Ansmann Mad Rat. Any Good?

[SteelRat]

Carrying on from the discussion Olly_Lunchbox and I were having about Mad Rats, is there anyone that actually has one?

Personally, I've always been a little dubious about Ansmann.. some of their stuff is cheap and nasty (motors, batteries) where as some of it is actually alright (Deluxe charger, some of the cheapie wheel sets). A fully fledged 2WD buggy kit with a slipper clutch, oil filled dampers and ball diff for £47 seems almost too good to be true, and now Time Tunnel are selling them cheap for £40, it seems you really can't go wrong - especially for a basher.

Reading around the feedback I've heard is pretty good, even with tales of people embarassing much more expensive cars in races.

Do you have one? Is it any good? Are they only 47 quid (RRP) for a reason, and if so what is it?

[30cms]

it is a great kit, and for 40 bones you can't go wrong.

i have had a few ansmann kits, and the quality is greater than their price tags.

ansmann tend to make copies of more expensive kits, so you know the thing is gonna be right.

get the bearing set though too! and beware there are loads of e-clips in this kit. and you don't get spare ones either.

i have a mad rat, all built up and ready to run. haven't got around to running it yet though!

there are a few flimsy parts if you smack it hard into something - like the wishbones, and the shafts that go through the wishbones (brittle and snappable)

but hey - under 50 quid?

one thing to watch is the woeful motor mount plate. held on by 3 tiny screws that strip before they are tight. i think they addressed this issue in the later kits. mine was an earlier one.

the instructions aren't bad either. not like tamiya instructions, but i have seen much worse.

[qatmix]

Great kit. There were a few issues with the first batch which was understandable, but they are all sorted now

here is a build and review link

Madrat build

[c_a_r_t_e_r]

I've posted on another thread about the Mad Rat, having just built and run one last weekend - starting to sound like a Mad Rat fan-boi! LOL!

For the money they really are a great kit. You have to go carefully with tightening up most of the screws, especially into the motor mount plate as mentioned, but it's a pretty tried and tested design from Associated it appears...!

In fact, if they're now only £40 at TimeTunnel, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and buy one right this minute!

Oh, only one bad thing to mention that I can think of - have you seen the price of spare parts?! The kit almost seems to be a loss-leader, and like a games console the money will be returned in the parts and upgrades.

Looking up TimeTunnel now...

Tim.

[SteelRat]

Thanks for the feedback guys, and gat, that was a useful build thread there!

Will almost certainly ditch the supplied shell and buy a lexan Beetle shell from Kamtec, given my Bug obsession and my need for custom paint jobs

[30cms]

the mad rat shell is quite nice looking i think!

pre painted too . . . .

get the bearings

if you can't find a "mad rat" set, then get the ones for the macnum - same thing but truggy style. I have one of them too . . . .

[SteelRat]

Bearings go without saying.. always get those on any kit I buy. I find it odd though that the kit comes with a slipper clutch and ball diff, but not bearings?

I've never been a fan of buggy shells.. just makes them look like a roller skate. That's just personal preference though; Beetle all the way

[Prescient]

Carrying on from the discussion Olly_Lunchbox and I were having about Mad Rats, is there anyone that actually has one?

Personally, I've always been a little dubious about Ansmann.. some of their stuff is cheap and nasty (motors, batteries) where as some of it is actually alright (Deluxe charger, some of the cheapie wheel sets). A fully fledged 2WD buggy kit with a slipper clutch, oil filled dampers and ball diff for £47 seems almost too good to be true, and now Time Tunnel are selling them cheap for £40, it seems you really can't go wrong - especially for a basher.

Reading around the feedback I've heard is pretty good, even with tales of people embarassing much more expensive cars in races.

Do you have one? Is it any good? Are they only 47 quid (RRP) for a reason, and if so what is it?

Hi Mate

I have just built a Macnumm up which is the truggy version of the Mad Rat here http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=55334. I had a few issues which turns out to be becuse I had an early kit and missed out on the updates.

