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mini998

Decent Electric Buggy

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hi,

As the title says what will be a good choice out of theese for fun bashing (electric)

Tamiya Baja king -TL01B

Tamiya Rising storm - DF02

Tamiya hot shot

I'm looking for something under 100 which comes with an ESC ,(if I have missed any on the list pl let me know)

many thanks

-mini998

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Go the DF02!!!

TL01b has not much in the name of handling. Friction shocks, no bearings, poor control. Also the 257mm touring wheelbase makes it alittle harder to slide than the 277mm wheelbase buggy chassis.

DF02 needs only 8 bearings for the wheels and it's ready to go, comes with a 101 Tamiya ESC too. If you decide to 'bling', DF02 has alloy and many hopups.

My TL01b needed alot spent to get it close to the standard DF02 and still doesn't compare. My DF02 seems to get longer runtimes than my other 3 Tamiya buggy chassis (DF01, DF03 TL01b). This might be something to do with it's very simple layout and not a lot lost through the drivetrain.

My only pick with a DF02 is it's ride height.

Hope this helps, Mark

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Out of those a DF02 is the clear winner in my opinion, most modern and the highest spec, Tho I would ask you to consider pushing out to a DF03 as its a serios evolution above, or to perhaps consider a good second hand machine,

Cheers

Ryck

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thanks guys

I also think DF02 is better ,as Mark said I'm concern of its ride height ,how will it handle on grass ?

DF03 if bit out of budget for me because I need some thing cheep which will not annoy my neigbours (like my nitros :lol: )

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That depends on what you call grass. A nice thick lush lawn you would be better off with MT size wheels like a Lunchbox or MadBull. Short sparse grass won't affect the DF02. It's only about 5mm lower than a DF01/DF03. I don't run on grass myself unless I slip off the track. It loads everything, wears gears, gets tangled around drivelines, makes ESC/Motor/Battery run hot.

The spiked tyres you will not want to run on a sealed surface. TL01b and DF02 have the same Top Force spikes.

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the df02 goes pretty well on short or dry grass, dirt and even gravel. no problems with tire wear, but mine never sees tarmac. tall grass it just won't do. it does drag the belly a bit and isn't my first pick for high jumps, but it takes decent sized jumps with ease.

highly recommended; you can't go wrong with one of these.

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Well, I would take neither a DF02 or TL01B.I think the DF01 (Manta Ray, Blazing Star, Dirt Trasher) would do very well. They are incredibly cheap (I saw a NIB Blazing Star, for $60 on Ebay with BIN)!

You don't have to worry about parts availability either. It's younger brothers are still for sale (F150, Hummer) and the youngest of the group has been released only a short while ago, the Cayenne. And the chassis has already been around since the end of 1990, and I think that fact proves how versatile and strong this chassis really is.

For grass running it would need a few important aspects. Spiked Tires (The Blazing star would need different wheels and tires like the ones from the Manta Ray/Dirt Trasher for example). Also you will have to get more ground clearance (Buy longer shocks or make a mod on the shock towers so you can place the shocks lower on the shock towers).

And getting it RTR will cost you not much more than $100 I think... A cheap way to get a lot of bashing fun I think? :lol:

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Unless you are running more than a 15T double the stock Blazing Star wheels grip well on nearly all surfaces, even more so if you remove every other tread block. They won't grip as well as a Top-Force spike, but the Top-Force spikes last me a weekend, still on my first set of Blazing Star tyres. I own 2 Blazing Stars, one box stock + bearings and the other fully upgraded (Total cost to upgrade base DF01 to Top-Force Evo would scare you). These cars are twice the price compared to the rest to fill with bearings, a must have item. DF01 breaks the motor mount very easily and an alloy upgrade is almost essential. The gearboxes would be the least efficient of all the buggies and runtime suffers. All the cars you listed are discontinued except the newly released RTR Cayenne. RTR cars are not known to have large supplies of spares made. I know how much trouble I have finding the DF01 parts I keep breaking and how much I pay for them compared to the newer buggies.

Strong it is not, my rear main gear casing is split in 1/2 from flat track running. The Rear shock tower tears from the rear gearbox so easily if flipped (BTDT). I'm on my 4th rear gearbox complete in 12 months. The same running gear (Motor/ESC) in a stock DF02 or DF03 doesn't break it.

I sort of wish I'd not bought the 2nd Blazing Star now and bought a 2nd Dark Impact instead. Would have cost less to fullhouse the chassis and there would be 3 times the 'bling' and that much needed slipper clutch the DF01 and DF02 cannot use.

More ground clearance on a DF01??? The dogbones are almost chattering on the outdrives with the stock yellow shocks when the suspension is fully drooped, anymore and they would jam. The front dogbones of my stock Blazing Star have a rub mark where the "C" hub touches the dogbone when the weigth lifts from the front on take off. Any lower and it would rub hard here too all the time.

I thought a bit on how you could fit a slipper clutch to a DF01. The only real way is to run the drive to the front diff on the other side of the chassis to the spur gear. Then it clicked... that's a DF03 layout... go figure...

DF01 is better than a TL01b (entry level buggy), the DF02 and more so the DF03 are generations ahead and it shows when you put all 4 on the track together.

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Mini998, a DF03 isn't out of your budget if you just want an ESC with it and no radio gear. Delivered in the UK from stella a DF03 Avante Mk.II with ESC and bearings costs 98.40, just under your budget :lol: take a look at stella, they have really good prices and I've heard they're very good.

Avante MK.II link

Matt

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following on from Matt, go for that DF 03 from Stella for under a hundred. As everyone states here its vastly superior to the 02, the ground clearance of the 02 alone being a major pain in the backside. i got rid of my DF 02 after only about 5 weeks cos i just simply didn't like it even with the few hop ups (alu motor mount, high speed spur gear, alu threaded shocks). Was thinking of buying a Yokomo when the guy in my LHS said to try the DI as in his words "tamiya have made a big effort to make a car that is genuinely competitive on the track" and i have been completely over the moon with it since day one. Just have a look on TC at some in the showrooms to see what it is capable to produce on a DF 03. :lol:

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Had a little add up on Stella again, a Dark Impact DF03 plus an ESC is just over 100. A DF02 Plasma edge is alot cheaper with an esc though, 71.80. At that price, you can get a cheap battery and radio gear to make the car completely RTR for around your budget, or you could buy a few hop-ups.

Matt

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thanks guys,

yeah I looked df03 at stella models it comes around 100 ,But only thing i was worried was If it get stung by customs then there will be another 25-30 more..

So after lot of thinking I finally purchased a DF02 from fusion hobbies -78

ball bearing set from ebay - 7

and a cheep battery+charger from ebay - 9 (not the best one but hope it will be enough to get me going)

so everything comes to 96 ,whithin my budget

next thing in line is a decent battery and a charger (when i learn the lesson from the cheep one :lol: )

again thanks alot for the help guys

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