Static Age

The Wild One was my favorite as a kid. Mine was a used tatty example but I enjoyed it so much. Swapped it for a wreck of a Wild Willy, should have never of done that. After searching for some time I got myself a near mint Wild One which I occasionally run. As mentioned above part of the charm is the looks, the two seater cockpit & the roll cage look awesome. Also mentioned is the handling. Compared to vintage Tamiya buggies from the same era the Wild One handles so much better, way better than my Frog & my friends Hornet. I can understand that in the right hands it could give some modern buggys a run for the money & even if you do loose, you look way cooler doing so with a Wild One.

You are limited to wHeel sets that have bearings in the front wheels. Pretty much all 2WD tamiya wheel sets will fit. If you want some bling then these will fit http://www.fusionhobbies.com/Carson-2WD-Al...e-p/c900028.htm You could try converting the front hubs hex drive in the Sand Viper, I dont know how easy this is but it will open you up to almost any choice of wheel on the market. The Ansmann Mad Rat 2WD buggy is very similar th the DT02, maybe the front steering knuckles would fit allowwing 12mm hex on the front of your Viper.

I cant help with some of the mods specific to the sand viper as I know nothing about this car. I can answer a few questions for you in basic terms as requested. The ansmann rear wheels will fit but not the front. The tamiya fromt wheels house bearings & the ansmann ones have a hex drive like your rears. Batteries, whether they are lipo or Nimh/Nicd the greater the amps the longer the run time. For example if you have 1500mah batteries you could upgrade to 3000mah or more for longer runs. Motors, brushed or brushless the lower the amount of turns then the higher the rpm. Worth checking the specs of the motors as this can vary from brand to brand. ESC again brushed or brushless are rated by what turn motors they can handle. A 11 turn ESC will take an 11 turn motor or higher. Probably best to post what motor/ESC/ battery combo you currently have as to get the best advice regarding upgrading.

There was some aluminium ones on US ebay a while ago. The stock mounts are so week & you have to buy the whole chrome parts set just to get them, real pain. Most lunchbox owners go the DIY route. I found some strong plastic body posts on ebay & drilled them to fit the lunchbox chassis. I think the chassis would break before the mounts do. Rules forbid me from adding a link but post this in the ebay search 08007 - Body Post 4pcs I had to drill slightly bigger holes in the shell & trim the posts a bit but they seem very strong.

The Super Hornet chassis had the clips on the battery box, maybe that chassis has been fitted.

Seen this a few times on old hornet/lunchbox chassis. Its beacause the plastic has got old & brittle, you can crack it there by over tightening the screws. What about using a peice of right angle aluminium that covers the area where the screws are & goes up the side of the chassis? This could be glued & screwd in place using the existing screw holes & new ones on the sides. Not very pretty but it could be quite a strong fix. Like this, sorry about the poor diagram.....

Search for "buggy wheels" on ebay. Bound to be some yellow dish wheels on there.

They will be spot on. They come with a few spacers so that you can ad more tension to the springs if needed. I have the ansmann dampers of a few runners & they work well, despite the abuse they havent leaked either. Regarding the tyres do you mean Dirt Hawgs from Pro Line? http://prolineracing.com/tires/dirt-hawg-i...ggy-rear-tires/ These are a great all round buggy tyre, hard wearing too. Does the Fighter Buggy have 2.2" rear wheels though?

Whats the aplication? The ansmann dampers are plenty good enough for bashing or running for fun. Worth making sure the oil level is even when you get them though. Obviously for racing you would need to get some higher quality dampers.

I'm going to stick up for The Frog. Its a great buggy to run but does need a few mods from standard from to make it more enjoyable. The stock rear dampers are hard as badword, no wonder the rear suspension deosnt work. Swap them for nice soft damper set up & the handling is vastly improved. Upgrade the front end to a set of proper dampers & shock towers too. The rere gearbox is lovely & smooth. I find a Frog with the above set up will out handle any Grasshopper or Hornet. My Wild One is probably my favorite buggy but as mentioned above if you gaoing to do hard running/bashing then the price/availabilty of spares is a bit off putting. If I was buying one of the rere buggys for a bit of fun then I would buy The Frog or The Grasshopper (only because I prefer its looks over the Hornet) & carry out a few mods on them to improve the handling. You only need a Sports Tuned motor in either buggy & they really get a move on.

