Big Jon
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Everything posted by Big Jon
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The Champion That Wasn’t: Kyosho 1987 Worlds Optima Mid LWB Custom
Big Jon replied to Anthroxoid's topic in The Builds
Ugh those fiddly thrust bearings. Even with sticky grease, good tweezers, a 10x visor, and good lighting, they’re the hardest thing for me, especially without grooved races. Belt cars, for whatever reason, scream “race car” to me. This current generation of shaft wheelers just doesn’t seem as cool as the previous belt cars, and they sure don’t whisper around the track. -
The Champion That Wasn’t: Kyosho 1987 Worlds Optima Mid LWB Custom
Big Jon replied to Anthroxoid's topic in The Builds
Glad that you’re posting this build, my brother! I’m hoping that you’ll give us some comparison shots next to your CAT and Optimas… -
Agreed. I haven’t had an idler fail since I installed an aluminum spacer, and that was a very, very long time ago.
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On the XV chassis, they’re for mounting the swaybars. I’d assume the same for others.
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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
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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.
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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?
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Tamiya @ Nuremberg Toy Fair 2024- Speculation & New Releases
Big Jon replied to Bash's topic in General discussions
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. -
Tamiya @ Nuremberg Toy Fair 2024- Speculation & New Releases
Big Jon replied to Bash's topic in General discussions
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? -
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.
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48, and I’ve been in the hobby since ‘84 or ‘85.
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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.
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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?
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Tamiya @ Nuremberg Toy Fair 2024- Speculation & New Releases
Big Jon replied to Bash's topic in General discussions
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. -
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.
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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.
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Traxxas 1930’s sprint car snap on special
Big Jon replied to Busdriver's topic in General discussions
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. -
The TD4 has the perfect balance of vintage Tamiya eccentricity and modern materials, design, and performance. Shame about the body. It (and the TD2 and BBX) is the chassis Tamiya fans have been begging for - a modern classic with all of the things we love about Tamiya, and lacking most of the annoyances . Modern reinforced plastics, hex hardware, full bearings, excellent DB01 based suspension, excellent durability and performance. It’s very, very Tamiya.
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When I build gearboxes, I shim each gear individually if possible, screwing together the housing to check play, The XV is nice, because each shaft sticks out of the housing , making it much easier to check the assembly. If you come across the carbon reinforced knuckle, snap em up. The last time I saw a set in stock, Ultimate RC was still a big thing. I bought a set in ‘15 or so. I’m currently using modified TRF 501 12 degree aluminum knuckles.
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Thanks, Sloth!
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It’s a really nice build stock. If you’re planning on running it in anger, I’d recommend CVDs all around, aluminum suspension mounts, aluminum hexes, and reinforced adjusters (ball cups). The aluminum NN4 spacer is only really necessary with higher power as long as the transmission is assembled correctly. I have a fairly detailed build thread floating around in “The Builds”, although my XV sees very rough use with a pretty strong 13.5.
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Whats been your biggest Tamiya RC model let down.
Big Jon replied to AndyjcClod's topic in General discussions
The Clod Buster. Out of the box, they’re wretched. They don’t do anything well, even by ‘80s standards. They were disappointing BITD, and they’re nothing but a platform to build on today. -
I have found that genuine Tamiya CVs are of better quality and last longer than Yeah, assuming that the Yeah ones don’t break before they wear out. I’ve also found that operating them at their limits wears them much, much faster.
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I have an old Speed Passion Reventon Stock and a Hobbywing stock 10.5 in mine on 2S. It’s just right, fast enough to be fun (and funny!) without being silly. It has just enough rip to do a tiny wheelie.
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Cool new Kyosho platform (3s, 10th scale, center diff)
Big Jon replied to smirk-racing's topic in General discussions
I kinda dig that chassis, and I really like the body set. The bad it’s another RTR. Sort of off topic, but 3S and lower kV is great for a basher. Gobs of horsepower and long, long runtimes. Most of my crawlers are on 3S, some with low kV. 3800 kV and 3S geared slow always has plenty of reserve power!