Nitomor

I think you're reading that wrong. The manual is saying to tip the rear of the gearbox output upwards to reduce the strain on the propshaft angle. It doesn't help that the image is rotated unhelpfully 180 degrees of what would be logical, showing the axle from the underside if you look at the orientation of the leaf springs. Initially I read that wrong and had to go back and correct it on my truck. You need to look at that image upside down for it to make sense!!

Manta Ray aside (even that is just a nicety as opposed to a big surprise), it’s been quite a meh showing from Tamiya I’m sorry to say. Are they saving stuff for the Japanese show? Who knows! There is a lot of hankering for a 3 speeder and of course the 959/Celica. These would be the biggest surprises left, followed by King Cab/Monster Racer. Personally I’d also like to see the Hotshot II at some point for nostalgic reasons. Anything else bar the above I’m pretty much take it or leave it though I see a lot of love out there for the rest of the dragon series and madcaps etc. Blazing Blazer and Hilux 3 speed would be awesome!!

That looks great as always @Truck Norris , what body mounts are you using now?

I start twitching nervously when you mention cutting the tray lol, it goes against my ocd!! but they are fantastic run times/distances. Do you need double sided tape, can you not use the supplied elastic bands? I use a velcro heli strap with my lipo, only 4000mah but it fits in the stock holder. I can’t comment on run times on this yet but in other trucks I get 40 minutes plus when bashing, yours must be nearly double with that capacity!! The secret to decalling is using water with a little bit of dishwasher detergent in it so its a light green colour. I use one of my wifes empty spray cleaner bottles and fill it with this soapy water. You spray it onto the bodyshell, move the decal to where you want it positioned, and then squeedgy the water out using your thumb and the hair dryer on ‘light heat’ helps you with contours or any stretching.

Looks like the Wild Willy saw some action. Gear condition all looks good, as it should since they are strong as! From memory you can get hollow shafts for the gearbox as a hop up, marginal weight reduction ! Check the gearbox casing is all ok, no cracks and mates well together. I’m surprised to see the gears that dirty inside, makes me wonder how well the gearbox halves are mated. Although it’s not a ‘sealed’ gearbox as such, it is good at keeping muck out. Edit, here are the lightweight shafts...

Oh for the Blazer!!

Wow at that battery capacity, 7600mah, does that fit in the battery tray perfectly? Nice to see it being used. I managed to score a Bruiser kit cheap from Tamico when the £ exchange was strong with the view to have that one as a runner, I haven’t built that one yet so for the moment the one I have built is predominantly a shelfer although I have used it gently in the garden! I just noticed you’ve used the Mountain Rider rear bar in lieu of rear cab, looks great.

I felt like that about decals for a while, but after staring at the Bruiser in the Tamiya catalogue for so many hours as a kid, I felt much happier when they were on. I think a big part of my reluctance was fear of messing them up. I love reading up on Bruiser builds, I really can’t get enough of them. On so many you see peole struggle with decals, however with the soapy water method, a hairdryer on light heat and patience you’ll be fine. You can even stretch decals to an extent, something I never actually knew about until Tamiya referred to them as stretch decals. There is more info on this in my build thread (you may have seen it before). I hear you on the photobucket thing, screwed up all my motorbike foum threads, fortunately my RC pics were hosted elsewhere...I started this build in December 2014, this thread is inspiring me to finish it off but I keep on bleating about just one more coat of clear lol. I think it’s time to bring it to a conclusion.

Re-evaluation isn’t a bad thing. The Bruiser build for me was epic. The only problem is that no regular build is quite the same after. That said, I do get satisfaction from tinkering and modifying, the WT01 and G6-01 are interesting when you have a multi channel radio as so many options open up, and airbrushing is another whole new dimension to the hobby too. Sounds like the scaler/crawler scene might suit you, maybe a CC01 scaler/crawler although from your avatar looks like you’ve got that Pajero covered! if you do go with a 3 speeder, and it certainly sounds like you’re ready for one, I can highly recommend a radio that has a 3 position switch on it, like a Futaba 8 or 10J, to control gearshifting, it’s much more precise and you can set up EPA’s etc for slick shifting and less margin for gear crunching/fluffed changes. I hear you on lexan bodies, though as runners/bashers they’re perfect for the job!

