Fruitfly01

Thanks for the link. If this sort of thing keeps happening I'll certainly consider buying these.

I took my runner vintage Madcap and rere Egress for a couple of spins. I broke both cars at both times. First up was the Madcap in surprisingly wet conditions on grass. At first I managed to fully submerge the car in what looked a puddle. Turned out to be about a foot deep. No harm done and the car kept going. Unfortunately, in the wet conditions, the car didn't brake too well, and I slammed it at almost top speed into my buggy bag containing spare tires, tools and my Egress. The impact broke the front skid plate on the Madcap. So I brought the Egress out to play. Doing my best to avoid the puddles and non puddles, the Egress ran as well as ever. Until the steering failed. The steering hub snapped where it joins the steering arm. I think the hard knock from Madcap did that. I didn't even make it through one full battery between both cars. On the second day, the rear arm carrier snapped on the Madcap after receiving a very gentle tap from an FTX Vantage driven by my friend. Then the Egress took a tumble and landed upside down. When I went to right the car I noticed that the steering hub had snapped on the other side of the car, and in the exact same place as the other hub. Is this a known weak spot? If it is, it's the first I'm seeing of it. Again, not even one whole battery used between two cars. So I lent the batteries to my friend and we spent the next hour abusing his Vantage, which survived everything and put my Tamiya's to shame.

It looks like they're from the juggernaut/Juggernaut 2.

This is mine. It started of as a grey plastic chassis Subaru, but has had various upgrade parts fitted to it over the years. I'd say that 95% of the car has been replaced, and I could probably rebuild the original chassis from the components that I still have. I might do that. I'm not sure how far I'll take the upgrading of this car. The alloy parts that make it more like the full David Jun edition are extremely rare and expensive, in my opinion. The only parts I really need to complete this project are the black plastic J parts for the carbon chassis.

The 0.5 module spur gears are found on the DF03 chassis. There is or was a DF03 spur gear set available which contained a 78T and 85T spur gears. There was also an 82T spur available that came with the DF03 slipper clutch , and is also fitted to the Super Astute 2018, so that's probably what you already have. The original TTC has an 89 tooth spur, so would take smaller pinions. At the time, 18T to 23T pinions were all that was available, until the DF03 came out and larger pinions became available. I think I have a 26T pinion fitted to my original TTC on my Madcap. It didn't even occur to me that there would be meshing problems when using smaller pinions on the new gearbox. Now I'm not even sure if a larger spur gear will fit under the TTC Lexan cover, but if it does, you might be able to lower the tooth count on the pinion and still have a good mesh. The old TTC is geared much higher than the new one and it was recommended that low turn brushed motors were used. A Dynatech O2H with a 10x2 rotor is suggested when using a 20T pinion. The new TTC is pictured with a brushless motor in the Super Astute instructions, although no information on it's winding is given. The gear ratios given would make the new TTC more suitable for use with higher wound brushed motors such as silver cans, and still be able to maintain a respectable speed.

The Super Astute rerelease actually came with a set of the original TTC gears in the kit, although they are not used, of course. As a result, original TTC gears can often be found for sale. Running an original TTC needn't be a risky venture, as long as spares are still available.

It's just a little on the thick side, when compared to ceramic or silicon greases. It's better used on metal to metal areas and thrust bearings, or areas where slippery loose performance isn't necessary. Molybdenum grease can be used in metal geared diffs, if you have nothing thicker at hand, or around universal joints and drive cups. Anti wear grease can also be used in such areas, but it's often recommended not to use any grease on exposed areas. As much as grease will lubricate, it will also attract dust and dirt, forming a grinding paste that will most likely cause premature wear of parts. Ceramic grease is light and will lubricate without 'gluing' parts together, and is suitable for gearboxes and areas with high rotational speeds that need to be kept high speed. Good for plastic to plastic contact areas. A light coat is all that is needed. Any excess will just be flung off around the gearbox walls as soon as you hit the throttle.

The new slipper clutch was a big bone of contention among purists when the Super Astute was rereleased. Despite it's limitations, the old TTC was quite functional and capable, and a perfect example of Tamiya doing things their way with their quirky and experimental over engineering. What we really wanted was a TTC with an up to date and strong ball differential. Instead we got a modern slipper clutch with the same old planetary geared diff and a super thick aluminium gearbox plate. The new slipper clutch is a normal slipper clutch with a formulaic design, found on every other car that has a slipper. Look at any of Tamiya's cars with slipper clutches, and look at any other manufacturer's slipper clutch designs. There's not much difference between any of them. Some time ago, a slipper clutch design that worked was designed, and has been used ever since. Gone are the days of the TTC, MDC, and Losi's unique Hydradrive.

My friends somehow managed to find a T-shirt with me written all over it. It was a Christmas present.