I cant answer all but I can help with a few. tamiya brat, 16t, 18t and 19t. Pitch 32dp tamiya hornet 18t. Pitch 32dp tamiya lunchbox 10t. Again 32dp but its a special long pinion made to work with the motor adaptor. Its made from brass & not the usual soft aluminium so most people dont have any problems with it. Good job too as I dont think any one else makes such a pinion.

Are you using the 18T or the 15T pinion? If you use the 18T then it could be placing strain on the motor causing it to get hot.

The frog/brat gearbox is also requires a 32dp pinion. You get the option of 3 gear ratios too. I have a frog gearbox on standby incase my original wild one gearbox fails. Can you put some pictures up of how to fit it in the car when you fit your wild one please? I'm interested to see how its done.

Those carson wheels/ tyres are really good. The wheels are very tough & the tyres offer alot of grip. I was running on tarmac with them the other day & was amazed how much grip there was.

No probs. These adapters will do the same thing & are a bit cheaper http://www.radshaperc.com/TamiyaWheelAdapters.html If you keep looking you will no doubt come across a pair of super hornet wheels on ebay. In my experience they are very fragile (I think due to the type of plastic) & its really easy to rip the centre's out when running. I would keep the original wheels for display & some other wheels for running. These really suit vintage buggy's http://www.fusionhobbies.com/Carson-2WD-Al...e-p/c900028.htm also available in black. I have a pair for running on my Wild One.

A pair of these http://www.fusionhobbies.com/Tamiya-Frog-A...r-p/ta53913.htm will alow you to fit any 12mm hex fitting buggy wheels you like. You will be spoilt for choice for wheel & tyre combo's. I use these adapters on a few of my runners, saves damaging vintage wheels.

The pinion is 32dp, but if you are not using the original gearbox this might not be what you need. The original wild one has the option of 15T or 18T pinions. What gearbox do you plan to use?

If you settle for a Tamiya chassis then be sure to get a steel pinion gear. The added strain of locked diffs kills the soft aluminium pinion in no time at all, often taking the spur gear with it.

A locked rear diff is a must, infact I have both diffs locked on my drift car. If the chassis you buy has ball diffs then you can lock the rear just by tightening it up. Then maybe tighten the front diff slightly so that it acts as an LSD. If the car has geared diffs then you can lock them buy putting a bit of hot melt glue on the planetery gears, this can easily be picked off if you wish to have the diff's functioning again.

On the subject of Shoguns, there are two on ebay uk at the moment. One of them looks to be in superb condition.

I'm guessing its the four wheel steer & narrower tyres that cause the double dare to roll over. I drive my Big Brute like a maniac & its very hard to get it to roll over, just goes into a drift. I'm planning on sticking another gearbox on the front & having twin motor 4wd. I have to agree that the Clod is the winner in the looks department compared to the Double Dare. Infact every part of the clod looks better, the double dare would have looked better if it had Big Brute wheels & tyres. The desirability of the Clod over vintage Kyosho monster trucks is reflect in the used prices. I payed £20 for my Big Brute in very good condition. Well it was when I bought it lol.

Had my Lunchbox since 1990, great fun. I'm about to go back to a stock silver can standard motor in mine. Having tried a few hotter motors I find the Lunchbox cant handle well enough to cope with the speed, its fine in a straight line. I have got most of the recomended mods, oil shocks & third shock. But having recently smashed the shell & cracked the chassis I think I need to tone mine down a bit. I'm going to be rebuilding it soon with new shell, chassis & the FX10 front arm mods. Should be great when completed.

No doubt your Brat moves pretty quickly with a 16t motor in it. Fitting proper ball bearings is a great upgrade on the standard bushes, these can be bough cheaply & most people will agree that they are an essential to most cars. http://www.rcbearings.co.uk You can improve the handling by fittng softer dampers on the rear, the stcok ones are very stiff. I found this improved my cornering speeds & cut down on roll overs. Also fitting oil filled dampers to the front really helps, you will need to buy some shock towers or make some & then remove the standard springs from inside the chassis. Check out some of the pictures of members Frog's, quite a few have gone for proper dampers on the front. As mentioned above the wheel adaptors will give you more options with regard to tyres as you can fit 2.2" wheels. They dont look as cool as the vintage wheels but if you are focused on performance then its worth considering. It only takes a second to switch between vintage wheels/ tyres & modern buggy style ones.

It is the same chassis as the Frog. Do you just want to make it look pretty or are you interested in performace upgrades as well?

That one looks identical to my first GT-four, they look superb in black but shuch a pain in the butt to clean.