Theibault

That's the best advice. Hinge pins are so crucial to your suspension and car working right. Scrap 'em and get new ones.

The car is a snap shot in time. A time where over engineering didn't create results! LOL All kidding aside, it's a great looking model that performs ok. It's a little on the fragile side, but it represents out of the box thinking for the time. Like many, I never had one when it came out but raced against them. The appeal for me is the design. I think it is probably the best looking RC I have and I mean that with both the body on and off. The night I finished mine, I think I just stared at it for an hour. I run mine, nothing crazy, but I'm not afraid to take jumps and push it a bit. I run it with Proline Dirt Hawgs and it drives well on most terrain. As far as being an advanced build, it's a Tamiya. They are all joys to build and go together smooth as butter. It just has more steps than say a Brat that took me 2 hours to build.

I absolutely love my CR01. It is a great crawler bone stock. If you want a trail truck, the CC01 makes more sense, but the CR01 gives you the best of both worlds. Check out this video I made a while back.

Do it! I am a firm believer that the more pics you post the better!

Just finished mine. I went with a non box art color. It's Cobalt Blue, but it color shifts anywhere between almost white to a blueish purple. Pics don't do it justice. I am so happy with this car. Enjoy the pics.

You can add to your runtimes by going with a brushless motor as well. Lipo and BL motor are like chocolate and peanut butter. Both are great alone, but even better together!

I'd throw a Wild Willy 2 in there as well.

Just spray some Windex on the body and apply your sticker, you'll be able to move it around and once placed, let the Windex evaporate or squeegee it out with a piece of plastic. That's what I do with all my bodies. My Suby WRC '08 and Copper Mix Silvia would have been near impossible with all the complex decals.

You can either bake it off or an acetone dip to get them off.

I score and snap with an exacto. Super easy for me.

If you are doing this for her and she wants a Frog, get her the Frog. If you want it for you, get the Avante. Simple.

I can see the email from Tamiya Corp to distributors: open up those Buggy Champ gold editions, respray silver and we'll send you a new box top. LOL

If I were painting, I'd go gold, then red, then blue. Depends on the gold though, if it's a mettalic gold, first, if it's a translucent gold, last. Just my 2 cents. PS, the chassis looks unreal! Almost like it's new. Great job and can't wait to see more pics.

I bought one three months ago. It's almost finished, just need to install the electronics. It's going to be my main drifter, so it will be used... a lot. I am in the same boat as you, was thinking of getting another to keep NIB, but I can't find any either.

Funny that the previous poster mentioned the Frog. That is the one from my youth that now, I feel just..meh, about. Love my rere Hornet so much more.

"I was on another site but got kicked out when it was decided that my Clod QD was a toy and not a proper Machine" I hate this attitude. EVERYTHING RC is a toy. /rant Anyways, I had one of these years ago. Lots of fun. Good luck finding a body and if you do, post pics!

Great pic! What's the black thing in the bed?

Just looks like a Tank set up. Lot's of guys add the toggle for a fire switch. Controls sound like they are set up for tread/turret.

I'm a huge rally fan, and my DF03RA is my most used and fun car I have. Just my 2cents.

The 3racing and Yeah Racing light kits are great. I have one of each and really like them. As a bonus, both are relatively inexpensive.

Get both my drifters up and running, turm my Axial into a tuber, FINALLY after 10 yrs, build my NIB F201, get a hotshot, brat, WW2, hornet, and Avante. So, not much really LOL.

Those Kyosho 2wd Buggies are really growing on me. Might have to pick one up in the new year.

You can buy bearings individually from TH or in pacKs. You just need to know what sizes you need.

Regarding decals, Windex is much better than soapy water. It's alcohol based so it will just evaporate.

I paint then cut. I use the score and snap method. It is the easiest method I've used im my 25 years in the hobby and by far gets the best results. I picked up a $4 circle cutter at the art store for wheel wells. The best investment I've ever made in RC.