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Love it or hate it? Thundrdragon

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Bought this Thunderdragon off the ever popular fleebay.

Now I know some people, ok, a lot of people hate this model, but I've always had a soft spot for it, ever since I had the "mini" version when I was about 9 or 10 years old.

Anyway I saw this on fleebay, no close up pics, but boxed with instructions, techniplus mk3 and 2 boxed vintage chargers (acoms/riko).

Starting price was very cheap, so I put a bid in, and won! There were no other bidders, this dragon really is unloved lol

Anyway, here are some pics as it arrived.

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Body is white rather than silver, wheels are white rather than black.

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Chassis is iin great condition, apart from a bit of dust and cobwebs, looking at the tyres it hasn't been run much.

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It will probably stay as it is for now as I have far too much to do, but this boxed, first 100 model (no matter how much it's hated) was too good to pass up :lol:

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Nice find! I have a blue painted Thunderdrangon shell some where in the "mess" :lol: I like it. Used it when my thunder shot shell was worn out.

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Looks great, a nice easy clean up. Very 80s in looks, but i don;t mind, i like my Manta Ray !

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I don't think they're that bad, but I wouldn't say I particularly loved or hated them to be honest. And isn't the chassis actually very capable and robust?

I think there's much much worse.

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You know, alot of folks hate on the Thunder Dragon (likely because its very "stuck" in the "hi-tech" 80's era style-wise), but I like it. I think Tamiya did a better job fitting the Thunder Dragon body on the Thundershot chassis than they did the Fire Dragon (which sits far too foward on the chassis IMO) especially considering both shells were meant for the Hornet chassis originally. The chassis is great old school fun with high ground clearance and a surprising array of suspension adjustments. More modern than the old Hot Shot but not quite a DF-level car yet. The A5 part up front is the only real weak spot if a front wheel clips a solid object at speed. Other than that, a pretty durable ride.

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I'm getting a lot of fun out of my thundershot at the moment, having just installed a 8.5Turn eZrun. The transmission is holding up well, and the car handles well at speed on tarmac. Tried to push the envelope a bit tonight by installing a SC8 speedo so that I could use a 9.6V battery in it, got all keyed up for the first run, and it went like a damp squib. I suspect the battery had gone off as I charged it several weeks ago. Going on the charger tomorrow, hopefully it will be lightning fast on a freshly charged pack :lol:

Back to the thunderdragon, like the chassis, don't like the bodyshell. Sorry :lol:

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Glad to see there's some love for the TD here :lol:

tires would be easy, you can still get the rubber new :lol:

are the rims painted you could do the acetone trick and clean them up.

yes mate wheels are painted, and the price I paid for the whole lot is near the price of a complete set of front/rear tyres lol

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Great find!

I like the TD actually. The design is admittedly strange, but it reminds me of the Japanese design theory from the 80s. That space age shape really epitomized the style of the time, especially in automotive design, and is reflected in the R/Cs from the era.

I like it.

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Agreed. Even though the Thundershot series used mostly different parts from the original Hot shot series, the Hot Shot "design language" is clearly evident in the Thundershot family. Its very evolutionary rather than revolutionary like the Avante series.

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Great chassis, handles rough terrain really well. But ugly as sin bodyshell. Paint it yellow and call it the Thunder Cheese.

I prefer the Fire Dragon over the Thunder Dragon. The Fire Dragon shape grew on me and the Fire Dragon has the 4 shock setup. However it's still not a great looking car. The Fire Dragon body shell does look like it sits too far forward on the chassis, with the rear shock tower sticking out the back. It looks like the shell wasn't designed with the chassis in mind, and as a result the body shell is a bit too small/short. It was tempting to try mounting it further back...

You can see the drivetrain in the Thundershot series bears more than a passing resemblance to the Hotshot, but with a few evolutionary changes - it has a motor plate instead of the set plates arrangement, unitised diffs, and it has the rear gearbox spur bevel gear that drives the prop shaft crown gear reversed, which eliminates one idler gear in the front gearbox and uses one less 850 bearing which would make it slightly more efficient.

