So, What Have You Done Today?

[mongoose1983 2913]

14 minutes ago, moffman said:

Every body is entitled to an opinion!

[...]it's a stunning looking truck true to the 80s monster trucks but it kinda let's it self down a bit when it bounces around

100% true. Everybody is entitled o an opinion.

Oh, do you remember how much real monster trucks bounced back in the day. Monster trucks in the mid 80's were kinda clumsy, leafs made them difficult to control, but they were certainly eye candy. Short wheel base, leaf spring suspension, heavy as a Manhattan tower. That's what the Tamiya guys were looking at when they conceived the Clod Buster. Had they waited three years they would have made something more like the HPI's Wheely King after seeing the revolutionary Bigfoot 8, but that's another story

[Fruitfly01 515]

Shimming!  Mostly.

Every time I pick up and look at one of my cars I find something on them that wobbles just a bit too much for my liking.  But, that's Tamiya for you.  I don't have the latest and greatest on road TRF machines, so I don't expect 100% precision, zero play and tolerances so tight as to be almost unattainable, but I like like to tinker and improve things if I can.

My DT03 was the first to be attacked.  There;s a lot of slop in the suspension and anywhere a pin rotates.  Shimming works to prevent an A arm or a hub sliding back and forth, but doesn't prevent them wobbling.  I tried to fit bushings a la the Dyna Storm and TA03 cars, but the nothing fitted.

I also removed a few step screws and replaced them with ball studs on the damper mounts.  About time I did that.

I added another shim to the Madcap runner.  The left rear hub wasn't as tight in it's place as the right one so that needed balancing out.

My DT01 also had a good shimmimg and tightening up around the front.  I put shims above the knuckles because they travelled a lot inside the hubs.  I put a shim at the front of each of the inside pin of the swing arms to stop fore and aft movement.  They already have heatshrink fitted to reduce play.

Fitted  ball studs to the top damper mounts and changed the servo saver to something more conventional.  The stock one is a weird design and very loose.

Now everything is a lot tighter.  I don't expect much from this chassis (it's a DT01 for crying out loud) but hopefully it'll look a little less wobbly and be a bit more stable to drive.

My runner Terra Scorcher had a very wobbly front end because of a loose servo saver which caused a lot of wobble, so that got tightened up properly so now it only wobbles as much as it's supposed too.

[Falcon#5 455]

22 hours ago, Rb4276 said:

Clod complete except for the body, i have to admit i am not a fan. I knew all the issues going in too just doesnt compare to my txt 2. I am selling it and listed on numerous group and ebay 

Do you have a link to your eBay auction?

[Grumpy pants 1923]

I bought a Mini body shell and I just sold my spare Super Champ- happy days 

[rwordenjr 858]

6 hours ago, Fabia130vRS said:

Is this Tamiya Paint PS16? I think I used the same one on my F103 TRG body, such a lovely color.

It’s actually Spaz Stix Candy blue backed with silver metallic. My first time using Spaz Stix paint and it’s pretty good. I’ll get some more shots today in the sun and you can see the nice detail. 

[Badcrumble 1930]

Built the shorter dampers for my trail rig so I can drop the ride height when combined with the 1.55 wheel set.

It is a shame that the writing doesn’t line up when they are assembled! Far more fiddly to put together that Tamiya shocks with a mix of metal and plastic, extra O rings...hmmm... not as impressive as I had hoped. Not that expensive though - think I was spoiled by the set of 54000 I built recently.
There really isn’t a lot of travel in the 62mm ones destined for the rear of the rig, it will be interesting to see how they perform.

[Rb4276 599]

3 hours ago, Falcon#5 said:

Do you have a link to your eBay auction?

Item number 164268618942

[Rb4276 599]

10 hours ago, Flare65 said:

 

I've always wanted a Clodbuster and came close to buying the new Black Edition last month, but for the money the kit just isn't worth it in my opinion.  It was impressive for its time back in the 80's and early 90's but now it just pales in comparison to what else is out there.  I'm actually surprised they still sell it after all these years.  I just got back into this hobby out of boredom due to the pandemic and after looking around at other offerings at similar price points, the Clod just doesn't measure up.  The kit is still relatively unchanged aside for some minor cosmetic differences, but the price is still steep for what little you get.  I feel its grossly overpriced for what it is. I know people love it and it continues to sell, but this kit should have been updated years ago.  I'll probably catch some heat here for bashing the Clod so I'll just stop with my opinion...

I completely agree. i knew what i was getting going in and the fact i had a txt 2 already probably doesnt help by the difference in size and non plastic garbage. I probably should of gotten something else during the quarantine. Even the build wasnt enjoyable which never happens. 

[mastino 793]

Fast and curious

[Ferruz 2235]

While on my daily evening runs with the cars, I thought I'd try to get some more rodents acquainted to the wonders of RC.

So I started popping by the groudhogs' burrow more frequently, and my furry neighbors finally started to express some interest (especially the kids, of course).

what is this supposed to be??

 

yikes! Better call mummy...

 

mama groudhog is here! Back off now!

maybe the Hornet will be a gentler approach...we'll see in the next days

[moffman 2371]

13 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

100% true. Everybody is entitled o an opinion.

