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1992 TRF211X Build from parts

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It should also be added that the rear damper mount is obviously not original 211X. It's taken from the Dyna Storm since I simply can't find one. Even a scan of the original would be 10 times nicer than this, but until I can get somebody to scan it for me then I have to live with this. Also annoying to see how the camera make it look scratched and old: It's actually brand new despite some small scratches, just like the front damper mount.. :)

Fingers crossed I have the rear mount, still haven't had time to dig it out but it is on my list of todo's!!

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If this model doesn't excite you, you can always give it to me. I will not offend. :rolleyes:

I give you my address in pm. ;)

Max

Sorry for the lack of updates, and the fact that I'm not really as enthusiastic about this build as it would deserve. But after having built the 411X, everything else doesn't feel as exciting anymore

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Sorry for the lack of updates, and the fact that I'm not really as enthusiastic about this build as it would deserve. But after having built the 411X, everything else doesn't feel as exciting anymore ;) I'll do my best to get it going again.

To me is understandable, correct me if I'm wrong: the 411 is something unique without correspondent in the whole Tamiya/TRF past, present and (maybe) future line-up. The 211, instead, has a dna delivered to the history with the Dyna Storm.

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To me is understandable, correct me if I'm wrong: the 411 is something unique without correspondent in the whole Tamiya/TRF past, present and (maybe) future line-up. The 211, instead, has a dna delivered to the history with the Dyna Storm.

Pretty much so ;) But I guess it's also down to the fact that I've spent so much time and energy collecting all missing parts, perhaps I should have taken a little break before starting. I will do so before starting the next build, which I think will be the 1991 TRF Astute :) Haven't decided yet. Might also be a 'simple' works Top Force Evolution in 1992 spec with the small mods that were used.

It's not a bad thing though, knowing that I have at least five interesting builds waiting, with most parts already sourced. Just got to keep it all in perspective I guess..

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My vote goes to the TRF Astute :-D

Ok, I'll keep that in mind ;)

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Time to get this one back on track. This is unfortunately a really slow build, if I keep up this pace I'll be building vintage TRF cars until 2017 or something..

The shocks on the 211X are a bit fascinating to me. Even though this was supposed to be the "prototype" Dyna Storm, there are some unexpected differences here. The 211X dampers are basically Hi-cap dampers but with new pistons in white nylon with a very smooth finish, a different kind of treatment to the shock surfaces (looks very shiny) and with a new bottom parts - both seals are mounted from within the shock, probably inspired by the Associated shocks at the time. A better solution for keeping dirt away from the seals.

When comparing the shock bodies the most obvious difference is that the 211X shocks are a bit longer than the Dyna Storm shock bodies;

pt4-dampers01.jpg

The 211X dampers do not have the same little plastic o-ring between the shock body and the lower cap, though.

pt4-dampers04.jpg

Here is the "new" piston, never used in any other Tamiya kit before or since. It would have been to big in diameter for the Dyna Storm anyway, but the finish is really nice. It does not look like it's come from a regular plastic tree, it's just too smooth for this. But I don't know for sure. The bottom cap seems the same as the Dyna. A big difference in the bottom part is that you only use two o-rings on top of each other - on the Dyna Storm there was also a plastic guide ring if I remember correctly. There is a small amount of play once everything is assembled but nothing extreme.

However, there is no plastic "sleeve" inside the shocks like the Dyna Storm had. For whatever reason, Tamiya thought this was a smart thing to put in - either to make the volume smaller or to make the shock smoother. I can't say which shocks were the best to actually have on the car since I never drove a 211X, but I do know now that the 211X shocks are a lot easier to get "right" when you build them. Technique for getting these smooth and non-bubbly is extremely simple - just fill them up with as much oil as you can, and slowly screw the caps on and try to keep as much as possible in the shocks. End results is an extremely smooth shock absorber with just a slight amount of rebound, nothing extreme.

pt4-dampers05.jpg

End result look like this. The original top caps are sadly missing - I tried to used Dyna Storm shock caps and remove as much of the anodizing as possible. The good thing is that the Dyna Storm caps are a direct fit, all dimensions are identical. The bad thing is that I'm not happy with the finish, and I will probably try to do this again later on. They do look pretty similar to original 211X shock caps but the finish is so-so, and there's still blue anodizing remaining in some tight areas, notably on the bottom of the hole.. :(

The shock clips are from the Top Force Evolution (i.e same as on the Dyna Storm), and the bottom parts are regular Hi-Cap damper ball ends + spring retainers. The short downtravel limiters are used inside the front shocks.

As a conclusion, I must say that I really like these shocks. Easily the best Tamiya shocks from this era that I've built, and once again I don't really understand why the changed them on the Dyna Storm. Perhaps they were leaking, perhaps Tamiya wanted to decrease the "big bore" inner dimension of the hicaps, perhaps they were too hard to get enough rebound on... I have no idea. I simply have a hard time to see exactly what Tamiya tried to improve on here - but sure, the blue DS anodizing looked pretty ;) In any case, I guess that's also the thing I like with Tamiya from this period - the stuff they did really had some character. The kind of technical decisions they made weren't always rational (just look at the Avante...) but you still couldn't help admiring it, not even back then. As for today.. I don't even know if there's anything of that soul left. :(

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Almost done for today, just had to put the shocks on the car too..

pt4-car01.jpg

pt4-car02.jpg

pt4-car03.jpg

pt4-car04.jpg

Also mounted the tires on the wheels. I had forgotten just how hard the rubber was on the tires back in the early 90s. A bit difficult now to imagine that we actually raced with stuff like this :) Original tires on the 211X were the rib-spikes up front and Spire-spikes at the rear w/ pink Star-Dish wheels.

pt4-car05.jpg

So, that's it for today, remaining steps are cutting the rear wing and mounting the body shell + slipper nut cover. However I will try to have a replica shell + gear cover made before that, and I don't really know how long that project will take. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the build so far, I'll get back once there's anything new to report :)

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Probably those decisions were not rational but the Avante still sell today.

