slop, lightweight wheel set with narrower front wheels, titanium hardware to cut weight, Hicap shocks with an extension tower for the front and the biggest hop-up, the carbon graphite chassis set. The chassis set not only includes a longer wheelbase, redesigned chassis but also new PA plastic suspension pieces for lighter weight and greater durability. The set remakes most of the car. Ball diffs and a center one-way option are also made available.

    The Vanquish is then introduced mistakenly thought of as a budget Avante when it was a superior performer. It includes a boxed plastic tub chassis with a longer wheelbase like the CG chassis set. It also comes stock with the lightweight wheelset and all the plastic suspension components found inn the CG chassis set. The CVA shocks, included MSC and 540 silvercan probably threw people off thinking the car was just a de-contented Avante when, in fact, it performed better for less money. It also has a center ball diff and planetary f/r diffs.

    The Egress is then introduced as basically a buggy with all the aforementioned hop-ups included in one kit. Buy all the hop-ups and put them on an Avante and you basically got an Egress. About to only unique parts to the Egress were an even taller front shock tower and lower mounting hardware used to get the shocks even more vertical. Since it has all the hop-ups, the center ball diff is left out and the owner has the option of a locked center or one-way setup. The planetary diffs are replaced with f/r ball diffs.

    The Avante 2001 comes out as a budget Egress. It goes back to the original diff set up and looses things like the titanium screws and hicap shocks, etc. The carbon graphite chassis is replaced with a similar one done in FRP. The Avante cam-loc wheels make a comeback, now in white shod with new spike tires. 

    Thx for all that! Most appreciated.

    • Like 2

  3. Without knowing for sure, (I don't race but I have an Avante and an Egress) I would have thought that logically the Vanquish or VQS would have been the best being the furthest away from the Avante startpoint. That alot of the issuew would be sorted so to speak.
    Looking at the responses though it seems that's not the case. I can't speak to the handling of the Avante or Egress as I've turfed the center diffs as I could never get them to work, only tightened down to an unreasonable amount and they still slipped. Hence solid center gears on mine so they are both a tad twitchy and darty in handling.
    The Egress is easier to work on so far though, and it has been re-re-ed a couple times so I think I'd go with that.


  4. I think that noisier gearboxes tend to have coarser (or larger) pitches on the gears inside them. Like my Hornet for example, that high pitched whine is pretty distinctive.
    Some of my large scale cars/trucks are very noisy and there is not much you can do about it.

    The racing buggies I have all run the finer gear pitches and are quieter as a rule.

    • Like 3

  5. 6 minutes ago, Tbird232ci said:

    I have give up and revisited projects many times.

    One that comes to mind is a Redcat Dunerunner. I bought it for an okay price locally, and was happy with it until I actually ran it at home for the first time. There was snow on the ground and I noticed it was only spinning the rear wheels. I pick it up and see the front universals are broken. Then I see the shock shaft is bent.I found a ton of crap broken. I get all of the parts to fix that and started noticing all of the other crap wrong with it. I was very disheartened. I yanked the gas engine off and a bunch of other crap off, started an electric conversion but haven't followed through yet. It's sitting in a nice little spot in the corner of the garage waiting.

    Most of my Tamiya projects that get derailed end up getting repurposed. I was building a TT02 to try to race in USGT. I couldn't afford to keep up with the electronics and everything else, so now it's going to be a fancy shelf queen with a nice body. Some of my cars where parts are unobtainable are going to get pulled apart, scrubbed and made to look nice and maybe occasionally run.

    I picked up the mantra "finished, not perfect" from a coworker. He and his wife would come up with projects they wanted to do but would never make progress because they couldn't find a way to get the perfect result they wanted. They eventually came to the realization that they would be happier with a project completed to 90% perfection rather than 0%.

    Maybe step back and rebuild the car to where it looks good, clean it up, lower it some and put smooth tires on it and do some light on road play. Or maybe make it look the absolute best you can and let it chill on the shelf 90% of the time.

