Need help with indecisiveness

[steelo]

I was kind of disappointed in the Neo Scorcher. I don’t know if it was just the luck of the draw, but it was CONSTANTLY breaking. The drivetrain is very weak and one of the first essential upgrades would be to replace the plastic bevel gear in the rear with a steel one. The drivetrain really cannot handle much more than a sport tuned motor without it. Also, the car sits way too low to the ground which causes some problems. You could help remedy that with larger wheels but with the stock shocks, the chassis will be constantly bottoming out on jumps and filling up with dirt and rocks (which causes issues with the prop shaft and the steering mechanism).

The kit comes with plastic bushings, which is typical for most Tamiya kits but they will need to be replaced with ball bearings.

I wasn’t unnecessarily hard on it either, I always took an air compressor to clean it and checked it for loose screws after each run but I found myself fixing it more than I drove it.

Just my 2 cents =)

[RiZZa]

Well I'm still no closer to a decision lol. I can't help but see faults with every vehicle. Do the faults outweigh the positives ? I can't help but say yes. I'm trying to look at the whole picture of ownership from out of the box to modifying to my personal tastes. Which from the suggestions and further research has made me consider the blitzer beetle. I also have in my stash a tired abd cracked sand scorcher body that's missing the nose cone, headlights and a tail light. Does bb body parts fit the old body?

[one_hit]

I'll chime in since I have some of the cars in your list - Wild One, DT03, TT02B, CC01, MF01X and Stadium Thunder (same chassis as the Blitzer Beetle).

Wild One - very fun to drive since it is the most scale-looking car in the list. Exposed battery is not a concern in my opinion.

DT03 - lack of gearing options shouldn't be a concern since the other cars (except for the Neo Scorcher) only offer two pinion choices as well. So far I have only broken one part (front damper stay) but this is because my nephew drove it straight into a soccer goal post. Not a problem though as it justified the upgrade to carbon damper stays

Neo Scorcher - people keep complaining about the plastic diffs, but personally I never stripped the gears themselves, only the slot on the gear that the diff cups go into. I drive mine on a 1/8 track so it gets a lot of air time. I have broken a couple of dogbones, so upgrading to universals is highly recommended. DT03 uses the same plastic dogbones, so those will eventually fail too. Has the most gearing options among the rest, especially when coupled with the speed tuned spur gear set and yeah racing motor mount.

CC-01 - this is what I would bring to the beach. With locked front and rear diffs, this car will not get stuck in the beach, and will also allow the car to do large donuts and rally-style driving on loose dirt. Very fun and one of my favorite runners. I've had mine since 2009 and I have yet to break anything.

MF-01X - I built mine to on-road spec with 60D mini tires and low ground clearance. Rear end likes to slide around which makes it a lot of fun to drive, but I would still prefer the CC01 if I had to choose between the two

Stadium Thunder/Blitzer Beetle - i have brought mine to the beach and it would get stuck in the powdery sand. The gearbox has a nice, distinct sound among the cars in the list. Comes with steel dogbones which is a plus.

That said, I don't think any of these cars will last very long if they are always goong upside down in curbs and asphalt. Especially the DT03 and Neo Scorcher, you will be replacing the wings of those buggies every weekend

Hope this helps!

[XV Pilot]

The obvious long-term answer is to get yourself one of each. However in the short term, the most flexible vehicle in your list is probably the WT-01N Amarok.

You can build it as anything from a reasonably realistic scaler-type model to a fast-and-low screamer to a highly maneuverable and capable 4X4X4 monster using easily available off-the-shelf components.

The gearbox mouldings do an excellent job of keeping sand out of the gubbins, and the relatively open TVP-style chassis allows any sand to escape easily. It is very tough, and can handle a lot of power, especially if you upgrade the stock dogbones.

When I was working out of an outpost on the edge of the Kalahari, my WR-01 and WT-01 trucks were my most-used models, easily coping with the sand, heat, etc. If they work in an African desert, I am sure they'll handle an Australian beach just as well. After all, they are both made of Southern hemisphere sand, so how different could they be?

