Acto-Tuned

http://www.imexrc.com http://www.pro-lineracing.com/ And remember 2.2" tires. Ole

Any 2.2†size wheel will fit the Monster Beetle rims. Tamiya only offers one type and that is the spikey tires that are on the beetle originally. Blackfoot and Bruiser tires will also fit but they are no longer available so they’re not really an option. Imex and Pro-Line has some good tires for your Monster Beetle if you don’t like those Tamiya offers.

Theo have the answer. Carson did the same thing with the TL01 chassis as well. Take the cheapest touring car Tamiya has and put on a body of your own design. You don’t have to buy the whole car to get the body of you like it. Carson has two different Audi Quattro bodies. The one that’s in the kit you showed in your post and an Audi S1. Even though Carson releases are mostly limited to Germany but I’ve seen some Carson products at my LHS here in Norway. Wasn’t also mentioned in a previous post that they give the car kit numbers similar to the one Tamiya uses and can cause some confusion for foreign sellers/buyers. Ole

RCmart sells some cheap aluminum wheels. They come in three different designs (6-spoke, dual 6-spoke and 10 Y-spoke) and four different colors (blue/silver, gold/silver, gunmetal/silver and silver). The silver seems to be just polished aluminum. You should take a look at them. http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=421_35_940 I haven’t got them myself since I don’t see any point in having aluminum wheels for anything other then show so I cant tell if the finish really is as good as in the pictures. Ole

Seems like Tamiya is applying their touring car strategy to the off-road class. Make it like the rest and win some races, hopefully some big ones. A bit disappointing perhaps for those who eagerly awaited a Dark Impact TRF version. But if they do well with this new car maybe we will see some more high quality/performance releases of Tamiya off-road kits just like we have with the touring cars after the successes they had in that class.

I like the idea behind the TB02 with its Evo3 gearboxes and TA04 suspension. You should think that this would make a perfect club racer and since sunktothenutz wins races with his TB02 it probably is a good racer. I’ve been to a few races around where I live and I don’t think any of the people there would race it simply because of its plastic bathtub chassis. So if they ever try to make a TB03 I think it’s important that they use some sort of composite material for the chassis rather than just plastic. And next time I see a NIB TB02 below $80 I think I’ll buy it. Ole

The term ‘runner’ is used about RC cars that you use/run. At least that is the only way I have seen it been used here on Tamiya Club. Ole

The TB02 wasn’t a big hit for Tamiya was it? At least some Hong Kong based sellers dumped their prices on the TB02. If the TB02 was a failure I don’t think they’re going to release a TB03. For entry level they already have the TT01 and I’m not sure there is a marked for a kit that is too expensive for the beginner/basher and has none of the parts that the racers want. Besides Tamiya has the TA05 at a very favorable price and belt car is popular so I don’t think we will see a TB03. Rather than making the TB02 an on-road touring car that didn’t offer anything special they should have continued to evolve the TB series as rally cars made for gravel/dirt. If they release a TB03 I hope they do a rally kit as well and not just Subaru body with slicks. BTW: how would the TB02 hold up as rally car compared to the TB01? It is possible to get them (TB02) for a ridiculously low price.

There are several modifications available for the TLT-1. Some are relatively easy to do like these two articles from: RCcaraction TamiyaUSA A lot of people prefer to lock the differentials. You can do this with a glue gun. If you don’t want to glue the centre balldiff you could just tighten it up as much as you can. And then you have the full blown crawler modifications were all you use of the TLT is the axles.

I’m actually watching that auction but I have decided that I’m not (edit: I had apperently missed writing not). going to bid don it (sorry I have decided to not get anymore projects). Hopefully there are some snipers watching your auction. But that raises another question. Can you tell how many are watching your auctions? And if you can is this something that misleads you and perhaps stops you from pulling an auction. Ole

That's what I also think. Same quality standard but cheaper labor and production facilities (real estate prices are quite high in Japan aren't they?). Ole

Any actual difference on the quality of the kits (Japan vs. Philippines) or is it just that people like to think there is a difference? Or do people feel that the identity/Tamiya feel is watered down when the kit is made outside Japan? Ole

Maybe I should just start bidding on these items and see what I end up with. But at the same time I’m a nice guy and I don’t want to feel like I’m robbing the person I buying from. Ole

