Quailane

I know some older or special kits sell for a lot of money. But for old hop up items? It seems that even the rarest ones don’t seem to exceed about $100, and from what I’ve seen NIB vs used for these rare parts doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’ve been tempted before by some old rare hop ups that were selling for about $50, and that seemed a bit high compared to the price of a rare complete kit. But then a couple of days ago I saw Tamiya part 53866 new in the package. A few years ago I thought it was super cool and wanted one, but hadn’t come across it until now. The guy wants $100 for it. What do you do to determine the value of rare items like these that may not come up for sale often? Do you think that you will pay whatever price it takes to get it, or do you have certain limits?

Look up the Tamiya TGU-01! It is a re-branded Futaba GYC440. I have a Futaba GYD450. I don't drift, but it works well to tame a hard to drive car. Think F102 with foam tires on dusty asphalt. It was literally impossible to drive before. IMPOSSIBLE. A gyro was a lot easier to find and install than soft rubber tires. I don't know what the difference is between car-specific gyros, generic gyros, and aircraft gyros, so I just stuck with a car-specific gyro.

Does the kit have pre-drilled holes or not? I was thinking about buying one but would prefer no holes in the body while I decide what to do with it.

SO much depends on more than brushless vs brushed. Pros and cons for each. With that RTR truck I would just buy what is cheapest. That 22T brushed motor is a lot more powerful than a Tamiya 540 silver can. No guarantee that the brushless will be faster. I like brushless for longer runtimes and longer motor life. My brushless motors are less powerful than many of my brushed motors. My brushless motors are sensored so can't deal with water like brushed motors can. I have problems gearing my brushless motors properly. Even if you buy the brushed version and you think it is too slow, you can replace the motor and ESC with brushless for less than the 70 pound premium that the brushless truck goes for, and you can guarantee that it will be faster because you know what you're putting in there.

Did you buy the body separately or did you buy the full kit? The kit wheels and tires set up according to the instructions fit pretty well. If you don't have the original wheels from the kit, then you might have some trouble. The original wheels in the kit are 26mm wide in front and 32mm wide in the rear. The kit wheels are two-piece and the hub can be installed from both sides, leading to two different offset options. I don't remember what the offsets are for the front and back, but certainly a lot more than 0. The front wheels have an offset of 2mm or 4mm and the rear wheels have an offset higher than that, maybe 6 or 8mm? Most aftermarket 1/10 touring car wheels and tires are 0 offset and 24mm wide. Those will look very odd on the TT02 with the wide-bodied Carrera RSR.

Any more progress?

I've spent zero. Income is in the toilet and will be for the foreseeable future. My girlfriend said she would break up with me if I buy any more "car stuff." I absolutely agree with her. I broke the rental contract on my second apartment and she helped me clean it out, in the process discovering the full extent of my Tamiya addiction.

Tamiya will continue to do what they have been doing, which is to try to make the most money. The only road cars released with bodies from here on out will be low end ones. M-05, M-06, TT-01 Type E, and TT-02. If you want a body, Tamiya sells them all separately. If you want a limited release body, you will have to just buy the M-05 or TT-01 Type E and toss the plastic in the garbage can or build it simply to display the body on the shelf. Also if you think about it, adding bodies to all of those higher end cars just increases their product line without really helping the consumer and adds to logistical trouble for the company and retailers. What I would like to see is greater body stock and availability though.

I had to shelve this project due to the corona virus. I had to fly back home to China without the car in my luggage. It might not be until 2022 when I can go back to the US to get the car again. Also my work was cut back drastically so money is tight now and all those gee-wiz parts are buy too many of for trial and error are considered a luxury now. The only bright spot is that I still have a lot of parts to build a few other cars in the meantime. At my current rate of production, my stash will last me through the end of this difficult time for all of us.

The TRF420 was just released. Most of the TRF420 hop-ups are for different cars to run TRF420 suspension bits or just to tune the chassis a bit differently for different track conditions. The TRF420 rear toe hop-up looks cool though. There isn’t going to be any game-changing or even “better” TRF420 released for several years. It will mostly just make a couple of minor tweaks or the thickness of the carbon or aluminum plates. If you want to do the project, do it now. A 230mm wheelbase TRF420 Porsche 934 would definitely be really cool. No car is “best” though. It all depends on what metrics you are basing it on. The TRF420 934 will stand out only because that is Tamiya’s current most expensive, newest, and top competitive chassis. That is what you get cool points for, but in a few years when touring cars progress, it will lose a lot of its panache. For me, a RWD, rear-motored 934 with lots of blue aluminum, shiny carbon-fiber, and TRF420 suspension would be very slick.

One last way to reduce rear toe is to use 1, 2, or 3 degree rear uprights on the wrong side.

