Saito2

I'm going to hazard a guess and say the small rock-hard tires Tamiya supplies in the CC02 kit aren't the most effective on the trails. I found the old CC01 chassis I had very limited on the rocks and roots that tend to proliferate on the hiking trails around me. The CC02 chassis seems much more capable. I'm debating between going all-out with something large and definitely capable like @Frog Jumper's CC02 set-up or just going mildly bigger by adding something affordable like slightly larger High Lift tires. How much tire does a CC02 need to be capable on rougher terrain? This doesn't extend into rock crawling specifically as I have CR01 for those duties.

Personally, I'd rather see the Ultima Pro anyway. The re-release Ultima has so many improvements over the original, its already close to the old Turbo.

I guess if we look at the Hornet Evo without the nostalgia context, its possible to just observe it for what it is, good and bad. It has box art. That might appeal to some. Tamiya box art was appreciated BITD and still could be today to a newcomer. It certainly stands out more now that other box art folks like Nichimo, Royal, Marui, etc. are long gone from the shelves. Its a kit. The more expensive Traxxas Bandit might be a better bargain in the end by including radio gear, etc. but for those that want to build, the EVO delivers. Its decently equipped. With bearings and oil filled shocks the Evo is better outfitted than the average basic Tamiya. It will also perform competently in a modern setting. If we eliminate nostalgia, I'm not sure if old school solid axle buggies would appeal to someone just getting into RC today unless they were very young or had no other exposure to it. Understandably, looks are subjective. The Hornet, like it or not, looks like something that could be a buggy in a way a Bandit or Sand Viper does not. Without going into all the nearly subliminal subtle styling cues Tamiya did to make the Hornet evoke its insectile namesake, the fact it looks like an old-school buggy stands out in ways "xtreme" bodies/liveries like the Bandit no longer do. While the Holiday Buggy admittedly does this too, the Hornet pulls it off better by not being an old vintage body semi frankenstiened onto a modern chassis like the HB. Plus again, the Evo is better equipped. Whether any of that matters, especially if one already has a 2wd buggy is up for debate.

Too good to have the typical unique handling quirks that give vintage Tamiya buggies their character but not good enough to be really good. I found the DT02 to be a perfectly serviceable buggy with decent handling and no glaring weak points. I also found it bland so my wife drives it and it perfect for her. As far as the Evo, its tough to say. The drivetrain is adapted DT02 but the track is narrower and whole thing is merged with the Hornet chassis tub. It will definitely surpass the original Hornet and likely Frog handling but might still have more character than the average DT02. I want one because I like the classic Hornet's looks but have long outgrown solid axle buggies.

I like the name Cyttorak, the deity that empowers the Juggernaut.

The noise of each individual car is distinctive and part of their character. I can likely identify most off roaders of the first 100, by family at least, blindfolded. Part of that identification relies on tire sound and their contact with the ground however. I know the "bouncy" sound of a Hornet or Lunch Box axle, but can hear the sound the bigger Lunchie tires make to differentiate them. I can not tolerate when things don't sound right. A Hotshot screaming along in full song is fine but the clicky/wind-up toy sound from a modern Thundershot re-release that hasn't had the molding burrs removed from the faulty bevel gears drives me nuts. A twin motor Clod Buster still sounds like "quality" to me, despite being loud, while the sometimes iffy plastic gears in a Kyosho Double Dare are borderline annoying. The re-release Kyosho Optima was my first belt drive vehicle and, to be honest, was a bit spooky to hear as it was so different from usual Tamiya chunky pitch "music".

Not getting that out of my head, lol. There might have been a time when I referred to them as pie-type wheel adapters in the past but from now on, they're drive flowers. I like that. I still think of set screws as grub screws thanks to Tamiya's nomenclature in their manuals. Somewhat adjacent to topic, I embarrassingly butchered pronunciations, misread words, swapped letters in words etc. when I was a young kid. I don't know if it was the autism or what, but when I saw words I was unfamiliar with my mind would just make up things e.g. The Avante became the "Anvate". Tamiya became "Tamya" (totally missing the "i"), Marui was said like Ferrari but with an "M", Kyosho was just "Kosho" etc. I've amended my ways and now hearing North Americans say Tam-eye-ya constantly drives me nuts. Being mostly German (and Irish) any random lube was referred to as "schmutz" in local slang. Some gearboxes I've torn down were packed full of schmutz.

