How will you set up your TD4 Super Avante?

[Alangt4]

Some people love the new quirky car only Tamiya can do and others can’t seem to get past the look of it. Looks like it will be popular though, but how will you set it up- box art or custom?

I’m going for a TRF styled car white, blue, fluoro pink with df03 shocks and a 10.5T tamiya brushless with a slipper. Have some pink wheels so should look good. I’ll be interested to see how it compares against the top force as I have one of these dialled in, but the TD4 looks to have good handling traits from the running videos I’ve seen.

 

[InsaneJim69]

I am not getting one, but if I did it would def not be boxart. Even an all over metallic blue and original style Avante stickers would look better. I think it could look really good if it wasn't for the colour scheme.👍 Just my opinion of course. 

James.

[Busdriver]

13.5t brushless, slipper, cv joints front and rear and BRG with yellow stripe down centre of shell. May also paint see through panels as well. Chrome edges to yellow wheels. AKA 1960’s Lotus 49 May even open up the cockpit?

and TD2 will be red gold and white Gold leaf colours 

[Bwaaatch]

I wonder if leaving MORE of the shell transparent might combat some of the dumpiness?

[Wooders28]

When I eventually get a TD4 (kind of hoping I'd get a deal on one....🤞), I'm thinking I'd go a slipper, tungsten carbide diff balls, Schumacher black wheels and a black body, for the 'murdered out' look (maybe white mudguards..🤔) 

[Albert Attaboy]

I am going for an all black paint scheme so the TD4 matches the trash bag I will throw it in.

[Saito2]

I'm going to sidestep the issue altogether by getting a rerelease original Avante which won't require paint tricks to make it look better...because it already does. Then I'll wait for the next body variant to come out on the TD4 chassis and hope it looks better. Sorry, kidding, that sounds harsh. Legitimately (I do love Tamiya's interesting, fresh new chassis direction on this), I am curious to see what other members come up with. Personally, I hope someone does @InsaneJim69's all metallic blue scheme suggestion as that's what I'd lean towards.  

[Zealot]

I think the TD2 made my mind up on the TD4.

[BelknapCrater]

Just going to replace the body with something else, most likely from Sabula Tech. There’s enough leftover body mount points to make something work. Then a transverse shorty LiPO will open up the front end for a more conventional electronics setup. Just going brushed at first, with a cheap 27t and an HW 1060, and am installing Yeah racing dampers. That’ll be fast enough for me. I expect the ship date to get bumped out a few months, but they’ll get here eventually. I was about to give up on the TD4, but changed my mind.

[Cynan]

I’ve resided myself to never being able to get a TRF503 so I’m treating the TD4 as the most current high end Tamiya I can get.

As such I’m going for an MS style paint job with big bore aeration shocks, all the hops ups available (except the gear diffs), ceramic balls, and other blue parts that fit. This is going to be my “bling” but functional race car. Not decided if I’ll leave the shock window clear of paint over it yet though… probably paint over it.

I’ve got a 5.5T XERUN V10 waiting to go in with I think a 15T steel pinion. I’ve got down to 13T up to 23T at hand to change it depending on how she runs.

This is my first foray into brushless so I didn’t want to get a 10 or 13T motor and then wish I’d bought lower so for this based on the manual stating it was good for 4WD modified class and figured I could dial it down if needed ? I’m used to driving a SuperStock TZ brushed and wanted something with more pep.

I also need to source a LiPo or I might try LiFe battery.

As with all my cars I’m also getting a second body shell that I’ll do box art.

[OoALEJOoO]

I'll wait until it's on sale, for as long as it takes. Once that happens, it will be painted with blue switched to black and become a Tamiya "The Wasp". Will ditch the Super Avante stickers and create new ones.

[Nikko85]

On 11/7/2021 at 12:44 AM, OoALEJOoO said:

I'll wait until it's on sale, for as long as it takes. Once that happens, it will be painted with blue switched to black and become a Tamiya "The Wasp". Will ditch the Super Avante stickers and create new ones.

****, that's much nicer, although I'd also paint in the clear bits. I really wish Tamiya could give a few more official paint jobs/options. They'd probably sell more as some people would need to have one of each colour.

