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What this? - FTX Outback 2.0 with a Tamiya Land Cruiser Body Why for? - bought it for parts, had enough spares to make another rig Here it is on the night I bought it, at the BMR Revival 2023: It was the Land Rover body that attracted me to the pit table with the For Sale sign on it. Firstly because you can't really miss the metallic lime green paint, and secondly because it was a scale Land Rover, and I thought for a brief moment that I might get a bargain on a CC02. Alas, it was a used-and-abused FTX Outback 2.0 instead. While the body is less detailed than the Tamiya one, the FTX chassis is probably better on the trails, although in standard trim it has a 380 motor and lacks the grunt needed for proper crawling. But these FTX rigs are not to be sniffed at, for the price - they're a good introduction to the crawling world, they don't look half bad, and this one (which I believe was originally sold as a rolling chassis with a clear body) introduces newbies to the joys of making an idea a reality. Although this lime green effort should probably have remained an idea... OK, let's delve into just what I got for my money... It came with 2 sets of soft-ish scale-ish crawler tyres of the Class-1 friendly 104mm variety. The other set are unmounted and have a slightly less aggressive tread. Probably not really worth that much but it's always handy having Class 1 tyres around, plus I've got lots of cheap plastic crawler wheels that have come included in various crawler kits over the years. It came with the ubiquitous 25Kg servo, a genuine 1080 ESC and a 540 transmission mounted on a 3D-printed centre plate, a 2200mAh 3S LiPo, and a battery tray and electronicals tray made from FR4 sheet, the 3D printed roof box you see on the lid, plus a 3D printed interior (bench seat and dashboard) that hasn't been fitted. TBH it was almost worth the price I paid for the electrical stuff, the rest of it was a bonus. I mostly wrote off the value of the chassis, as it looks like it's had some hard use. The seller says he didn't use it much, but if that's true he must have bought it used, because it had two bent axle shafts, and I noticed after I started tearing into it that the lower link mount on one of the shocks has been glued back on with epoxy (to be fair, it seems to be holding up just fine). Here's how it looked once I had thrown a spare receiver in it ready for a blast around the pits after the racing was over during Revival. Even with the bent axles, it drove just fine. There was a judder in the transmission somewhere, maybe a bent or poorly-made spur, but that would be a problem for another day. I spent the evening embarrassing some bigger and more expensive rigs up and over the mound behind the backed curve, before the call of the bevie persuaded me to put the transmitter down for the night and pick up the plastic pint glass instead.

I got one of these for my daughter almost two years ago, but she hasn't really driven it that much. With the winter looming and less opportunity to do stuff outdoors, I figured now is the time to get back to some indoor RC training, and what better way to show her how it's done than getting my own 1:18 crawler to lead the way? I considered one of the bigger brands - the new TRX-M came out a few days after I bought this and it looks seriously good - but at more than double the price, it was a bit out of budget for an impulse purchase. Plus, I figured it would be better to show her what can be done with the same truck, so there can't be any "but my truck can't do it" type arguments. I didn't entirely like the black wheels on the LC90 variant that I got for my daughter, so instead I bought the Cub version, which comes with a sort of IH Scout body sort of thing, if you squint, with built-in lights and plastic parts and grey wheels. And then I bought another LC90 bodyset, because I really, really like that Toyota body. It might not be a perfect replica, but the Cub body is cute, too. It's a really nice colour and the light buckets are a neat touch. It's just a shame about the stick-on windows. More on that in a later update.

I am going to the PO to pickup my full size Deadbolt courtesy of Modelsport and DHL. I have a few areas in my local woods that will make good good crawling grounds but I fancy building some small obstacles to set up in the garden more suited to 1/24 scale. The most obvious choice could be a mini me and go for the Axial SCX24 Deadbolt or other Axials also seem nice. Koyosho’s look great but are a fair bit more expensive. FTX seem cheap but are they any good. At the moment I’m leaning towards an Axial of some sort. Any thoughts!!!!

I've been building a VW camper van from a match stick kit. Decided the ftx mini chassis would fit almost perfectly for width but I'd have to move the front axle forward. Running in rear wheel drive only at the moment, could reinstall front drive with a longer driveshaft but would like to keep it RWD if possible. Had a look online and can't find an upgraded shaft. Does anyone know where I can get one? Will upload pics in a bit.

Okay so the title was a slight trick, but I thought it was grap some attention since my FTX Vantage that "was" bought as a cheap runner now contains quite a large supply of Tamiya Parts and pays homage to a Tamiya Classic. I knew when I bought the clear spare body and wing that I wanted to pay a small tribute to an old Tamiya buggy and it took me a while to source what one that was. After alot of consideration into the style and point of the buggy was along with the body style of the Vantage body, the decals had to agree with the body design IMO. So I decided on the Tamiya Astute. So over the last 3-4 months I have slowly added parts, hop-ups and many other bits and bobs to what once was a FTX Vantage to create what is shown in the photos. So far on my Vantage my current upgrades are , Carbon front and rear shock towers Carbon top plate Carbon battery plate Tamiya TRF 201 48dp spur gears (slightly modded to fit) Tamiya 48dp pinions Tamiya TL01B long rear Blue anodized driveshafts Anodized Blue top Damper holders 3 Racing D3 Sakura 4mm clamp type Blue anodized wheel hex's White anti roll bars (medium) White tuned medium springs (Medium) Tamiya Anodized Blue stabilizer ends Tamiya Anodized Blue wheel nuts Lithium medium grease in rear diff Lithium soft grease in front diff Tamiya DF03 Wheels FTX Vantage standard Tyres Clear Vantage body and wing set painted into a tribute to the Tamiya Astute Powered by old school 8.4v Nimh custom soldered battery pack, using deans battery bars and deans connectors. Speed Passion Reventon R ESC with 5.5R Motor Spektrum DX2E Radio set Hi-Tec hi speed metal geared servo and a few small bits and pieces. Coming soon is ....... Tamiya DF03 hard type turnbuckle set Red Soft Anti roll bars Tamiya K Block 62mm tyre set and possibly lipo power. So needless to say not quite the RTR Buggy it once was. I do hope you all like it as my intention was just to show my liking and my tribute to the Tamiya Astute.