Pukadon

I just ordered a Honda City Turbo (shortly before Tamiya adjusted the prices to meet its new minimum here), and I have a few questions I'm trying to determine for parts: 1) Is the wheelie bar the same for the WR-02 and the WR-02C (i.e. the Wild Willy 2 vs. HCT) or are they different? I'm trying to figure out if I get a hop-up from GPM (or Yeah Racing) that was made for the WW2 would it work for the HCT. Links: WW2 - http://www.rcmart.com/gf333ro-aluminum-wheelie-gf01-tl01-orange-p-61590.html?cPath=595_744_1656 HCT - https://www.gpmparts.com/tamiya-honda-city-turbo-wr02c-aluminium-wheelie-bar-1set-gpm-wrc2333r-p-90071975.html?options={33}171 2) Can I buy good foam inserts for the HCT? (Or make them?) Thinking of these: https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEYPX&P=ML 3) I like Madbee's offroad wheels/tires as an alternative, but I know they were done with vintage Kyosho wheels. Has anyone else done this with current/newer wheels? FYI - other hop-ups: I'm obviously going to buy metal bearings. I think I'm going to buy a set of oil-dampers (the Tamiya TRF Big Bore, because in this post they appear to fit: https://www.rctech.net/forum/electric-road/891661-tamiya-wr-02c-chassis-honda-city-turbo-2.html) I might also buy a few other GPM aluminum parts but I'm going to try to focus on the essential first. As a total aside, this is my second RC build and my second Tamiya kit. Last summer I built a Lunchbox, and this year I agonized for months over which kit to get next (HCT, WW2, CC-01 - all completely different). In the end maybe the only benefit of the price hike was that I was forced to pull the trigger. In the end I made the decision with my heart, and chose the least practical.

Has anyone tried comparing the Lunchbox 3rd Shock versus the Ampro Transmission Brace? I'm trying to decide which is the better option. The Ampro Transmission Brace is 3D printed through Shapeways, and can be seen here: http://shpws.me/MVjN I'm considering the Ampro brace because it's cheaper and requires less modification. The creators also say it works better. My concern is that 3D printed materials are typically weaker than other plastics. Related to that, there's actually a free version I could print on our Makerbot, available through Thingiverse, but I'm pretty certain that the Makerbot prints are weaker than Shapeways, which have a much higher melting temperature. By the way, this is my first Lunchbox. I built it just a few weeks ago and love it. So far I've only done basic mods / hop-ups, like the bearings and adjusting the front suspension to level out the wheels. I'm still using the standard friction shocks.