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This is the build thread for the TB04R that I received rather unexpectedly for my birthday not too long ago, and it wasn't even from a family member! Even though I believe there is another TB04R build on here somewhere, I'd like to express my opinions on this chassis build process, as I've been experiencing several "hmm, that's odd" moments and I felt like sharing them. This is a forum after all, so please feel free to comment on anything and everything, I welcome any questions you may have. Mind you at the time of writing, the build is NOT complete, just to manage your expectations. I will be adding to this thread as I progress. Ok enough faffing around, on to the build: This is what we'll be building. As a general rule I will be posting my commentary followed by a (pretty sizeable) picture. So this is the box. Notice how this one doesn't say "high performance RC car" like many others. Instead it makes the bolder claim of "R/C 4WD Racing Car". How different is this from the TT02S, DF03, and M-chassis cars (among others) I've built so far? Quite a bit, as I have discovered. Opening metal Bag A shows a surprising amount of aluminum bits, blue aluminum bits, and ptfe-coated bearings (already?!). I also see shims of several sizes in there. This is where I hopped online to look for hopups and found next to none, because there's so much included in the box! So this may turn out to be a pretty stock build lol. Here we are after Step 3, and the rear lower arms are built and mounted on the chassis, everything you see is carbon-reinforced plastic or aluminum. Surprisingly, there is a LITTLE back and forth slop in the arms, but I'm building this according to the manual; I'll address simple issues like this later, maybe. I ended up tapping the screw holes for the aluminum ball connectors, because I felt I was forcing them too much and the reinforced arms were VERY solid. This rear diff is TINY! The internal diff gears are so small that I can fit 3 of them on the tip of my index finger. In fact I almost dropped one into the rubbish bin as I was shaving off the flashing from it's little tiny edge! The diff went together quite nicely, and is buttery-smooth. Surprisingly (I'll be using this word alot) the diff fluid in the box is not very thick at all. The 3000 wt diff fluid in the M08 felt significantly thicker. THAT is a PTFE-coated bearing. None of that plebian "metal ball bearing" business that you find in high-end (but not top end) kits. All the supplied bearings had this kind of silvery carbon fibre-looking finish to the shields. I'm very impressed so far. Metal Bag B, and even more bling out the box. It's hard to believe that Tamiya would include SO much in a non-TRF kit. Not that I'm complaining of course. That motor plate is black aluminum. You can see CVDs (rear), blue suspension blocks, more bearings, blue turnbuckles, and aluminum center drive shaft, among other things. On to the motor/spur/center drive section. The center shaft is aluminum (of course), and was VERY fiddly to assemble, as the miter gear in the middle isn't held by anything except the other miter gear on the spur. Once in though it was very solid and smooth. So many shims! It's important to threadlock two small hex screws at the bottom of this assembly that hold the black aluminum motor plate to the housing, and also the grub screw that goes on the bare end of the center shaft and holds the 8 (or 9.8?)mm pin in position. There are several 8mm and 9.8mm long pins that look very much alike in this kit; be sure not to mix them up. Here we see the center driveshaft section bolted onto the chassis and covered, as well as the rear diff assembly in the chassis before I cover it up. Note the rear chassis stiffeners held down by EIGHT screws. Everything moves buttery smooth; I guess I was lucky that nothing tweaked too bad and the alignment is all pretty spot-on. And the rear diff cover is on. Yes, all the ball connectors on this kit are blue aluminum. Hopup-wise, this kit is absolutely astounding value for money. Here are the rear hubs. Carbon reinforced, because a. why not, and b. this kit doesn't WANT me to find a way to upgrade it! No shiny plastics anywhere btw. Here I am just making sure that this is the right spacer, and looky here! It seems like we discovered why there is some slop in these arms out of the box: The supposedly "3mm" spacers are actually 2.8mm! I will contact Tamiya and ask for my missing 0.2mm on each spacer. But for now let's move on.