ZenMoto

Thanks Super, I thought of that this mornign after I re-posted. I found the parts on WallaWalla now tha I knew what to call them. Suspension Balls #53709 (Flourine coated ...why not?) and Adjustable Ball Connectors #53488. I've ordered them through WallaWalla as Tower doesn't have them and I'm going out riding my dirtbike this weekend, so no trips behind the Orange Curtain for me for at least another week. Thanks for replying though ...it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer to get the TB-02 up and running again. ...but that's ok, I'm having fun building my TA03-S. BTW, the Corolla body looks sweet, thanks!

Come on guys. ...someone's gotta know what these parts are called (or where to get them in the US)? ...anyone???

Congrats on finally getting started ...now watch as all your money magically disappears before your very eyes! Have fun!!!

I bought a bunch of hop-ups to repair my damaged TB-02 (don't ever accidentally jump a 3-ring binder someone leaves on the ground at 30mph). The parts I bought include carbon damper stays (front and rear) which are basically Evolution III/TA04 kit parts, these require ball connectors that are held in place by a stand-off and secured by a nut vs. the stock ball threaded into the plastic stay. None of this hardware came with the damper stays. Also, I bought aluminum differential mounts, stock parts on my TA04 (the stock plastic ones on my TB shattered when the car landed). These parts require a ball connector that the suspension pivot-shaft fits into at each end. These were also not included. My problem is that I don't know what they are officially called, nor do any of the hobby shops within an hour of my house carry ANY Tamiya parts. I've looked on Tower Hobbies, but can't find what I need. Can anyone help out? I could really use a part number for these parts (or a resonably fast, online source ...I'm in California). Worse case, I'll have to wait until the weekend and drive down to Orange County to go to the one hobby shop in California that carries Tamiya stuff ...but it's a long trek down there. [] Thanks!

Sam, I have never had one of the XB cars, but I can tell you that at 13 (a long time ago) half the fun of Tamiya kits is building it. If you are going to be racing, I especially recommend building a kit as you will be prepared to handle any emergency repairs that might be needed on race day. OTOH, if you simply want an inexpensive way into the sport, the XB cars might be the perfect solution. I'm sure more people will chime in with their opinions of those kits, but I've never known Tamiya to make anything but quality products. Good luck, have fun, and welcome to the wonderful (if expensive) world of RC cars!

Yep, I got my order shipping confirmation yesterday, should have all my parts (and it's a LOT of parts) next week!

quote:Originally posted by thesuperZenMoto...sounds like you ordered a whole ton of stuff from Wala. [/img] id="quote">id="quote">Dear God ...you have no idea! lol ...I have to go sell one of my kidneys on the black market now so I can pay for my "upgrades" [:I] Not to drift too far off topic, but does anyone know anything about the "Monsters of Stock" Pro-Tuned motors? It's what came in my TA04 but the label is worn off ...that thing is fast! Faster than my TB-02 with the Reedy Flash Point 15x2, and I want to know what a comparable motor would be. Thanks ...anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Yeah, I'll be turning my TB-02 into a rally car (when my parts show up from WalaWala). [] I have the back-up tub in case I butcher the original. lol I have now officially broken both my touring cars ...office can be very hard on those fragil things ...you hit one doorway at 30 mph and *BAM* ...you have a broken suspension! [] So now I'm waiting for aluminum rear suspension arms for my busted TA04, and aluminum differential mounting pieces & drive cups (or whatever they're called) for the TB-02. When the 02 parts arrive I will begin the hackery! lol I'll post my progress in the old rally thread when I get going. Some good info on this thread as well. Oh, and for the record, I think that this TL-01RA looks horrible ...I'm very disappointed in Tamiya! [] Cheers.

See, now I was going to say that if you really want to build a petrol car, to look here: http://www.kitcar.com/cbm/home.html They have all the parts you need, or you can buy a complete kit; the choice is yours. ...and won't your friends be jealous when they see you sporting around the local parking lot with your new 1:1 scale Porsche 550 Spyder! [] Seriously, they've all given you good advice, buy a new electric kit and radio etc and get an understanding for how they are built etc. Then decide what you really want to do. ...the bulk of the initial cost is the electronics anyway, so you're really not out much by getting a small kit to start off with. Good luck!

I got my Lancia 037 TA03R today! [] Good service, from Seoul, Korea to L.A. in 7 business days, and it was packed really, really well! It was an ebay auction that I missed, but saw it hadn't sold. I bought it outside of ebay (it was no longer listed) from seller "nowingu". I suppose I gambled being that it was outside ebay (no protection) but his feedback is 100% and he deserves it. It wasn't a sealed box so he even filled the nooks & crannies inside the box with broken up bits of styrofoam, then wrapped the whole thing shut with 3 layers of bubble wrap and then boxed and thoroughly taped! It's so nice to deal with someone who knows how to pack things! ...now if my bearings would show up I could start building it! [8D]

I have the Futaba 3PK radio and the TA04 I bought off ebay has a R203HF receiver and Futaba MC330CR ESC in it. It is my understanding that throttle is always on Channel 2, right? For some reason it only seems to work with the throttle on Ch. 1 and steering on 2. The only problem with this is that as voltage drops (battery dying) ithe ESC is supposed to cut power to the throttle and supply it only to the steering, ...but that doesn't happen. The throttle just locks where it is (although I do maintain sttering). I was wondering if the channels being backwards could be affecting this ...or am I on crack? [)] Thanks.

