JimBear

Are you still hanging out on threads.net? I tried to find you there (since it seem to be one of the social media thingies you still can surf without having to sign up) but to no avail.

Just have to ask you since my search-fu isn't up to it ... what parts are needed to fill those wide arches? I really like the colour and stance of yours (the little mouse that roared, sort of), and have been thinking I might at least try one on-road car, just to see if it is anything for me. Being a RWD buggy dude I am still on the fence.

Indeed, sir. I see a few carpet crawlers in here too. Since the family only got one Mad buggy, I can't show anything here since it's not enough to be a "fleet" ... need to gather a few more, first.

I was a bit worried that it wouldn't look good on our DT-01, but I was pleasantly surprised. Just waiting for primer and some paint to finish it off. Like the looks of @TurnipJFs white and red, by the way.

Weeelll ... if I ever get the money (and the guts to do just that) to order a Kyosho Beetle - I am going to blame you! Yours look so great.

Also known as: "In bed with Tamiya"

I am in the Mad Bull camp - the DT-01 chassis is solid. We are running an ex-Mad Fighter buggy, and in hindsight I should've plonked the money down for a new Mad Bull, really, since I've spent the last couple of weeks doing all sorts of repair on crusty old hardware, replacing half the car. No need to upgrade much, except pinion and ball bearings. Ours does backflips on grass, too much grip apparently ... We are running buggy wheels/tyres, with a Mad Bull body and it's a hoot making dust clouds in the gravel. But otherwise, if it doesn't break the piggybank - a Lunch box would also be a great pastime.

(took away some nice examples of the Kyosho Beetles to save space) ... But pray tell, where is the Wild Willy one?

Thanks, @Grastens - then I know a bit more - and have even more stuff to decide ...

I've read that too, somewhere - I think. I have to go a-hunting. A possibly longer wheelbase opens up for other things, but this far, I am sticking to the Stumpy-style.

Thanks @Busdriver for the longest Pumpkin I've seen this far! The wheelbase of the WR-02 is something like 160 mm but it doesn't have to be exact. We'll see how it'll turn out - I'll keep you all posted on the further proceedings of the project. Firstly, I need to get the stuff ...

Thanks, Jenny! I am already far off in Stumpkin-land and I think I found some gold ... Such a great source of inspiration.

Much obliged for cheers and good ideas! @Willy iine Okay, then I know that your Shorty is from Radioshack, and that route is closed (to me, at least, living in Europe). Beautiful it is, though. I have to have a look around and see if I can find any examples from @JennyMo but if I don't find any, I'll just measure twice and get the saw out when I feel ready to tackle a Beetle. @Grastens - you did great job with the Lancia! Looking at the photos of the Pumpkin, I think it is like you write that I won't need to cut into the cab, rather shorten the width by cutting off between the cab and the rear wheelhouse. At the bottom of this page, @tamiyamc shows a side-by-side example of modified/unmodified: https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=22576&id=1152 but I am not sure what is going on up front - maybe the hood is cut down and the front wheelhouse moved backwards? Maybe this gets complicated ... I have to check out the latest development in the plastic putty department - been a while - only used it for Warhammer figures back in the days.

I have no idea in which subforum to put it really, but here goes ... Rambling background (skip to question if being impatient): I happened upon the @JennyMo "Short Willy" thread -> https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/81529-who-has-a-short-willy-mf-01x-wild-willy-2/ Of course, I couldn't let go of the "Let's build something" mood and started snooping around in the Showroom section, stumbled upon @tamiyamc and his Shortened Lunch Box -> https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=18355&id=1152 Then I realized that @Willy iine has some Willys too, so I checked the photos on his profile and now I fell off the chair - the shortened Beetle! So, well, when I am going down this route, I think a first step would be a shortie Pumpkin, since the Beetle might be a bit too hard as a first try with all the curves. Questions: Any pointers, tips, ideas on how do a a shortened Pumpkin on the WR-02 chassis? Or is just hacksaw, glue and "hey, ho, let's go"?

Thanks, @Aerobert - I think I'll just leave the grease as it is for the time being. I just need to get the car up and running, and if things happen down the line, I'll deal with that then. As for the pinion grub screw coming loose - already been there. Now, let's get the tools out again and have at it, yay!