The Terra Scorcher is the best of breed, both in looks and specification.

- James

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But ugly as sin bodyshell. Paint it yellow and call it the Thunder Cheese.

LMAO. :)

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HATE IT !!!

But I so need it in my collection :)

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The Terra Scorcher is the best of breed, both in looks and specification.

- James

Yeah I have TS and I like the shape the best, these are fun cars too.

HATE IT !!!

But I so need it in my collection :)

:D

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Some good honest comments here.

I know some of you hate it, that's ok, I really like the ThunderDragon, I liked it back in the 80's when I was young, and I think I like it even more now, it's genuinely cool in my eyes.

As with most models of this era there is a Technigold as an option on the box.

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If there is a ThunderDragon on Earth with a Technigold fitted I'd like to see it lol.

The original owner kept it all in great condition, even got the boxes for the chargers which work perfectly.

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:D

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Hardly a Hot Shot spin off Tamiya Dan.

In fact the Thunder Shot chassis won the American Nats ( Roar) titles in it's day.

Nothing is the same as the Hot Shot.

Very under rated buggy indeed.

Mine started as the Ugly Fire Dragon. Converted to Thunder Shot with a custom wing package. Looks so good i think.

Great score on the Thunder Dragon

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Aaahhh long live the Monoshock TamiyaDan! :) Yes monoshocks are old school but for bashing I kinda liked them on the Thundershot/Dragon chassis. The buggy always seemed more compliant over really rough terrain. Admittedly, twin shocks are superior in the end but with a sway bar a monoshock isn't all bad. Just watch the Thundershot promo vs. the Terra Scorcher promo and you can see the TS floating effortlessly over the rough stuff in fluid motions. I converted a Fire Dragon to a TS (monoshock and all). If only the drivetrain on my re-re wasn't bogged down with those deformed bevel gears. :D

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Think someone should start a Monoshock Appreciation Thread :D

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My second Tamiya was a Terra Scorcher.it was very good.i liked the 4 shock set up compared to the mono front tho.

i also liked the motor mount compared to a Hotshot's version of basicaly using metal strips to space out the motor?

ive been toying with the idea of building a Terra Scorcher-esque buggy for a while...the DF01 Dirt Thrasher uses the TS shell....why not use a DF01 shell (Blazing Star/Terr Conqueror) on a TS?

i must admit i wouldnt be very keen to stick to the yellow CVA's..prob something more modern.

I ve read alot about the A5? part breaking...the only breakage i had with mine was i snapped the chassis clean in two off a wall.sounds brutally careless but it happened in an indoor club race.

we raced on carpet in an old hospital hall,first race of the evening too!

3-2-1- go....pulled away from the start line...rear wheel touched the bare wood floor...car shot in the direction of grip....bang...ouch!

A5 in tact...wishbones were kinda rubbery so were fine...backside attached by the shell!

looking back i kept that car pristine,so i now think i probably cleaned the plastic too well and stripped it of its oils etc...net result brittle plastic.

My Dad's work friend attended the racing and he was due to get ,the then brand new, Lazer ZX.so he offered to sell his very good condition Optima Mid Custom Special to me (Dad).

so in a kinda round about way the Terra introduced me to club level racing very well.

i also raced it on an outdoor mown grass track and had no issue with reliability even when clipping tyres etc.

I think that the Thundershot series of buggies was excellent due to their limited adjustability..that may sound crazy,but to a beginner it was good that you didnt have to know exact set ups or worry about 15 different shock tower holes to choose from. it allowed you to just race and learn.

The gear pitch is chunky so it would be very suitable to today's higher power motors and the overall layout is good too.

added bonus is you can even get a pretty decent "driver" in the shape of the chassis dust cover!

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