Saito2
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Posts posted by Saito2
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1 hour ago, bavee said:
So maybe he surprises me and really wants that TRF201 Transmission Conversion for his Madcap / Astute.
You assumed correctly, lol. I am both poor and anachronistic so, awesome as that conversion may be, I'll be hoping the stock parts hold up.
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37 minutes ago, timjz said:
, but the black chassis was a highlight from the original Team Car release
I totally agree personally. Its a feature that was included on the Team Car stickers plastered on the box BITD too.
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6 minutes ago, MadAnt said:
Don't be too cautious
True. I've been looking at things I need like bodies and decals from Canada to complete projects vs things I want, like the Hornet Evo.
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1 hour ago, Otis311 said:
Not much logic in this hobby sometimes
That's the truth! lol. I'm just trying to be extra cautious with money as things are bound to get really expensive in the States pretty soon.
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Yes, Muso's parts are wonderful. We spoke at great length during the development process of those parts and he offered to send me some parts to try out but shipping across the pond was prohibitive as always.
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Again, AE doesn't seem overly concerned with accuracy aside from their 40th and Halsey edition efforts, but my guess is the gold tub "team car" is mimicking Cliff Lett's ride somewhat. It gets confusing with the Champ edition paint scheme but then again AE just re-colored the original Champ edition box photo to make it a Team Car back in the day.
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This question might be a bit premature as I don't know how many have had some decent time running their new Hornet Evos yet. Anyway, in seeing some folks are adding the longer DT02 rear arms to their Evos to even out the differences in front and rear wheel track widths, my question is, how different is the buggy from a standard DT02 at that point? I keep imagining that it might be basically the same running experience as a DT02 (possibly with better steering) with just the added nostalgia "look" of having a Hornet chassis holding it all together. I'm not trying to be negative about the buggy as I think its totally awesome and love Tamiya for creating it. In my case, I have limited room in the collection and want to make sure its different enough to add (shoehorn) into it. Even if the replies I get point to it being too similar to the DT02 Experience (I think I shall name my band that, BTW), I can always use the new parts sprues to merge my current DT02 with my Hornet if need be. Thanks for any insight.
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Thanks for all the suggestions everybody!
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Both are pretty tough, especially at the power levels you're talking. The HS2 is particularly durable with its boxed chassis overlaid with a nylon roll cage structure. Leaving the body pins out of the wing attachment lets the wing come off in roll overs, saving it from damage. The drive train is strong but not as efficient as the newer Thundershot. The suspension mounting points are beefier than the T-shot as well. The arms themselves are hard plastic and not as resilient as the original T-shot's blue nylon ones but they are not weak by any means. The balljointed frontend might be a bit more wear-prone over the long haul. Persoanlly, I find the HS2, in particular, to be the most durable of the early 4wds. The rear shock tower is tucked into the roll cage and the front monoshock means there's no front tower vulnerable in crashes either.
The T-shot has had casting flaws show up in the bevels gears that leads to binding and clicking. Once those are trimmed out with a good knife, the overall drive train is more efficient than the HS2. Its equally as strong overall drive train-wise. The nylon arms which I mentioned as being more resilient originally than the HS2 now have had issues with the inner pivot pins pulling out on impacts on the recent re-releases for some folks (me included). The steering is much better with none of the HS2's bumpsteer. I find the T-shot to be more prone to grip roll and oversteer while the HS2 will understeer, if anything, and seems more planted.
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And here it is! The ball diff that has sidelined so many of these vehicles. I decided to spruce this one up with some new diff housings (pictured) and see how long it last against the mad fury of a Torque Tuned motor.
Gutted and laid out for all to see. At the far edges of those line of parts are two shims (one per side). Tamiya, in their usual drive to eliminate ambiguity, used a bolt together affair with varying amounts of shims to adjust tension on the diff balls. Functioning properly the pros were the diff never really inadvertently loosened as there was no center diff screw to back out. The cons were shims meant a more limited adjustment range and the diff had to be dropped out the bottom and disassembled to adjust. In race situations, having multiple diffs shimmed in various degrees to swap around was the only way to make timely track side adjustments.
So what was so bad?....well, have a look:
Holy melted plastic Batman! Looks like that diff gear experienced a little too much slippage. But how did it really get that way? Well, to begin with Tamiya was very vague about explaining anything about ball diffs in the manual. The most you got was the suggestion of adding more shims to tighten the diff. That doesn't mean much to average kid dealing with his first ball diff and anxious to get the buggy built and out slinging dirt. The Madcap/Saint dragon oddly suggested no shims as a start point while the King Cab/ Astute called for one on each side. So, too much slippage just needs more shims to tame it down right? Not so fast as the next picture shows.
