Vajra

[Nitomor]

Vajra - Vajra is a Sanskrit* word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. Additionally, it is a weapon which is used as a ritual object to symbolize both the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force).

So that is the image Tamiya wish to portray with this model. Of course in English Vajra is too close to Vajazzle to take the name seriousy not helped by the bling bling chrome wheels and jewellery-esque components adorning the chassis.



Love it or loath it, it's an interesting kit. It is of course the more off road bias based derivative of the 'revered' (by some) Avante.

I wasn't sure of this offering when I first saw it, not helped by the price and dismissed it as a bit of bling, too fragile to be any good and not worth plumping for. Then I bought a beautiful Avante Black Special early last year, it was the last remaining BS I could find anywhere and I'm over the moon to have received it, so much so in fact I haven't been able to bring myself around to building it.

Roll on Xmas and my wife was pestering in the best possible way as to what I would like. Earlier in the year a CR01 would have been my Xmas choice. However this caught my eye again, the fact Tamico had one last remaining kit left, made me feel very strongly that it was now or never with this and it would compliment the BS very nicely. It's a bit special and while not popular now, it might be seen differently in years to come.

I've spent a few hours Sunday on this and it is very different to any of the other kits I've built. The diffs were really fiddly and a pita to be honest, but satisfying once they were eventually bolted up (oops what's that..dropped a ball, assemble/re-disassemble to the power of 4 or 5! Where did it go? Bring forth the microscope!)

(*sanskrit is the classical language of Indian and the liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is also one of the 22 official languages of India.)

More to follow on approval of thread...

Cheers
Nito

[Nitomor]

Thanks Mods,

Opening the box...

A bit dissapointing given the cost of the kit and its Avante roots, yet all the new kits I've had from Tamiya are following this format, the Amarok, GF01, Aero Avante, this one, they're all unceremoniously "chucked in the box". It bothers me after seeing how well they've always packaged the kits, the boxes are also getting smaller as a result of this which no doubt reduces shipping costs but it's a pity nonetheless.

Note the extra decal sheet which I assume is the bonus item referred to on the box.

Box contents bar the wheels, tyres, body...

Full bearings included...

The fiddly diffs I was speaking about, these are tensioned up ball diffs with a spring to give the LSD effect as the shims push on the small balls...

Lovely chunk of thick carbon fibre and a gt tuned motor, what's not to like??

As it looks now...

The rear wishbones setup is pretty unorthodox compared to all the other Tamiya kits I've had, some lovely aluminium parts and look at the chunky carbon rear shock towers and steering rack.

So far so good, it just oozes quality!

[Nitomor]

Shocks all done and fitted, just electronics to finish now, Brushless or not? I think for the moment I'll try it as is. Fortunately I have a spare esc from my Blackfoot build which I plan to use on this since this kit doesn't come with one.

I'm not one for bling, luckily my GF01 came with the same identical wheels and tyres but in Black which I think are far better served on this. A few pics below!

[ChrisRx718]

It's an interesting model for sure, but I can't help but feel it just looks a bit....wrong. Like when I put Wild Willy wheels on my TL01B years ago. The 16 year old me thought it looked great, but in reality it really wasn't!

I'd still like to drive it though...

[kontemax]

Beautiful but there's an error. The steering plate in mounted reversed.

Refer to page 14 in the manual.

Max

[Nitomor]

I know what you mean Chris, it almost seems too exotic a spec for a basher type rig. I'm a fan of the big wheel look though, saves me monsterising the Avante lol.

Thanks Max, that may explain why the front wheels are toeing out then, I did wonder. I'll check it out tonight, I guess the carbon plate wants spinning around 180 degrees.

Cheers

Nito

[Thommo]

Good spot Max ! Steering left would see the ball end foul on the steering bridge.

Great job Nitomor, I'm really liking this build. The black wheels look great and with the short wheelbase and big wheels would be awesome fun in loose dirt. This thing is going to be great for power-slides, dirt drifting, circle work etc.

What size pinion is supplied given the big wheels ? I'm interested because GT Tuned motor normally handles bigger wheels pretty well.

[Nitomor]

Thanks Thommo,

18T if I remember correctly (gearing is adjustable for other pinions on the motor mount). I'll double check when I get home tonight. You say short wheelbase, what are you comparing that too, isn't the Vajra longer wheelbase than the Avante? Image below compares it to the 2011 Avante, is that the same as the original? ps. you can see the steering plate as it should be below I'll give myself a ticking off for that!

There are a couple of vids of Vajra's on youtube and I have to say they do look pretty impressive off road, I wonder how durable the carbon plates are?

Cheers

Nito

[Thommo]

I can't load the image on my iPaz but I'm keen to see that. Is it the same wheelbase as Egress maybe ?

Size is relative thank goodness ! To me the short wheelbase is relative to the tyre size just like the Blitzer Beetle and Stadium Blitzer (buggy chassis - truck tyres) look and drive like a short wheelbase off-roader.

[Nitomor]

I seem to remember that the prop is the same as the Egress (was looking at the yum yum carbon prop!) so I believe it is the same as Egress wheelbase (just checked and Egress is also 275mm). I see what you mean by the tyre size effectively emulating a reduced wheelbase. Probably why all my monsterised buggies seem to drive so much better!

If you can't see above image, it shows Vajra 275mm vs Avante 2011 260mm.

Cheers

Nito

[Thommo]

Monstorised buggys, Ahhh that's right...... Your that Guy !

I mean that in the nicest possible way. They are cool

[Nitomor]

Lol, thanks, that's me, a monsterised Aero Avante in progress at the moment too!

[Plopes]

Nice interesting build.

[Nitomor]

Thanks Plopes.

Max thanks again, error corrected!

Pinion is indeed 18T.

