Juggular

I think it's much simpler: Marketing. It's all about how much Tamiya can get. Tamiya is running a business, after all. This reminds me of a conversation I had about movies. I forgot that there was Rocky 5. Why are they keep making those not-so-great squeals? But it's got nothing to do with the quality of the movie. It's all about whether the movie will make money. Rocky V spent 40 million dollars, and made 120 million dollars. Expendables 3? 100 million put in, 200 million made. It's a business. What does that have to do with Wild One being more expensive than Bigwig? I think it's not about how much it costs to make, but more about what people are willing to pay. Just like story line has less to do with Rocky 5 or Expendables 3. It's all about enticing enough people to open their wallets. So, Tamiya might charge $20 more for Midnight Pumpkin, if it's more popular than bigger Lunchbox. Whichever entices more people, will have higher sticker price. I paid about $110 for Zahhak from Tamiya America. (That thread "DT02 vs DT03," which prompted me to buy Zahhak was started by you, @Saito2! ) Zahhak is the best performing and best engineered Tamiya 2WD buggy I've got. But thanks to holy-pinkness, it just wasn't as popular as Wild One. Hence the price. The popular it is, the more they'll charge. (While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I'm thinking not many beholders liked this much pink. lol... I certainly prefer Wild One, but Marui Galaxy was funny, @Yalson! )

I might have small amount of Dextron III somewhere after replacing 5-6 quarts in our Subaru. Transmissions must have some heat resistant silicon seals. But is it plastic safe too? If it is, cheaper transmission oil is a brilliant idea! I might have to give it a try! Me too! I try to aim for 1/3 or 1/2 second for rebound. That does require light oil. I call it "one-two-three" rule. (I come up with all kinds of self-imposed rules) I figure saying "one two" takes about 1/3 of a second. "Three" in about 1/2 a second. I take one axle off the ground (about 3-4 inches) and I drop it. From the moment it hits the ground, it should return to upright position by the time I finish saying "three." If it still osculates like the front of the Grasshopper, it's no good. If it takes longer, it's also too slow. But slow RC shocks don't return slow at all --because they simply don't compress enough in the first place. We've all seen how Tamiya cars simply bounce off the floor, not by the springs, but by the tires. From the moment 2 tires hit the ground, it shouldn't come off of it. The purpose of a suspension is to keep the tires ON the ground as much as possible. Your "rule" of 10-20% sag under its own weight is brilliant. CC01's rear suspension extension kit doesn't allow CC01 to compress more. It allows to Extend more. Extra sag helps the tires to stay on the ground. Most Tamiya cars have almost no sag under its own weight. Not just by stronger springs. Tamiya also uses harder oil with small-holed pistons. Tires are hard too, so that they can be displayed for months without flat spots developing. 1) hard springs + 2) hard shocks + 3) hard tires = toy rides. Toy rides were okay in 1985. But having seen Traxxas UDR, I am thinking it's possible to improve somewhat. Of course, UDR is Heavy!! Really floaty suspensions would be hard for 1/10th. As @Yalson says, it'd be hard to control too. The suspension travel would have to be twice as long, supported with much weaker springs, sagging 50% down, etc. There is no room for all that (which is why T-maxx came with 8 softer shocks instead of 4 stronger ones--again, no room). What I'm aiming for is something like Matteo's Bigwig and XR311. Below video shows somewhat floaty suspension, without any oil. It's a bit too bouncy. Suspension travel isn't much. But Tamiya's 1977 suspension was supple (you could adjust XR311's suspension hard too). Somewhere along the line, Tamiya got addicted to hard oil and made suspensions a little too hard, in my opinion. I think I'll experiment with the lightest oil I can find and see if I can make them more supple.

You get some bad ones with some good ones too. Years ago, after an ebay seller shipped the item to me, I got like $2 refund. He said actual shipping was less than what he thought. Whatever it was, shipping was reasonable for the size and weight, maybe like $6? It wasn't a big deal, but I was pleasantly impressed.

I forgot about the scale effect! (This is why one head is always less smart than many) That wooden 1/5th car is awesome. I'm amazed that Traxxas UDR can do it without adding a lot of weight. But I cannot afford that. Also, I want my existing Tamiyas to perform well. I don't own any Short Course Truck. But if Losi can do it for $300, I'm sure there is a way to improve Tamiyas without spending $80 on big bore shocks. For the time being, as you guys have suggested, I'll aim for a compromise. Matteo said he used 4-hole pistons instead of 2-hole pistons the instruction tells us to use. His compromise gives me hope. (I might experiment with the lightest oil or even no-oil options --- I only tried no oil on the front of M06 with good results) Does anybody know what is the lightest oil I can buy?