Decided to take things a bit easier after slow going vanquish restoration. I cleaned up my DT01 gearbox. I removed and degreased all the the gears, which seemed to have molybdenum grease all over (what was I thinking?) I Filled the diff with anti wear grease and lightly coated the rest with ceramic grease. I also replaced the main gear shaft with a lightweight gear shaft from the DT02/03 hop up options. It's a DT01, so I don't expect to see any real benefit from fitting such an item, but it is a weight saving, even in a gearbox that is fully unsprung. Maybe the suspension will be a little more responsive. Maybe I'll get an extra 5 seconds run time from the battery. Maybe I was bored and just wanted an excuse to do something with my cars. Next thing to do is improve the front end just a little bit more with a better servo, servo saver, and linkage.

Video

A bit more work on the Vanquish restoration. The rear arms, dogbones and cups, rear bumper and front lower arms are now installed. Had to stop there. I need a 25x3 tapping screw for the rear bumper because the original is bent, as is one of the inner hinge pins for the lower front arms.

Lower arms and 8mm balls for Vanquish/VQS, Egress, etc and gears for a DF01/Ta0x torque splitter

I've been in the hobby at various levels since I was able to comprehend what RC was. As a very young child, I remember looking through my mum's home shopping catalogues and seeing small pictures of Sand Scorchers and Wild Willies, day dreaming about them, all the while. I used to see adults blasting them around the park or up and down a street somewhere. I used to own various toy grade cars, that were only ever suitable for indoor use, and didn't hold much thrill. I had a Lego remote controlled kit that had instructions for several different models. My favourite was the buggy, which I built and then followed through the house, manually steering it around furniture. As I got older, I became more obsessed with RC, even though it was still an imaginary hobby. My other hobbies were Lego Town, plastic model kits - Airfix and Matchbox, and fishkeeping - I now work in an aquatic store and am manager of the freshwater livestock section. With work came less time, and building and painting plastic model kits came to an end, as I simply didn't have the time to spend on them. Later, other things became more important - nightclubbing and girls, girls, girls. Oh my god, the GIRLS!!! But several years prior to the girls, as a young teenager|, I finally got what I could call a proper RC buggy. A Taiyo Jet Hopper. OK, so it was still toy grade, but it was fast and could take on terrain that other toys just couldn't handle. It served me well for two years, half an hour every day. At sixteen, I finally received a hobby grade RC for Christmas that year - 1990. A Madcap. My mum bought it from one of those home shopping catalogues. It came with an Acoms MkV radio, a Tamiya 1200 mAh battery and RiKo trickle charger. I spent two days building it. It was a very exciting time. I was very proud of myself and the car. On it's first couple of outings, it used to wheelie under hard throttle. I took it out every day for two years, made homemade repairs and raced it a little on Sundays with a load of other kids in a car park. And then I turned 18, and oh, look, girls! But I kept the car. I still loved the car, and the hobby. A couple of my girlfriends even bought me a kit - a Ta02 truck and a Juggernaut 2. I found work and money, and spent a little here and there on the hobby. Upgrades for the Madcap, (got a TTC for Christmas that year) a new kit once in a while. I still had a bash every now and then. The hobby never left me, despite other distractions and responsibilities. In 1999, Lego and Lucasfilm got together, and Star Wars Lego appeared in the shops. It took me a while to loose my adultness about it, but I eventually shook it off and started collecting Lego Star Wars kits. Some of those models are amazing, and are so much easier to fit into an everyday life when compared to plastic model kits with all their gluing and painting. etc. Then came the Internet. Hey, more girls. Whoa! What are they doing? But apart from that, the internet gave me access to vintage Tamiya websites, such as Blazer Frazer and Tamiya101, and eventually Tamiyaclub.com. And then there was Ebay, and it's only snowballed from there. One day, I half expect a personal delivery from Anthony Gascoine, considering the amount of items I've bought from him and his company. I'm a hoarder, and the hobby has never left me, although it has changed through the years, from mostly bashing and a little light racing, to restoring and just collecting for the sake of owning a car I could only dream about as a kid, now to have it displayed on the shelf alongside many others. I'm a collector. I don't need to run the cars to enjoy them. Owning them is pleasure enough. But I have a collection of hundreds of spares and upgrade parts, including vintage items. i still spend a little time restoring old beaters (vanquish and Frog at the moment). I still have my original Madcap, and I still run her from time to time. I still love tweaking and upgrading. I still scour Ebay for parts an cars that may never get used, or might just come in handy one day, whether on a car, or for the worst case scenario - rent money. It's all a potential investment, but I have never sold a thing so far. I'm a collector, a hoarder, and that's what the hobby has part become for me right now. I'll never leave it, but it will probably take on yet another form in the future.