Thoughts on the Madcap?

[Lhodgo]

Just picked up a vintage Madcap. This buggy was never on my vintage radar. I've been looking at avante, vanquish, egress' as my next purchase but I couldn't resist this buggy. It's been kept really well and has a driver in the cockpit. A must for a vintage buggy. What are your thoughts? Why is this buggy not discussed as much as the other noted buggies? I understand it's 2wd but believe they were quite a good racer in their day? With some simple upgrades to say the shocks/bearings is there much seperating this from an Astute? I reckon the Madcap looks awesome!!! 

[kontemax]

Madcap lives inside almost 95% of running Astutes in the world.

 

Max

[Lhodgo]

So why not as popular? Are you saying they were used as parts cars to keep Astutes running?

[kontemax]

Yes, many Astute owner used (or still use) the arms, hubs, knuckles, bulkhead and at the end their Astutes are Madcaps with hop ups and FRP chassis.

Why is not so popular? Because the Madcap arrived in late, after the Astute, as a B series model, underrated, cheap and so on.

It had the pogo stick dampers, the plastic motor mount and so on. Tamiya didn't push a lot over the Madcap in my opinion. The buggy era was finishing to the touring era.

Anyway I own a NIB Madcap, my friend has currently a Madcap with carbon fiber chassis and shock towers, Hi Cap dampers and any kind of hop up. The car is fast on the track but kept the usual Astute problems on the rear train.

A too closed and rough ball differential doesn't allow to be very fast in the changes of direction, not enough for the top speed that the model has. The Dyna Storm blown away that generation of 2WD buggies.

 

Max

[Saito2]

It's a shame really, as the Madcap (and its brother the Saint Dragon) really are good kits, apart from the the dodgy diff. Build the diff correctly and keep the motor choice mild, and it is serviceable. The buggy is more plasticy than the Astute, but like Kontemax alluded to, simpler, more durable and lighter. With a metal motor mount, dampers and bearings, it makes a nice runner that I've seen compete on par with RC10 at the time. It was marketed as the beginner buggy in the newer line of vehicles Tamiya put out at the time (Astute, Madcap, King Cab, Egress) and showed great potential. In the States, I know the battle between the RC10 and the JR-X2 was heating up around that time and folks weren't looking a Tamiya for a track car.

[chickenman242tk]

The diff is the key in these things , same as the astute and a few others of that period , making sure to use proper ball diff grease is the way to go. My madcap runner sports a technigold and i have zero diff issues but it does require more maintenance to keep the diff happy.

Some if the plastic parts can be difficult to obtain due to the age of the kit and the fact some parts are only shared with the madcap and saint dragon , a parts and the shock towers especially. 

[Hibernaculum]

On 24 August 2016 at 10:16 PM, Lhodgo said:

 I reckon the Madcap looks awesome!!! 

2 Madcap cents...

At the end of the day, a car's relevance to racing is definitely part of the history. But as is often the case, it's a sort of trivia really. Most Tamiya owners never raced. Most Madcap owners never raced. It's a bit like buying a particular model of vintage Tennis racquet for a hit down at the local courts, and wondering if it ever won tournaments in the hands of professional tennis players... nice to know if it did! But the pro scene was a tiny minority of the population. So if you happen to love it, then it doesn't really matter either way. 

Madcap looks great and by all accounts, goes great  I remember driving one for the first time after some mid-80s buggies, and finding it spankingly fast in comparison. Brushless folks will laugh at that, but everything is relative. Madcaps were priced well and were pretty great at the entry level, for their time. 

It's also a first-100 car, and one of the later buggies from what I would deem Tamiya's vintage years. Definitely one to collect in my book. Currently somewhat undervalued on the collector market too, which makes them a steal even in NIB form. Quite a few people had them, and there's definitely nostalgia for them.

Front tyres are also notably tricky to track down, so watch out for that. 

[Lhodgo]

Thanks everyone. I'll post a pick when it arrives. Can't wait but it's travelling across the globe to get to me. Now I'm super excited, never seen one in the flesh (lexan) 

[kontemax]

Madcap is beautiful!

