Big Jon

While I like the ability to raise the ride height on the 01/02, I'd like to see a shock mounting point on the lower arm that's further inboard to help raise the ride height, improve travel and soften the suspension for rally use. Also, fixing the scrub radius and steering axis inclination would improve body fit and give some steering aggression. Finally, some sort of improved bellcrank pivot would be nice. The TT platform is one of those chassis that does what it's meant to do in stock form, so it doesn't really need a whole lot of changes. The changes that I'd like to see would improve the flexibility of the chassis and give a better driving finished product without much cost increase. I'd definitely like to see the tub, steering, and gear covers in the same reinforced material as the TT02 hard deck.

Drift springs! They come in about a million different rates, and have been a massive improvement to the rally arsenal.

My MF-01X Escort has VTA wheels and tires to get the big sidewall. They're Minilite-style, so they look the part. The racing truck tires look just about right. There are a bunch of wheels out there with fake sidewalls built in. They might look nice with some MST Michelin LTX tires. Hmmm. I'm doing a Renault R5 Turbo body for my XV-01, think I'm going to try it.

A-Main sells a great tape under the Pro-Tek line. It's clear rubber, very strong, and leaves no residue at all. You must have very clean surfaces and apply a good amount of pressure. It's stiff and strong enough to hold on spoilers and side dams on circle track cars. Unfortunately, the tape that comes with ESCs is almost always garbage. It's very weak , the sticky either isn't or is impossible to remove, and, because they're two pieces of thin double sided tape sandwiching some foam, delaminate almost immediately. It's not worth using unless it has a 3M label.

Digging this up from the dead... I've been on a Mini4WD kick lately, and I'm really digging a lot of the buggy bodies. Wouldn't it be fun if Tamiya started releasing Mini4WD-inspired bodies for the new TD4 platform? I mean dozens of different, wild bodies with big production volume. I loved the Avante Mk. II and Aero Avante in 1/10, liked the Keen Hawk. It could be risky, or it might be a smash. I think that Mini4WD will start picking up due to its low cost. It might be difficult in the States with our weaker club culture to have organized racing without direct hobby shop support.

I have a green set and have been wondering who made them! I didn't know that they came in colors other than purple.

Mid-level on road chassis are the sweet spot Tamiyas for me. They're well behaved, durable, fun to drive, and have a million hop-ups and body choices. My TT02s aren't really satisfying to drive in comparison. While I have quite a few off road Tamiyas, the only ones that get run frequently are my Super Astute and G6-01. The rest are too fragile or don't have the parts availability for frequent off road running. So, to answer the question, expensive off road kits aren't really that great for runners, but expensive on road kits are totally worth the dough.

The DB01 is stellar. With a new body and the RR chassis (and better ball diffs), it'd be a great addition to the lineup.

Even with the incredibly slick conversions, the brittle gearbox housings make it too fragile for hard use. With it's design, it looks like it should handle a standard racecar beating. Unfortunately, it'd be hard pressed to complete a single heat club racing

I've been thinking about the Dark Impact that I just built. It was a very pleasurable build, of course, and the basic engineering is interesting and "correct" for a buggy of this type. I'm pretty satisfied with the cost v. experience. Here's my beef. Tamiya made this beautifully designed little buggy, then absolutely screwed it by choosing the wrong materials for production! The whole thing, except for the arms, is flimsy unreinforced ABS, which just isn't adequate for the intended use of the thing. If all of the plastics were the good stuff, the DF-03 would be a true modern classic, a yard buggy that's ready for anything. Instead, it's just another Tamiya that can't compete in the modern marketplace. The chassis can perform very well, but is so fragile that it can only be run as an '80s era classic. Leaving out a slipper was an oversight too, even though the chassis can't reliably withstand a motor that would stress the gears. The plastic diff parts aren't adequate, either, although they're fine with stock silvercan power. Maybe that's an indication of what Tamiya intended for the chassis. The chassis has been around since '06, so you'd think that someone at Tamiya would have had the idea to do a few runs of reinforced plastics as hop up parts, and to make a sturdier slipper gearset while they were at it. The MS added a bunch of cool bits without addressing durability issues, which is strange to me, too. This is all moot with the introduction of the TD4, of course, but I'd still like to see a "Special" before the DF-03 is discontinued so that I can experience it the way it should have been. Such a neat car, too bad it was let down so badly by a silly decision.

Check for any leakage at the seams. Testors cans often leak at the base of the can, at the crimp. If there's any evidence of leakage, the paint is ruined. You'll probably want to decant, because propellant will have leaked. I've never had to discard old Tamiya stock, though.

You won't be disappointed. The XV is still my all time favorite chassis.

Every one of my Tamiya builds gets Allen head machine screws throughout. It makes maintenance enjoyable, and my cars don't ever have random bits falling off or coming loose every run. The only reason in my book to use self tapping screws is if you want a box stock build for a shelfer. Tamiya should use quality hardware on everything other than base entry level kits, including all rerelease kits.

Just saw that these are back in stock at Tamiya USA. *Missed above*

With that MSRP, it'll street around $300. This will be a hit for Tamiya.