Honza

It's a Pro version, those are always more expensive. It's still slightly cheaper than XV-02 Pro, which is almost the same car

@Mad Ax the biggest disappointment for me is the DS... Especially now, when Tamiya has several options to create long and narrow chassis to fit DS proportions, putting it at the same chassis as the 2CV just seems weird...

The XM-01 looks like great starting point for that 😀

It will be much better than M05Ra/MF-01. Inner arm pivots are closer to the diff, outer ones are closer to the wheel, so the front arms are about twice as long. Plus, XV-02 has raised center of the chassis, so the ride height should be good as well. My only concern is battery position and resulting CG. And tires.

Yes, with 3114mm WB and 1791mm width, it should be on BT-01, not MB-01.. maybe it's a mistake? EDIT: I noticed it on the photo with other m-chassis. It is a 1:12... According to Kentech's post, the suspension should allow for 2 ride height settings

It definitely is. Good for tinkerers like me, for several reasons: - Separated rear part of the chassis would make custom XV-02 chassis possible - suspension arm mounts are same as XV-02 and XV-01 - which means that XV-01 can now be converted to M-chassis.

Well.. I've been right and wrong at the same time 😀 Of course Tamiya makes more competitive 4WD M-chassis just as I built one myself 😂 Now they could make M-sized rally tires that actually work.

https://www.printables.com/model/712311-v2-mid-motor-conversion-for-tamiya-mf-01x I forgot to update the topic, I released the files for the V2 conversion Check out builds forum for photos of the real thing

This project is unlike my other ones - no 3D printing involved! (yet) After seeing a spare bathtub on a local store, I decided to put my old TB-03 back to its onroad glory. It's served as basis of my rally builds, which involved lot of cutting, last iteration even sporting custom chassis. However, it ended up in a semi-dissasembled state after I moved on to other projects... So I decided to go through all the parts I have accumulated over the years and found that I could slowly put it back together, of course with some little updates in the process It won't be fully upgraded, the parts are becoming rare and I have tight budget, so the new parts will be ordered in small batches.. But hopefully I'll end up with equivalent to the "Pro" version of the later TB series. Starting with brand new bathtub. I don't know where I got the right servo mount, but it fits. Maybe I'll get aluminium mounts in the future, maybe not. Steering - reusing stock arms that have a lot of history and it shows. It'll be mostly hidden anyway. The bridge was modified shortly after I got the car (it's been 15 years already?), inspired by the prohibitively expensive carbon bridge - the bearings reduce play in the right wheel. Stock motor mount, I don't mind the silver colour, but there's first blue upgrade - the stock plastic piece is prone to stripping, so this blue mount is an essential upgrade. The used motor hints the planned theme of the whole build I have had a YR TT-02 spur mount laying around, so I tried, if it can be used on the TB - and it fits I had some spare propshaft cups, so I replaced it. Unfortunately the upgrade ones with the blue driveshaft I found in a local e-store got sold out just when I ordered them, so stock ones will have to do. Another old upgrade with some battle damage is a 70T 48p Kawada spur. I might get a replacement later. More of the cheap retro upgrades - back in the day, I found that TRF502 gears are perfect replacement for the stock gears. 12 smaller bearings on the larger diameter provide smoother action and allow to run the diff a bit looser, which was positive change on loose gravel surface. I didn't run them long, so they are as good as new. The diff joints are new from the spare stash - Eventually, I may replace the diffs with TB-04 gear diffs, but over time, I learnt how to make these old units reliable Another reliability improvement - 2,5mm screw and locknut from an Ansmann buggy. It's much more reliable than the stock 2mm screw. This was done before Tamiya themselves adopted a similar solution. But they still didn't realise that you can use a locknut in a plastic insert instead of plastic/aluminium nut with a threadlock 😁 Diff all assembled, ready to be put into the chassis. I'll shim it before the final assembly. The spur and steering covers are again old, cleaned up parts. Back in the rally days, I did some modifications to fit the purpose - the spur cover was modified for quick acces to the rear differential, while the steering cover lost damper mounts, as they collided with larger rally tires. I never liked the IFS system anyway, so dampers will be mounted on a standard upright damper tower. Everything put together, without screws so far. Basically I have complete drivetrain, some essential missing parts were ordered in the first batch from Tamico, together with new silver driveshaft to replace the old, scuffed one. I still have the original suspension, but it's mounted on my rally chassis and it has quite a lot of battle damage, so it won't return - I have other plans in that area To be continued...