 

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=36077&sid=24

 

Max

 

[Lhodgo]

Don't know if mine will look like that 😳😳😳

[TamiyaBB]

I love the Madcap. I own three. One you can see in The Build thread. This will be a runner. 

The others are two chassis I cleaned up. Both from Ebay. They are used but in overall good state. I'll put them up for sale.

As far as driving I've no experiance. I think the Madcap is the best looking 2wd buggy. 

[mastino]

I'm a Madcap fan...mine i s pretty new...

 

 

 

[kontemax]

Bella!

 

Max

[mtbkym01]

Yep, I'm a fan too

[Snappy1]

Lots of Madcap fans here

Here's a family shot, not sure why my Dyna Storm isn't in there

[kontemax]

6 hours ago, Snappy1 said:

Here's a family shot, not sure why my Dyna Storm isn't in there

Because the Dyna Storm is another family.

 

Max

[knurled]

Sibling to the Madcap. I painted this Saint Dragon in Tamiya's Pearl White for a "softer" appearance.  Sport tuned motor transmits energy via Astute universals and the motor is affixed via metal motor mount. Transmission is actually all Thorp. Why give all the goods to the Astute when you can root for the underdog!

[kontemax]

I really like it.

You need:

Red alloy oil dampers.

Avante driver in red suit.

Adjustable turnbuckles on upper arms.

Better pictures with details also.

 

Max

[Lhodgo]

Guess what arrived this week! Boy oh boy, I'm a happy chappy!!!!

[sqfab]

Hello

I like very much the MadCap

 I have rebuilt one of

It also Here it is with his older brother (Dynastorm)

 

Pascal

[kontemax]

This Dyna Storm wants Hi Cap Dampers and Orange Wheels.

 

Max

[sqfab]

7 hours ago, kontemax said:

This Dyna Storm wants Hi Cap Dampers and Orange Wheels.

In this case it will become Dyna Storm EVO

Max

 

[Snappy1]

It looks pretty schmick as it is, not sure if it's new built or resto, but very nice all the same

[Frankster]

Sorry, new to the Mad Cap.  May have a barn find as my brother found his car in storage. Overall driven very little.  Still has the second servo controlling a mech speed controller and ceramic heat resistor.   Body interior was sanded for painting but was painted.  

So far what I have read I will need the following min upgrades:

-metal motor mount

-CVA dampers

-bearings

-mild sport motor

-new ESC

I have read about the ball diff being a concern but don’t understand the problem.  Can someone elaborate to a Madcap newbie.

As I do not have decals, I will prob will not rebuild this as box art

 

[Saito2]

2 hours ago, Frankster said:

I have read about the ball diff being a concern but don’t understand the problem.  Can someone elaborate to a Madcap newbie.

Traditional ball diffs use an adjusting screw that goes through the center of the diff, adjusting clamp load on the inner balls and thus the "tightness" of differential action. After a few previous attempts at center ball diffs in the Celica, Avante and Vanquish, Tamiya tried their hand at making a new-design ball diff in their new batch of cars, the Astute, Madcap and King Cab. Tamiya, being Tamiya, chose to use varying amounts of shims installed on either side if the diff housing halves to provide adjustment vs the traditional adjusting screw. The benefit would be that the diff would never "loosen up" as there was no adjusting screw to back out/off. The downside was their was a limited range of adjustment.

Unfortunately, Tamiya was very vague about what adjustment did or meant for novices in their instructions. The Madcap calls out no shims for the "standard setting" (whatever that meant) and to add a a pair is necessary. That means nothing to a novice. The Astute, using much the same style diff (different thrust bearing) just says it can be adjusted with more of less spacers. Without proper shims, the diff could slip. The diff's small size and limited balls meant it was not overly tolerant to the heat from slippage. I've seen King Cab diffs (same design) with the centers completely melted out of them due to the added stress of the larger tires. 

So the simple fix would be to add shims, right? No quite. The pot metal alloy diff halves would often bend and distort when tightened down if too many shims were added. Only the Egress (again using a similar shim design), which had superior alloy diff halves proved successful with his design.

If the diff is carefully and properly built with components in decent shape with the proper grease and a reasonable motor, it can be made to work. If the housings are warped, it may be tough to get it to adjust properly.