Good Tamiya car for soft sand?

[Jimmy]

I just tried 2 of my vintage Tamiya cars on soft beach sand near my house and they didn't work as well as I thought.

First, my Bruiser in 4wd went okay, but it seemed to barely have enough power to move it (using a 6volt 4500mah battery from Radio Shack). Then I used a standard 7.2v 1500mah pack which gave slightly more oomph, but not much. I thought the Bruiser would have more torque than it does.

Then I tried my Rough Rider with a fresh battery pack and it just dug down into the sand and would just spin the tires. It wouldn't move at all in the soft stuff.

What cars are good for the soft sand? How about the new Blitzer Beetle? Or does soft sand need 4wd? Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jim

[Shodog]

I would say a clodbuster would be great in the sand. those big wide tires would help it float.

Jim

[miramar]

You're not the first to be disappointed by the 3-speeders' torque! []

Over the years I've adopted several models for soft sand. My parents live about 1 mile from a big river, and in the middle and along the shores there are literally square miles of beaches with just fine sand. After the winter it's always very smooth and absolutely clean, with just nice undulations made by the water running high during the winter. Accordingly, the need for a good performer on sand has always been there for me. It started with the Sand Scorcher (of course), then a two wheel drive long wheelbase rail with Wild Willy rear tires and skinnys up front. Then a Manta Ray with Proline Sand Paws and currently a Wild Dagger with a HPI Baja Bug body and the Proline Sand Paws on Tamiya TR-15T wheels.

The name of the game is long wheelbase, wide thread and low weight. As sand gets everywhere, a simple model that's easy to maintain and clean (like the Wild Dagger) is best suited.

For running on smooth sand you don't need a high-tech model or many hop-ups. Fast motor(s), a good ESC and sand tires on a simple durable model is all you need. Just expect to change ball bearings at a high rate! []

[RETRO R/C]

Sadly Jimmy - it is always going to be difficult to get the bruiser to be a real "torque monster" - simply because those wheels and tyres are just too big for the standard gearing .......

The best runners of the three speeds would have to be the Hilux and the Blazer. The Blazer would be almost perfecrt for your running conditions.

I have run scorchers on the beach - however soft sand can be difficult at the best of times.......

A Clodbuster would be a great choice - as they are geared for torque, and the tyres have a large surface area in respect to the size and weight of the model.......in fact most of the "real" R/C monsters do.....

On the other hand - Mirimar is also correct - the very simple cars are the best for the beach - as that sand gets everywhere and destroys rotating parts VERY quickly if not maintained correctly.

And "OH yeah" - welcome to the board !

Cheers

Darryn

[njmlondon]

I don't have one, but wouldn't an XC be best suited??

[trabbi daz]

Or how about a stadium blitzer???

[SJoerD]

quote:Originally posted by miramar

Just expect to change ball bearings at a high rate! []

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id="quote">id="quote">

Wouldn't it be adviseable to have bronze bushings on the car instead? At least near the wheels?

Also, I don't even think a Mad Bull would be a bad choice. It's cheap, readily avaliable, simple, big tires surface, low weight, no dogbones, bulletproof transmission... Sounds pretty good! [8D] Almost talking myself into buying one now. [] It has crappy suspension though... [V]

[SIZMTRZ]

Sorry because its not a Tamiya...but a T-maxx with Big Joe 40's would be best suited i would think... or a Terra crusher with them big'ol tires! My blackfoot worked pretty ok on ssand the few times I had it out to a beach! at the time the only mod was a 19t twister motor. and i slapped on the wider softer pumpkin tires.

good luck!

[TWINSET]

My RC10T3 was mad on the sand, fitted with blackfoot tires all round, and a bog stock Trinity motor.

An air-line is a good investment though, saves washing the car down[]

[mr_lister999.]

quote:An air-line is a good investment though, saves washing the car down

id="quote">id="quote">

Best of both worlds... A pressure washer []

lol

[Jimmy]

Thanks guys. It looks like my next Tamiya car will be either a Wild Dagger or I might try a Blitzer Beetle. And I'm definitely getting the Pro-Line Sand Paw tires for my next car.

Jim

[Jimmy]

Thanks guys. It looks like my next Tamiya car will be either a Wild Dagger or I might try a Blitzer Beetle. And I'm definitely getting the Pro-Line Sand Paw tires for my next car.

Jim

[miramar]

quote:Wouldn't it be adviseable to have bronze bushings on the car instead? At least near the wheels?

id="quote">id="quote">

Under extremely wet and muddy conditions yes, but on dry sand no, as bronze bushings will have to be lubricated, and thus attract sand causing high wear on the axles. Dry shielded ball bearings is the best choice.

