Big Jon

With the advent of truly high-performance M chassis, particularly the M08, I'm hoping that Tamiya releases some really good kits. I'd like a proper Lancia Stratos, with correct fat tires and wheels, and a Renault R5 Turbo that does the body set justice. There are quite a few RWD cars that deserve kits on a good chassis, like a Dino, or a Boxter, an M Coupe, Pontiac Fiero (!), Opel GT, even an Escort.

Try a Holmes BRXL and whichever 5-slot motor you want. Very, very torquey and near silent. It's a popular crawler combo because it's so quiet and powerful.

I buy black oxide machine screws from McMaster-Carr in small bulk quantity. They are good quality and allow me to replace every single Phillips head screw on my builds and have plenty of spares.

Congratulations to those of you who are organized! Organization of my parts has always been a hassle. There are tubs full of shock oil. Tubs with cans of paint. Tubs with bottles of paint. Boxes and boxes of parts trees. Tubs of shocks. Pill organizers with steel shims, aluminum spacers, all sorts of hardware, bearings, e clips, etc. Boxes of batteries. Bodies stacked on shelves. Drawers of unopened parts. Chassis on shelves, my bench, the floor. NIB kits in the closet. I can't find my program cards, and I never can find 3x8 screws. I am not organized at all.

The stadium truck 2.2 wheels will be too wide, but the RPM 2.2 crawler wheels and Pro-line 2.2 Desperado wheels are the right width. 12mm hex, though. F103GT spindles should make an easy hex conversion, though. I'm not positive, but it works on all kinds of stuff.

I'm loving the comical and good times releases. When I break out the Konghead, for example, at one of our bashes, everyone wants to drive it. The Heavy Dump/Metal Dump was pure gold, and the wheelie tractors draw kids like flies. So many of us have forgotten the "fun" side of our hobby, the sheer goofiness of poppin' wheelies in a vacant lot, the all-nighter builds, just the plain joy of it. If these comical releases allow more people to share in our hobby, keep 'em coming. I'd rather sell these things than yet another Traxxas Slash any day.

That's gonna be tough to get just so. My on-road cars work well with about 10mm clearance and springs from the Tamiya rally spring set. I usually run them on entirely unprepared asphalt, and would go lower and stiffer for parking lot racing. You may want to look into foams for a RWD touring car. You can find them as wide as 35mm.

I'm starting to think that I'll just find a DB01 RRR kit. Whoever assembled this one stripped out most of the screw holes, so a lot of the plastics will require replacement, and, by the time that I source the hop-ups that I want and replacement parts, the RRR starts to make sense. It's a shame, because this one had never been run (probably because everything was falling off). It's not a total bust, though. A cherry HPI Cup Racer was included in the deal, and I've been lusting after one of those for a while, too. There's a NIB Durga in stock at the hobby shop I work for, so that's an option too, although I really wish that they were higher spec out of the box. If I did the Durga, I'd still be looking at a $500 roller to make it the way I want it.

Hi, guys. I'm new here; long time enthusiast. I've got a few Tamiyas in my collection: XV01, MF01X, M07, a couple of Blackfeet, G601, WR02, a re-release Super Astute (still in the box), a Dancing Rider... Anyway, I scored a partially built DB01 yesterday, and I've got a few questions. Will the Leonis DB02 body fit? I really prefer the styling over the Durga and Baldre bodies. I've already got the gear diffs. Is there anything else required for light-to-moderate running with 13.5 brushless power, either driveline or chassis? Is the RR/RRR chassis the only one setup for square lipo? Once I get my bits together, I'll do a build thread.

I'm a huge fan of the Hobbywing 1080. It's a little spendy, but dead reliable and adjustable for different applications. It's also very attractive, if that matters.

Based on the mess after a couple of runs (and a smoked Torque Tuned), I'd say that it leaked from the diff! I really don't think that one could get an acceptable leak rate from an unsealed diff.

Guys, learn from my mistake... Even 1,000,000 CST oil will leak out of an unsealed diff and make a sticky mess of your gearbox.

I fall into the large, shaved head, bearded, tattoo'd ogre in a black t-shirt category as well, and, unsurprisingly, haven't ever had an issue with anyone, wether alone or with a group of my similarly appearing friends... Except from old ladies. I swear that some old women are just looking for men having a good time to bitch at! They're usually pretty funny with their righteous rage at grown men fiddling with expensive toys, so it really doesn't bother me. On the other hand, we host bi- weekly "bash sessions" in our parking lot where we block off half of the lot and drive our cars around and socialize. We've had people drive through the cones to cut past the stop light, people scream and swear at us, even one lady call the cops. The cop came and talked to me for a while, drove a few cars for a bit, then went across the street, told the lady that it was our parking lot, not public property, that we could do as we pleased, wrote her old man a ticket for cutting through, and let her know that we had a good case for harassment building. She and her old man haven't been a problem since. Some people...

The differentials are identical front and rear. The TA06 rear diff is used in several models, while the TA06 front diff has a pulley on it and (I think) is only used on the TA06. The rear separate suspension mount is the least likely to break, so you should be ok.

You don't need steel diff gears in an XV-01 unless you have some crazy system in it. Mine has the original plastic gears and cross shafts still. A 13.5 is just about right with 5.5:1 or so FDR. As for the separate suspension mounts, you'll need two 54379, one 54376, and one 54377 for a complete car. You will definitely want the reinforced drive belt. It just lasts and lasts.