BuggyBuilder

Thanks Percymon, that's great info so far. I'm running this purely on the beach.. here in Weston we have a huge beach and when the tide goes out its completely flat firm sand and perfect for sliding at speed - I haven't managed to roll it yet even with sudden high speed turns.. loads of great spins and power slides though! The car has ball bearings all round and has the bigger pinion fitted already - I have left it without the diff hop up as I think that would ruin the fun on the beach. Think given the surface its running on a 30% - 40% gain would make it just the right level of bonkers! Did the EZrun motor fit straight in or did you have to skim the gearbox housing? I'm pretty sure with a little re-jigging I can fit a larger capacity 2s lipo in the radio box.. will have to check that out.

Hi, Have now built my Sand Scorcher and run it a few times on the beach...so much fun on perfectly flat sand! I'm running a sport tuned motor on 3300mah 8.4v nimh, the speed and acceleration is good but I'm looking for a little bit more speed and better run times. I wish now that I had taken everyone's advice and gone brushless from the start but I had in my head the thought that with my original scorcher and Tamiya 7.2v 1200mah packs I used to get 10-15 mins run time so was expecting at least 20 mins with the new setup - not getting that - 8 mins at most and with quite a sever voltage drop off. So I've researched around the forum but not managed to find the answers I'm looking for so far....hoping someone knowlageable can help me out! - Is there a brushless motor that will fit the Scorchers gear casing without the need for drilling / cutting anything - will it 'lock' into place on the pins like the standard 540 / sport tuned.. - Will the clear motor cover still fit on (modified to allow the motor wires through) - Looking to get a better turn of speed and a much improved runtime than the sport tuned / 8.4v pack gives...what lipo battery type / voltage / motor rating / esc rating should I be looking at? Again if anyone has a setup in a similar SRB that would work I'd love to hear the specifics... I'm trying to gain knowledge about brushless setups but have absolutely zero experience of them!! I'm UK based so would prefer to hear about products I can source over here if possible... Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the advice.guys, the tutorial is very useful! Will post up some pictures when I'm finished!

Hi, I'm about to start the build of my Buggy Champ but am getting all the painting and bodywork done first.. just wondered what the general consensus is on the best way to achieve a great finish. Last time I had one of these over 30 years ago I built the car first then sprayed the body with one coat of car paint, slapped some decals on it and hit the driveway - this time I'd like to do a better job! I've started by sanding the entire body with super fine sand paper, two coats of plastic primer and sanded each coat so its very smooth and ready for paint. My questions are: - How many coats of Tamiya paint should I use, and do I sand in between each coat? - How many coats of lacquer should I use, and again do I sand between each coat? - Do people stick the decals over the top of the lacquer or put them on first and then lacquer - what will give the best look? Thanks guys...

I'll be pretty much exclusively using this on the beach - lucky that where I live has one of the highest tidal ranges on the planet so when the tides out its pretty much smooth & flat compacted sand for a mile 'til you hit the wet stuff Not planning on bashing it or racing flat out, just some normal running with a bit of speed and wheelspins when the mood takes! If you guys think the sport tuned motor will overheat with that kind of usage can you suggest something better that will fit straight in without mods? Thanks..

Ok so after a bit of research I think I've decided to go the Nimh route, will work out roughly the same price but I wont have the care issues with lipo's and storage etc - have found a company that will make up packs in any configuration so have decided on an 8.4v 5000mah hump pack that will fit nicely within the radio box, a sport tuned motor and one of the ESC's mentioned above that will handle the voltage. Going to be using it mainly on a flat compacted sand beach so should give a nice turn of speed and decent run times. Will update more when I start the build.

Hi, Did this meet happen or is it still being planned? I'm about to start the build on my buggy champ soon and I'm in WSM so would love to come along...

Thanks guys for the speedy replies, that's all great information, and yes I'll start a thread when I start the build . I picked up a 2.4ghz tx/rx package at the same time as the buggy champ mainly as it was also 50% off and I guess subconsciously I knew I'd be building this not selling it lol - so in reality I will need to change the ESC anyway due to the probable lack of a BEC, looks like the TEU105BK is the way to go - will check out Modelsport and fleabay.. I will have to look into Lipo's and chargers as I've not used them before and have read a few horror stories regarding care / charging / swelling etc. Seems I'd need quite a bit more kit to go that route properly compared to the more simple NIMH / charger route - also don't want to overstress the older design of the buggy with too much power - might that be an issue?

Hiya, I'm new on the forum, just getting back into the hobby after some 30 years and things have changed a little since I had my original Rough Rider - I am hoping that you will excuse my newbie questions which have probably been asked many times before and help me out a little! I recently picked up a Buggy Champ re-release at my local model shop for 50% off as the shop is closing down - I had the intention of putting it on fleabay for a quick profit but then took a trip down memory lane and have decided to build it instead - especially as I have a nice flat beach near me to run it on which I never had when I was younger! Apologies for throwing a load of questions into my first post but I am itching to start building and want to get all the parts sorted before I proceed... I would like to put a sport tuned motor in the car but it has come with the TEU-104 speed controller - will this handle that motor or will I need to upgrade..and if so what to? (want to keep it all Tamiya) If I don't need to upgrade due to the motor does the TEU-104 have a built in BEC, and again if not then what do I need to upgrade to? Lastly can anyone point me in the right direction for some high capacity NIMH hump packs? Largest capacity I can find in the UK is 2700mah, I have tracked down some 5000mah packs in the States but seems excessive sending that far for something I'm sure is available here in the UK! Sure I will have more questions but thanks for taking the time to read this far!