These darn cheap pot metal diff housings are to blame for the whole mess. Looking carefully at the pic above, one can see the housing is distorted. Too many shims just warped the soft housings around the three diff housing bolts that held the assembly together. Once the housing got like this, a thousand shims wouldn't help the cause. How many people would have figured this all out back then? Making matters worse, the number and size of the ball circle was pretty small and not very tolerant of abuse. Personally, I don't go over a shim per side in combination with good housings. That gets you in the right ballpark for diff tightness. Note: King Cab owners, please don't put giant tires on your rigs. The larger stock balloon tires add enough stress over the buggy ones as is. BTW, if there's any further doubt to the poor quality of the diff housings, check out exhibit B:
Look closely at the pic above and you can see a sliver of daylight above the one screw hole. That's how thin the casting was there at that point. Now how long would that housing have lasted if I hadn't caught that defect?
Well, here we are, all buttoned up with NOS housings. I'm probably due for some flack about having too much grease on that gear, lol j/k. A couple extra notes...The picture with all the pieces spread out shows the nice, metal thrust bearings in the mix. They are Astute/King Cab pieces whereas the Madcap got plastic ones you inserted the balls in (that sentence came out risque, lol). Like the metal motor mount, they're nice to have when building up one of these.
Also, if you're starting with a used Madcap or Saint dragon, check the outer diff housing bearing surfaces. The lower end buggies used big bronze bushings here and they wore away at the diff housing at that point making the whole diff wobbly in the gearbox.
Finally, the original Egress used the same style of shim diff but with a stronger alloy used in the diff housings. Guess what? No problems! They aren't interchangeable with the 2wd versions though so no solution there I'm afraid. Overall, I like the whole set-up for what I used it for. Its a shame it was let down by those potentially faulty diff housings.
Next episode, I hope to get some parts from good ol' Tony's. They're floating around out there in the mail somewhere, fighting against the added pressure of Christmas gifts being shuttled about. Remember when we used to get in a car, drive to a physical store and actually buy our gifts like good little consumers? Man. I am out of touch. Until then, happy motoring.
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Great scott! In the time it took my diff housings to get here, a trailer for the new Superman movie dropped. From what I saw, this iteration of the man of steel looks less conflicted and grimdark than Zack Snyder's take on the character. That's good because I have a feeling we'll need something a little uplifting by summertime here in the US. But I digress.
Here's a shot of the gearbox and captured in the that shot, some dreaded press-nuts...
I hate press-nuts used in ABS/PC plastic and for some reason the Astute in particular seems to have a bunch throughout the car. But we're not here to talk about fasteners, rather what some would call a flaming pile of a gearbox. I don't quite share that sentiment.
I actually like this gearbox despite the problems it gave people back in the day. It seems pretty compact, quiet and efficient compared to Tamiya's earlier offerings. Still, as always, there are teething problems as we'll see.
In the pic above there's several things of note. The 'box had a nice molded cover that removed fairly quickly and allowed quick gear changes and, a first for Tamiya, swap-able spurs. I preferred that cover to the quickly distorted often ragged-looking flimsy lexan covers found on RC10s. No slipper as you can see. The Astute hit just before slippers came fully into vogue. It does sport a ball diff which was all the hotness at the time. This one was dropped out of a quick access cover (a-la-Avante) on the bottom of the case. Good thing too, as Tamiya's new dive into ball diffs (though not first, the Celica Gr.B, Avante and Vanquish were there first) used a unique way of adjustment as we'll see later on. Oh, BTW, to those new to the platform, this gearbox sports a metal motor mount plate. That's a King Cab/Astute/Hilux MR deal. The lesser Madcap/2wd Saint Dragon (not the current T-shot based 4wd resurrected version) made do with a plastic one. The metal one's much nicer. Pick one up if you get the opportunity.
Below the spur lurks the gear support bracket. This was the first thing I recall folks complaining about when their cars got some mileage on them. Stormer Racing still makes an aluminum replacement version IIRC. Personally, I've found if the machine screw supporting the other side of that gear shaft through the case is kept tight (a little threadlock here helps) the plastic support bracket holds up okay. Granted, I only ran hot stock motors through these transmissions BITD so as always, YMMV. Next we examine Tamiya's take on a ball diff.
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I am not what you'd call "up-to-date" on current technologies. Virtually all my radio gear is Futaba AM stuff, some of it dating back to 80's. Considering the impending tariffs of doom for the US (I love the fact google searches about tariffs spiked after the our country fairly elected the orange man back in office. It wasn't like he was secretive about it.) and my need for a couple radios that I've been putting off, I've decided to make that purchase sooner than later. What 2 channel systems fit the bill of cheap and reasonably reliable? I don't need much in the way of frills aside from typical reversing and trims. I'd prefer systems that stick with AA batteries. Thanks.