As for XC-chassis for running fast on soft sand, it's too slow, too top heavy, too narrow, and the XC-gearbox isn't very sealed, so it eats sand. Also, the steering linkage easily jams when driving on dry sand. I know from experience. [] Also, without cutting away a lot of the chassis, it's impossible to fit the large diameter and wide tires you need on sand.

[DJTheo]

Exactly, with the standard XC tires things dont look good in sand, but Bruiser works very fine for me, looking fwd also to test my Blazer chassis in it, all above will be proven with videos which I already have made, but dont have time to update my webpage []

[TWO STAR]

clodbuster all the way!.....ive run mine allot on multi surfaces...sand is fine.....the big tires help allot..not stupid fast at all so you wont see killer sand roosts but good fun...after running usually requires a bit of cleaning.... Sanja

[WillyChang]

Clod works great on the beach!! [8D]

(don't forget to waterproof your RC gear...)

3-spd is too heavy and the tyres are too hard and aren't wide enough, they'll just dig in & bog. For beach fun, your best bet is always something with big fat balloon tyres, lots of ground clearance and if possible, locked axles or ball diffs screwed tight.

[BalmyBaldwin]

Why not try a tank? I took mine down to the local (sandy) army range the other day, it was eating up the hills, and there was no stopping it (until a gear slipped in the gear box[!])

[WillyChang]

What's the topspeed of a tank?

Depending on which beach you attend, there might be need for the ability to outrun a dog or kiddies. [:0][:0]

[miramar]

Right Willy! Top speed is generally not very important to me, and we all know that "How fast is it?" is the most commonly heard question from newbies, which is based on the truely false assumption that running rc-cars is all about top speed.

However, when driving on sand/beaches, the area is usually quite large and smooth, there are few obstacles and the driving itself is mostly not very challenging. Accordingly, to be really fun, the model has to be quite fast. That's why I consider tanks or "real" monster trucks (like Clod, TXT etc.) rather unsuitable. I agree that a Clod and similar MT's work fine on sand from a technical perspective though. As sand gets everywhere I don't consider complicated tanks suitable at all. Too much wear and maintenance.

The footprint of buggies is too small for loose sand, so what remains is stadiumtrucks, preferably with 4WD. The Wild Dagger is simple and easy to clean, the gearboxes are quite well sealed, and the relatively low weight means it's fairly simple to make it fast on sand. Also, the WD's inadequate suspension travel isn't a noticeable drawback on loose sand. I don't mean to say that the Wild Dagger is the only suitable model, but I can't think of another 4WD model that comes even close in terms of easy operation (on loose sand) combined with the very much needed speed. Nothing beats the sight of a stadium truck with sand tires "floating" on sand with rooster tails from all four. [][]

Are there any other REAL sand tires in stadium truck size other than the Pro-Line Sand Paws, by the way?

[WillyChang]

And again, Miramar-san is spot on.

For all that haven't seen these (very oft-recycled []) BH pix, they were taken whilst a friend & I were mucking about at the seaside during a long weekend. We each chose "best weapon" for the job when we left home.

Here's another pic...

The BH was big and lumbering, and (totally stock) wasn't too fast even running parallel motor. The Egress had high-gearing (25t pinion), larger 2.2" buggy wheels, both balldiffs screwed tight and centre one-way working, but still ran a RS540 (gotta keep it fair).

On wet sand where it didn't bog, the Egress had a good turn of speed. But then it bogged, the BH caught up and threathened to run it over. []

Once it reached sand with grass growing through it, the Egress FLEW... [][]

[70mph_bullhead]

im gonna run my super monster beetle on the beach this year...im gonna try pro-line sand paws,and hpi ribbed front tires.ive already bought a extra set of chrome wheels[8D]

[TWINSET]

I just got some pro-line paws for my Nitro Quad - 2 weeks time off down to a dirty great flat beach to see if the engine will actually run for any period of time[!]

Pro-line just bought out some 1/8 nitro buggy paws too (Slingshots)

Forget all this electric nonsense and get a noise maker!

[70mph_bullhead]

i ran my t-maxx on the beach once...it had sand paws and ran great but it made a bigger mess than i was prepared to handle!!![8)][]

[TWINSET]

Got my paws!!

Action photos to follow July 7th

[TWO STAR]

ahhhhh twinset....rats!..LOL...you beat me to it..lol..i run the same rear tires on my T-3 & they kick....lotsa grip in sand & mud.....take a look at them in my showroom.......sanja