Tamiya MB-01 Chassis

[Busdriver 6085]

 A tale of 2 halves!!!! In swb high motor rwd ( gyro enabled) this thing is a little pocket rocket. The stock steering on mine seems ok for where I will run it and it tracks real straight for a swb car. With a part charged 2s lipo and TT motor it’s plenty quick enough as well. Then we get to part two!!! The body: it’s a modelling masterpiece but an rc car nightmare. If you get it to sit right so nothing rubs then as @Willy iine has already said it looks like a 4x4, especially at the front, a fact made worse by the smaller diameter front wheel. On the other hand if you get it to look right the front wheels rub on the inner edge of the fender flare😢 so much so that if you unload the front end as in a j turn the rubbing wheel actually stops rotating. This very frustrating. I’m not going to spend much effort on this body and just give it a block colour all over then run it. I have several bodies that would suit the motor layout that currently sit on M06’s so will probably get switched over. The Abarth body won’t fit the M06 though strangely it is more the right layout without cutting out the whole engine bay which means no beautiful little scale motor. May have to put it on an M05 instead. I will persevere!!!!

[Raman36 1503]

2 hours ago, Busdriver said:

 A tale of 2 halves!!!! In swb high motor rwd ( gyro enabled) this thing is a little pocket rocket. The stock steering on mine seems ok for where I will run it and it tracks real straight for a swb car. With a part charged 2s lipo and TT motor it’s plenty quick enough as well. Then we get to part two!!! The body: it’s a modelling masterpiece but an rc car nightmare. If you get it to sit right so nothing rubs then as @Willy iine has already said it looks like a 4x4, especially at the front, a fact made worse by the smaller diameter front wheel. On the other hand if you get it to look right the front wheels rub on the inner edge of the fender flare😢 so much so that if you unload the front end as in a j turn the rubbing wheel actually stops rotating. This very frustrating. I’m not going to spend much effort on this body and just give it a block colour all over then run it. I have several bodies that would suit the motor layout that currently sit on M06’s so will probably get switched over. The Abarth body won’t fit the M06 though strangely it is more the right layout without cutting out the whole engine bay which means no beautiful little scale motor. May have to put it on an M05 instead. I will persevere!!!!

Some 10 years back I bought the Abarth TCR body set and tried test fitting it in M06.. was very close to cutting the floor out.. but didn’t, instead I painted it up and installed motor. Later I dropped it on my Top Sabre Mini and ran it a few times with Shimizu slicks. Was a blast to drive. 

[SlideWRX 699]

You guys just need to switch it to rear wheel steer.  Problem solved!!  

[Busdriver 6085]

25 minutes ago, SlideWRX said:

You guys just need to switch it to rear wheel steer.  Problem solved!!  

Actually there’s not much room at the back either!!!!

[Kowalski86 2099]

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[Busdriver 6085]

Has anyone tried this body on an M08?

[Willy iine 17794]

Here's my MB01..  more pictures on my instagram if interested (post and stories how I got there)    #pretendRCshop 

There is absoulutely zero rubbing.

 

 

[Rinskie 262]

Oh man that looks insane. 

[Willy iine 17794]

33 minutes ago, Rinskie said:

Oh man that looks insane. 

Thanks man, I really appreciate the encouragement.  

That matte-white stripe is actually an 1:1 automotive 3M2080 I pulled from my garage (I do clearbra/vinyl installs, etc on my real cars when needed).   It's frikken awesome material.  

 

@Busdriver  Yeah, I was so disappointed when my 1000 TCR body did not fit the MB01.  I am a bit skeptical the M08R's front can clear the front bumper at that offset.  I mean you can see how tucked my M-Four's front offset is... even with that the clearance is like 1mm to the inner bumper while turning.  Yeah, 1mm..  so I have my doubts on the M08R especially if running at my ride height.   What I need to figure out is a way to shave the hub on the wheel and run thinner hex hubs.. then we can tuck the factory wheels about 1-2mm, I think.

 

Anyways, if you guys want me to try it out to verify, I can go buy a M08R tomorrow and assemble it soon.  I have another NIB MB01 with a TCR body..  thing with me is I don't care whether it works out or not.   Either way, I'm going to figure out a way to make it work.. with hope.    As you can see on the MX5 body, one can run proper (super low) ride height on the MB01 without rubbing.. just need to choose the right body and appropriate wheels..  I suppose.  

[alvinlwh 5203]

£120.44 at Amazon right now, quite a bargain.

[Tobyone 505]

I was on the fence about the MB-01, especially after the concerns over the Abarth body not sitting low enough, but at that price I've pulled the trigger  

 

[alvinlwh 5203]

6 hours ago, Tobyone said:

I was on the fence about the MB-01, especially after the concerns over the Abarth body not sitting low enough, but at that price I've pulled the trigger  

Nice one! There are quite a few kits on offer now, too many for my wallet.

[Kowalski86 2099]

I have three two questions for anyone who has built one of these:

1. Is the MB01 easier to build or work on than an M05 or M06? If it's anything close to a TT02, it could make for a decent parking lot basher.