[Nitomor]

My bias is very much off road because that is the most available terrain for me so all my kits are developed for that useage.

For me both the WT01 which is rwd and the WR01 (the dual motor/gearbox 4wd alternative) have been superb off road runners. I've not taken them to the beach yet. The WT01 rwd variant is far simpler, cheaper to upgrade and better for jumping with, due to lighter weight, with the added benefit that the battery will last far longer than the 4wd variant. I also find that with a brushless motor, I've never found that I've really needed 4wd, it has so much torque it pretty much gets through anything.

I went to a track the other day, thinking that these would be useless with their relative high ground clearance and higher roll centre but they acquitted themselves brilliantly imho and were the only 2 rigs of the four I took to come back without requiring any work. I'm also impressed with the DF02 with large wheels, or a TT02B looks very similar chassis setup which again with large wheels maybe makes a better rig if you're mixing it up with gravel and higher grip surfaces.

As XV says, you can adapt the WT01 for whatever useage you want, lowering it with smaller wheels, or increasing the height and fitting larger wheels (as mine run). It really is the Joker in the pack.

I'm in the process of finishing a WT01-N (N= narrow track) I can't comment on how stable it is yet with the narrower track. I suspect it won't be as stable as the regular WT01 which is available as the Blackfoot III (hard body), the Bush Devil 2 and the Mud Blaster 2 (both lexan and not sure if these 2 are still in production). I may build up my WT01-N as a low slung version with smaller wheels yet.

A pic of my hybrids below, far right is a WT01 blackfoot converted to a 4x4x4 chassis, next to it the rwd Mud Blaster 2 variant (sporting a dual hunter shell which came with the WR01 version) also fitted with oversize rear wheels and then far left a DF02 with larger Vajra wheels andext to that a monsterised Hornet. All great fun, you have loads of choices and can hybridise some of these options to suit whatever your needs.

Enjoy

Cheers

Nito

[Mannyp1980]

When I was working out of an outpost on the edge of the Kalahari, my WR-01 and WT-01 trucks were my most-used models, easily coping with the sand, heat, etc. If they work in an African desert, I am sure they'll handle an Australian beach just as well. After all, they are both made of Southern hemisphere sand, so how different could they be?

Where was the outpost located? what town/country?

[RiZZa]

Thanks for all your help guys. I've made a decision finally! And the inner is a....

CC-01 ding ding ding lol. Sometime ago a buddy of mine offered me his rally raid style Bowler Wildcat for a fantastic price and I've wanted it ever since. So now it will finally happen. Here's some pics:

http://s567.photobucket.com/user/scattershield_racing/media/CC01%20Bowler%20Wildcat/mount4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=6

[Nitomor]

Looks fun

[XV Pilot]

An interesting choice - not quite what I expected you'd go for, but a good model nonetheless.

While not the fastest model out there, it is pretty quick with the right motor and gearing, and also works well trundling along the trails at a slower pace.

It also has huge scope for mods and hop-ups. Do you have any in mind for it?

[mr fog]

what about the frog????

[RiZZa]

Actually it's already got almost all the gpm/junfac mods done plus its got a 1200kv bl outrunner in it.

I've been watching quite a few you tube videos trying to help me make up my mind and I stumbled across Matteo's channel. Changing his videos made me reconsider everything. I've always wanted a xc/cc01.

[Buggyjam]

I've got a Neo scorcher. I've been lucky and personally found it quite tough. Mine leads a hard life, its definately a working buggy. To be fair, I've monkeyed around with it a lot adding and subtracting bits so not exactly stock

The ground clearance isn't all that so maybe not best for the beach. I swapped the smallish kit wheels and tyres for dark impact wheels and proline dirt hawgs. I blast it about on dirt, trails and loose tarmac stones. I did swap to metal diffs and bevels.