Simple alt colour scheme on the pack of packet, and perhaps some optional decals for the new colour system.

 

[RichieRich]

I'm not a huge fan of yellow. So, I may switch the yellow wheels with blue (54681, 54682) or white wheels (53089, 53086). I'll adjust the paint scheme too. Probably, blue/white/silver. I've already purchased the 54993 shocks. I have the 22031 slipper on order. I have a TBLE-04s and a Sport Tuned motor waiting for it too. I know that's not a particularly hot setup but should be plenty fast for my small backyard track. If I do take it a real track, I'll pull a brushless setup out of one of my other cars.

[Klausen]

I will be going boxart.

[OoALEJOoO]

11 hours ago, Nikko85 said:

I really wish Tamiya could give a few more official paint jobs/options. They'd probably sell more as some people would need to have one of each colour.

Simple alt colour scheme on the pack of packet, and perhaps some optional decals for the new colour system.

I hope Tamiya hears this great input. It would be a win-win. It would really help getting people onboard by offering multiple options plus indeed the collectors that would build one of each.

[wtcc5]

Unfortunate… I came here to find a suspension setup discussion for this car 

The ride height was later changed for the track 

 

Maybe I still find help:

I am driving mine on astro turf and had serious problems with how the car takes two of the slower smaller jumps. In the air it points the nose down very quick and strong, so that I cannot counter this pitch movement with full throttle (10.5t motor so enough power).

I have the big bore aeration dampers in with 1.6 pistons and 800cst oil blue hard springs in front and 350cst with yellow medium springs in the rear.

I have the idea, that the rear spring should be softer and maybe the oil harder to make the rear damper push out slower? What do you think?

 

[BuggyGuy]

36 minutes ago, wtcc5 said:

Unfortunate… I came here to find a suspension setup discussion for this car 

The ride height was later changed for the track 

 

Maybe I still find help:

I am driving mine on astro turf and had serious problems with how the car takes two of the slower smaller jumps. In the air it points the nose down very quick and strong, so that I cannot counter this pitch movement with full throttle (10.5t motor so enough power).

I have the big bore aeration dampers in with 1.6 pistons and 800cst oil blue hard springs in front and 350cst with yellow medium springs in the rear.

I have the idea, that the rear spring should be softer and maybe the oil harder to make the rear damper push out slower? What do you think?

 

Where have you got the battery positioned?

I struggled to get my TD4 to jump with the standard setup, but it behaved better when I mounted a shorty lipo across the rear in the position that the TD2 use.

Have you tried staying on power as the buggy leaves the ground?

[joeling]

This paint scheme looks great !

[sosidge]

57 minutes ago, wtcc5 said:

Maybe I still find help:

I am driving mine on astro turf and had serious problems with how the car takes two of the slower smaller jumps. In the air it points the nose down very quick and strong, so that I cannot counter this pitch movement with full throttle (10.5t motor so enough power).

I have the big bore aeration dampers in with 1.6 pistons and 800cst oil blue hard springs in front and 350cst with yellow medium springs in the rear.

I have the idea, that the rear spring should be softer and maybe the oil harder to make the rear damper push out slower? What do you think?

 

800cst in the front seems like a warning sign. That is very heavily damped compared to what you would normally have in the front shock.

I do wonder whether the cantilever suspension is fundamentally causing the issue since you have already gone so extreme with the damping.

However based on what I would do with a conventional buggy:

1. What is your rear piston? If 1.6 front you would typically go 1.7 or 1.8 rear.

2. If you are happy with 350cst in the rear, try 450 cst in the front.

3. Springs - try the TD4 springs first, they might be different (better) rates for the car.

3. Ride height - with a 4wd typically driveshafts just below level front and rear will be sensible. I doubt the TD4 has hub height adjustment so it will sit a little higher than dedicated astro cars, I'll guess that you will be at around 19-20mm ride height all round.

4. Droop - most modern buggies run enough droop that the wheel axles are level with the bottom of the chassis at the rear, with slightly less droop at the front. 

5. Sense check on spring rates - as I mentioned, the front end might be causing a general weirdness. Put your finger on the centre of gravity, and push the car down on your pit bench. You'd expect front and rear to compress a similar amount. You can do a "drop test" too, you'd want the front and rear to compress and rebound similarly as a starting point. I wouldn't be surprised if the front is very soft relatively speaking, which can be OK on dirt tracks.

