Kol__

Awesome @Lee1075 mate, I remember those Rovers from the 80's! Look forward to seeing this one come together

Mate, that shell looks great!! A nice progression there. Sounds like you're learning a lot as well Ha, the lights look badass! Any good performance wise? What are those tyres? Aqroshot wheels yeah?

Thanks guys Yeah parts for the Super Astute have become super rare now and pretty pricey. I was informed last year that more parts were due to be available from Tamiya in the first quarter of '22. However, I've now been told that Tamiya have discontinued production of all parts for the Super Astute. I just picked up a second set of slipper clutch friction discs (and pressure plates) this week, so that I have a spare set if/when the discs are used up on this runner. I have no idea how long they'll last? I'll have to tot up how much I've actually sunk into this car now, but I can say with certainty it's a fair chunk by now. For me this is the first proper buggy I bought (within a week of getting back into the hobby in Sept '21) and although largely Super Astute now, is still somewhat reminiscent of the Madcap which was my favourite buggy back in the 90's, not that I owned one back then though So it's heart over head on this build. Plus I'm hoping it will make a really good runner, but time will tell on that one. Yeah the grease could work @BuggyDad, cheers mate. I saw someone had suggested something similar for the Mad Bull gearbox on here as well. I think they said it says in the Fighter Buggy manual to apply grease to one area to prevent the ingress of dirt into the gearbox. Don't know if I can bring myself to take that approach on this particular gearbox, as the clear cover will show all the mess. I'm already thinking that the first time I run it, I'm going to have to take off the cover and give it a good wiping out!

Badass.

@catman79Are you looking to go totally stock Mud Blaster? Then yeah a Blackfoot rere would give you everything needed, including the yellow wheels and the black friction shocks. And as you say the correct Monster Beetle shared tyres could be purchase separately for about £30. Another alternative would be to start with the Monster Beetle as you'd then get the upgraded yellow CVA shocks and you simply need to buy a set of yellow wheels, about £12-15. I wasn't sure if the rear body mounts differ from Blackfoot to Brat. They are certainly different on the Monster Beetle as it is side mounted through the body at the rear. The front mount on the Beetle and Blaster are the same, guessing the front is also the same on the Blackfoot. If you can I'd look for/hold out for/pay the extra for an original set of stickers. They do pop up from time to time and the repro options available out there are not quite up to the task imo, that's if you're going for an absolute replica shelfer for example.

Cool, thanks buddy, good to get some comparison pics and a review. Glad they are gonna work out well for your project. I'll keep an eye out for the next update!

Nice one mate, how do you rate the wheels? Any good? They look real good

Woohoo! Great to see the finished article mate, looking real good too! Decent choice on the oil filled dampers, how did they perform compared with the friction pogos? I like the orange wheels mate, are they from the Super Hornet?

Haha! So he is, what the **** have you done to the poor *******!?