I took away the ball bearings, put the wheels and it ran ... for a while - great fun! Well, as fun things go, sometimes they don't last. Motor spinning but no traction. After a bit of hee-hoo-hum and looking, I took it apart (again, haha). I think the problem is that either drive shafts or (more likely) wheel hubs are worn out and need replacement. I have new wheel hubs and a new driveshaft on hand, so I will try that tomorrow. Since I read @Kowalski86s post about the "Hot Frog" I am now starting to worry that the ceramic grease is not a good idea for the gearbox. I assume Moly grease is even worse, so what is a better bet?

@droidy - great - it seemed a bit odd to have ball bearings on the axle and not inside the gearbox.

Today, the kid did his first trial runs with his first "real" RC car in the garden - he had fun and me, I enjoyed watching, thinking "this is how it should be - simple and fun". Just as I remembered the joy I had with my own Monster Beetle 30 years ago.

What I cannot understand is why the rear wheels keep falling off ... It is very likely me doing something wrong, so have a look please at the description below. 1. As far as I can understand the building manual step 21, there is supposed to be the wheel hub grabbing the wheel/tyre, and inside of that a ball bearing. But does that ball bearing go inside the gearbox housing? 2. If so, is there only one ball bearing (on the outside) in the wheel/tyre itself? Because I now have a ball bearing inside the gearbox housing, and then another one on the drive shaft, outside of the gearbox, which means that the wheel/tyre combo is too thick and doesn't let me screw down the flange lock nut fully. The wheel/tyres I bought were these: https://tamico.de/Carson-500900028-Reifen-Felgen-Set-All-Terrain-chrom-DT-01-DT-02-DT-03-Chassis

So, finally, today the kid got to run the car on the lawn. Wet, newly mown grass is a good way to start. Great dad moment to see how happy he was. Everything turned out fine, apart from a few small glitches: rear wheel falling off and some odd electronic hiccup, going in reverse by itself. I don't know if why that is, but I'll check the connections again. Overall, the car is running fine, except that "going in a straight line" is not in its vocabulary, but it's all about the fun and less (at this point) about accuracy. I'll sort the steering out. It also need a new driveshaft on one side, it wobbles badly, probably from some historic crash in the past. Fun fact: the kid ran off to mom announcing "in four months, I'll buy my nest Tamiya - Lunch Box!" Mom said "No!" right off, while Dad smiled his inward smile ...

So, today I got down to work on the gearbox. It was missing a screw on the housing, and inside was a grease monkey paradise - you could probably grease five gearboxes with that amount. Cleaned it out. Somebody had been in there, doing something, and apparently forgotten to put in the MB6 on the counter gear, which meant it was flopping around like a mad bird in there, and obviously contributed to the horrible crunchy sounds when running the motor. 😁 I put new gears and metal ball bearings in, and put it back together. Works as smoothly as one can expect. Put it all together, but haven't had the time to do a test run. Even so, the rear wheels are falling off at the slighest provocation. I guess I need some threadlocker.

Off to read the manual again, then! Will sort that out, but first off to the gearbox. Mr Mailman (friendly fellow) just brought me a box of stuff. I now have ceramic grease and a tube of moly grease (from my Sinar Norma maintenance kit, but that's pretty off-topic) and a steel pinion (17T, 0.8) for the motor and a bunch of metal ball bearings.

*puts engineering cap on* Well ... ahm ... it sort of works. Now steering is where it is supposed to be, but for the throttle - well, only forward and no reverse. Well, who needs reverse, right?

I am very grateful, @Kowalski86, @SlideWRX, @droidy, @markbt73 and @Aerobert for all the cheers and help up the hill. As sure as eggses is eggses, reading the manual (again, slower and at higher magnification - need some serious reading glasses over here) - the electronics works - hurrah! But two things need to be sorted: 1. I have the controls reversed: throttle on steering and vice versa. I assume rebinding is needed? 2. I need to rebuild the gearbox - it sounded very much like a bad car accident. But it was anticipated, since the seller said something was up. And I have a bunch of bags already, waiting. Since I have an extra ESC on the way, I guess on my way down the slope towards another... uhm... project. "Hey, dad also needs a car, right?"

Naae ... well, uhm no. I had no idea what to do with that one, so I left it hanging. I'll try that tomorrow!