Perhaps this should have been posted in the eBay section of the forum but I really want to get some replies for this and it seems to be a better chance of that here. Sorry but thats not an excuse or allowed and could cause a bad example, imagine people putting their sale ads in here to get more views or replies. What do you do when (or if) your eBay auction doesn’t end as high as you would like? I should start by saying that I don’t sell on eBay or any other auction sites I’m strictly a buyer. And I’ve been wondering for quite some time what people do when the end price on an auction is considerably lower then expected or desired. I know the seller could have set a reserve price if he wanted to be sure he got what he wanted. So what happens? Have you ever turned down a buyer because the end price wasn’t high enough for you? Have you ever received an email from a seller stating that he won’t sell you the item for the auction’s end price? I don’t usually bid on large items like cars (RC of course) were the end price seems to end up ridiculously low and especially if I also get impression that the seller is aware of the potential value of the item. That is unless the seller seems to be a “professional†eBay’er. In that case I expect him/her to have a “you win some/loose some†mentality and let the item go for a low price. The reason I don’t go for these “bargains†is that I don’t want to waste my time or energy on an item I don’t expect the seller to not let go of. Ole

The Abox mini looks good. Is that a Tamiya Mini body on it? (as well as tires and wheels) Also I feel like trying to post the ad.

Welcome to the club. I seen some on eBay occasionally and it seems like most of the sellers are trying to get close to $300US for a NIB so $225 isn’t a bad price. And since it’s your LHS you don’t have to pay for shipping either. If you only want a runner you could possibly get one cheaper here on Tamiyaclub or on eBay. That is if you don’t care for the whole building a new kit experience. Ole

I saw that truck on a Swedish board and I immediately though about the budget crawler thread that was here a couple of months ago. A Twin Detonator or a Double Blaze is about $90+shipping from stellamodels. And that gives you the gearboxes, rims and a body. Then you only need electronics, new tires and some cheep hardware to create what seems like a capable crawler. That’s very impressive and inspiring. So how does it perform compared too a custom TLT or a 2.2 clod? Ole

That was really funny, everybody should read that thread. In fact I’m going to add it to my favorites so I can continue to follow Jim’s progress. What kind of body is he using? I know it’s a Toyota Tacoma but any idea where to get hold of one? Ole

Ford Escort Mk.1 on a M04 chassis is something I’d really like to see. Or even better a re-release of Tamiyas Fiat Abarth 1000 and Alpine A110 on a new designed M04S(short) chassis. Carson all ready has some good looking Gr.5 bodies. Judging by what I have seen of Carson bodies I would say that they are less detailed than Tamiya bodies. Here is a shop that have some Carson bodies and here is Carsons own site. There is some difference in the selection between the two pages. Ole

I want to know the answer to this as well. When I tried to use a TEU101BK (that came with my Grasshopper) on my HiTec receiver the motor (both 380 and silver can 540) had some serious stutter. Once it got up to speed it would run smooth but as soon as the RPM dropped low enough it began to stutter again.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> There is nothing wrong with the motors since they work flawlessly with the Carson ESC I’m currently using. Ole

Some other members here have recommended RC Champ in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Japan. I haven’t used them myself but with those prices I probably will soon. Their webpage can be confusing if you don’t speak/read Japanese so an email will probably be necessary to find out the price. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> RC Champ webpage Here’s some sort of online catalog with prices (YEN) but it can be confusing since it seems like they have several different deals/packages on some of the kits. Ole

The links used to work so it’s possible that they were published a little early and then TamiyaUSA pulled them back. Ole<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I like it even more now that the release is confirmed but does anybody think this is going to be a chassis that Tamiya will use for future releases as well?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I’ll buy one no matter what the price is (almost) and if the price is reasonable (less than $250US from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Hong Kong sellers) I buy two. Of course I probably end up ordering for some other people as well so I might have to go down to my post office and pick up six of these kits (I wonder how big that package will be?). And also thank to Snake for sharing. I haven’t seen you post in this thread since the release were made official so hopefully the information didn’t come at a too high cost, like somebody loosing their job. Ole

Although a picture on the outside of the box gives you a better idea of what the car will look like when finished I prefer the so called box art. I always been fascinated by the artistic presentation and it gets my imagination going. I also appreciate the high quality of the drawings/paintings.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I agree with you about the lack of window masking and cockpits. Ole

I hope it’s real since I don’t think Tamiya is going to offer us a better 3 speed release any time soon. Of course I’m a bit disappointed that it’s not all metal like the old 3 speeds but at the same time the use of already designed/made parts should keep the price down. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> If released I don’t think I it’ll be a classic like the first four 3 speeds but it should be popular amongst those of us not willing or able to lay down the cash for one of the original 3speeds. Ole