Which Mini and why?

[Gebbly]

I quite like the idea of having an original Mini (not the new BMW shapes) in my little collection some day. If open to 3rd party body shells from places like L&L then there are multiple Tamiya chassis that could be used to create an old school mini for example TT-02, any of the M0? variants, MF01X, MB01.

Which Tamiya chassis would you choose to create a Mini rc and why?

[Snappy1]

The original MO-1, it is front engined/front wheel drive, just like the real thing……..

[alvinlwh]

A Mini is supposed to go on a 210mm WB chassis, so any MTCs like thr M-01/3/5/7, MG Evo, Cero Mini, or the one I am building right now, TCR-M. 

[Mad Ax]

For me, it would be the M03, with one of the many SWB Mini body offerings.  The proper Tamiya body is obviously the best one to have, either the Mini Cooper Racing body (with no bumpers and less chrome) or the Monte Carlo body (which had the chrome bumpers and grille part) but they're harder to find now.  On the aftermarket side there are Clubman bodies, a Clubman estate and I think ABC Hobby did a Countryman body, if you want to go MWB, and there is an MWB Mini saloon body although IMO the scale looks wrong.

So, why M03?  Because to me it's the iconic fwd M-chassis which actually handles well.  They're getting thinner on the ground (which I think was the driving force behind allowing the M05 into the Iconic Cup) but you can still get some bargains if you hunt around.  The M05 is arguably superior on track but the difference is marginal, I'm still peeking at the back end of the A-final with my M03 against a fleet of M05s, and I'm certainly not the fastest driver on track.  And if you just want to bash it around the car park or drive in a gentle and scale manner, it's perfect.

There's no obvious reason not to go M05 either - it's a capable chassis and readily available, and can be built SWB for the classic Mini body.

Of course the M01 will do the trick too, and if you wanted to do scale driving (instead of racing) then it's probably better.  The monoshock design promotes a lot of body roll which is great for scale appearance - although for scale driving with a Mini you want it to lift that rear inside wheel, so you'll want to play around with rear ARBs.  I was never a fan of the M01 design philosophy and some parts (like the steering) are poorly designed, IMO, but it all depends what you want from it.

I've no experience with the MB01, but from the photos it looks a bit of a dog's dinner, and I see no reason to bother with that over the other readily-available options.  Not knocking anyone who likes it.

I, personally, wouldn't go for any of the 4wd variants because, well, that's just wrong - unless you specifically wanted to build a replica of a 1:1 4wd Mini, of which there were a few custom examples (usually using running gear from something else).  I do remember seeing a 4wd Mini that had a race-tuned Mini engine in the front and a second race-tuned Mini engine in the back, which looked and sounded fantastic, and was the inspiration behind my M01/M02 mashup hybrid twin-motor 4wd Mini.

[Kowalski86]

I would go with an M05 for a runner, you can find cheap used ones here and there, Tamiya still makes parts for them, and they're not bad to drive.

1 hour ago, Mad Ax said:

I've no experience with the MB01, but from the photos it looks a bit of a dog's dinner, and I see no reason to bother with that over the other readily-available options.

The giant hubs on the MB01 won't clear Tamiyas own mini-pattern wheels. It's great for shelf queens and that's about it.

[Tamiyastef]

XM-01pro for a 4WD variant? All uneven M's are FWD and except the M07 (if I'm not mistaken) can be build in 210mm. 

[Alex97]

If you plan on running it then I'd my option there's only two options - 

XM-01 - best all round Tamiya M chassis. 

M07 (with 210mm arms or hubs) - although this chassis is coming up to 10 years old it's still very competitive and pretty good bang for buck. The only negative is that to achieve a 210mm  wheelbase it requires after market hubs. 

There's other non Tamiya M chassis cars out there however part support would be a concern with limited importers to the UK and potentially high shipping costs. 

For a shelf queen then It's between the M01 or M03, a tidy example will set you back around £100-150. M01 part support is non existent however it's slightly better for the M03 as there's a lot of carry across between the M03 and M05 so you should be ok for the next 10 years (unless you break the chassis). 

 

The M05 and MF-01X are ok, but for a little bit more you can get either an M07/8 which is better in every way. The MB-01 shouldn't even be a consideration, the feedback has been very mixed. My current M-chasiss feel consists of an M01, M03 and XM01. 

[Pylon80]

4 minutes ago, Alex97 said:

M07 (with 210mm arms or hubs)

I believe that if one did that, the rear end of the chassis would poke out of a mini body... That's one very good reason to go with an M-05 these days: it still supports 210mm wheelbase.

[Kowalski86]

9 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

That's one very good reason to go with an M-05 these days: it still supports 210mm wheelbase.

That and the M05 sits higher, I found the M07 to sit a bit too low for running on un-swept asphalt.

[Alex97]

26 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

That and the M05 sits higher, I found the M07 to sit a bit too low for running on un-swept asphalt.

The XM-01 hubs should fit, they are listed on Tamiya as compatible and on the hub packaging. 

 

39 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

I believe that if one did that, the rear end of the chassis would poke out of a mini body... That's one very good reason to go with an M-05 these days: it still supports 210mm wheelbase.

That was an oversight on Tamiya behalf, the work around are ok but I agree that's the only advantage of the M05 over the M07. 

[Grumpy pants]

I briefly owned an M05 with an L & L Mini Clubman saloon body, which looked great. 

[Honza]

FWD - M-05 with V.2 chassis. Since M-07 doesn't support 210mm WBs without modification, M-05 V.2 is the next best thing.

AWD - XM-01 - although it's sold as a rally chassis, it has lower suspension position, so it should work on asphalt, too. 

[Honza]

9 hours ago, Alex97 said:

That was an oversight on Tamiya behalf, the work around are ok but I agree that's the only advantage of the M05 over the M07. 

Not an oversight, intentional choice. Tamiya doesn't have any 210mm FWD shell in production, so they didn't need that WB variant. That made the whole chassis simpler, since they only need to flip rear arms for other two WBs.

[Andreas W]

If it has to be a Tamiya  chassis  I would go with an M-07 and a 256mm L&L body. It's the more capable chassis and has better gearing options out of the box. I have the M-08 though, but is comparable. 

 

That said I love my M-05,  but if I was to buy all the parts I have thrown at it in one go there is no sensible way outside the M-07. By the time you have bought bearings,  oil shocks, usable pinion and an aluminum steering your M-05 is owing you more than the M-07,  that could be used as is and would perform great. 

 

If you can go outside Tamiya I would suggest a Carten M210 FWD. I have not built mine yet (239mm wheelbase), but I have some hours behind the wheel of my M210R Plus now and I love it. The FWD I got is same spec as my R Plus. It comes with good plastics,  hex machine screws ,oil shocks, all bearings and FRP chassis which pretends to be carbon. If you are in the UK parts support should be good. Check out Popalong RC on YT. He is racing one of these. 

Rage Model Sport is one of the sources.

 

Edit: I only run on parking lots/industrial areas. A leafblower is useful to get rid of any pebbles and other stuff that could spoil the fun. By then it's probably passing the point of geekyness some way . 

[kiasukid]

Personally I’d pick either the M03 or M05 - used cars and new parts are still relatively plentiful (M01/M02 spares are very hard to find), and the M03 is a very simple but robust design.

I would also pick them as the chassis parts were available in different colours, like silver and blue chrome, and not to mention a transparent (but brittle) M03.

My dark chrome M05: pic

[Gebbly]

32 minutes ago, kiasukid said:

My dark chrome M05

Oh thats a beauty. Very jealous