Oh, do you remember how much real monster trucks bounced back in the day. Monster trucks in the mid 80's were kinda clumsy, leafs made them difficult to control, but they were certainly eye candy. Short wheel base, leaf spring suspension, heavy as a Manhattan tower. That's what the Tamiya guys were looking at when they conceived the Clod Buster. Had they waited three years they would have made something more like the HPI's Wheely King after seeing the revolutionary Bigfoot 8, but that's another story

Yeah your bang on right! When they went shiny side down it was total carnage because they were actually built from real pick up trucks! You look at the modern day monster truck it's just a space frame with a stupidly fast engine and a plastic body and all the bodies that are based on dogs with floppy ears and one that looks like superman.......what's that all about? Bazaar!!!

[rwordenjr 858]

16 hours ago, Fabia130vRS said:

Is this Tamiya Paint PS16? I think I used the same one on my F103 TRG body, such a lovely color.

 

[ploots 156]

56 minutes ago, rwordenjr said:

 

That is a great colour 

[rwordenjr 858]

36 minutes ago, ploots said:

That is a great colour 

Thanks!

[Fruitfly01 515]

A bit more shimming on the DT03 rear end.  This time I removed it from the chassis and removed all the arms, hubs and driveshafts.  I rebuilt it using pins and e clips instead of the screw pins and shimmed where I could to remove unwanted movement.  It's better, but it's not curable.  I think it's as good as it can be, unless I can find another solution.

[Hairyjon313 316]

Continuing to sell off some of the collection. It became clear that I had to many. 11 sold and 6 to go.

[Finnsllc 594]

Ventured out to the LHS which is actually finally open.  5 cans of ps spray for $35 USD. TOTAL SCORE

[Kitzbuehel74 144]

Got the tomahawk put together and kitted it out with turbo scorpion wheels.  Just need a good day to paint.

[Wez-li 1369]

Picked this up

saw it advertised on Facebook 

 

[jupitertwo 1251]

Just discovered that Contact Adhesive removes PS paint

[Pinoy808 28]

Got some tamiya paint today.  White was out but still got me metallic red and corsa grey

[Jonathon Gillham 3176]

Dropped 5 boxes (Boomerang, Novafox, Monster Beetle, Top Force and Super Astute) into a framers to get framed, just like how @Re-Bugged did them.  I sent a picture of his Buggy Champ to them to work off and went in today to get firm prices.  Ended up changing it a bit to make it cheaper and should have them next week. 

I'm hoping to get the Novfox and Boomerang in my office, but it will depend what my son chooses first, as if I choose it looks like they are for me.

[Ferruz 2235]

Paid a visit to my almost-local hobby shop today as I needed some paint. Since they've reopened they've re arranged some stuff but again, besided the paint racks and a few static kits, there was barely any Tamiya material in the shop. They had some of the new editions, like the VW Samba bus and the bug, in both street and rally version (the rally one with esc and a Torque Tuned included). A mini Lunch Box and the NSU prinz shell with chassis and that's pretty much it. Still, seeing some Tamiya kits displayed after a long time was quite a thrill not to mention, sadly said, getting my first hop-up bought in person since I was a kid. It's just a pinion, but it felt quite exotic to find it in the shop while browsing and have the good old in-person transaction, free from screens, shipping, customs and endless waiting times.

The shop is huge. The guys there are great, too bad Tamiya is definitely not their language...

 

but they had a few old 1/12 F1 static kits, like this gorgeous looking box of a Ferrari 312T.

They are a lot into train stuff and especially landscaping, they have an impressive stock of all sort of details some of which in very small scale, like these minuscule people.

 

This is my small loot, the cans of PS paint cost between 9 and 12 CAD depending on... I've no idea what 

It was fun to browse in an actual shop rather than my phone for a change!

[Fruitfly01 515]

Counting teeth!

I've often come across threads that deal with the Madcap/Astute ball differentials and their differences to those found in the Egress, Avante and Vanquish.  I've even chimed in on these threads, but haven't had any exact figures to work on.  I've just learned through talking with others that the Madcap diff gear is bigger than the Egress/Avante gear.

To that end, I purchased some NIP gear sets - Avante unitised differential gear set and the Egress plastic gear set, as well as the gears from the rereleased cars.  I just need to see it for myself and know the numbers.

Madcap/Astute Ball diff gear - 31 teeth

Egress ball diff gear - 30 teeth

Rere egress ball diff gear - 30 teeth

Avante geared diff gear - 30 teeth

Rere Avante geared diff gear - 30 teeth

I could have counted the teeth on the Super Astute geared diff, but it's of a different module anyway with finer teeth, so is a moot point.

The next job is to see if it is at all possible to fit a geared diff into a Madcap and make it work, despite the 1 tooth difference.

And if it does work, is it possible to fit the re re Egress ball diff and other components to a Madcap/Astute gearbox?

[Re-Bugged 3814]

5 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

Dropped 5 boxes (Boomerang, Novafox, Monster Beetle, Top Force and Super Astute) into a framers to get framed, just like how @Re-Bugged did them.  I sent a picture of his Buggy Champ to them to work off and went in today to get firm prices.  Ended up changing it a bit to make it cheaper and should have them next week. 

I'm hoping to get the Novfox and Boomerang in my office, but it will depend what my son chooses first, as if I choose it looks like they are for me.

Nice 👍🏻 You will enjoy them. I’d like to think a Sand Scorcher box will join the BC on the wall one day.

I particularly like the cunning plan of using ‘Office’ in the reason for being done, now Tax deductible 😁.

P.S Thanks for putting a bit of work a small businesses way I’m sure it’s very much appreciated by them 😉