Thanks guys, I picked up the original, vintage TTC in a rather expensive purchase of a Madcap it was fitted to. I have now disassembled that car, started to use the TTC on this car and the chassis is destined for my future build of a mint shelfer Madcap, as its the cleanest chassis I've been able to acquire to date. Since considering the option of fitting a 2018 Super Astute TTC and then looking at acquiring the parts to build one, it is apparent that it is now near on impossible due to the discontinued parts by Tamiya and the rarity of what's out there now globally amongst both shops and private sellers. So it happened that a nearly complete, unused one popped up on eBay this week (anyone on this forum perhaps?), I struck a deal for it and some other rare Astute parts and now am fitting that to the car instead. The modern slipper clutch on the TTC is much better in my opinion, sure it doesn't have the nostalgia, but I have that in the original TTC that will now probably go in a shelfer or become a stand-alone piece on the shelf. What it does have is a better design and construction, with much more adjustability. Fitted the aluminium gear support brace that came with the vintage TTC (these are about £40 delivered to the UK from the US if purchased separately) and this should ensure even more reliable running. The 2018 TTC purchase didn't come with a polycarbonate gearbox cover, so I picked on up from Revive RC. Very good quality, not quite as detailed as the original vintage cover, but very good and very tough as well. I pushed the gearbox plate into the cover... ...and cut it out with a sharp blade... Using the vintage cover as a guide I then marked and cut out the hole for the slipper clutch adjustment nut with a scalpel. I considered drilling this, but it proved a little tricky to find the dead centre of the circular top section where the hole sits. Cutting it out was a bit of a ball ache as the polycarbonate is really quite thick on this repro piece - I consider that a good thing though of course as it should prove very durable I hope. Beyond the photo above (which shows the rough cut done with the blade) I sanded the hole to shape, periodically testing the fit of the little plastic dust cap that fits in there for running. I was able to shape and centre the hole in the case and then ended up running a 10mm drill through it. Result was a nice snug fit, but it took a bit of time and careful consideration. Existing Madcap/Astute ball diff gearbox with standard 70T spur before removal. Note the carbon gearbox plate, which is a nice touch on this one. Cocked up on the pinion for the 2018 TTC though! The vintage TTC is able to take between an 18T- 23T pinion. As I was originally planning to fit the vintage TTC until I found its shortcomings, I had bought a 19T pinion for the gearbox switch. It wasn't until I fitted the 2018 TTC and offered up with motor and 19T pinion that I realised it wasn't going to work with the 2018 standard 82T spur gear. The 2018 manual states it will take a between a 23T-27T pinion gear, so 19T is well beyond that spectrum. With the motor rotated right forward it hits the casing... ...and the 19T pinion can't mesh with the spur gear... Paying a but closer attention or doing a little more research on my part could have flagged this up sooner, but hey ho. There is a lack of steel 0.5 module pinions out there. Although below the 23T limit stated in the manual, I have managed to pick up a 22T one and considering the 19T is almost able meet with the spur gear, going up 3 teeth I hope will enlarge the diameter of the pinion enough to mesh well with the standard spur gear. @Fruitfly01, do you know where I can source other 3 spur gears for the 2018 TTC that you mentioned in a previous post buddy? So for now, here she is fitted, with no pinion for the moment of course... Beyond the pinion hold up, some other minor issues: *The adjuster lock nut fitted to the end of the slipper clutch shaft was incorrect and when set up at the standard setting (tighten fully and wind back 2 and 3/4 turns) the nyloc part of the nut was pretty much all off the shaft, which would be no good for running. Luckily I had some of the correct nuts, so fitted with no bother. *As my 2018 TTC purchase didn't come with the polycarbonate cover, it also didn't come with the dust cap for the slipper adjustment hole (part A5). So I have currently fitted the vintage cap. Not ideal as it leaves me without one for the vintage one of course. The part is from the Super Astute A parts tree, which in the past few months seems to have become uber rare (along with most other Super Astute parts), so it's unlikely I'll be able to pick one up. As I know the hole is 10mm, I think I'll look for a 10mm rubber bung for this runner. *The seal around the clear gearbox casing is pretty poor and I can see dust and dirt will easily get in. I don't think that is an issue with the aftermarket cover, as I've read before that this can be a shortfall with the TTC gearbox. So I am looking at some 0.5mm or maybe 1mm very thin gasket material that I could cut to shape and fit around the edge of the gearbox plate to gain a better deal from the elements. Not sure if that will works, but it's worth a shot I reckon. Anyway, so currently I await the arrival of what I hope is a suitable pinion to be able to progress to running the buggy again...

@Collin ask Antony at Tony's Tamiya eBay shop, I'm sure he'll be able to supply you something that will work

Got around to putting the gearbox back together. AW grease in the diff... Rebuilt the slipper clutch The clutch friction disc was worn and actually damaged from use. The centre has been cut out by the hexagonal section of the shaft. New on right Vs used on left... You can see that once built up as per the manual, a portion of the hex sticks out past the inner plate. Not sure why this is, as it clearly enables damage to be inflicted on the disc. I tried using spacers to resolve this issue, but it pushed the spur gear out a touch and when fitted was rubbing on the polycarbonate gearbox cover. So I've just put it back together as the manual. Went with Cera Grease HG for the gears

Minor update, picked up a set of metal hexes to replace the rear plastic ones on this and another car.

Nice one @TurnipJF! Good to hear it was an easy fix and it's got some more upgrades now too! We need a dead straight on side shot when you have time, will show us how she's sitting with regard to the wheel arch and wheels etc. Looking spot on from what I can see though mate. Have you taken it out for a proper run yet?