58441 Rough Rider "Buggy Champ" Re-release

[Grandmasterflash 0]

This was my 1st building of an R/C car in nearly 20 years after getting out of the hobby.......never been interested in getting back into R/C until the BC was re-released.

I did keep an eye on what was on the market over the years but all the new cars these days don't have character. I felt like I was 12yrs old again building my 1st R/C car.....lol, my wife thinks I'm re-living my childhood again.

[lee1980 71]

I had mine on 7A. But reading through the instructions that might be too high.

Quote from the instruction manual:

"The Tamiya LF2200-6.6V Racing Pack may be charged up to the maximum of the 4C rate (2.2x4=8.8A), so it may be charged at 8A with this charger".

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

I'm assuming in the case of the LF1100-6.6V battery this would apply??......... 1.1x4=4.4A..???? So we are best setting the charger @ 4A ????

Im new to this lipo and life battery so not sure of what 4c and 8a etc means, but as you say it clearly says can charge it at its highest 8A,

thats assuming the numbers on the charge led are the 1-8a lol, i would imagine its always best to use lowest you can unless you

are in a rush?

I was on 6 and it done it 10mins so even on 2 i expect be done in 30mins easy!

[Rich T UK 8]

This was my 1st building of an R/C car in nearly 20 years after getting out of the hobby.......never been interested in getting back into R/C until the BC was re-released.

I did keep an eye on what was on the market over the years but all the new cars these days don't have character. I felt like I was 12yrs old again building my 1st R/C car.....lol, my wife thinks I'm re-living my childhood again.

I really like the white wheels. much better than the metallic-grey plastic. might do that on mine.

[lee1980 71]

This was my 1st building of an R/C car in nearly 20 years after getting out of the hobby.......never been interested in getting back into R/C until the BC was re-released.

I did keep an eye on what was on the market over the years but all the new cars these days don't have character. I felt like I was 12yrs old again building my 1st R/C car.....lol, my wife thinks I'm re-living my childhood again.

Very nice looks great do like white wheels, i have not even started on the body yet! I was born in 1980 so wasnt around when it first came out

but this car just called to me buy me lol!

Have you set the rear to be lower so wheels dont tip in so much or just pushed down on rear for pics?

[Grandmasterflash 0]

Very nice looks great do like white wheels, i have not even started on the body yet! I was born in 1980 so wasnt around when it first came out

but this car just called to me buy me lol!

Have you set the rear to be lower so wheels dont tip in so much or just pushed down on rear for pics?

I prefer the rims to be white as I didn't like the plastic grey look without paint. My other option was going to stay with grey but a painted grey, much like a flat primer colour.

I had an absolute nightmare putting the shocks together, trying to get them soft enough and get full range of motion. I prefer them soft than hard. I'm not going to be doing huge jumps, but rather soft sand or flat dirt running. I wanna see the shocks work...that's part of the fun racing it about and watching it in motion. In that previous pic it was just they way I placed the car down. If I lift the rear up, the shocks will stay extended and the wheels on the unusual angle that we expect from these cars.

I'm taking all the pic's I can tonight because tomorrow...................it's time to let loose and let her rip.....it's never going to be that clean again!!!

[hedge 151]

I really like the white wheels. much better than the metallic-grey plastic. might do that on mine.

For me the original grey wheels only work when you have painted the lettering on the tyres, otherwise they just look poor, almost out of place, second hand compared to the rest of the car.

[Corpse Thrower 16]

i'm here

wanna be let in on a little secret?

paint your whole prepped shell with some coats of white then cut out the whole white panels and apply them as a mask;

then coat over with your colour coat. Remove mask then clearcoat if wanted.

i'm getting stuck into drawing up some tyre decals

I thought about doing that.

But I think it would be easier for us if you did us a sticker sheet with those white panels with no markings on them.....or better yet, the white panels with the original Rough Rider stickers on them!!

You could put them on one big sticker sheet with your tyre lettering!!

