Bluefoot

Your best bet is to try posting a wanted ad in the TC traderoom, or have a trawl through ebay. As Terry says, just trim the existing bumper to get it running for now.

The Ford F150 is basically a TA01 chassis, but it has a short front bumper to allow for the larger wheels to turn when steering. However the kit comes with the same E-parts tree which has the original bumper - it is just not used. Maybe your chassis has the wrong bumper fitted. You can see a comparison of the chassis and suspension setups of the TA01/02 and stadium trucks in my showroom here: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...983&id=2193

The Pajero (58132) and the F150 (58161) have identical wheels. In fact if you look on the inside of the rim you will see 58132 on them. What is stopping the wheels from turning?

I have a TXT and an E-maxx. The TXt is great for crawling and bashing about in the back yard. Mine can pick up a bit of speed with its twin Magnetic Mayhems and EVX speedo (out of an E-maxx!) but it is pretty unstable at speed. I haven't lowered or hardened the suspension. The Emaxx is a lot of fun. They are quite fast for a big truck, and need a lot of space to run. As was mentioned before - they do break things. I have replaced a couple of suspension arms and I have just fitted alloy gearcases and CVDs all round. Mine also has a full set of alloy skid plates and I'm about to invest in alloy bulkheads, chassis rails and shocks, but that's mainly because I like the look of all that alloy! Once you beef up the drive chain you are pretty well set. I'm not so keen on the alloy suspension arms because I would rather they flexed a bit when it hits something. It's a big heavy truck. The plastic ones are pretty cheap. Mine has the standard Titan motors, but with a good set of batteries it pulls wheelies in first and second gear. In fact i must get round to fitting a wheelie bar to stop it flipping!

No worries. The Sand Rover, Brat, Fast Attack Vehicle, Rough Rider and Ford F150 Ranger all have the same wheel-mount. Also the Holiday Buggy, Sand Scorcher, Super Champ, Wild One, Mitsubishi Pajero, Grasshopper, Hornet, Frog and I think the XR311 and Cheetah. All these wheels will fit the Sand Rover. The Sand Rover tyre will only fit the Sand Rover wheel (same as the Holiday Buggy one). The Brat tyre will fit: Rough Rider, Ford F150 Ranger, Brat, Fast Attack Vehicle, Wild One and Mitsubishi Pajero wheels. The Sand Sorcher (paddle) tyre will fit: Sand Scorcher, Super Champ, Grasshopper, Hornet and Frog wheels. The Super Champ (spike) tyre will fit: Sand Scorcher, Super Champ, Grasshopper, Hornet and Frog wheels.

Those rear tyres you mention are used on the Brat, Fast Attack, vehicle, Rough Rider and Ford F150 Ranger. All those wheels will fit on the Sand Rover. Those tyres won't fit on the Sand Rover rims.

I have just bought a Calsonic Skyline bodyset (R32) which first apeared on kit # 58099 as the Nissan Skyline GT-R Nismo. It says on the box that it fits the TA02, TA03F, TA03R, TL01, TB01, TT01 and TG10. I have tried it on my TA01, TA02 and TA03F and the mounts are in identical positions. My TA03F chassis is currently wearing a Schnitzer BMW M3 body off a TT01 chassis (I don't have a TT01). My guess would be that Tamiya has made all the body mounts of the standard touring cars in the same relative positions.

I've just put a quick How-To guide for the firing buttons here: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...95&sid=2193

I have just got a Hummer and found exactly the same thing. Jim is right - it is better to connect the steering rods to the underside of the upright arm, just like all the other cars/trucks that use these chassis. I have done a quick update to my TA01/02 comparison here: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...=05102007001758

The mods are quite simple. The way the MFU works is that normal running requires the trims to be set at the midpoints, and the normal functions operate within the "trimmed" range. The way firing works is that moving the trim and then the stick will take the pot to the endpoint. The MFU recognises the endpoint as the firing command. To install a fire button you just need to run a wire from the middle connection on the pot and one from the end that the pot is moved to by the stick. These are connected to a pushbutton (got mine from **** Smith). (that row of *s should says D i c k. Too rude!) If I get the time I'll put some photos and a wiring diagram up over the weekend.