Cheers

Nito

[Nitomor]

The Vajra is now fully operational...

Rather than run the wiring as per the manual, I decided to route it all around the back of the motor, I think it looks neater.

Some more cable tidy to go on yet but it's good enough for now, I still have the body to finish cutting out, then spray and decals. Given it a small test, the GT motor sparkles quite a bit which is mesmerising to watch and I think it could do with a more powerful servo and servo saver in all honesty as it struggles to turn the wheels side to side at standstill on the rubber mat but it'll probably be fine in motion.

I'm considering the Egress undertray though I'm not entirely sure if it'll fit but it would be good to try and keep any muck from flicking up etc. I think the shell won't follow the contours of the undertray (unless I used an Egress shell lol).

The diddy Futaba receiver is great for fitting in little places, I haven't range checked it properly yet to see how good the range is. It's a tiny aerial, I saw somewhere it said 300m which should be ok, its an air receiver for indoor use and park flyers.

[kontemax]

I like the Vajra. It deserves a better body and some better rims in my opinion.

It would be an easy conversion to a long wheelbase Avante.

Max

[Nobbi1977]

It is a thing of beauty but the price is well out my range.

What you doing with the body?

[Nitomor]

There's no reason why it shouldn't be a very capable chassis. I'd be tempted to go brushless but scared about how it wouldn't handle those inevitable impacts and it would then definately need beadlock wheels. The kit wheels and tyres do have tyre foams but the tread seems far better geared to on road use.

I take it the lwb Avante is the 2001 model? It ought to be able to take the Egress shell too but I think that has different shock towers (I suspect it would be the same for Avante body) so not sure how much modifying would be required. It's tempting to try it out! Hmm, does the Avante 2001 also have an undertray?

Thanks

Nito

[Nitomor]

Cheers Nobbi, we paid £250 for it which is far better value compared to the original prices they were up for but there aren't many left now, it's not a practical basher as some parts are dear and supply of them is probably not that plentiful.

I'm stuck as to what colour to paint it, I did have the crazy idea of doing an inverse Avante Black Special which is black with pink wheels, so I considered pink body with black wheels for this, a nod also to the Vaj references they invariably get but I'd then be stuck for decals because the body graphics wouldn't stand out much and the red would clash so it would be relatively plain apart from the detail decals like lights, grille etc.

Box art is black but both bodies on my recent WT01 build are already black so fancied a bit of a change too, but the graphics work will with black.

Other possible theme was paint it Blue like the original Avante with some of the yellow Avante decals, Nuts is Neat etc theme as a nod to its roots.

Finally I could go with some funky two tone paint job but this would be more time consuming. For now I'm not in a rush to paint it. It is a bit of a pig to cut the shell and seems thicker than other polycarb bodies I've done, maybe my scissors are just getting blunter

[Nobbi1977]

Cheers Nobbi, we paid £250 for it which is far better value compared to the original prices they were up for but there aren't many left now, it's not a practical basher as some parts are dear and supply of them is probably not that plentiful.

I'm stuck as to what colour to paint it, I did have the crazy idea of doing an inverse Avante Black Special which is black with pink wheels, so I considered pink body with black wheels for this, a nod also to the Vaj references they invariably get but I'd then be stuck for decals because the body graphics wouldn't stand out much and the red would clash so it would be relatively plain apart from the detail decals like lights, grille etc.

Box art is black but both bodies on my recent WT01 build are already black so fancied a bit of a change too, but the graphics work will with black.

Other possible theme was paint it Blue like the original Avante with some of the yellow Avante decals, Nuts is Neat etc theme as a nod to its roots.

Finally Imcould go with some funky two tone paint job but this would be more time consuming. For now I'm not in a rush to paint it. It is a bit of a pig to cut the shell and seems thicker than other polycarb bodies I've done, maybe my scissors are just getting blunter

Maybe score and snap will work better on a thick body.

On another note why are we on here early on a Saturday morning?

[Nitomor]

For me, kids are still asleep

[Nobbi1977]

For me, kids are still asleep

For me kids are awake but wife still asleep. My turn tomorrow :-)

A gun metal colour might work well on that body. Lighten it up a bit but still work with the stickers

[Nitomor]

Yes that could well be the way forward. The pearl black I used on the Amarok looks grey in some light, I'll have to see what I have in the way of paints. Yellow could also look good with the decals but maybe a bit lairy, but that would tie in with the colouring of the original Avante wheels and decals.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[kontemax]

Avante 2001 is a different model, it's a low level Egress with a slightly modified Avante body and it's not compatible with Vajra chassis.

Chassis plates and shock towers are totally different.

I would like to try a different version of an Avante with a long wheelbase because these chassis plates are identical to Avante ones but longer. This would mean many handmade works to adapt all the parts. Just a fun idea for me.

Anyway you need some aluminum front and rear knuckles if you want some fun and avoid many frustrations. The original plastic ones will break with easy. Yeah racing does them.

Max

There's no reason why it shouldn't be a very capable chassis. I'd be tempted to go brushless but scared about how it wouldn't handle those inevitable impacts and it would then definately need beadlock wheels. The kit wheels and tyres do have tyre foams but thr tread seems far better geared to on road use.

I take it the lwb Avante is the 2001 model? It ought to be able to take the Egress shell too but I think that has different shock towers (I suspect it would be the same for Avante body) so not sure how much modifying would be required. It's tempting to try it out! Hmm, does the Avante 2001 also have an undertray?

Thanks
Nito

[94eg!]

Allegedly the Vanquish body will fit this flip-flopped long chassis. Though you would have to dremel out the pass-through of that front shock tower to make room for the nose.....and then come up with some sort of wing mount. Still I bet a big-tire Vanquish would look pretty cool!