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Best 2WD buggy- Frog, Falcon, or Fox?

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"So, which was the best performer out the box?"

 

I vote for the Fox (or NovaFox if you will). 

 

If you were fortunate enough to have a time machine  and only cared about buying all three of these kits to do a comparison test..  well then there's probably something wrong with you.  The same things that are wrong with me!!  I think it's a brilliant idea actually.

Back to present day reality: Falcon is long out of production now, so if you did find one you'd best keep it in bubble wrap.  Even if Falcons grew on trees.. -wait, don't they?  I'mean real Falcons actually do grow up there in nests. Anyway, I digress..  if one had plenty a Tamiya Falcon NIB at their disposal, the plastic drive shafts, fragile chassis point where the front clip attaches.. or rear suspension arm mounts will eventually let you down.  

The Frog has fewer shortcomings and is easier to find brand new than the Falcon.  The re-released version ditched the problematic hex drive shafts for more reliable ones although you still have the transmission to fret if put under severe load.  Front suspension is limited as well.. so I give it a solid second place.

NovaFox is still available (and soon to be re-re-released) and out-of-the-box doesn't leave much to want for stock fun.  The battery is towards the rear and motor is hanging off of the back of the thing.. so steering is a bit light.  But car-for-car, I think you throw these three on any race course and the Fox will come out on top every time, and provide more thrills before needing parts replaced.

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I'd go for the Fox, had one briefly many years ago and it was by far the best of the three listed for handling IMHO.

BUT reliability and lower cost of maintenance would probably go to the Frog. At the time the Frog parts were cheaper and more plentiful, probably still are!? especially as some components were shared across multiple chassis.

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2 hours ago, mud4fun said:

BUT reliability and lower cost of maintenance would probably go to the Frog. At the time the Frog parts were cheaper and more plentiful, probably still are!? especially as some components were shared across multiple chassis.

I'll echo that. After a string of Tamiya restorations where the plastics had crumbled from age and plasticizer loss, I began to think about which Tamiyas would be particularly long-lived. The SRBs and 1st gen 3-speeds came to mind being mostly die-cast (though this can corrode too). The Frog was a touch less archaic but also deemed long lived in my mind. I've never seen deteriorated Frog plastics. The chassis is very strong. The front arms, rear trailing arms and gearbox center are all easy to source. Most of the attachment points are all stamped metal. The trick is getting all the flaws out of the chassis like the gearbox issues, etc. 

In the end, I'm a bigger Fox fan, regardless of being mostly plastic.

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This is a tough one. I have all three, though I drive the Falcon with kid gloves, even if a bunch of the parts on it I drew in 3D and printed out.
The Falcon was better than I thought it would be. fairly composed in the conditions I drove it in, ie: don't bash it like a modern buggy.

The Frog I really liked, it was fun to drive and handled really well for what it is. I used anti-friction grease in the front susp spring tube, that seemed to give reasonable damping. I haven't had gearbox troubles with it yet, still running the silver can.

The Fox. I found driving the Fox to be, meh. Which to me means it must be handling well, seriously. Often the better a cars handling the less issues it gives you controlling it. It just didn't seem to have much idiosyncratic about it though. Keep in mind I've never raced any of these buggies, in fact I grew up with a Hornet.

Honorable mention: The Wild One. Released in the same era, and handles far better than it has any right to. I love mine. Not so much a racer or even a car that is good for jumps, but it drives almost scale and is so composed over rough stuff. That reminds me, I have to re-fill the rear shocks (common prob with them I'm told) it's not as composed as it could be currently.

Honorable honorable mention: The Hornet. Greatest of all buggies. You know it makes sense.

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3 hours ago, Pablo68 said:

Honorable honorable mention: The Hornet. Greatest of all buggies. You know it makes sense.

LOL

 

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15 hours ago, Pablo68 said:

This is a tough one. I have all three, though I drive the Falcon with kid gloves, even if a bunch of the parts on it I drew in 3D and printed out.
The Falcon was better than I thought it would be. fairly composed in the conditions I drove it in, ie: don't bash it like a modern buggy.

The Frog I really liked, it was fun to drive and handled really well for what it is. I used anti-friction grease in the front susp spring tube, that seemed to give reasonable damping. I haven't had gearbox troubles with it yet, still running the silver can.

The Fox. I found driving the Fox to be, meh. Which to me means it must be handling well, seriously. Often the better a cars handling the less issues it gives you controlling it. It just didn't seem to have much idiosyncratic about it though. Keep in mind I've never raced any of these buggies, in fact I grew up with a Hornet.

Honorable mention: The Wild One. Released in the same era, and handles far better than it has any right to. I love mine. Not so much a racer or even a car that is good for jumps, but it drives almost scale and is so composed over rough stuff. That reminds me, I have to re-fill the rear shocks (common prob with them I'm told) it's not as composed as it could be currently.

Honorable honorable mention: The Hornet. Greatest of all buggies. You know it makes sense.

Never had the frog but have the fox and my brother had the falcon,the fox handles better imo.Had a hornet too and i agree probably the greatest buggie from tamiya.

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OMG, far too many people seem to be suffering from the virus..... yes the Hornet was rugged and reliable and could be dropped from a plane at 30K feet and survive BUT really??????? The sound of that solid metal bar, that ran through the back of the gearbox, grinding/grating in the slots that bolt into the chassis every time the suspension moved still haunts me to this day (My brother and I had hornets and grasshoppers back in the 80's and used to race each other) :o:wacko:

and to add insult to injury, my eldest daughter bought a Mad Bull (evolution of the flipping hornet) many years ago and still thinks it is great and still has it, arrggghhhhhh (and yet she no longer has her thundershot, terra scorcher, vanquish and top force buggies <sob>)

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On 9/12/2020 at 9:40 PM, ACCEL said:

Dig Juggular's, it's that Fantastic Red One

Sorry, I wish I had a Fox that's worth remembering.  But sadly, mine is a beat up vintage runner.  It has a new sway bar installed. But still has old carbon fiber sway bar holders because I'm lazy.  (that rear tire does not fit the wheel by the way)

abWiJ1t.jpg

The only thing that's memorable is this.  

UhiATrS.jpg

yAQxy34.jpg

Not an official sponsor of my Fox, by the way.  I just had lots of those stickers.  

 

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6 hours ago, Juggular said:

Sorry, I wish I had a Fox that's worth remembering

Then who's Red Wild One is that of the picture i saw on Jack Stands? that's when i started looking for The Wild One.  (i knew that was not a Fox). but boy oh boy RED does at times sets certain vehicles just right.

Off track of these mentioned machines mentioned here,  i go and get Frog bit.

 

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On 9/16/2020 at 12:43 AM, mud4fun said:

LOL

 

you forgot to finish spelling that word "LOL"

LOLLIPOP:lol:

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1 hour ago, mtbkym01 said:

I let my photo answer this question

49921969207_5194a64ec8_k.jpg

 

I am actually this sites top empath and psychic and I sense you are trying to say.......Haw...hawwww, Hornet!

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