Have you ever heard of the expression "your mileage may vary"? Again, my purpose of this thread was not to say either the Egress nor Top Force are inherently fragile. It was strictly based in terms of racing which can be quite hard on vehicle. In seeing the failures crop up in Top Forces being raced today (because they still are capable of competing in vintage events), I found it interesting that the earlier Egress platform was seemingly built more durably and wanted to input of others' experiences in the matter. I'm glad you've never really broken much Todd, but your experiences do not negate those of others. It also doesn't mean there's an echo chamber effect going on in Tamiyaclub just because others' experiences don't mirror your own. Back in '22 you yourself were shopping a DB01 because you were tired of your Top Force breaking. I've personally seen broken front shock towers and f/r mounts on an Egress but that was in extreme situations. Its not that its prone to happening, just that it can happen more so than breaking, say, a trailing arm. I have never personally had a problem with a Blackfoot diff of hex dogbone but the fact others have (and MRC started packing extra dogbones in some Mud Blaster kits) tells me its probably a problem. I don't think MIP went through the trouble of making a ball diff for a problem that didn't exist. I've never had a ball diff failure in a Madcap/Astute/King Cab either but this pic of a distorted housing and melted diff gear from a parts lot I received say someone did: I'm sorry. I usually let this stuff slide. I love Tamiya but I'm also not blind. I believe you've had good experiences with their products. I have too, but I don't discount the experiences of others.

Same here .

I've been using Tamiya/Molex plugs for close to 40 years at this point. They do eventually wear out and this shows up in high load situations first. The male pins are actually 3 strips of metal and can compress over time. Tamiya even instructs the user in one of their guide books to carefully insert something in the center of the pin to spread them out slightly every so often. The female ends can get wallowed out over time too. I was noodling around with an old Emaxx (14.4 volt) about 20 years ago and it quit running suddenly. The heat generated from the old connectors had allowed the male pin to melt the connector internally and slip out of the female end it was precariously attached to. Of course the outer connector housings were fused together as well. Fun. Now, I just keep an eye on them, spread the male terminals occasionally and replace them as needed. Keep in mind, I'm strictly a brushed/Nimh guy (which means I'm due for a browbeating from the Lipo crowd and possibly the connector police for not "RC-ing" correctly, lol j/k).

Thank you. I wanted more livable performance while not ruining the iconic look of the original too much. Correct. After the flawed geometry of the original Hotshot, following buggies in the series added extensions that compressed the shock properly from either end rather than from below it. With the shock no longer attempting to bend as well compress, the action is much more linear and predictable.

Well, its the Tamiya way. J/K, sorry, I couldn't help myself, . Seriously though, the original Avante wasn't exactly fun when it came to changing the battery either. I needed something fresh and new to build as a palette cleanser and the TD4 certainly delivered. While the body might be polarizing and not quite the home run the original's styling was, the buggy overall is in the same spirit. Its different from other cookie-cutter designs in this segment, tacking the 4wd buggy concept with a certain uniqueness as only Tamiya can. The Super Aavnte is more connected to the original than the MK2 and Aero versions which were just re-bodied DF03s and DF02s. Where do the rears tend to fail at?

Got the Hotshot 1.5 out for its first run today. I love the rugged heft of these. A nice perk of the boxed chassis means I'm not shaking mulch out of it the next day like a tub chassis buggy. For some reason, the first pic reminds me of the original Hotshot Jr boxart.

Ah, it'll be alright. This is Tamiya we're talking about, not numbered, holo-foil stickered RC10s with baked in FOMO.

$187 shipped

Beautiful! I love it. Hey, there's balsa wood in the floors of C5 and C6 Corvettes. As a youngster, my father didn't really have any tools for metalwork so I began with wood. My Bullhead first received a wooden lift kit, then cantilevers and finally a wood chassis based on the ESP design.