TB-06 for me, please 😀 Or 4WD variant of M07/8 Realistically, there will be probably some new kit on MB-01/MF-01 and BT-01/TT-02

According to Tamico, the reason why it doesn't fit is that it's 0.5mm too wide between bearings - it might be possible to modify it to fit.Interestingly TT-01 ball diff is listed as compatible with TT-02, so the extra width might be the only hurdle.

@OoALEJOoO yeah, I call that "counter gear" part "a little spur" 😀 they probably call it spur, as it's the largest gear in the drivetrain. Interestingly, the names are swapped in M-chassis manuals, which have similar layout.

The gear that contacts the motor pinion is actually the "counter gear" part, not the spur. That part of the gear is same as stock, the part that's in contact with the "super gear" has 5 more teeth to offset the smaller spur. Edit: here's an article that shows the difference well https://rodneysrc.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/tamiya-53342-speed-tuned-gear-set-for-tl-01/ I Wish Tamiya made a revised version that would work properly with MF-01..

Yep, it surprised me that TT02 still uses mostly ABS (I went from PC/nylon TL-01 straight to mid range kits and other cheap Tamiyas I have are M-chassis). And it was quite let down that Tamiya went for worse TT-02 design for their whole base range.. At least the BT-01 variant has some potential of "S-type" upgrade, but I cannot se such upgrade path with the mini.. That's why I think that previous M-chassis gen is good quality. It is cheap plastic, but not cheap cheap plastic with plastic on top.

That's normal, especially with spool or stiff differential. It's caused by front universal joints, only double cardan shafts can fix that.

Try cutting it with a power tool 😁 I can say that PC is much better than ABS or the recycled stuff they make Chinese toys from 😀 Arms and other parts are nylon, which can take quite a lot of abuse. I'd say these old M-chassis are surprisingly good quality. Unfortunately it seems the quality took nosedive with MB-01... Agree, I don't understand why they didn't make a variant with Ra uprights and dust cover over the bathtub and instead released RWD rally cars on the M-05..

It's just marketing to differentiate it from the basic M-xx models. Tamiya has never done true mid-range M-chassis before (and who knows if they'll make anything like that afterwards), so they wanted to make it clear that it's a new car designed from ground-up and not a cheap successor to the M-05

I'm not sure if the kit includes the chassis cover, since it's meant for asphalt. Other than that, it's just shorter shocks and stiffer tub compared to the standard kit.

I just saw one in a Facebook group yesterday, but the post is taken down now.. Unfortunately the driveshaft is in the way of the battery and since shorty saddle packs are not available anymore, placing the battery over the propshaft seems to be the only way.

Done! I'm happy to share the V.2 files https://www.printables.com/model/712311-mf-01x-midship-motor-conversion-v2 I reverted to long top links and kit shocks to test the stock damper stay design. This is only temporary. What is not temporary is the small aluminium piece of wrong color 😀 Unfortunately I didn't find red or black 5mm hexes in my local shop (they are available now) and it will be hidden under the wheel anyway. Edit: I also forgot that I finally got to modify the propshaft, so it's 4WD again! 😁

@OoALEJOoO I think that the "rounder" part might be the issue, with the belt skipping on the sprocket. But with low power, it might be fine.

They wouldn't mesh properly, pitch is the same, but shape of teeth is quite different - I found some pictures on Google that show the difference.

RC cars use STS (S3M mentioned earlier) profile, not HTD. Belts are manufactured as a continuous sleeve, so belt suppliers can provide any width you want. I don't personally use custom belts, but they are quite common in rally racing builds and work without issues.

I'm not a buggy guy but I really like Durga - with TB03 and TA-05, It's what at least some midrange Tamiya kits should be - plastic versions of TRF cars. But those are gone as well..

Well, I heard that TA02T with blue gearboxes had softer plastic than TA02 with red one 😂 never got my hands on part trees to check whether they use same material. But TL-01 used ABS in same mould as PC for lightweight chassis parts, so it might not be impossible to change materials.