LOL...Oh, that was the funniest thing (to an old Tamiya fan like me). I love Tamiya, but Tamiya's idea of suspension is medium-hard rubber tires bouncing, (while springs stay frozen). They are not shock-absorbers, they are shock-repellers. They beat back the shocks! Jokes aside, I would love to see some of that floating action in Tamiya. Or... is there a way to make it so? Anybody made a really floaty suspension on a Tamiya? I would love to know that it can be done?

Seriously, are they using something I don't know? It's like the chassis is floating on clouds.

I thought I saw Dynahead at about $290 or something, just a week before the sale. I was looking forward to the sale. But now it's $376. What gives, Tamiya?!

Bigwig vs Lancia 037? Lancia always wins. The name sounds better, the look is like the definition of 80's rally car. I prefer Delta Integrale, but 037 is no ugly duckling. No sir. Everybody needs a Lancia.

Instead of grumbling, I think I'll chant from now on, "I was a DPO efore." I don't mind ordinary stuff that we all do sometimes. Parts not neatly cut out of sprues, etc. But I am baffled when people force a 25t pinion when 23t is the limit, or hammer in a bigger piston into a smaller cylinder. In RC, hammering is not required (usually). "I was a DPO before, I was a DPO before, I was a DPO before, a DPO before..."

I'm starting to think English roads are made out of sandpapers, designed to grind tires to dust... (I meant "roads in UK." Not English-speaking roads, just to be sure) I spent about that for Michelin Defenders. I thought that was expensive (but I'm a cheap guy, everything is expensive!). Defenders are supposed to last 90,000 miles (I mean 144,000 km. I wonder if these are what taxi drivers buy). But we've only driven 25,000 miles in 6 years, and small cracks are appearing! Still plenty of tread left, I guess we'll drive 15 more years... (I'm kidding, I'll replace them before they become as hard as these Tamiya tires)

I think you need 2 parts: http://shpws.me/Rzau and http://shpws.me/Rzav from Shapeways. I assume you can use frog arms. If you are not sure, contact Alberto. You'd need shocks too. There are bunch of sellers on ebay with same 70mm shock Alberto is talking about. https://www.ebay.com/itm/70mm-Shock-Absorber-A285004-For-RC-HSP-1-16-Buggy-Truck-HSP-HPI-Axial-Alum/172443810356?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 70mm shocks are slightly too soft for 4WD TL01B. But they should be fine for the light nose of the Frog.

I'm pretty happy with the stock suspension (after applying AW grease or faucet grease on the inner pistons). But there have been occasional talks of front suspension upgrades. It seems AMPro has an answer.

I like @TurnipJF's idea. Why don't you get Comical Frog? You can cheat and buy Brat. And get a Frog shell for about $30 (though mounting points are different). That way, you'd have a Comical Frog, regular Frog and Brat (Brat comes with 2 shells; one resin, one lexan). You'd end up with 2 chassis and 4 shells! (I wonder if comical chassis could mount Brat Lexan shell... then you'd have comical Brat too! ) I did something similar. I got Wild Willy 2 first, and tracked down original Wild Willy few years later. Wild Willy was already a comical version of the famous Jeep. Wild Willy2 was "comical-er" version of Wild Willy 1? (okay, that's pushing it. It was a simple re-issue). Even Wild Willy 2 was 20 years ago... I think it's about time Tamiya released "Wild Jerry?" WR02CB chassis already come with balloon tires! Everybody is expecting Comical Wild One, and Tamiya would give us a hard body of Kubelwagen!! Wouldn't that be something. Why Jerry first? I don't know, "Wild Tommy" doesn't look like it can do wheelies easily...

I wish I grabbed M08 when it was on ebay few weeks back. M08 seems better balanced than M06. But having bought M05 Rally + M07 in 2 weeks, I was already over my allowance. I didn't dare bringing M08 up. (to my wife, they all look the same) At least, I ordered some S-grip tires without going through her. I'm glad to know that they work well. Pennsylvania has yearly inspection at designated state inspection garages too. We drive so little, the cracks appearing on the tires is more of a concern than treads. How do you even wear down a new set of tires in 1 year? Aren't they suppose to last like 60,000 miles? I can't say the naming convention is really clever on this side of the pond. "New"-everything. Like "new" York, "new" Jersey, "new" Hampshire. I suppose "new" Cheltenham was too long. So, there are towns without "new." Like Lancaster, Somerset, Mansfield, etc. There is even "old" York road in Cheltenham (Pennsylvania).

I usually recommend Sport Tuned as the first choice of easy upgrades. But GT tuned is supposed to be tiny bit faster than Sport Tuned. I shaved the receptacles of the center shaft tiny bit, so it doesn't bind. Far less wobble that way. It's probably the most stable runner out of Hotshot family. But it probably cannot complete with Traxxas. Rear toe-in sounds good. I wonder if Shapeways has uprights with a toe-in. If somebody makes it, rear toe-in wouldn't hurt have.