Sgt.Speirs

I really bought this car only because of the almost new tires for my Monster Racer… …now it turns out that the chassis is also almost as good as new. The ball diff also feels buttery smooth… The body is horribly painted (completely red), but no cracks and the paint can be removed with your fingernails...no Lexan paint was used...perfect for a restoration project!

@wtcc5: Your build makes me hungry to start with my (first) TB Evo…

MCIracing has replacement decals for the motor…this is also my plan

I think you made the same experience as I did on my TRF201 transmission conversion for my King Cab/Hilux Monster Racer. The distance between both diff output bearings of the TD4 ball diff is identical with the TA06 gear diff, but further apart than on the TRF201 ball diff. So TRF201 diff outputs or a wider gearbox is needed…and both options are available

Are you sure that it is the diff (which slips) and not the motor (which turns)? What happens when you tip the car on the (for example) left front AND rear wheels and you turn the right rear wheel clockwise? If the center diff works fine, the right front wheel have to turn counterclockwise. By the way, did you tighten the diff screw well? The manual says "Don't over tighten" but in my Avante box there was an additional note on this step that the screw must be fully tightened.

Step 26 to 28 - Oil dampers Step 29 - Damper stay (front & rear) Step 30 - Attaching rear dampers Step 31 - Attaching front dampers Step 32 - Attaching motor The manual suggests a Dyna-Run Racing Stock Motor for this chassis. Last week I found a really cheap one, but the motor needs first a bit love before it finds it's right place.

Finished my Monster Racer body…finally.

The haul of the last week… Tamiya TRF417 V5 Tamiya TRF415MSX Marc Rheinard (with TBLE-01 ESC and TBLM-01 8T motor) Pink Acto Power Off-Roader 2WD motor (with box and manual) Dynatech 01R (labeled by Graupner) RX-540VZ Technigold (labeled by Graupner) Dyna-Run Racing Stock

Finally I found time to finish the body… The front bumper is also a new one and will complete the „out of the box“ look. Summery of the body set (body is from TBG, the decals from MCI racing): The quality of the decal sheet was fine (I selected „premium color option“). But the sheet is no 1:1 copy of the original. Two things struck me as negative. The left headlight sticker is completely wrong. It seams that the right sticker was only mirrored. The „K“ is upside down and the geometry is also wrong (the sticker is on the bottom wider than on the top). The black wheel house stickers are four times on the sheet. At the front they fits fine, but it was impossible to apply this on the rear wheel house. I have to split the stickers to fit the geometry of the wheel house. To the body there is nothing negative…well done TBG Overall my expectation was not to have the same body set quality as I expect from Tamiya. Nevertheless I’m happy there is an alternative solution to restorate a Hilux Monster Racer. And at the end I‘m really happy with the result Stay tuned for the final pics of this project…

Hi Thomas, thank you for this absolutely stunning work/project! That‘s what Tamyia have to release instead (or parallel) to the Astute 2022. Modern technology in a vintage (Tamiya) buggy design… I‘m super exited to see pictures from the final prototype or/and in action Thumbs up! Thomas

It looks the same on my Avante and it runs fine… No worry, when you install the gear case cover (B3), this will push everything into the right place

And the next step is the suspension respectivley drive shafts... Step 16 - Universal shaft Step 17 - Rear axle Step 18 - Attaching rear axles Step 19 - Front axle Step 20 - Attaching front axles Step 21 - Steering arms & tie rod Step 22 - Attaching steering arms and upper deck Step 23 - Attaching battery holder Step 24 - Torque rod & tension pulley Step 25 - Attaching torque rod Detail views of the front... What really impresses me is that there is no play in the suspension in drive direction. This is not comparable to my TA02, TA03 or FF01 chassis...

I like also the vintage look of the buggy, but I don‘t like the missing metal motor plate/combined plastic motor mount and gear box.

I tried the same thing for so many times, but get always a relapse (especially in the last week/month). And also because of you I‘m looking forward to build the TB Evo 5…my first TB chassis.