That looks fantastic Phil. What brand fluoro paint did you use? The colour really suits the Top Force!

I’ve bought countless ones from Modelsport. Have a few kits at the moment that’ll be needing some, not in any rush so figured it might be worth a punt. We’ll see!

Exactly that, there’s something about the Bruiser build that makes you want to up your game!! I bought a couple of Iwata airbrushes and compressor, then did a couple of Mad Bull test shells first before tackling the Bruiser. Airbrushing is a whole new learning curve and a hobby in itself. It has come out better than I could have imagined possible to be fair. Just a couple of really minor clear coat bits I want to rectify, but I’m scared of messing up what I have done! Especially as it has been months since I’ve sprayed anything now!!

No worries, ask away whatever. I'm subscribed to this thread now anyway , can't get enough of WT's! I love what everyone does to them, so many differing interpretations.

Anyone else get this or am I the lucky one... hi,my dear customer :thanks for order in our store,chinese new year will come,our company extraction of 500 bits of lucky customer by random.Congratulations ! you are the lucky customer among that.if we recieved your positive feedback for this order.the feedback comment is \"good sller\" or \"A+++seller\" or \"good service \" or \"good Communicate\".we will send you an beautiful present to you to wish you have beautiful new year.free gift ,beautifu gift.i am sure you must be will like it.thanks for your help.happy new year!Yours faithfully seller ——————— I won’t be placing any feedback until I receive and test them!!! cheers Nito

The Bruiser is such a fantastic build, congratulations. No otherTamiya build is quite the same after building a Bruiser There are so many clever details, the engineering thinking behind it, I really felt privileged to be building it and in awe and admiration for the engineers behind it who dreamt it up and made it a reality. Best kit I’ve ever built by far. I still haven’t finished the bodywork on mine over three years after starting, not much left but I feel it needs to be perfection or I haven’t done it justice!!

That looks absolutely fantastic in yellow with the matching wheels, congrats on the purchase, looks a really good buy. I look forward to what you do with it, enjoy Thanks for the kudos cheers and good luck Nito

I’m using a 380 size can (with cooling fins to take it to 540size) 4300kv in mine. They run fine on all my cars. I don’t know how much torquier a 540 one is but mine is no longer made so next time I’ll be looking at a 540can. I quite like the look of these... https://www.modelsport.co.uk/hobbywing-ezrun-3652sl-4000kv-g2-brushless-motor/rc-car-products/407498 Most decent esc’s will let you run max 4000kv motor on a 3s which gives options down the line.

I took it up with ebay at the time and got nowhere, it was back in like 2007. I think buyer protection has improved since then. Those were the return conditions iirc and paypal wouldn’t refund me, probably didn’t help that it took so long to arrive.

Conversely, I bought the entire 60's Batman DVD from the states and the quality was unwatchable as the recordings were all corrupt. I got nothing because the items had 'arrived' and the returns stated the item had to be sent back, so to pay postage to the states on top of all the duty and shipping already paid was a no go, about £50 or £60 wasted. Thankfully, I managed to get the whole set recently as it has now been officially released since! And it was on offer pretty cheap anyway as I remember.

CZ303 for me too!!

Tell me about it! I’ve had such a busy year last year with barely any time for RC. I built a Bigwig chassis in march but never finished the shell, and a G601 xmas build, again awaiting the shell. That’s it! I’ve relocated my RC den to the attic as the wife wanted the conservatory back so hopefully I’ll get back on to it this year The weeks have already flown by this year too. Crazy times. Cheers Nito

Yeah, I reckon we’ll be seeing a Manta Ray

Not particularly if I’m honest, you can buy a new WT01 from Tamico for 120 euros and they ship really quickly. https://tamico.de/Tamiya-Mud-Blaster-II-Monstertruck-WT-01-Bausatz-58514 Depends on whether it has any desirable mods or not and condition. Great truck though, I have about 10 of them!!

Search WT01. Makes a great basher, very versatile and lots of fun and opportunities if you enjoy modding!

That looks awesome drifting, great fun, love it!