[WillyChang 1576]

could

although for economy/convenience probably be easier to use cut vinyl for the white stripe

everyone has different interpretation where to put each decal

Looks like Tower Hobbies just dropped their price another $10 to US320. With the $75 discount for purchases over $300 this brings the price to $245, an unbelievable $33 cheaper than Stella. Postage was cheaper to Australia than Stella too!

last few times i looked, it was on Backorder expected "Mid Aug"

[Badboy 91]

Anybody thinking of pimping their Buggy Champ?

I'm gonna buy Rad22 chassie and skidplate for shure!

RA1028 diff and also found some shockholder for SRB's

Badboy

[skinned 129]

i dont think ill be pimping, but i have a couple cool aftermarket parts on it.

it's funny how some major hobby stores still dont have the BC.and some of us have them built and running and wrecked already...lol

[theshopkeeper 39]

If you check out Tamiyausa.com you'll see a complete bodyset with sticker headlights driver and body!!! (it's painted in the picture)

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51873

Badboy

Seems there's two codes - in the manual (which incidentally prefixes all the spares with a 1 for some reason - as if there weren't enough part numbers already?) there are codes for the shell, stickers, etc separately. Then there's the 51873 code which isn't in the manual but is a complete body set, old style.

[Grandmasterflash 0]

.and some of us have them built and running and wrecked already...lol

Ahhhhh...I'm about to tke mine out for it's 1st real run......wish me luck!

[DynaHead 0]

Looks like Tower Hobbies just dropped their price another $10 to US320. With the $75 discount for purchases over $300 this brings the price to $245, an unbelievable $33 cheaper than Stella. Postage was cheaper to Australia than Stella too!

Regards,

Luke Jenner

What $75 discount???

[Champ85 491]

What $75 discount???

Good question. Tower club members get a $60 US discount for orders over $300 US, but I've never seen $75 US.

Edit: I found the $75 US code, but it won't work. Codes are linked to the account, so if you didn't receive an email with the offer, you can't apply it. The $75 off code is for new members, apparently.

Oh well.

[redzone 199]

LiFe batteries are awesome. with a 4c charge, you could have one battery charging and another running, and keep going almost indefinitely

i have just seen some venom 5000mah 40C LiPo's with a 5C charge rate too (not for B.C. though obv.) you could charge those suckers in about 25 minutes!! thing is, no one makes a LiPo charger capable of putting out 25 amps yet LOL

[Champ85 491]

I received my Buggy Champ from Tower this week. It sure brings back a lot of memories from when I opened the Super Champ.

My kit had both the extra washers for the front tubes as well as the replacement threaded steering rods. The blister packing was ribbed in places like the pictures posted here, so it seems to be a general thing.

While reviewing the manual, I noticed something very different from the Super Champ gearbox assembly step. The Buggy Champ has special consideration for the idler gear's orientation due to it having a large and small molded spacing nub on either side of the gear. The Super Champ had a brass idler gear and both spacing nubs were equal. The SC directions never made reference to any orientation for the gears (idler or final shaft).

It would seem that this difference would make Super Champ gears incompatible (at the most) or at least not ideal (at the least) with Buggy Champ gears. Was this true of the original SRBs, too? Please forgive my ignorance - I never owned a true SRB, only the Super Champ.

I also decided to buy a second Buggy Champ from Tower - you know - to have as "spare parts".

(I am doing what I can to show Tamiya that they need to release more SRBs and similar kits!)

[Grandmasterflash 0]

A quick update for those interested. For those taht have had SRB's before this stuff is old hat.....

I had my 1st run (then 2nd,... 3rd, ...4th ..... & 5th) with my BC today. Initially on hardish sand then on short grass.

Bear in mind I haven't had any R/C cars since 1987-1990 and they were in this order. Hornet, Wildone, Supershot & Turbo Ultima.

It was awesome to finally get in up and running!!