I'm not really a "Tank" type of guy, but I do have a King Tiger and Sherman. Both are full-option standard setups. I couldn't say which one I like best. I like the Sherm because it is a lot smaller than the KT, very manouverable and just a lot of fun. The KT has the main gun recoil which the Sherm doesn't, and looks like a serious piece of kit when it is powering through the garden or down the hallway into the kitchen! I have a set of metal tracks for the KT but I haven't installed them yet, they are heavy! As far as I'm aware ballbearings are an option for all the tanks. I have modified the transmitters on both my tanks to have "fire" buttons for the main guns and machine guns, and a lights switch for the Sherm. It means you don't have to fiddle with the trims to do these things and makes driving and firing so much easier. I also have all the original non-full-option tanks - Sherman, Leopard A4, Gepard and King Tiger. These are great to drive but the sounds, flash and recoils of the full-options makes a big difference. Still do a bit of crawling with my original Sherm though. I'm sure that whatever you get you will have fun.

Caustic oven cleaner will do it - just don't leave it on for too long! Dishwasher powder will do it too - just try putting your wifes' new ally meat-tenderiser in there and see what happens!!

When will we be able to vote for last months comp - or am I missing something? Can't find anything to allow me to vote. Cheers.

Any paint type repair will be noticable on that chrome body. I think a strategically placed sticker or decal might be the answer.

I made one for my Rover: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...13&sid=2193 Looks much better than the original I think. I might be persuaded to make another if you are interested.

I boiled up some Ford Ranger tyres (before the re-re Brat came out) for about 10 minutes. That got them pretty much back in shape. I don't know what the long-term prognosis is though - I didn't apply any sprays or oils to them. I understand that glycerine is the best stuff to use for making them soft and supple. Best to do this while the missus is out

I've found that nitro fuel works well on polycarb bodies and hand-applied paint.

I use a product that is used to join PVC drainpipes. It is an MEK (MethylEthylKetone) based product that "welds" the plastic as WillyChang says. Use too much and you will melt the plastic, but use it as directed and it will form a strong join. You need to be able to get it right into the full depth of the join. You can use a small modelling knife for this. Sand and fill any rough bits after it has hardened.

That looks really close to the proper Avante drivers head

Hi Shads, I gave my kids an old Hornet to run and they think it's great. It's tough as old boots and goes fast enough to make the "toy" RC cars look like they are going backwards. All the other kids on the street want to have a go with it. If you want a buggy for a kid to play with then this is a good one. And they do look good when painted nicely and decaled properly. If you want it to go faster then you can buy a faster motor for it. The gearbox on these are quite tough. Handling won't be so great, but that's part of the fun and challenge of the old designs. The Tamiya instructions are very good and this is an easy car to build. If you buy it from a hobby shop they will (should!)help you if you have any problems. They are not as fiddly as an airfix kit. Definitely get ballbearings for it. The more batteries the better. Good batteries, and higher mAh batteries will last longer. Also a reasonable peak charger. You will need paint (from the Tamiya PS range). And read the instructions about painting the lexan body. It's not difficult if you take a little time to get it right. If he wants something that can have endless hop-ups, tuning parts and money spent - then maybe look at the tamtechs. They come as a pre-assembled car which is ready to run. This can be an advantage I suppose, but I think half the fun of RC is that you build the car yourself. If he wants to get serious about racing, then it might be worth taking him along to a local club and talk to the people there and have a look at their cars to decide what he wants in the future. Cheers, Don.

The 1 1/12 scale 934 static kits come up on ebay occasionally - you can use the bodyshell and trim from that. Failing that, the pillar could be re-constructed if you have the modelling skills and a bit of plasticard and filler.

The re-re doesn't have the wing as it would interfere with the (new) rear body mounts. The driver and eveything else is the same I think.

I second that 300 SL Merc. That way I could combine my two "toy" hobbies.

Got two of my cars back today!! The police have caught up with the *******er who nicked my cars - he is currently in the slammer awaiting trial on 22 charges! Unfortunately they can't pin the break-in at my factory on him due to lack of hard evidence. There were no fingerprints and it was his uncle who sold the cars to the hobby shop. The Uncle is blaming the nephew, and the nephew is blaming the uncle, so the cops reckon it is a waste of time and taxpayers money to try to chase the case. I agree. However the nephew is already in prison and is up on 22 other charges, including some of burglary, and is sure to be doing time as they do have evidence for these other crimes. That's good enough for me. The cars I got back are the Chevy S10 and the BMW Schnitzer TA03. Unfortunately not the Blackfoot. The Chevy, which was painted matt black, is now matt white! You can see it here: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...=06062007003330

Well I'd like to help with the motor thing, but I don't have a Frog and I've never used a fireball. As for the shocks - there used to be after-market conversion kits available when the original Frog was released, but I don't think anyone makes them today. I'd love to help you out but I'm not sure that I've ever been referred to as a gentleman , besides, I'm on the other side of the planet.