2. Does anyone make a 29T, 0.6 mod pinion for these out of a "good" metal? One of my main gripes with current Tamiyas is their choice in 0.6 gears, not as easy to get as 32 or 48p.

[Willy iine 17794]

On 9/14/2023 at 9:43 AM, Tobyone said:

I was on the fence about the MB-01, especially after the concerns over the Abarth body not sitting low enough, but at that price I've pulled the trigger  

 

If you allow it to sit on display and front wheels pretty straight, you can lower the body to an ideal ride height.. just can't drive in that condition with the MB01.. unless going pretty much straight.  At that point, it might make more sense to get a diecast.  

The car will still look great regardless.  

[Raman36 1503]

On 9/9/2023 at 12:59 PM, Willy iine said:

Here's my MB01..  more pictures on my instagram if interested (post and stories how I got there)    #pretendRCshop 

There is absoulutely zero rubbing.

 

 

Where did you find that wing?

[Willy iine 17794]

1 hour ago, Raman36 said:

Where did you find that wing?

I found it at pretendRCshop        I just made it along with the muffler.

If interested, please check my Stories on Instagram as I have pretty much daily updates on my projects including how I made that wing.  

 

Now I need to find another Miata body to paint since my MB01 (#2) has no body again.. 

[Raman36 1503]

1 hour ago, Willy iine said:

I found it at pretendRCshop        I just made it along with the muffler.

If interested, please check my Stories on Instagram as I have pretty much daily updates on my projects including how I made that wing.  

 

Now I need to find another Miata body to paint since my MB01 (#2) has no body again.. 

I’m following you on Instagram, but I’m what’s called an instaidiot,  don’t know how to use it very well lol. 

[Willy iine 17794]

19 minutes ago, Raman36 said:

I’m following you on Instagram, but I’m what’s called an instaidiot,  don’t know how to use it very well lol. 

I don't really know either...  thanks for following the pretendRCshop    

If you see my logo with a bright orange color, it means I uploaded something new in the Stories.  It's different from posts as posts are permanent (well theoretically) and Stories automatically delete after 24 hours.

I don't post anything unless it is a finished car or display.  I'm probably using it wrong as I believe Instagram was intended for post-whoring your frequent updates..  but no one cares as I'm not a celebrity or anything remotely close.. just a dud hiding under a rock.

[Busdriver 6085]

The more I look at real photos of this car the more I’m beginning to think that the stance isn’t in fact totally wrong. There are many images on the world wide webby thing of the 1:1 car and there is a huge gap between the top of the wheel and the arch???

[cstorckiii 153]

On 9/14/2023 at 4:40 PM, Kowalski86 said:

I have three two questions for anyone who has built one of these:

1. Is the MB01 easier to build or work on than an M05 or M06? If it's anything close to a TT02, it could make for a decent parking lot basher.

2. Does anyone make a 29T, 0.6 mod pinion for these out of a "good" metal? One of my main gripes with current Tamiyas is their choice in 0.6 gears, not as easy to get as 32 or 48p.

1: Yes, much less involved than an M05. I found it only slightly more involved than my Rising Fighter.

2:  HobbyPark. It came in a set of 4 .06 pinions for $11 USD on Amazon. Plenty of similar on ebay. Some including a steel spur gear that may work in this car.

[Sogogi 2378]

Oops wrong thread

[Tobyone 505]

Amazon delivery !

Just waiting for paint, hopefully going to be a weekend build 

 

 

[Kowalski86 2099]

1 hour ago, Tobyone said:

Amazon delivery !

Just waiting for paint, hopefully going to be a weekend build 

 

 

If you can get that body done in a weekend, I'll salute you!

[Willy iine 17794]

On 9/19/2023 at 8:48 AM, Busdriver said:

The more I look at real photos of this car the more I’m beginning to think that the stance isn’t in fact totally wrong. There are many images on the world wide webby thing of the 1:1 car and there is a huge gap between the top of the wheel and the arch???

It's not entirely wrong, but it is still very wrong.   The front wheel gap on my Abarth's at their operating height is around 8-9mm, nowhere close to where my other m-chassis front wheel gaps are (minus -3mm to max 4mm)..  So if you think about that, my gap might be on the shorter side vs a real 1000 TCR, but still Tamiya's MB01 wheel gap was like 18mm.. otherwise rub inside front bumper while turning.  If you use the MiniCooper wheels, they tuck in like 1mm vs the Abarth wheels so that will help with clearance.  

The car looks best hunkered down.. and the XM1 Competition and M-Four drives very well at this height, so why not?   I can make the XM1's front ride lower by another 3-4mm, but the body line rake would be too much and or otherwise the rear would look slammed.. which I don't particularly prefer on this car..

 

I'm going to start building the other MB01 today.  I'm going to mod the steering (for turn radius) during assembly and then make it FWD setup and fit a MiniCooper body on it.    wish me hope.. 

[Tobyone 505]

3 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

If you can get that body done in a weekend, I'll salute you!

Think I'm being optimistic thinking I'm going to get the chassis built to be honest, wife already has other ideas for using my time