My running equipment was: Futaba Megatech 2PL radio gear with the Tamiya 6.6V LF100 Racing Pack

Points of note:

1. I found that it runs better with the lower ratio gearing (15T / 70T). My setup on the 1st run was with the higher pinion (20T & 65T) then I swapped over to the lower ratio.....much better.

2. Make sure you apply the AG Thread Lock as it says in the manual. I didn't on one of the universal joints and torsion bars and paid the price, loosing a wheel and the shocks running low.

3. I set up my shocks quite soft and its great to watch them work over the bumpy ground.

4. Understeers badly, particually if you glide around corners....you need to keep up the acceleration....although too much and you'll roll!!!!!.......careful!! lol

5. Had a couple of tumbles cornering and sustained a little bit of damage to the lights on the roll cage.

6. When jumping the car tends to nose dive a little.

7. The only negative was that I did feel that car was a bit underpowered. (any suggestions on what other a slightly more powerful motors might be an option?

Overall I was more than happy with my new BC. These SRB cars are what made alot of people get in R/C and finally the BC has got the justice it derserves with the re-release. When I was just a kid I remember my big sister buying me the 1985 Tamiya Catalogue and the SS and RR were in it. My mate and I would talk about the SS and RR for days on end dreaming one day of having one of them. When my parents finally bought me an R/C car (Hornet) in xmas of '86/'87 both the SS & RR had ceased production.

Times change..teenage years come and girls, booze and real cars take preference....but now.......I guess you can say ..perhaps I'm having a midlife crisis and reliving my youth?

[Raman36 687]

A quick update for those interested. For those taht have had SRB's before this stuff is old hat.....

I had my 1st run (then 2nd,... 3rd, ...4th ..... & 5th) with my BC today. Initially on hardish sand then on short grass.

Bear in mind I haven't had any R/C cars since 1987-1990 and they were in this order. Hornet, Wildone, Supershot & Turbo Ultima.

It was awesome to finally get in up and running!!

My running equipment was: Futaba Megatech 2PL radio gear with the Tamiya 6.6V LF100 Racing Pack

Points of note:

1. I found that it runs better with the lower ratio gearing (15T / 70T). My setup on the 1st run was with the higher pinion (20T & 65T) then I swapped over to the lower ratio.....much better.

2. Make sure you apply the AG Thread Lock as it says in the manual. I didn't on one of the universal joints and torsion bars and paid the price, loosing a wheel and the shocks running low.

3. I set up my shocks quite soft and its great to watch them work over the bumpy ground.

4. Understeers badly, particually if you glide around corners....you need to keep up the acceleration....although too much and you'll roll!!!!!.......careful!! lol

5. Had a couple of tumbles cornering and sustained a little bit of damage to the lights on the roll cage.

6. When jumping the car tends to nose dive a little.

7. The only negative was that I did feel that car was a bit underpowered. (any suggestions on what other a slightly more powerful motors might be an option?

Overall I was more than happy with my new BC. These SRB cars are what made alot of people get in R/C and finally the BC has got the justice it derserves with the re-release. When I was just a kid I remember my big sister buying me the 1985 Tamiya Catalogue and the SS and RR were in it. My mate and I would talk about the SS and RR for days on end dreaming one day of having one of them. When my parents finally bought me an R/C car (Hornet) in xmas of '86/'87 both the SS & RR had ceased production.

Times change..teenage years come and girls, booze and real cars take preference....but now.......I guess you can say ..perhaps I'm having a midlife crisis and reliving my youth?

Grandmaster,

Glad to see you are enjoying your BC. Regarding a more powerful motor, you can get the Tamiya Sport Tuned Black Can. I heard from another person on here that it will work. Other motors will require modifications. Also keep in mind this little car may not handle a much more powerful motor. You already geared down for more torque.. a more powerful motor will cause more wheel spin and of course higher top speed.

I will not be jumping mine, mine will be used as a dune buggy on the sand. Sand is kind to this vintage buggy.. cushions the landing.. and rolling over wont break parts. :-)

[VagabondStarJXF 337]

I've test fitted a Tamiya Super Modified 11T to my BC gearbox. It fitted without any modification so I'm pretty sure you can fit pretty much any 540 sized can in the BC. You'd have to be pretty nuts to use something so powerful in it. I've been recommend nothing hotter than a Sport Tuned.