7. ESC settings - just check you aren't running a lot of drag brake as that will bring the nose down

8. Throttle control - just keeping a little throttle on the up-ramp of a tricky jump can keep the nose up

[wtcc5]

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

@BuggyGuy: I run the shorty Lipo inline with the servo on the right side and the esc on the left. I tried to drive these two small jumps with throttle applied to keep the nose up, but it didn’t work there. On the faster jumps the car has no problem and is good to pitch via throttle and brake. But for these small jumps I don’t need power to clear them and also a u-turn comes right after, so it is a bit of dilemma.

@sosidge: What a list! Thanks for taking the time! I use 800 in front because this worked pretty well in my other buggies on this high grip track. I like it for the steering response. But can imagine the damper extending to slow and causing „weird“ behaviour.

Regarding 1. & 2.: You say I should go softer dampening in the rear. Wouldn’t that mean, the rear will bounce back stronger resulting in more nose diving?

4. Droop is a good suggestion! I will check that.

No 6. and two 3.? 

7. Drag brake is off.

8. This didn’t help, tried it, but also cannot go full throttle early, because of track layout.

 

 

 

[TamiyaD]

On 8/1/2023 at 5:30 PM, wtcc5 said:

Unfortunate… I came here to find a suspension setup discussion for this car 

The ride height was later changed for the track 

 

Maybe I still find help:

I am driving mine on astro turf and had serious problems with how the car takes two of the slower smaller jumps. In the air it points the nose down very quick and strong, so that I cannot counter this pitch movement with full throttle (10.5t motor so enough power).

I have the big bore aeration dampers in with 1.6 pistons and 800cst oil blue hard springs in front and 350cst with yellow medium springs in the rear.

I have the idea, that the rear spring should be softer and maybe the oil harder to make the rear damper push out slower? What do you think?

 

@wtcc5  What a nice livery! Can you recall the color numbers?

[wtcc5]

@TamiyaD: These are PS-30 Brilliant Blue, PS-27 Fluorescent Yellow and PS-31 Smoke for the windows.

[Howards]

@wtcc5 I was wondering if you made any headway with your nose diving TD4?

[wtcc5]

@Howards: I didn’t drive the car since then. So much other cars and work came in between and my time on track is also very limited. So I concentrated on my Tamico Offroad Cup cars.

At the moment I would use thicker oil and experiment with harder springs in front. All that Tamiya offers here is too soft.

[Howards]

On 8/28/2024 at 11:17 PM, wtcc5 said:

At the moment I would use thicker oil and experiment with harder springs in front. All that Tamiya offers here is too soft.

Stiffening up the front does solve the nose diving problem. This also works with the TD2, despite the lighter front end. You are right about Tamiya front / mini springs being too soft. 

The spirit of my TDs is 'racing on a budget'. My current setups for TDs on UK Astro with big jumps:

Same on both
10.5t Tamiya brushless 
120 amp esc at 16 degrees with 32 degrees instant boost timing 
Savox servo
Radiolink radio gear 


TD4
Shorty lipo mounted forward
Speedo mounted on lower deck with modified top brace
Tamiya HiCap damper rear, Tamiya 400 oil, standard HiCap spring 
Tamiya HiCap mini front, Tamiya 1000 oil, Schumacher Vintage Buggy black spring (note the mini is a regular bore shock, hence higher weight oil)
Schumacher mezzo yellow rear
Schumacher stagger rib wide yellow front 
Stabilizers front and rear
Slipper
Alloy sus mount + 1 anti-squat
Steel idler, front only (more weight up front)
25mm motor fan
Racing rear wing
Short wheelbase setting

TD2
Tamiya Big Bore damper rear, Tamiya 400 oil, 1.6 piston, medium spring
Tamiya Big Bore damper front, Tamiya 500 oil, 1.6 piston, hard spring 
Slipper
Alloy sus mount, standard
Rear stabiliser 
Stick pack lipo in the standard mount
Schumacher mezzo yellow rear
Schumacher cactus / stagger rib front
DB01 rear wing
Standard wheelbase setting