May be worth checking with Time Tunnel if they are the newer kits with the updated motor mount fixes etc.

Apart from the early teething issues mine is running really sweet now. Make sure you ball race it though. The difference you could feel in the gear box with bushes vs ball racers is quite significant. When I first built it I didn't have my ball race set and there was a fair bit of movement in the Spur, I ball raced it the next day and it was much truer.

Well worth the purchase.

[Olly_Lunchbox]

Fair dos Steel Rat, I concede, seems there is some love for the Mad Rat after all

Very cool build thread too, certainly looks worth the money which is the main point. You certainly can't get a brand new Tamiya for anywhere near the price. The nearest would be a GH2 at about 25 quid more and is actually behind the MR in term of technology.

Maybe I'll see if I can prise my card out of girlfriend's purse.

[knotty]

I wonder if i got the earlier before the upgrades version of the magnum then.Things i found was no tools supplied,clear as mud build manual,half the screws would get stuck in the grp chassis when driving them in and as a result the heads rounded off. runs ok for the young un like but for a decent basic basher truggy style, I would rather spend the extra and get a mad bull and a few hop ups for it

[Origineelreclamebord]

I looked at the spare part prices of the Mad Rat on the website of Fusionhobbies, and I have to say they are pretty mad, like the name... 30 pounds for a set of CVDs, more than 20 quid for the diff outdrives... It would be cheaper to buy a whole new one just for the diff outdrives!

[knotty]

Is that not the idea though,flog the kits cheap knowing that they`ll make thier money on the range of hop ups and spares that ansmann sell?

[Origineelreclamebord]

Is that not the idea though,flog the kits cheap knowing that they`ll make thier money on the range of hop ups and spares that ansmann sell?

It will work in some cases, but I think if you use that system for longer periods of time more people will be tended to run the car till it's a straight write off and buy a new one. And maybe it's just me, but I prefer a manufacturer that sells their cars a tad high in price but offer good spare parts support for reasonable prices.

[knotty]

where as ive lived in yorkshire too long and am now that tight wi brass i just prefer a car thats original supplied parts are decent to start with

[30cms]

Spares are too expensive because of the cost of the cvds and outdrives?

Please. Let's have some perspective here. Its a 40 quid kit. You aren't gonna race it at the worlds.

Sheeeeesh

[Prescient]

I am getting more tempted to buy a mad rat at this price or another macnum for spares just for the fun of building it tbh.

[floppydisk35]

If parts cost that much, I might start bulk buying Mad Rat kits and selling all the parts on the bay xD

[soane]

Just the sort of thing for my young son to use to improve handling skills without worrying about knackering an expensive/rare car.

[qatmix]

It comes with CVJ's etc anyway. and who would break them?

[Origineelreclamebord]

It comes with CVJ's etc anyway. and who would break them?

It's more the 'What if it does break?' than 'It will break, so spares need to be cheap' - Expensive spares keep me from buying or running some vintage cars for example...

[30cms]

I looked at the spare part prices of the Mad Rat on the website of Fusionhobbies, and I have to say they are pretty mad, like the name... 30 pounds for a set of CVDs, more than 20 quid for the diff outdrives... It would be cheaper to buy a whole new one just for the diff outdrives!

if you mean these: http://www.fusionhobbies.com/Ansmann-Racin...ar125000608.htm

they are for the xt pro - the pro version of the mad rat

they are a hop up item.

[Origineelreclamebord]

if you mean these: http://www.fusionhobbies.com/Ansmann-Racin...ar125000608.htm

they are for the xt pro - the pro version of the mad rat

they are a hop up item.

Yep I meant those Anyway, I looked again and the spare parts for the Mad Rat are still on the expensive side as many parts are sold seperately instead of a bunch of them in a bag likt some other brands - and the parts that are easy to get elsewhere like bearings are also made expensive...