    What is the saying? Perfect is the enemy of good.
    I once bought (and paid overs for) a 5b Baja that had been converted from gas to electric. Initially I thought it was a bit rough but ok. Then I started noticing things bent worn or broken. The deper I dug the more things I had to replace. It might have been cheaper in the end to buy a whole other 5b, which I did, a Flux this time.
    Once I fixed the first one I gave it to my younger son. He still has it.
    That buggy was a real object lesson.

    • Like 2

  6. Well, I have an Original Buggy Champ chassis (converted to mount SS body) and an old Kyosho Assault that is now a Frankenstein Scorpion. The parts for those stayed with me stashed here or there for decades. Not even joking.
    I always have several projects on the go and when they get too much (or I'm waiting for parts...again) I put them aside and work on something else.

    Another example, I have been arsing about with different ideas for a Hornet with IRS since I got back into the hobby, back in 2007. I'm probably going to take it in a different direction AGAIN.... (the current version is in the TC designs thread)

    Before that I worked out a bunch of parts that would let you mount Kyosho RB5 suspension and gearbox to and OG Ultima chassis. Those bits and pieces are sitting around doing nothing currently. They may get used again one day.

    My point? I don't know. I guess it's ok to just put things aside and move on and come back to it later. There is no real pressure other than that which you put on yourself.

     

    • Like 4

  7. On 4/26/2023 at 3:43 PM, alvinlwh said:

    I have a different problem with the local marketplace. I live in a place where a single postcode can cover a relatively large rural area and many houses have no numbers and road no official name. So I often get instructions like:

    Go up the airport road, a bit pass the school, turn right on to the road leading to the (local name) beach. Go past the field with the sheep's for almost a mile and turn down the little track on the left. I am the house on the right with a red door and blue car parked up front.

    I am expected follow all these, in the dark, in the rain?!?! You are on a smartphone, can't you just share your location pin to me? Oh I don't know how to do that.

    Grrrrr....!

    These are the deals that make me wonder if the person on the other end is waiting to turn me into a skin dress.

    • Haha 2

  8. I guess many people have tried to build a what if version of the Hornet, specifically an IRS for it. Here is my attempt.
    My rationale was to make something bolt on, that would be easy to fit and not alter the look of the original car too much. I also wanted to keep it in house as far as sourcing parts was concerned, so Tamiya parts where possible.

    Anyhoo, this is what I came up with. Adapter plates/parts to fit TRF 201 underpinnings to the Tamiya Hornet chassis. It kinda worked too, but I just couldn't come up with a decent location and solution for the front suspension links and shock placement.
    Bump steer was the issue. I am hoping to get back to this project at some time. Prove the concept. 201 parts are kind of hard to find and expensive though these days, so I'll most likely take it in another direction.

    Edit: Forgot to add, the rear end assembly still fits under the Hornet body without modification.

     

    Enjoy!

     

     

    Frontassy.jpg

    morerearassy.jpg

    Rear.jpg

    Rearassy.jpg

    rearview.jpg

    TRFhornet.jpg

    • Like 14

  9. Hmmm, I think the Wild One gearbox is a tad fragile. There are Tamiya gearboxes that can handle really powerful motor/esc combos, the thing is, like already mentioned in here, the Chassis don't handle well at all.
    Case in point. A Hornet I put a Traxxas VXL system in. The gearbox was fine with it, but it was constant tumbling, wheelies and backflips.
    Fun at first but quickly became pointless.

    Having said all that, you do you.

    • Like 2

  10. I hate to do a big wee wee on everyones parade, but the term 'rare' is kind of relative.

    The 959 might be sought after, comparably hard to find, and priced high, but they aren't really that rare. I can't remember where I read it, but the numbers of Tamiya 959's made and sold was in the tens of thousands afaik.

    Now if I'm wrong on this I'm wrong and, oh well I'll look silly.

    I really would like a Willy's Wheeler, or even the re-re different chassi-ed version.


  11. 39 minutes ago, BuggyDad said:

    I call them zip ties too, and I'm British. So now I'm just confused. 

    Nahhh not that

    Just many of the suggestions. It's actually all pretty good advice.

     

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