The Tamiya chassis that support 251mm wheelbase without modifications are the TA-02, TT-01, TT-02, and DF-03ra. None of them are going to be any good RWD. More tuning and setup options are needed to help a car drive better as RWD than those chassis can offer. A gyro will help a lot to control it though. Your best bet is to modify a higher end chassis to reduce the wheelbase. I’m currently have a 251mm wheelbase RWD project car on the back burner. It’s a TA-06 converted to RWD and with TA-04SS rear arms to shorten the wheelbase. I have a Futaba GY450 gyro for it to help keep it in the right direction. Driving a RWD car is easy if you’re in the driver’s seat. But without that butt gyro telling you how to steer and apply the throttle, driving a grossly overpowered RWD car from the outside with visual cues alone is very difficult. For the TA-02 there is a one-way you can install inside the case of a gear differential. Installing it backwards will do the trick. There is also a costlier center one-way that should perform better since the front differential will still work as normal. The TA-02 just doesn’t drive very well as RWD. We’ve all tried driving our AWD cars and trucks as RWD at some point to increase realism, but the truth is that without some serious tinkering to make it drive ok as RWD, you’ll get tired of it quickly and go back to AWD.

This kit came out in 2006 and was the first modification of the TA-05 chassis released. Other TA-05’s followed along with continued evolution of Tamiya touring cars. The two main shortcomings with the 49400 kit are lack of stabilizer bars and the differentials. There is an old TA-05 stabilizer bar set but I’ll try to find something newer that will fit with black bars instead of the red yellow and blue bars. The ball differential joints are a problem as they are plastic and prone to melting. There are TA-05 aluminum differential joints, but I’m wondering if there are more recent differentials from other cars that will fit with minimal modification. If any other differentials or differential joints can be made to fit the TA-05, I’m all ears. I’m really hoping not to spend a lot of money on trial and error just to have to go back and buy expensive OOP TA-05 hop-ups anyway. One thing I really want to do is have the car be RWD with all-wheel braking. I need a center one-way for that. There is a specific one just for this kit (53952) and one for the TA-05 (53841). I’m really lost as to what the difference is between them and why I couldn’t use the TA-05 center one-way with this kit. Another desire is to use narrow tires up front and wide ones in the rear. Hopefully 24mm up from and 36mm in the rear. This will require modifying the wheels to make the fronts match the rears or the rears match the fronts. Likely doable. If not, then I’ll run 26mm in front and 32mm in the rear. Lastly, I want to run TRF420 suspension from the toe blocks on out. Should be able to without any problems. They are more durable and offer more adjustability. I would need to replace the toe blocks and suspension arms anyway for the new wheels I want to run.

Absolutely gorgeous. Those wheels look superb.

I’ve never found M2.6 self-tapping screws either, but when I have fresh plastic I try to use M2.5 machine screws. Works fine.

I’ve always wanted one of the 30th anniversary Porsches. The closest I was able to do was buying two of the 40th anniversary kits several years ago when they were released. I don’t like the TA-02 chassis though. It’s very crude and inelegant compared to more modern chassis. I always like to tinker with everything and again, the TA-02 is limited in this regard. I shied away from the 49400 kit due to the cost and the fact that I would be torn between keeping it pristine in the box, built completely stock as a shelter, or customized and run for bashing.buying two would be out of the question... or would it? I was perusing a famous auction site recently and came across a listing for TWO 49400 kits together! One was built and one was still mint in the box. The price was “reasonable” so I just had to have them. A Canadian gentleman shipped them promptly and packaged well. They were better than I expected and I am extremely thankful for the transaction. This is how they arrived. Beautiful. I plan on keeping the one mint in the box for the foreseeable future. The built one will be disassembled and rebuilt with every imaginable upgrade that has become possible in the 14 years since the 2006 original release. I want something realistic and fun to drive. Not sure if I’ll make it RWD, AWD, or RWD with front braking. I have a nice gyro for it. It will run with wider rear tires for sure. Not sure how many TRF420 parts will be on it. I’ll start work on it within a month, but I don’t see completion happening until 2021.

Very interesting. What is that driveshaft from? I’ve never seen one like that on a TA-02 before? I would like to get one.

The belts are not RC specific; they are just belts. The belts are manufactured in practically every reasonable tooth count in any of the various standard tooth sizes. The factories just manufacture very wide belts to those two parameters. When you place an order with a supplier, they cut off slices of the belt in your desired width. You can have a minimum order of a single belt. That’s where the confluence of China’s manufacturing base and eagerness of many people to do a lot of work for little profit come together to benefit the hobbyist. When I was restoring a TA-04, I ordered belts that were the same tooth count and width as standard as well as more wide and with one less tooth to experiment a bit.

You can buy the Mustang body shell separately. Part number 51614.

I’m flying to the US tonight and bringing along two TA-02’s and four body shells. They’re gifts. I’m going to play with one of them for a week before giving it to it’s owner.

I built this exact kit three years ago, and even if you wanted to use them, I don't believe it even comes with the wider rear axles.

Exactly. The chassis is built as the normal width, with short wheelbase. The width comes from the wide wheels with maximum offset, not spacing the the wheel hubs out further.

The M08 does the 210mm short wheelbase as well.

The Dark Impact uses ball differentials in the front and rear. They are more maintenance intensive than gear differentials. Take the ball differentials apart and rebuild them as per the instructions. Also check to see if there is anything amiss with them.

For sure it will come with a glass-reinforced chassis, probably the new black one that will be coming out. It will also definitely have hopped up diffs. It could have a front spool and rear oil-filled diff or two oil-filled diffs. An alloy propshaft and motor mount seem likely to be the other hop-ups to differentiate it over the original TT-02S kit.