Scouser

Just read from start to last post. Truly fantastic work. Taking one of Tamiyas 'fun' kits and turning it into a piece of rolling art. Love it.

Love it. These are the diy mods that make ownership more enjoyable (for me anyway). Been doing quite a lot of searches over the past 12 hrs and the decision is made. Next post will likely be in the 'what the postman brought' thread.

Thank you everyone. I believe we have a winner.

I had always discounted the Mad Bull as I thought the rear suspension was a weak point. Is this not the case? If it can take a beating then it certainly ticks all the boxes for an all-rounder.

Wow, thanks for the replies lads. Loads to think about. I had a look at the dt 03 and it looks like the TamTech chassis grew up. That is a very good thing as I raced a TamTech for years and it was the toughest car I ever owned by a long way. The CR01 is one of my favourites and I confess to overlooking that one. Price isn't too bad so definitely worth a look. Really interested to hear the Beetle would be most fragile, I have never owned one of the cars with that chassis but always imagined them to be tough as old boots! So the beetle has now been eliminated. Thank you so much for the advice, this place really is unparalleled for its knowledge base. ps. Berman, you ain't missing anything at the minute mate. This place is a mess!

Firstly, my apologies if these types of thread are tiresome. I normally will just make my own mind up but on this one, I could use some insight. I am going to buy a new kit. This will be a 'throw in the back of the car, take everywhere' type of thing. Beach, woods, park, street, yard and anywhere else you can think of. I was looking for something upgradable that also has some known diy mods that work as I like to customise. Tough, reliable, easy to work on and fun. So far I am stuck between the Monster Beetle, Lunchbox or the GF01 Dump Truck (my son loves construction stuff). I really could use some wisdom from owners of these trucks and would appreciate any pointers to others I may have overlooked. Thanks for any help guys and sorry again for such a facepalm thread! Jon.

I am in the process of building a TL01 drifter. Managed to get a one way front diff for a few pounds from Honk Kong, speed tuned gears, full bearing set, locked rear diff and a decent servo. Good solid chassis that can be made to drift very easily and cheaply. If you really get into it there is a modification you can do to the wishbones that takes away the need for the 'C' part of the front hubs and gives massive steering angles, which with the way the TL01 is set up, should work very well. Post some pictures up as you progress.

One of the things I miss the most about smaller scale is the costs. Sometimes difficult to justify the prices of 1:10 when you see what it is one size down!!

I remember this same problem with the TamTechs and certain hop up parts being different size. Bear in mind I was racing but I found the undersized screws just wouldn't stay put. Might be different if you are just having a gentle fun run though.

The Traxxas is huge in comparison. Their idea of 1/16 is everybody else's idea of 1/10!! They are fantastic vehicles though and hugely capable. For something comparable to the HPI then the AE RC18 is your best bet from another manufacturer. I used to race against one of these and they handle superbly with lots of hop ups available. The TamTechs are some of my favourite Tamiya chassis. I raced one for years but, they are two wheel drive with the exception of the Hotshot which has a complicated drivetrain compared to the HPI. The TamTechs are also slightly larger being 1/16 to the HPI 1/18. If you are looking for something to sit side by side with the HPI and have some fun races, either the AE or another HPI would be my choices. JMO of course.

Just had a mooch around the vintage forums and found this :- http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=61592 I have seen it posted on another forum that the TA chassis wishbones will fit. If this is the case, the DF01 arms should also work and give me a wider track. Time to bite the bullet and give it a go I think.

Hi Brom, yeah the LA kit is one way to do it but sadly they are roughly £50 for the kit and they aint exactly common these days. I was hoping something from a current or recently discontinued car would fit as this would make spares easier to get hold of.

Thanks for that, I'll give that a try this evening. I did look at the TL01B arms and that may be on the cards. I have read about the TA chassis arms being compatible but like you, I don't really know about the differing widths etc. Another option might be hubs compatible with TL01 wishbones but with a profile that would give me the desired result. Thanks for the input. dyahipfakta, I did see the tread about the TG switch but as you say, it wont give me what I was looking for. Thanks anyway though.

Sincere apologies if this has been dealt with before but I did search but could not find anything. I am looking to slightly widen the track on my TL01 via compatible wishbones. Reason for this is that I am building a drift car and wanted to fit high angle universals, which only appear to come in lengths starting above the 38mm of the TL01. Ideally something with spares readily available which pretty much rules out the TL01 long arm kit. Thanks in advance for any help. Jon.

TL-01 from ebay that will be the base for my little drifter project.

Very nice review, glad I read it as this was one of the cars on the shortlist for a return to racing on astro!!

Lovely restoration/modification thread. The car look fantastic and it's nice to see it up and running again, good work.

Mine comes from the fact that people who live in Liverpool are called scousers. Rather unoriginal I'm afraid.

I had the Hornet with a GB02 front end conversion, 3Racing ali parts and steel diff with titaniunm turnbuckles and a 6000kv brushless set up and raced the car for years week in week out. Without doubt the strongest car I have ever raced and held it's own against 4wd competition. If you go on oOple reviews section and have a look at the TamTech's Jimmy built and raced, he came second in the B final against 4wd cars at the MicroX national event. Love the TamTechs and glad to see they are getting a new lease of life.

Small World!! Sadly the TamTechs are all now with new homes but are getting raced regularly so all good I guess. Hope you are not out of pocket with this RPC mess.

From what I have read, Ryan has basically washed his hands of everything to do with RPC. Sadly he did not close the website or remove his adverts from site banners so he was continuing to take money for orders that there was never any intention to honour. If I had an outstanding order with RPC I would be starting a Paypal dispute.

Just seen this thread, sorry for the late reply guys. Ryan was a member of Southport RC club for years but left after a while just as he was setting up RPC. I have seen lots and lots of posts about poor service and bad quality of product. A thread on oOple has basically stated that he has stopped running RPC as he now has another job so anyone with goods not delivered should start a paypal dispute immediately. Ryan really surprised me with all this as he seemed a decent guy when he was racing at the club.

I sold mine on ebay a while back, went on B.I.N. about ten minutes after listing it. Really wish I had kept it but seemed like a good idea to sell at the time. Started looking for a replacement and as everyone else is finding, they are not exactly abundant! The fox is still around in some stores but as you say, shipping to Aus would be a bit of a pain in the wallet.

Very sad to say that my TamTechs are up for auction. If you have any questions just ask away. Two sold, one to go. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-TamTech-Fox-buggy-GB-01-/151165038678?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item2332237056

I have a TA-02 for just bashing about and I love it. Got the Desert Fielder from Fusion with an aluminum motor mount and a set of bearings and it runs great for what I want. I did move the ball diff to the front and lock the gear diff for a bit of scale crawling and the only issues so far are with the large screws that fix the front knuckles to the c-hubs. They cannot be fully tightened down and as a result can work themselves loose and drop out. Although this has only happened once I am finding myself regularly checking on them during a run so I think an aluminum upgrade might be in order (£10.99). Other thing to consider is the battery tray which has rounded edges so square profile lipo's won't fit. No big deal, I just got a load of round edge NiMh's which fit like a glove and are cheap to boot! Wheels use a 12mm hex so upgrade wheels and tyres are everywhere. To keep the scale look it seems better to keep the diameter below 4" but there are loads of wheel/tyre combos that look great. I am looking for a better body as the Fielder shell is just a touch too narrow for the chassis but again, loads of shell options out there. All in all I am very happy with the choice I made. The car can be a truck, rally car, drifter, touring car all with the change of the body and wheels. Winner in my book.