Well, funny thing is I kinda jumped my TB-02 today ...not a big jump, ...about 6 inches. It wasn't really intentional, but it happened. Now I have a busted differential cup (the plastic part the drive shaft slots into), and a busted differential mount, so the rear swingarm on the right side isn't held in place. The Evolution III parts are supposed to be a direct fit so I'm ordering the aluminum ones and the reinforced drive cups (whatever they're called). If anyone can correct me, I'd appreciate it, but as far as I can tell, I need the A, B, C, and D, aluminum differential mounts? http://i3.ebayimg.com/01/i/02/c0/56/47_1_b.JPG This is the "B" one. Thanks again you guys, I'm looking forward to hopping up my 02 ...you know, since I *have* to now! []

Has anyone ordered a batch of stuff from them? Were they willing to combine shipping. I'm looking at a large order but don't want to pay $100 to ship 2 lbs worth of aluminum! lol I sent them an email asking ...but I'm anxious and impatient! []

It's back up and running. []

Thanks Beng_sco. You wouldn't believe the weather here (unless you live here). We now have officially had more rain this year than Seattle ...and THIS IS LosAngeles!!! [] One of these weeks the rain will stop and I'll get to run it around the parking lot. though. I think I scare my fellow employees running it down the halls at full tilt! [] Also glad to hear you are liking your POD. I'm in the same boat, I have a ton of gear now (PODxt, PODxt Live, Vetta, DuoVerb, HD-147, Flextone III XL, Variax, etc...) ...and I'm still a horrible guitarist! lol

Thanks Floyd, glad you're digging your Spider. As for the car, now I really look forward to the end of the day at work so I can terrorize all our late-working software engineers. I like to buzz past their office doors at 30mph! lol

Nice looking truck, did you paint the fade with an airbrush, or just a steady rattle-can? ...how do those things go? Are they pretty good offroad?

I forgot tot mention the lighting. lol I'm the Senoir Industrial Designer for Line 6, a guitar amplifier company. I also do all our product and artist photography, so I have a small studio here at the office. The drop cloth is all wrinkled from having a band standing on it (you can see the wrinkles in someof the photos), but I just shot with the cars on a pice of plexiglass over the white cloth. I have a large softbox which is great for getting all the lucious reflections, and a reflector of to the opposite side. For more of what I do, you can check out our website, I designed pretty much every product we currently make and took most of the product shots used on our website. http://www.line6.com

Thanks man. Yeah, this is the one I screwed up the holes on ...it's not a major deal, but I'm really anal about that sort of thing. [] With the black paint it's really hard to see the holes unles you are looking in person. As for the batteries, I sent them back to Team Orion on Monday after talking to them. That company ROCKS! First they simply asked me to send them in so they could test them, and told me that Sanyo had a bad batch of the 3600 cells go out and they were having problems with some of those packs. Then they told me to include a receipt for shipping and they would reimburse me for that. I had replaced the leads on one battery with a Deans because that is what's on the TA04 and they said no problem. That was Monday! ...today I got two brand new 3300 (better packs) in the mail. Also in the package was my deans connector with some of the wire still on it, now I can desolder that and reuse the connector! ...SWEET! I charged the packs and ran the TB with it. It has a lot more punch than I was expecting. ...of course I had to run to the hobby shop for some body clips and just *happened* to pick up the Reedy motor while I was there! [] I spent two hours after work flying down the hallway and powersliding the corners, just getting a feel for the car. The handling is brilliant on this thing. It slides beautifully when you ease off the throttle and comes right back online with a little throttle. Just an ace! However, our halways, while straight and long, are narrow. I had to set my steering exponent to -15 so I couldmake corrections without zig-zagging into a wall! lol I love the 3PK radio! ...so I guess you could say I'm enjoying it all now! The Lancia should be here next week, but I'm going to take my time with that. Still waiting for my second TA-02 tub to try the rally thing out. ...but I'm really liking this car as is ...I'll have to get the TA04 running so I can rally this one in good consience!

So I finally got everything wired into my TB-02 Merc AMG. TRF dampers, anti-roll bars, LRP Bullet ESC and Reedy Flash Point 15x2 motor. [}] Wow!!! This thing FLIES! It's rainy and nasty out here in SoCal so I'm limited to running up and down the long carpeted hallways at the office, but it's just silly fast! Now I just have to wire a plug up for my TA04R and I can compare them. ...now I just wish the weather would clear up so I could run it outside whee there's some room to romp! Here's some pics. As I said, I butchered the body ...which is good because I don't feel so bad about the beating it's taking! lol The TB-02 in front with the TA04 behind. Low shot of the georgous AMG body. Back quarter shot (the wheels are off the TA04 because they are better on the carpet). The guts, a little dirty from playing in the parking lot the other night (I took the heat sink off the motor for the shot).

Ok, ...that's a little scary! [] Cool site, I bet those guys have a lot of fun!!!

Yep, definately too loose. Pull the drive shafts out and tighten the hex-head bolt that runs through the assmbly. I'm not sure how you're supposed to know what the *right* amount is ...maybe someone with more experience can enlighten us. []

Hehe ...it's an addiction I tell ya! "...Hi, my name is ZenMoto, and I'm a Tamiya junkie!" [] I will leave the Lancia body for a whole day (or two). I'm seriously thinking of painting the vents, trim etc, and then doing a light wash just to highlight all the details in the body. I will also probably clearcoat the body after I get the stickers on. I want to do it up as realistically as possible as the body will always be a shelf queen ...I may run the car with a lexan shell though, after all, these things are made to be played with! [] Of ocurse, that means a lighting kit too!

I was wtching that out of curiosity, but I saw that etamiya has the commando in camo and black both listed. The camo one is cheaper than what the one on ebay is currently sitting at. Just FYI.

The ESC is a Futaba MC330CR and the battery is the Team Orion V-Maxx series with Sanyo cells. I'm thoroughly puzzled by all this, and extremely disappointed. After spending so much cash I am really bummed I can't even use all the gear I bought. []