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Back in the day, Tamiya didn't offer a ton of hop-ups and many of those they did were just parts from higher level models (i.e. the Grasshopper H.P. suspension set really was just a kit to adapt Hornet rear shocks. CVAs available for kits like the Lunch Box were already just standard production items on things like the Monster Beetle, etc.).
While its nice to have option parts available direct from Tamiya for specific parts or general parts for our cars, I think perhaps the fact they are available adds the risk of "good enough". I don't feel Tamiya skimped as much on the details back then. The CVA shock was their only performance shock before the Hicap so they all were good. I've seen quality slip a bit in the kit-supplied version over the years, whether it be poorly finished shafts, the inclusion of those stupid "nailhead" shock shafts or even lower shock caps with piston holes not concentric with the shock body in some cases.
Perhaps with higher levels of hop-ups available, Tamiya may get in some shock shaft materail that's now "good enough" or only finish said materials to a certain spec that's "good enough" because in their minds there's always a hop-up that's better if the customer wants it. I don't know if its really a deep ploy to drive sales of hop-ups because I don't how well the average consumer scrutinizes these parts like we do upon assembly. Rather, I feel the hop-ups may induce laziness or less attention to detail. Sometimes, as we've found with TD4/2 plastic diff nuts, "good enough" really isn't.
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On 12/15/2024 at 3:00 PM, F-150 said:
315 for low grade 4wd buggy?...
The original Bigwig replaced the Supershot at the top of the Hotshot series order of buggies. It was Tamiya's 10th anniversary in RC commemorative car that had a body designed by famous Japanese designer Takuya Yura. It came outfitted with a unique rack and pinion steering system, most of the ball bearings and a Technigold motor as standard. The Bigwig was also designed to accept Tamiya's 8.4v Gold Power battery from the start.
This re-release replaces the Technigold with a Bigwig-labeled GT-Tuned motor. Street price last time was about $200, far cheaper than the Hotshot re-release, yet with superior performance (though I still prefer the Hotshot's looks
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The Bigwig rocks!
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Ok, gotcha. The wide front end perplexed me as, despite the buggy's performance being dramatically improved over the original, its still not a competition buggy. Personally, I would have sacrificed performance for closer-to-original aesthetics but I'm not complaining. Its a great buggy and I love it.
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Ok, after @markbt73's post, I have a question about the Evo that's been bothering me. It seems like Tamiya went through a lot of trouble to keep the rear track width close to the original Hornet's but then wound up with a front track width that's too wide (enough that, as I suspected, standard DT02 rear suspension would pair better with it). I just guessed this was to accommodate the updated steering. Now, reading that the front still has bumpsteer with the new steering arrangement, I'm beginning to question the wide front end. Original standard Hornet front suspension was already been upgradable with the likes of earlier CRP FX10 kit or by other manufactures' Hornet-esque clones like the Mugen Manx/Panda Cyclone. Why not go this route or is there something else this new frontend provides that I'm missing, aside from the obvious performance benefits that generally come with a wider front end?
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11 hours ago, naturbo2000 said:
I break any and all the plastic bulkheads (including using the Super Astute brace).
Out of curiosity, where do the brace-equipped plastic bulkheads break in your experience?
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Personally, I'm leaning toward an Astute done up in original livery if I can justify the cost. Hoping TBG and MCI have Christmas sale like usual.
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Despite my love of Tamiya, this is where the genius of designs like the RC10 and Ultima come through. Merely adding walls in a tub formation like the RC10 strengthens the whole unit. Then to add a separate, replaceable front nose plate stamping with the kick-up bent in and brace that from the very front tip back to the tub walls with nose tubes makes for a very tough assembly. While the prototype RC10 tub was literally hand beaten over a wooden buck, the production versions went through a great deal of processes during manufacturing.
The Ultima ladder/girder chassis admittedly was probably easier accomplished with a simpler one- piece stamping technique, having the kick-up portion built in. The front end strength in the Ultima's case being in having the front end, through the front bulkhead mounted on top of the full length chassis, braced via a top "radio plate" running back across the top of the aluminum portion and tied into its top.
Chassis length/integration was where Tamiya often differed from other more race oriented designs. The Avante, Astute and Top Force series all have the chassis stop short of running the full length of the car, tacking the front end on (whether an 2wd bulkhead or a 4wd car's front gearbox) adding problems by making it a stressed member. Only the Avante series, with it robust front gearbox design and stronger plastics, pulled this off fully successfully in my humble opinion.
