Nitomor

I'm with you on all three counts. Like you the, I feel the Hopper is a far worthier attempt than that disgraceful Hornet sell out, but live and let live and all that. That Grasshopper is kind of cool, I wouldn't buy it but if I was in the market for a GH I would have probably considered it.

I LOVE those tyres Alex. Welcome to the mod mad world of the WT01!! Great job!! I like all the black metal you've added, except the lower arms, be careful they don't snap the gearbox housing at the mounting point since they will transfer shocks easily to it if you hit anything. The rest of the metal bits are probably welcome to sharpen up the steering. Nice neat job with the servo mount too and I see you're using a decent metal geared servo too which I think is vital on these. Oh and hex bolts look really neat, the stock screws rust badly so another welcome addition. The overall look with that shell and tyre combo is outstanding. It really looks great, interesting re the blue Junfac hubs, means they are quite a bit wider than the regular spike tyres and they fit the rims well. The CR01 beadlocks are great wheels and always look hard as nails! Nito ps. love the pin and e-clip set up too.

I think these will sell like hot cakes.

My friend from work collects trainers, he has over 100 pairs. Not so much now but they were kind of like his thing. Lots of limited edition ones etc, he used to get invited to preview events or something because he bought so many. Who am I to criticise with over 50 rc cars :crazy:

Looks a bit like these;

oil filled dampers and not pogo sticks! I like the sound of two piece wheels. Will they be hex or bearing on the front I wonder and will the rear be hub or hex?

Looking at this another way, if Tamiya can make a mint off fashionsitas, great, let the collectors spend a fortune on ‘Supreme’-ly lame (crappiest logo ever) Hornet which may bring down the costs of existing Hornet or provide further fundage for newer models. Everyone’s happy, so long as they keep knocking out the awesome original Hornet, coolest RC car ever

I’m interested in ttc gearbox for kingcab/monster racer that I haven’t built yet! Wonder if they’ll be rere’d soon, now that would be an awesome announcement!

Ooh, does this mean the TTC will be making a comeback? Did the Super Astute have the TTC as standard?!

I have three of them, hate nitro so plan is to try and convert them to brushless one day. They're a long way down the list though!

As per thread title, had a newsletter from RC Mart come through, noticed the Bruiser was in the Sale picture, turns out it's reduced $200. http://www.rcmart.com/tamiya-58519-toyota-pick-bruiser-p-34978.html?cPath=1102_2108&currency=EUR This may interest some, in the UK you'd have to add postage and customs. I think postage was $89 on my Mountain Rider and I was hit for about £30 iirc on that, and customs broke the box a little when they took it all apart! It was really well packaged though. Cheers Nito ps. I wonder if this is the beginnings of a Tamiya response to the clone?!

The Watanabe was awesome, creative and very well executed with passion. This is absolute trash imho, it doesn't even look good. The supreme logo looks cheap and nasty, like a supermarket own cut down brand name. The flames just look lazy, no thought or inspiration has gone into this, the only decent thing is the black wheels, ripped off the other limited models anyway. Terrible hack job!!

I'd say they're missing a trick. Good idea, you never know, they may take it up now

I couldn't agree more. If recommending a lipo to people, they should go into it with their eyes wide open of the potential dangers highlighting the reasons why they need to respect them. That said, most of the spectacular youtube Lipo failures are as a result of total deliberate sabotage, but it's sobering nonetheless.

XV01 Delta all day.:)

I've had the diff gears slip with my 4300kv 9T WT01 (same tranny internals). It turned out that packing it with a thicker HPI heavy duty grease solved that problem. The cups also wore badly but hardened cups cured that.

The kit version here with photos showing how it's all arranged. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173435630024?ul_noapp=true Have to say it is extremely tempting, I have 2 Bruisers rere and a Mountain rider. 1 of each as a shelfer and the third was meant to be a runner. Seeing this though is tempting to have as a Bruiser for doing things that you wouldn't normally do to a Bruiser. The RTR is arguably better vfm, Asiatees price is pretty cheap too. I'll be resisting a little longer! Looks like the axles, gearbox are different. Looking at pics of spares it looks like the gbox internals are different and none of the gears and suspension components are of the calibre of the Bruiser. When building the Bruiser kit the quality of each individual component astounds and is one of the most satisfying parts of the process. Building one without that same revelation and marvel at the quality of componentry would detract from the Bruiser experience no doubt. It is the pinnacle of Tamiya builds for me. On the flip side, reading the thread on the other channel and here, it is great that this is accessible to so many and has given those who have dreamed of a Bruiser of which I was one for a long time, the possibility to have a real taste of what they are like and there is a lot of excitement around it, people playing with them, modifying them, experimenting with them and enjoying them for what they are. For all of the morals, Tamiya is a big boy corporation and it is within their means to respond to this if they wanted. The IP thing and the Chinese Business model and ethics is lamentable, but exploitation goes both ways as has been said above and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction . He who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind! I hope Tamiya respond with an up to date cutting edge model, that is as ingenious and revolutionary to the hobby now as the Bruiser was at its inception.The Bruiser was always Tamiya's halo model, every kid dreamed of it but it was totally out of reach for most.

Just to say what a great thread, I've digested page 1 pardon the pun, and will come back for page 2 when I have the time. Thanks folks, great stuff...my family are on the 5/2 at the moment, I've yet to fall in but need to do something...

Sorry to hear about your Dad, I realise I'm late to this. Which one would he want you to keep/which one reminds you more of 'him'? I'd go with that one, to me that sounds like the 'Vette, which would have been my choice of the two anyway Shame you have to get rid of one, but lovely that you have something to remind you in this manner. I would have loved my Grandfather's (who I was very close to) motorbike, my Nan gave it away back in the day when he passed to the handyman and I was only 14 then. It breaks my heart, I have literally nothing to remind me of him apart from a head full of wonderful memories and eyes that instantly well up every time I allow myself to so much as think of him.

Give it a try and let us know how it pans out

Thanks Kingfisher, I'm really pleased with my setup, although they are 4300kv 9T, I would say mine are 380 based can size (with the integrated cooling fins the case is exactly the same dimensions as a 540) therefore don't have the same torque as a 540 based 4300kv. This is probably a good thing, for me it's plenty fast without being too much. What opened things up so much for me was the Futaba 10J remote with channel mixing etc which was a game changer with regards to configurability. I tend to grab the RWD for most things as one of my bashers of choice, that too is also running the same 4300kv motor. However the twin motor is awesome and a real showpiece. Bottom line, it's what Zomboided said above lol " Don't know that there is a right answer to your question that's not "get two trucks" And yes, I ended up with 2 WT01's to make one Twin motor rig. I had great fun building the twin motor, it is probably the dearest RC in my fleet but then I did go all out on it, being a huge fan of this platform I wanted it to be the ultimate incorporating everything I'd learnt from my other WT escapades.

Welcome Tamico, great to see you on here Thanks for the great service over the years! regards Nito

I escalated through ebay, case resolved and refunded now. cheers Nito

I just escalated mine now, forgot to do this two days ago! I've referenced this thread, hopefully it is just a formality now.

^ I agree