davidwj95

I was going to order a lunchbox brace and hornet brace a few weeks ago but overall cost with postage to uk put me off. Let us know if it cures the bouncing issue.

I bought these HPI rims a few weeks ago, they have a lot less offset than the originals so will make the car a bit narrower. I made the mistake of assuming they'd fit straight onto the Tamiya hubs. They don't. I spent some time looking into it and found that I'd need some long axles and HPI drive hexes. So much for keeping this a cheap build. Don't want to bodge it though as the aim is to have a tough reliable runner. Tonight's job is to clean the chassis ready for paint.

I bought some hubs for my terra scorcher from miniature manufacturing off ebay, the quality is excellent. I noticed they did quite a few bits for the lunchbox.

Shock towers cutout and painted.

I have an Ansmann W5 transmitter that I use with about 8 cars. Ive just bought a flysky transmitter as it's compatible with my receivers but has a 10 model memory. The receivers are only about £6 each.

New shock towers marked out

I'm keeping the arms standard but I have some HPI rims with less offset that I'm hoping will reduce track width by about 20mm. I'll get some photos up soon.

Good point about the Amarok body, I hadn't thought of that. I wish Tamiya had made more bodies with the correct wheelbase.

Stripdown begins. I don't like the shock towers that I made back then so they will be the first thing to replace.

I bought my wild dagger off Ebay in 2004 as I was returning to the hobby. I wanted a monster truck to use care free in the garden to recreate the fun of my monster beetle which I had just rebuilt. Fairly soon after I got it I made an aluminium chassis and shock mounts but otherwise it was fairly standard. Between then and now I drive it every so often but its never quite seemed as fun as the monster beetle was. Maybe it's the nostalgia and fun memories of the beetle but with lockdown giving me spare time I thought it would make a good project. My aim is to make a fun garden bashee, these are the things I'm want to change: Performance I find it a bit to slow and predictable so the plan is to go 2wd and brushless. Appearance The looks of a model are really important to me, the beetle and blackfoot have perfect proportions but the dagger chassis is too wide and long for my taste. I dont want to re make the chassis so the wheelbase wont change but I'm going to narrow the track a little bit. I have a lexan body from my brat that I have painted like a mud blaster. I'll either fit that or look for a blackfoot body. I tried on the beetle body but it looked to short for the wheelbase.

It's changed for me over the years. When I first got into RC aged about 12 I was just interested in driving them, the build was something that i just wanted to get done quickly so i could use them. I then wanted to modify the cars but being young I didn't have the knowledge or money to do it properly, I'd do things like put a faster motor in my hornet but still with plastic bushings and MSC. When I got back into the hobby in my 20s it was for nostalgia. I collected models that I always wanted and restored them to new condition. I wouldn't use them tho as I'd be worried about damaging them. I bought a couple of modern models to bash but ended up hardly using them. Now aged 40 I like 90% building and tinkering and 10% driving. I dont think there's any tamiya I'd be happy with straight out of the box. Now I enjoy fixing all the flaws and modifying them to meet my requirements. I'm currently working on my old wild dagger, by the time its finished it'll contain about 10% of the original parts. It's been great making parts from scratch and trying to work out which parts from other kits will fit. I've sold some of my nostalgia models and everything I have now gets used, some more carefully than others. My monster beetle was my first ever RC that I got for Christmas in 1990. I rebuilt it as a shelf queen nearly 20 years ago but now I think what's the point. I have so many fun memories of using it when I was young so I have started running it again.

I found this old photo from when I first built it.

The Brat and monster beetle are some of my favourite runners. I run the brat more because the gearbox holds up better with the smaller wheels. It handles loads better than my lunchbox but it's still a very 'vintage' driving experience. It's quick enough, has a really tight turning circle and is very quiet. The beetle is a bit more fun to drive but a bit slower in standard form. Mine is 30yrs old with MSC and clicky gearbox hence the brat getting more use. I drive both on the garden grass but I keep it cut as short as I can.

I bought my hilift in 2007 when they were fairly new and there weren't many crawlers on the market. I was quite excited when they came out as I'd owned a couple of Land Rovers and wanted an RC with 4x4 and live axles. It was an enjoyable build but I remember being disappointed when it was finished. It looked wrong with the small wheels and low hanging parts. It wasnt as much fun to drive as I'd hoped either as it got hung up on the smallest obstacles. Fortunately my favourite thing about this hobby is tinkering and this model has been the most satisfying to improve. I keep doing bits to it then putting it back on the shelf, I don't think it will ever be finished but I'm really happy with the looks and performance now. I drive it with rear axle locked and front unlocked. Things I've done to it: Lifted transmission and motor moved to front. Direct steering with chassis mounted servo Battery moved to under load bed 6mm Steel steering rods Steel bumpers front and rear 1.55 steel rc4wd wheels 35t motor Body resprayed twice Led lights Clear windows Going forward I might look at adding a bruiser interior and a few other scale details. Anyone else found this model a bit disappointing out of the box but the most satisfying to modify?

I've used Carson paint killer to remove small areas of paint bleed before.

I had a go at fitting a hornet tyre but it looked too big.

I built one to match my real life 2cv. It's a great kit and nice shell. I cut the wheels and tyres down to make them narrower but the profile is still not quite right. I might give hornet tyres a try.

I'd be interested in one in black please.

I think the CR 01 would be a good choice, they can get over rough ground well, have a reasonable top speed, they are fun to drive and mine has been really reliable

Hi I hope it's clear from the pics,I made some servo mountining brackets from 10x10mm steel bar. I think I made them to locate in existing holes in the chassis rails but it was a couple of years ago now so can't quite remember. It's loads better than the standard steering.

Hi I fitted the junfac steering kit with standard suspension, it does work but there isn't really enough clearance and the servo touched the gear change linkage when the suspension was compressed. I have now mounted the steering servo to the chassis but kept the junfac linkages. This set up is far better and looks more scale.