Max

The kind of technical decisions they made weren't always rational (just look at the Avante...) but you still couldn't help admiring it, not even back then.

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Probably those decisions were not rational but the Avante still sell today.

Max

I know. My point was that while the old stuff is still popular, it's now been a very long time since they were really innovating and made something totally -new- and radical. They make good stuff, but it seems the passion isn't there anymore. I don't know how to put it, but to me there was a sense of pride back then, innovate instead of copying (even if it means a worse end result) and also making sure the models were really nice to look at!

There have been some modern exceptions - like the DF-03 chassis for instance. Pretty strange, but nice and a actually bit innovative. But it seems the creativeness sort of stopped when the chassis was designed, whoever did the body shell and rest of the styling and box / artwork must have been drunk.. depressing standard compared to, say, 1993 :)

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Please forgive me but I did know that this model had blue dampers like the Dyna Storm but they are mini on front end. Can you confirm this?

Max

Almost done for today, just had to put the shocks on the car too..

pt4-car02.jpg

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Nope, that's not a 211X. That's a "TRF dynastorm" or what we should call it (it never had any official name from what I know), that the teams in Europe and Japan used in 1993. Newer than the 211X and has not much in common. Plastic chassis, short arms, short front shocks, Parma Impulse body etc. I actually have all parts for this car too except for the front shocks and body shell. Will build it some time in the future :)

211X always had the long shiny shocks all around and double deck carbon chassis.

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Another great build! The 211X looks a little different to the other cars of the era, but should be competitive. the double deck chassis looks the goods.

I have to say though that I do like my modern Tamiyas. Whilst I can see why there is discussion about them not having 'soul', as they are copies, the Tamiya quality and some little differences separate them. My TRF201XM (not an XMW) still attracts a bit of attention because it's 'different' enough and has a big blue bling gear box casing at the back. I also find its what you put into any RC Car and to an extent what you get back, that makes it what it is to you.

I'm getting excited as we move toward our Vintage Festival in Sydney in September. I'll be running a close to evo spec original Top Force that I've had from new and a Re-re Egress. Sadly I parted with my original Egress in the early 1990's. In 2wd I'll be running an original RC10 Graphite that I've had from new and re-re Worlds Car.

This thread and the 411X thread are two cars I believe never made it to Australia, and probably never will! Nice to see them in such great detail though! Thank you for sharing!

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Nice build! Does this kit have any relation to the TRF211XM kit Tamiya just released apart from the obvious differences like the chassis? I have one on order.

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Nice build! Does this kit have any relation to the TRF211XM kit Tamiya just released apart from the obvious differences like the chassis? I have one on order.

Thanks! No, none at all. I have no idea why Tamiya resurrected that old designation. It's 23 years old now.. :)

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The only reason I can think they used the 211XM designation is that they are trying to be consistent with their modern buggy naming. With the 4wd they released the 501 then 511 belt drives. They then released a 502 which had 511 suspension parts but was shaft drive. Then they went to 503, which is an up dated 511.

Maybe Tamiya thought this new car was like a step from the 501 to the 511, hence 201 to 211? The 211XM is mostly 201, other than its new chassis, which is simply a composite moulded chassis the same dimensions as the 201XMW. They could have just called it the 202XM??

All that said, the original 211X in this thread was a development car and never released as a kit, so in simple terms they probably thought to release it as a 'kit' as the name had not been officially released previously. One final difference is the car in this thread is a 211X, the new car is a 211XM. Whilst the name is similar two cars are chalk and cheese.

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Very new nice!!! You keep mentioning all of these other TRF builds you have. Are you/were you a factory drive once? I wish I could get my hands on of those you kits.You seem to have all of them, well done!!!!!

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Very new nice!!! You keep mentioning all of these other TRF builds you have. Are you/were you a factory drive once? I wish I could get my hands on of those you kits.You seem to have all of them, well done!!!!!

Thanks :) No, not really. I was sponsored but only by the Swedish distributor. It wasn't really before the end of it that I started to become really quick and getting good results. At that point the distributor went bankrupt, and the guys who took over were not interested in racing at all. So I missed out on getting the 411X because of that, and kept using the Top Force instead. Didn't last that long though so I switched to a Lazer. Good car too, but not as fun.. :( I guess this is the reason for my obsession with the 411X. It's the car I was supposed to drive ;)

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On 2015-08-25 at 6:01 PM, GTodd said:

Please oh please give us an update!

Wow. It's been more than two years. Sorry, no updates to speak of really. Fingers crossed that I might have sourced some (actually all) of the missing parts, including body shell. Me and the wife had a 2nd kid appearing a year ago which put a big long pause on all build activities. Sourcing parts during work hours is basically all I've been able to do.. ;)

I will resurrect both this and the 411X build thread during this year (I hope). There will be all new carbon parts cut for the 411X.

 

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Soooooo, been a while. Whatever happened to the build?

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It was put on hold again, I got caught up in some vintage racing. Actually with another 211X, built from leftover parts.. :-) plan to have a replica body made.

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