isomer1

Sidenote: Thanks to this post I found out that Shapeways is back! Excellent!

TXT-2 is discontinued afaik. You might consider buying 2 from existing stock or picking up a beater (or two) from ebay for parts if you go that route and want to run long-term. The budgets people spend on Super Clods to make them perform is eye watering. It's not RC Tank or RC Semi crazy but... it's up there. Hopefully others will chime in feedback specific to the models. My TXT-1 sits on the shelf and my Clod is still in the box. Personally, I push people towards the Lunchboxes and GF-01s (though the Heavy Dump appears discontinued too now ). Whichever route you go, you are now contractually obligated to post build pics on the forum .

Those are often listings from Japan - because the Japanese themselves to not use Ebay. So several middlemen will find auctions on Yahoo Japan, then list them at wildly inflated prices on Ebay. If somebody bids then they buy from Yahoo and reship. If the item has sold on Yahoo they just cancel the Ebay sale and say it was unavailable.

Why are the words on the box misspelled? Is that a Yokomo thing?

Tamico now has 3 fewer in stock - decided I'd pass on the BB-01 and prep for RC Armageddon.

Every vendor I can find in the US and Asia lists the Madbull as out-of-stock. Tamiyausa lists the model as discontinued. https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/-road-buggies/rc-mad-bull/ The only vendor I can find anywhere with stock is Tamico, though shipping is a big chunk of cash. Found a Youtube video which appears to confirm it is discontinued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=uTVpPOiLjcc I'm gutted. Suck a simple and dated design, but so totally perfect for everyday backyard driving.

DT03's are insanely good bargains. What about.... a DT03 built out like a Madbull? Just need the longer front knuckle things, the big wheels, and body (and dampers as you please). All the Madbull joy with DT03 sturdiness and repairability?

Well I've been chanting "Heavy Dumptruck, Heavy Dumptruck" while reading the thread thus far. And I think it would still be the one I'd purchase for me. But @TurnipJF makes a good call with the Madbull. They're silly fun to drive, don't tip like the LB & GF01, clear most normal yard obstacles with the big tires, and have a few simple upgrades/mods (thinking the steering rod one) when Timmy is ready to tinker. The LB/hornets etc aren't bad calls, I just think the Madbull hits the perfect sweetspot.

Only Kyosho monster truck I can think of being based on a buggy is the gas USA-1 from a hopped-up Inferno. I think all of the electrics were off the same (original) chassis? Difference was the tires and inclusion of a 2nd gearbox at the front (for Double-Dare & USA-1 vs Big Brute, original Hi-Rider).

Super Levant Brushless 4wd w/ slip diff Wish it had been a kit, and they just killed the marketing with a name like 'Levant'

FWIW - you are correct that Tamiya is not present in the list of coupon eligible brands (towards the bottom at https://www.towerhobbies.com/coupon-codes/). However, when I added the Tamiya BBX to my shopping cart and went to the payment section it did allow me to add SPOOKY. The total was reduced by the appropriate $20. Maybe it is just an oversight in the list?

FWIW they discounted Tamiya as recently as this summer (June I think?) A few weeks back they had a banner at the top of their site that they were upgrading their order processing and things would be a mess in the time being, that at least seems to overlap with the timespan many are talking about. I've found the 'scratch & dent' sales to be frustrating. The advertised products were inevitably sold out by the time I got the e-mail.

Maybe it comes down to expectations. I consider Tamiya basically 'fun junk'. I love the junk for some inexplicable reason, but it is junk. TT-02/TT-02B: the gearbox is molded in to the chassis giving rise to all manner of issue. CR-01: the suspension interferes with chassis frame, limiting the compression by nearly half the available range. Clodbuster: I know, I know, people love it. But who runs it stock regularly? It couldn't even steer usably when launched, that took another decade for servo technology to catch up. GF-01: I love it. But what a dumb design. You basically have to disassemble the entire model for most issues. General: Soooo many screws in to soft plastic. Why? Captive nuts are a thing. They should be be present in all but the most trivial attachments. General: Gearbox as a structural component. This is just a bad idea - and it's a bad idea at the heart of most Tamiya models.

But the e-mail address is: info@plazajapn.com Isn't that missing a requisite 'a' ?

Only vaguely related: I had not realized the WT-01n was discontinued