Saito2

I'd like to see the TD4 somehow get a new lease on life so I feel confidant driving mine (I hate having a "dead" platform as a runner), otherwise its probably time to sell it off. The triumphant return of the B2B Sidecar and Juggernaut 2? Probably not. A Dyna Storm would be nice.

Ok, I'll re-think this and try to keep these two intact.

Slightly off topic...are these issues with the re-release as well? Should I be be stocking up on spares? Is the top gear in the new transmission vulnerable too? I don't hear much about anybody running them and thus little feedback.

Yes! I remember that! That was cool to have those available back then from Loaded before the Super Hotshot release made them commonplace again.

Wow, I didn't know the Ultima was so breakage/wear prone. I was under the assumption Kyosho's black glass reinforced plastic was pretty tough. Still, but that's what this thread is about, learning about the Ultima's place back then. The spare parts situation I guessed might be an issue. We had one RC-heavy hobby shop with a full line of Kyosho spares but the rest (hard to believe I had about a half dozen to choose from back then!) of the shops didn't really have any aside from a random Kyosho kit or two.

Thanks! I am both Saito and Saito2 (as well as Rockcrusher briefly). I've been coming on here roughly everyday since 2005, lol. That debate was a pretty hot one back in the day. Maybe next we can bring up the Hotshot gold wheels debate from back then too.

But I have 6 already, lol. I put it down to these two trucks because they were both cantilever suspended and thought I only needed one such equipped.

@dannymulder Here's that pic. I tried using the separate wheel in the pic first and had rubbing issues. The wheels I used are what stock on the CC02 Land Cruiser and actually have a different offset. The body was a smashed up wreck that I pieced back together. Its still missing the front fender corners. Since its a trail truck, destined to get scratched and knocked around, I'm debating about leaving the body in the rough form seen here. Don't worry, that nice original Ford grill is already ruined when someone drilled holes through the headlights and the tailgate is missing tail lights.

That's impressive!

Mine are 100mm on CC02 Land Cruiser 1.9 rims. I was basically going for the Traxxas TRX-4 High Trail "look" (albeit proportionately scaled down for the smaller CC02 chassis). That look approximates the larger, but still street legal, 1:1 rigs that drove around my hometown back in the 80's. I'll take a pic later today as I'm mocking up the body.

Today I fitted some bigger 1.9 tires to my CC02 chassis. They looked cool which made me happy. They rubbed the steering knuckle which made me sad. Then I checked the prices on wheel wideners and they were pricey, which made me sadder. Then I compared my wheels to another set of CC02 wheels (different styling) and saw the offset was different. I was surprised. I test fitted the second set of wheels and now nothing rubs. I was very happy. What an emotional roller coaster of a day.

The chassis will be scratch built. I'm going to try studying the photos of the magazine truck, take measurements against a known quantity/dimension like the width of a shock or the diameter of a Clod tire and scale it up from there. The idea of 3 MSCs wired up crossed my mind, lol. I'll probably start by running off a Nimh pack at first. Silvercans will be enough to power it.

Thank you @Big Jon

Wow, some love for the Bennett. Interesting. I would if I did but the TXT-C project came about because I had spare TXT-1 chassis plates from upgrading my original TXT-1 in the pic with the Tamiya lightweight ones. Add some Clod axles and voila, TXT-C. Often times I consider the point in building a 6x6. The intent was to duplicate a magazine feature truck from my youth. It was the most awesome thing I'd seen in RC monster truckin' at the time. Today, its still awesome, but I'm not sure what I'd do with it. It would be slow and cumbersome and I wouldn't drive it hard...more of a show piece I guess.

Out of personal curiosity, what is broken?

I had plans to build a 6x6 many years ago. Then my daughter was born. She's 12 now so maybe its time to try again. Various 6 wheelers have been introduced since then, including Tamiya's own little Konghead. As always, with my head and heart in the past, mine will be a Clod-based 6x6. I have many Clods but one must be sacrificed to serve as a base for the project. I have two to consider for the task: My TXT-C is a TXT-1 with Clod axles. Its heavy but runs as well as a TXT-1 with no torque twist. I put a fair bit of work into it and it looks the best and "most complete". Potential victim number 2 is my Bennett Clod. Its an old race Clod chassis from BITD. It wasn't as hard to piece together as the TXT-C above but its lighter and will easily out-perform it. It doesn't look as "put together" or nice as the the other truck, which is typical of some 80's modified trucks. Definitely as case of function over form. If I ever decide to get into monster truck racing, this would be what I'd take. Will I ever do that? My generally reclusive nature says no. So which truck would you consider scavenging for parts?

It would make more sense than the Vajra did but then again, that's a low bar... Off topic, I was born in the wrong country. Seeing all those people happily enjoying Tamiya vehicles in a variety of fun ways nearly brought a tear to my eye. It was like a small slice of heaven on earth. And children! Did you see? Actually children outside and playing with RC! Amazing!

So, sell my new built, never ran example now at a fire sale price to be rid of it or hold onto it for a couple years, guessing people in the future might be begging for one?