[Rich T UK 8]

I think the point is that it's not underpowered, it's heavy (with a high C of G), and adding power might make it faster in a straight line, but will make the already challenging handling even more so.

on the subject of batteries, I opted to go for the carson 2700 hump pack and got around 45 minutes (though not all of it at full speed) of running from it.

[lee1980 71]

A quick update for those interested. For those taht have had SRB's before this stuff is old hat.....

I had my 1st run (then 2nd,... 3rd, ...4th ..... & 5th) with my BC today. Initially on hardish sand then on short grass.

Bear in mind I haven't had any R/C cars since 1987-1990 and they were in this order. Hornet, Wildone, Supershot & Turbo Ultima.

It was awesome to finally get in up and running!!

My running equipment was: Futaba Megatech 2PL radio gear with the Tamiya 6.6V LF100 Racing Pack

Points of note:

1. I found that it runs better with the lower ratio gearing (15T / 70T). My setup on the 1st run was with the higher pinion (20T & 65T) then I swapped over to the lower ratio.....much better.

2. Make sure you apply the AG Thread Lock as it says in the manual. I didn't on one of the universal joints and torsion bars and paid the price, loosing a wheel and the shocks running low.

3. I set up my shocks quite soft and its great to watch them work over the bumpy ground.

4. Understeers badly, particually if you glide around corners....you need to keep up the acceleration....although too much and you'll roll!!!!!.......careful!! lol

5. Had a couple of tumbles cornering and sustained a little bit of damage to the lights on the roll cage.

6. When jumping the car tends to nose dive a little.

7. The only negative was that I did feel that car was a bit underpowered. (any suggestions on what other a slightly more powerful motors might be an option?

Overall I was more than happy with my new BC. These SRB cars are what made alot of people get in R/C and finally the BC has got the justice it derserves with the re-release. When I was just a kid I remember my big sister buying me the 1985 Tamiya Catalogue and the SS and RR were in it. My mate and I would talk about the SS and RR for days on end dreaming one day of having one of them. When my parents finally bought me an R/C car (Hornet) in xmas of '86/'87 both the SS & RR had ceased production.

Times change..teenage years come and girls, booze and real cars take preference....but now.......I guess you can say ..perhaps I'm having a midlife crisis and reliving my youth?

Sounds like great fun! what sort of run time were you getting from the 6.6v life battery? and did you use an esc with lipo cut off or just wait until it slowed?

[Grandmasterflash 0]

I think the point is that it's not underpowered, it's heavy (with a high C of G), and adding power might make it faster in a straight line, but will make the already challenging handling even more so.

on the subject of batteries, I opted to go for the carson 2700 hump pack and got around 45 minutes (though not all of it at full speed) of running from it.

Holy S*&t ...45 mins.....that's crazy... I'm used to the old days when a 7.2V 1200 pack would last 7-8mins max!

[lee1980 71]

Holy S*&t ...45 mins.....that's crazy... I'm used to the old days when a 7.2V 1200 pack would last 7-8mins max!

How long did you get with the 6.6v life pack?

[Grandmasterflash 0]

How long did you get with the 6.6v life pack?

Probably around 12-15mins. I'm not sure whether it's me but I think I'm getting more running time the more charges I put through the battery. Also, I've switched to a lower ratio pinion....that helps.

[Grandmasterflash 0]

Sounds like great fun! what sort of run time were you getting from the 6.6v life battery? and did you use an esc with lipo cut off or just wait until it slowed?

I'm running the stock Tamiya ESC that comes with the kit. Not sure about the lipo cut off don't have much knowledge in regards to that technology....but when the car starts to run slow I only have about 30sec until it won't move @ full throttle. I can usually drive it a short distance at half throttle to get it moving but that's it.