2 hours ago, BuggyDad said:Carbon fibre gives the premium feel but shaped carbon as would be required must be multiples of the cost. It's a feather in the cap for the kind of unglamourous pressed aluminium chassis manufacturing method, I reckon.
This was the route taken by AE with the RC10 Graphite along the Losi JR-X2 (though the Losi car used a more budget graphite/fiberglass sandwich). The amusing thing was, AE drivers went back to the aluminum tub, most preferring the dynamics and response level of the aluminum. Losi then pioneered the composite molded chassis with the entry level Junior 2 (which eventually found its way into their upper level offerings) that ultimately became the way forward.
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6 hours ago, BigJag said:
Lunchbox tyres on a Kingcab!? Got any pictures?
MadAnt has a Hilux MR/King Cab in the for sale section with Lunch Box tires mounted on the rear.
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You know, waaaaay back in high school, a friend of mine declared he'd probably be half blind and in a wheelchair before seeing a live-action X-Men movie hit the big screen. He was wrong, but I'm beginning to wonder the same thing about the Falcon (coming soon in 2060!). Where is the driver in the Bigwig pictured above? Perhaps he got out to look for the Falcon too.
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46 minutes ago, Kol__ said:
Xtra Speed alloy arm mounts
This is one of the benefits of the SA coming back, hop-up goodies like the Xrta Speed parts begin to circulate.
Well that's an exciting picture
. Here we have a Madcap front bulkhead, again devoid of pivot bushings and possibly a bit more braced than the Astute one with some more molded in gussets. When Tamiya entered the world of monoplate composite deck chassis for 2wd buggies, they took the simple way out or rather the easier to manufacture way out by cutting the Astute's from a flat plate. Unlike buggies like the RC10, that had the front kick-up "molded" into the chassis itself, Tamiya added the kick-up via an molded plastic front bulkhead. It didn't really work for the rigors of competition. Its curious to contemplate whether Tamiya designers were aware of this weak point as the the Madcap, coming only and few models later and obviously co-developed alongside the Astute, came with a bulkhead brace (pictured ahead of the bulkhead in the above shot). Perhaps the brace was in the cards all along, simply to tie the mostly plastic Madcap's front end together. Either way, if one is to run there Astute briskly, a bulkhead brace is recommended. Tamiya themselves saw fit to add a specific one to the later Super Astute
So now I reach a decision point. I have the Madcap brace. It runs out closer to the front edge of the bulkhead and then back behind the shock tower mount. Without the Madcap tub, some risers or supports will have to be fashioned to attach it to existing hole in the FRP chassis plate. The positives are that it supports a farther span of the overall bulkhead and cuts down on leverage forces. It also ties solely to the stronger FRP deck at the rear. The negative is that since I'm using the SA FRP shock towers, the Madcap brace does not support that front tower as well as the original MC plastic front tower.
The other option is to use the G4 part off the Super Astute sprue (which will also yield me the longitudinal battery mounts) This brace ties to the front tower (adding support to the tower mount molded into the bulkhead) and shares screws with the two rearmost bulkhead mount holes. Less span length but greater tower support. I have a feeling the body I decide to run will determine this decision as I'm not sure the Astute shell will fit properly over the Madcap brace. Plan C(?) at this point, depending on my drive to save money, I might be to fashion my own brace.
Anywho, next on the Saito Hajime super show, we play the waiting game. Things are stalled until Tony's Tamiya Parts sends a small bundle over the pond this way and I get a special little package from the Bay of E. Hopefully I'll get to dive into Tamiya's rather interesting take on ball diffs of the period. Life's too short to be boring and just do everything like the other guys I've found as I've gotten older. In the immotal words of Porky J. Pig, that's all folks! (for now).
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4 minutes ago, BuggyDad said:
I can well see how plastic here might deflect/fail under the pressure.
Sorry again if I was unclear. Those same type of parts in the King Cab, Astute, Madcap, etc. were made from inferior die cast pot metal that could distort when the diff was drawn up. The original Egress ones pictured were made from a stronger alloy.
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22 hours ago, BuggyDad said:
I thought from that you were referring to gearboxes?
No, sorry for the confusion.
By diff housings, I meant the four shiny metal pieces in the top left of this photo of the original Egress (and Avante hop-up) ball diff set.
The Hotshot II, Cool But Flawed (Improved With Traxxas Parts!)
in Vintage Tamiya Discussion
Posted
That HS2 is using the Super Hot Shot front shock towers and lower mounts that bolt to the stock arms.