Well, it seems as though some of us are seeing some snow now. I'm personally not a fan (brilliant coming from someone contemplating a move to southern Maine but I digress) but when the weather gives one lemons, its best to make lemonade. My first go around in the white powdery stuff was with the Big Brute. I wanted to give 2wd a shot and the Brute is both sealed better and slightly bigger than most 2wds in my fleet. It didn't go great. Probably better for more packed snow, but some shots nevertheless... So, indeed, for this type of snow, I had selected the wrong tool. What to do? Select the proper tool. The answer? The mighty Clod Buster of course. The answer is always the Clod Buster... Incidentally, it does bring me an odd joy to see little chevron tire patterns in my backyard's snow. See all those leaves and sticks on the ground? Those are from our squirrel family building a new drey this morning. Dreys are squirrel nest. Squirrels are messy builders who don't clean up after themselves as you can see. Still, its better to have the nest in the tree and not under the hood of my GMC like last year. We spent a day successfully (thankfully) reuniting the very young squirrel (eyes barely open) with their mother after they was found in a nest built on top of the GMC's 4.3 V6 . It took another day of rewiring to fix all the chewed wires underhood . Here, the pair slowly defrost...

Spurring me on? This text is from an earlier post I made years back but it fits... The Fox. The stance of the car clearly emphasizes how the body designs mimics a Fox's head. Slender, tapering snout, wing for "ears" etc. The Hornet. Aside form looking like one, the boxart depicts the buggy making an exaggerated, swift turn or change in direction. Hornets and bees generally move in quick darting motions like this in real life too. The Falcon. Now this one can be subtle. Its no too different than the Bigwig for example. However the Falcon body design plus its boxart stance shows the buggy swooping in and down into the frame, much like its namesake, poised to strike. The Boomerang. Another subtle one. The Boomer is pictured making a turn and coming back toward the viewer, much like the real thing perhaps. The Hot Shot. Here's one where I question if the artist drove the vehicle. Looking at how the front suspension is acting when pitched hard into the depicted turn, while exaggerated for dynamics, isn't too far off the real buggy. The Hot Shot 2. This might be completely in my mind but the buggy's, somewhat like the Boomerang, turning and coming back to the viewer. Perhaps this signifies the "return" of the Hot Shot name in a sense. The Bulhead. Ever drive a Clod or Bullhead? they bounce and bound a lot (much like real 1980s monster trucks). I would have thought, for its massive size, the Bullhead would be shown crushing something or emphasizing its girth. Instead, the artist cleverly zigs instead of zags showing the huge truck leaping into the picture, which actually isn't far off from reality.

I set the pieces out on the bench tonight. I think I'll push on with it as a Madcap for now. It will probably retain the less favorable transverse battery layout which will save some money both on Super Astute spares for the battery box as well as the required smaller steering servo needed to fit them. The traverse battery is more in the spirit of the Madcap and original Astute anyway. Maybe some gaffer tape on the underside will offer some protection for the FRP chassis plate. Paying strict attention to money invested in a project like this is always something to keep in mind. All too often, the budget can ran away and just buying the available kit in the first place (Super Astute) would having proven to be the more prudent, or, dare I say, Astute move.

The Clod Buster's box art does a great job expressing the towering size of the model with added uniqueness of Klem Klubfoot's girlfriend (we can guess) posing near one of the massive tires. I always found the Midnight Pumpkin's box art somewhat sinister in a cool way. The blue flames and black paint on the old Ford pickup, turning toward the viewer, as if locking onto them, gave me strange Maximum Overdrive vibes. There was nothing quite like the Wild Willy's box art (or the vehicle within for that matter). The comical proportions with Willy's mad gleam in his eyes as the Jeep reared back on its haunches always captivated me. I drew this over and over as a kid) often with a magnifying glass while studying a tiny magazine ad picture) trying to capture the stance just right. The classic pose of the Frog and Grasshopper leaping toward you make a nice pair of bookends. The Marui Hunter falls in this category too. The Lunch Box is my favorite I think. I was curious to see what Tamiya would do with it (I saw the Lunchie in photos first). I was a bit surprised to see they emulated the cartoon van that appears on the Lunch Box's sides when it finally came to my LHS in '87. I love it. Its dynamic arch and almost "twist" really plays up the playful nature actual Lunch Boxes seem to have with their owners. I could go on for days about my love and breakdowns of the various box arts but these are some of my favs.

Well, as a bit of an update, this little venture is stalled pretty hard. The Xtra Speed steering parts I ordered should have been here a week ago but now won't make an appearance until February unfortunately. Probably still mining the aluminum to make the parts or something, lol. Bodies for the Super Astute are starting to show up on fleabay but I can't bring myself to spend the $75 they're asking to get one shipped to my door and that's without an undetray (extra $25). That's over a third the price of a new SA kit for a piece of lexan. I can't bring myself to spend that kind of money for that. So, barring a sale at TBG, the whole project will go back into its box for awhile until I get sick of it and resign myself to just throwing an old Madcap body on it and running with that. The Madcap's a great looking buggy but I just wanted to see an Astute in action. First world problems.

It fascinating the mystique the Stealth cars have amongst our age-group. I'd certainly drool at the prospect of getting a replica but the price they could get for them (and certainly would ask for them) is likely out of my league. Interestingly, as successful as they were, the cars weren't all that good or rather, were too specialized for general release would be a better way to put it. They were whittling parts in Australia at the race trying to get the '89 cars dialed. The prototype for the '91 car worked well in testing but when Associated made multiples for the actual race, something, according to Cliff Lett, got lost in translation and they had to scramble to make it work. If we're guessing Masami's move may lead to a Stealth release, I'll play the super long guess that Tamiya might respond with a Dyna Storm re-re-release just as the Super Astute has quietly come back amidst the volley of RC10 re-releases we've been seeing. All conjecture for sure.