Today there is only a small update on the progress of the build…the stabilizers. Step 13 - Stabilizer Step 14 - Attaching rear stabilizer Step 15 - Attaching front stabilizer Detail views of the rear… Detail views of the front… In the next update, we will complete the front and rear suspension arms and the steering arms.

As far as I know bases the TA04 chassis on the TRF414 chassis…from the race track to the consumers There is a short summery about the history of the TA chassis family on blackholesun.fr: Tamiya On-Road Chassis: TA Plattform Do you mean the Tamiya 53480 TA04 Lightweight Diff Joint Set? Two of them were installed when I bought this chassis. So currently they are spare parts

And the build goes on… Step 6 - Ball differential Step 7 - Front one-way differential The TRF414M front one-way diff was also offered as a hop-up for the TA04. Step 8 - Rear bulkhead assembly Step 9 - Attaching rear bulkhead Step 10 - Attaching front bulkhead Step 11 - Center one-way unit Step 12 - Attaching one-way unit Until now a great building experience and completely different than former TA02/TA03 builds… …and this without blue aluminum parts

Hello all, welcome to my TRF garage. This currently consists of three TRF cars: TRF414M (see build log in the following) TRF417 V5 (>> start of build log <<) TRF201 (>> start of build log <<) In the first chapter want to share the restoration and build of one of latest Tamiya on-road car in my collection: The TRF414M (Source: www.tamiya.com) The TRF414M Kit was release in March 2001 under the kit number 49175. About its pedigree there is following written down from Tamiya: „After several months of experimentation on the TRF414 chassis kit and a considerable amount of race participation, the TRF designers are proud to bring out an improved version of the chassis, the TRF414M chassis kit. The improvements focused mainly on heightening the efficiency of the drive train and increasing the cornering speed. The TRF414M Chassis Kit is sure to give competitive RC racers just what they need to win on today's track.“ (Source: www.tamiya.com) I found also a summary here at TamiyaClub: TRF414M CHASSIS KIT (limited release) Normally I’m not so interested in TRF models, more in the TA family of the 90s. After a TA01, TA02 and TA03 are already in my collection, a TA04 would be the next one in the row. And the TRF414 as „predecessor“ of the TA04 would also be fine in the collection. The car was part of a hobby abandonment and was offered for 414€. But the price was more a joke from the seller and we agreed on a very good price. Maybe because I bought my Dyna Blaster one week before from the same seller The car arrived only with the manual (motor and servo are not worth mentioning). So first was to deassemble everything and check for demaged parts. The front suspension arm block of the front suspension was a little bit tricky due to the screw was worn out. But with the help of WD40 I could remove the screw without damaging the aluminum block. I was surprised how few plastic parts are used for this kit (ball connectors not showed). Fortunately all aluminum parts were in good condition and only the lower carbon deck was used (full of scratches). Unfortunately the rear ball diff (with metal diff joints) and the front one-way diff were replaced by the TA04 Lightweight Diff Joint Set (TA-53480). Due to I want to re-built the car as close as possible to the original, I have to replace/find the missing parts. Fortunately I found a shop in Belgium, which had a lot of the missing parts. Currently I‘m only still searching for the A parts tree (especially the front bumper stay A4). So let’s start with the build… Step 1 - Attaching lower deck parts Step 2 - Rear arms Step 3 - Attaching rear arms Step 4 - Front arms Step 5 - Attaching front arms Next step will be the differentials and the front and rear bulkhead assembly…

@GermanTA03Guy& @wtcc5: I would be interested in a set for a TA03R and TA03R-S

Do you mean your self-made upper carbon deck?

And the drivetrain fitted into the main chassis: Maybe it looks like you have seen the following pictures a few sites before in this build thread, but that is not the case... From the top: And with the opened spur gear cover for adjustments on the slipper clutch: Now it’s time to finish the body…

A kind of TA03 addiction?

Amazing chassis…thumbs up!

@wtcc5: Are these the „Touring Car Aluminum Front Hub Carrier“ (OP 53226) which increase the caster angle on FF01 chassis and decrease it on TA02 chassis (due to the different way of installation)?

I‘ve finally fitted the 3D printed gear box in the King Cab FRP chassis…