Hobbimaster

Same thing happened to my rere Sand Scorched body. It started to crack right in the back, under the metal spring/bar mount. I was lucky to see the crack forming before it got really bad. I was able to CA glue it from the inside for a repair, and it was barely visible from the outside. Sold it off in short order. If I can't remove the body to charge the battery without worrying about it cracking more, whats the point?

I have never understood why some Tamiya kits have precut decals and masks, and others do not. A basic grasshopper, and Lunchie are cut out, but a more expensive kit will not. IMO, there is no reason today for them not to be. Some Mfg's even have the bodies cut out, ready for paint and decal as you like.

I think Tamiya looks at things through the eyes of a model making company. While we can only guess as to what kits have sold most, we simply just don't know. The Clod is the original monster truck, and always will be. You can practically build a whole clod out of after market parts alone, that says a lot about support, and love for the model. I'm sure the refreshed re-releases help when the sales figures begin to flatten out., and why not? I happen to like the color variations of the grasshopper, lunch box, and now clod. I happen to have a chrome clod on the way as I type, why? I don't know, just happen to like the all black chassis and shiny body. I think it was spurred on by the new black clod. Gotta be different right?

Message sent.

Not surprised, concerts, and sporting events are all being affected. Zombie apocalypse soon to follow, lol!

Back when I raced we use to fully discharge NiMh's, and also place them on a balance board before charging to get each cell perfectly balanced to take a full charge. Today's packs are usually assembled stick packs, so balancing is out of the question. Today, I do not totally discharge anything. I just run my packs, charge them then use method. I do not leave them fully charged either. Seems to be working fine in my case.

I will always bring some sort of RC with me on trips. It all depends on where we are going at the time, some times a street car, or 2wd buggy. At a minimum if luggage space is tight, there is always room for a mini-Z.

Yes, the towers and top plate are a composite now, would have liked at least fiberglass plates. The steering bellcranks are secured through the top plate now.

You definitely have to give some thought as to wiring on this buggy. The body shell is a real pain to remove if you want to get to the inside, its nothing like the Scorpion series of cars. I used a Hobbywing XR10 Justock esc, which mounts perfectly to the underside of the top plate using the longer screws Kyosho supplies. The battery leads are a little short on this ESC, so instead of adding more wire, I just made a cut out to reach the battery directly. As for the shock seals, they are the same ones used on the Scorpion re-releases. I learned after building a few kits to chase the seal down the threads using my thumb nail. Its a pain for sure, but you want to be patient and make sure no to stretch or deform this seal. Also making sure enough oil is removed from the assembled shocks is critical in preventing leaking shocks. There are no bladders in these sort of shocks, so there will be virtually no rebound, and the shaft must be able to move up in the body without pressure build up.

I know what I will be building over the Holidays! Grabbed a shirt too!

I use these on my BF, and MB trucks http://kimbroughracingproducts.com/store/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29904

Looks like this has been pushed back to December according to Tamico ETA preorder. I was wondering what was going on since the initial reports were a mid-October release.

It may very well be a defect in the gears themselves. Any slight variation in the tolerances could cause an issue. When the RC10 worlds edition came out it had a problem with the top shaft being slightly off causing the transmission to have rough spots when rotating. Associated's answer was to run the gears in. Not sure if this will work with the SA transmission, the clicking noise almost sounds like it could be skipping teeth.

Something definitely sounds wrong. My SA has a Tamiya 10.5T and its been quiet so far. I had built another SA with a BZ super sport in it, and it was quiet too.

I have several 4wd buggies in my collection: Avante, Egress, Hot Shot, Super Hot Shot, Top Force, Boomerang, and the latest Kyosho Optima 4wd offerings. IMO the Kyosho Optima series is hands down better than any of my Tamiya's kits. That being said if I had to choose only a Tamiya 4wd, it would be the Top Force. It was the best Tamiya had to offer at the time. It is a good all around buggy with no real strange handling problems.