Jump to content

Big Jon

Members
  • Content Count

    669
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Community Reputation

684 Excellent

About Big Jon

  • Rank
    Member

Recent Profile Visitors

1916 profile views
  1. Agreed. I haven’t had an idler fail since I installed an aluminum spacer, and that was a very, very long time ago.
  2. On the XV chassis, they’re for mounting the swaybars. I’d assume the same for others.
  3. Looking at Tamiya’s new releases, I spotted a steel idler for XV-01 and other cars that use similar transmissions like the TD4/2. Although replacing the NN4 spacer with aluminum is cheap and easy, this should be a permanent fix for the drive pin wear on the idler, and the gear is already available. Edit: Part number 22087
  4. Yeah! It’s a fantastic parking lot touring car. Handles all of the “real world” bumps and dirt like a champ and is very durable. A dirty sealed asphalt parking lot can be a challenge for a proper TC while the XV is right at home.
  5. I just finished off an XV-02 chassis and have been trying to decide on a body for it. I already have about a million other rally cars in my collection, and I don’t want to do another Lancia, Subaru, etc., so I’ve been thinking about doing something like the old TA-02T, with a Toyota body and BBX tires. Anyone try such a thing?
  6. The biggest things are increased suspension travel and the ability to have higher ground clearance. The XV suspension, for example, uses TRF 501 and 201 parts. The MST uses gullwing suspension arms for ride height, and 60mm shocks for travel, and includes a finished Tamiya bodyset. It’ll smoke a Fazer on rough surfaces.
  7. The Fazer works about as well as a rally TT02, though. Not a bad car or anything, just not a dedicated rally chassis. Definitely a good value. Have you seen the MST XXX-Rally?
  8. You’re both right - Tamiya has consistently flopped with RTRs, at least in the States (not sure elsewhere), the Chinese stuff has gotten a lot better, and young folks aren’t terribly interested in building a slow car when they can grab an Arrma for less. My collection covers a pretty wide swath of categories, from scale crawlers to now-outdated race cars. They’re all fairly interesting models, though, and it’s the interesting bits that keep me engaged in the hobby for all these years. If all we had available was high speed skatepark bashers, I would have found something else to do a long time ago.
  9. 48, and I’ve been in the hobby since ‘84 or ‘85.
  10. The XV-01 is perfect for general street bashing. It’s just such a peach. I cannot seem to adequately express just how good it is as a general purpose car, and even though it’s been around for a decade now, still feels thoroughly modern. I’m just finding an XV02, and while it’s a lovely little kit, it’s more off-road focused than the 01. Obviously, the RS will have more of an on-road focus, so it will probably better suit your needs. The standard 01 does fine on rough surfaces. The XV chassis are so good on unprepared surfaces that I wouldn’t bother with TA/TB chassis, and the high spec TT chassis won’t perform as well and cost too much.
  11. I think that Tamiya has found their niche with the types of kits they’ve been doing for the past 40 years. I can buy all manner of generic overpowered RC vehicles from just about any online source at rock bottom prices, and they’re all pretty much the same, or I can buy an interesting kit with unique design elements from Tamiya. Why would Tamiya bother with attempting to enter a crowded price-driven market that doesn’t have anything to do with their strengths?
  12. I’m thinking an XV-02T, hopefully with a Toyota body, rebodied TD4 and TD2, and no all-new chassis. Maybe some sort of TD R spec. Wishful thinking, another run of the Super Astute and (finally!) a King Cab rerelease.
  13. Sounds like you have way too much power. 2WD cars like softer power, so two-pole sensored systems are the way to go. Usually a 17.5 is plenty; a 13.5 would be about as much as I’d want unless you only run on high-grip surfaces. A looser slipper makes driving fast easier, and you’ll be able to tune the brakes with a decent ESC. You’ll be surprised at how little brake you end up with. Plenty of focused practice will help a lot - not just ripping up your yard or the street, but concentrating on hitting your marks, noting brake and acceleration zones, and finessing your control inputs. Suspension tuning makes a noticeable difference once you have the right tires, and is an enjoyable rabbit hole. Driving fast with a 2WD is incredibly rewarding, even though it takes a lot of effort. You can go pretty fast with a 4WD with minimal setup or concentration, while going fast with a 2WD requires solid concentration and at least an OK tune. Even something like a DT03 responds to tires, spring and oil changes, ride height adjustments and toe changes, and can be a lot faster than one out of the box.
  14. Ordinary?!? The thing is about as unique as it gets, and dog ugly! I scored a Revive RC body for mine and left the fenders off, much better. I kept waiting for the body to grow on me, instead it kept looking worse. Tamiya sure did miss on that one. Brilliant chassis, though.
  15. Although I have no way of knowing any specifics about the Snap-On/Traxxas agreement vis-a-vis future production, I do know that Snap-On pays Traxxas for all costs associated with Snap-On proprietary product, including R&D. As long as Traxxas bid the job correctly, there’s not a dime of Traxxas money spent; Snap-On is buying Traxxas infrastructure and brand recognition.
×
×
  • Create New...