I don't feel as though the Egress's shock tower mounts are more prone to breaking than the Top Forces's. I've seen carbon front towers snap before the front gearcase mounts break in some situations. The Egress's rear mount also only supports the rear tower whereas the TF rear tower mount supports the upper inner link mounts (through the tower itself) as well. The Egress's rear mount is a separate piece while the TF's mount is integral to the rear gearbox. I guess this question came about when reading up on all the wonderful mods Concorde has done to the TF and realizing, in some ways, the Egress doesn't suffer from these frailties. Using my buggies for leisure these days plus the lack of Egresses on track, I felt it pertinent to ask about the experiences of others. I'm guessing it higher price, less abundant spares and the need to "drive around" it quirky steering/handling dynamics lead to Egresses not being a common sight on the track. The often praised improved handling of the TF is unfortunately let down by it's material choices in the plastics it seems. I'm curious how well the Jamie Booth Egress performed, being roughly an amalgam of the Egress's tougher chassis/drivetrain and the more conventional TF-stlye suspension.

Not counting performance, in a race situation, which buggy would you find more durable? It seems as Top Forces are being used in vintage events, that the limitations of its non-reinforced plastic design seem to be cropping up. The Egress, while not the mainstream performer (as well as an older generation of buggy) the Top Force was/is, seems to be more durable. The Egress does benefit from some reinforced plastics but also seems to have a tougher drivetrain/gearbox assembly going for it. Other than the front shock tower mounts being sheared of the front gearcases or perhaps the standard plastic rear tower mount snapping in rollovers, the bulk of the buggy seems pretty tough (with the re-re uprights), especially if alloy f/r rear hubs are added. The TF seems to have issues with the front lower gearbox cover/arm mount, the front gearcase cracking, the rear gearbox lid lifting, the rear tower mount snapping etc. I'm speaking in terms of the harsher race environments. I also could be totally off base. Edit: It seems I am totally off base, lol. I was wrong. Indeed, in the immortal words of Chris Claremont, these buggies appear to be nigh indestructible.

Blasting through the underbrush, SRB-style.

One of these things is not like the other. I love the Hotshot series and the Super Shot was always my favorite looking of the bunch. As I've aged, I think the standard Hotshot takes that spot in my heart now. Its just so iconic and balanced in its appearance. On the left is my first re-release from '07 and it still gets some use. I did dream of a Hotshot that was a bit less hampered by its inexperienced design quirks. For years I thought about adding Hotshot 2 suspension to the standard Hotshot but the prices/rarity of the red shocks and rear uprights/hubs kept that from moving forward. With the return of the HS2 and Super Sabre that issue is solved and so this weekend the Hotshot 1.5 was born on my workbench.

If the Squash Van uses Comical arms, then Twin Detonator C parts should work, providing the lower arms and upper links. Twin Det dogbones and steering tie rods would also be required. With another set of tie rods I don't see why the 4WS shouldn't work. The shocks appear to be Tamiya's "mini" size like the Twin Det as well unless you go with aftermarket towers for longer shocks.

So the TD4 Super Avante is basically repeating the history of the original? Perhaps I better hold onto mine and paint it boxart because it will be worth a pretty penny in 20 years...er, perhaps not. I probably asked this in the other thread, but does anyone know the popularity of the TD4 in Japan? The DF03 faded away in the US market but was still being produced in sporadic batches and sold in Japan. I have similar hopes for the TD4 if it truly is disappearing into the background elsewhere.

Can I get "negative" chassis number stickers for my 9 lowly original RC10s since they far predate this batch of re-releases?

Interesting info on the reduction in flexibility for a plated plastic part. Makes sense. I always assumed it was just the etch process. My experiences mirror (pun?) others here as well. I've broken the bearing centers out of two sets of Monster Beetle front wheels over the decades but never a Blackfoot wheel. This time around I might just puts B-foot wheels on the ol' Monster Beetle (which will remind me of the Monster Beetle Jr. unless I spray them gold).

Thank you. Yes, I bought that ball joint concern up in my SRB front suspension shock upgrade topic from '22, which I see has returned to this top forum page recently. I should have opened my eyes a little wider and probably added this question to that topic, lol. Sorry.