Rising Fighter opinion

[Nitomor]

I bought my son a mad bull at six, within skx months I upgraded him to an unrun dual hunter on ebay and we've never looked back!!

yes kits with oil dampers come with oil and its all you need.

Any kit with larger wheels and direct drive servo will transfer the shock of an impact back through the servo, the saver should generally be up to cushioning most normal bumps, any more and the gears in the servo will be next to take the hit. A metal geared servo is tougher, they're virtually mandatory on the WT01 chassis for that reason.

regards

Nito

[taffer]

I would say the dt-02 sand viper with front upper arms is tougher than the mad bull

its difficult to make such direct comparison because my madbull got as far as a 23t bz motor and became mostly uncontrollable unless I was driving over grass

with better tyres and some extra weight at the front the madbull may be better. A friend installed a brushless 4600kv in his and destroyed the bodyshell on its first outing after flipping over (the body is quite thin)

my sand viper which also had a 4600kv castle setup (and front upper arms for strength) and additional front brace ran for years taking abuse and was still controllable to a large degree

all my dt03's and dt03t have broken easily in comparison to dt02, the chassis is weaker and the different angle of the servo saver must expose it to greater forces because they have also broken

my rising fighter has now nearly 50 hours running through it with only the wing and a gearbox mount cracked, I upgraded the steering arms with 3mm rod for strength while jumping as well, its tough

I prefer the rising fighter to the others because it has a retro charm but with modern upgrades, actually having fun at standard 540 motor speeds!

other models mentioned after driving around with standard spec I quickly thought 'its ok but I'm sure it will be more fun going faster'

Rising Fighter , grasshopper or hornet are great buggies for what they were and still are

[Nitomor]

My son broke his Mad Bull A pillars on both sides on his first outing running it under a patio chair. That's the problem with a hard shell. I spent ages painting the shell too, gutted wasn't the word.

My 4300kv mental Monster Hornet ran into/under a 5 bar gate and survived with scratches. I have a lot of love for the Hornet, for me it would still be a contender in this company, the rear wing won't last but it's massively robust and bendy. I've since taken the brushless off it because it drives better without, it is the iconic buggy and big wheels just makes it so much better imho as it compensates to a large degree for the limited suspension. It's only downfall is the battery tray can occasinally open, I've not had a problem running lipo with the tray opening as the lipo is so much lighter, even with the huge amount of abuse it has had! Pintopower makes a solution for the battery door if it becomes an issue running the heavier nimh.

You have to see it to believe it lol...but maybe worth consideration...

 

 

[Problemchild]

ok - really need a brushless motor now

i still don;'t really understand these motors yet or why there is such a huge variation in price or what my tamiya ESC can handle etc

roll on xmas

JJ

[GregM]

11 hours ago, briscaF1 said:

What's confusing is whether, say, a DT-01 in the guise of one model compares to a DT-01 for another.

For example, will "a DT-01" always have the same chassis pan? If so, is it the outboard components that may differ (e.g. how the shocks mount and geometry which may be a function of the body shell or overall shape intended)? And, on top of that, will there be differences between those "outboard" components, such as the strength of wishbones etc?

I'd suggest having a look at Blackholesun's Tamiya offroad chassis compendium, especially the sections about the Grasshopper platform and the DT platforum.

[Nitomor]

 That's a great website, I tried linking it the other day and it was down, I was gutted but great to see it is alive and well. Is the owner on here I wonder? Interesting he doesn't mention the fighter buggy/rampant rabbit (or something like that lol) under the dt01 which was the mad bull with regular buggy wheels and different body!

Edit: actually the update seems to have lost lots of content and it seems really hard to navigate now!

[GregM]

I wondered about that server downtime, too, but thankfully Blackholesun's website is up and running again. He mentioned the Rookie Rabbit in the DT-01 article by showing a promo pic, below the chassis shots. The Rookie Rabbit must have been a Ready-to-Run precursor of the Fighter Buggy RX kit, with some odd parts added like a clear MSC cover. As far as I know, he isn't a member of Tamiyaclub, but at vintagercweb.com. Over the years, I had some contact with him via e-mail.

[Nitomor]

Yes the rookie rabbit was indeed a ready to run, probably before they called them xb! I have a fighter buggy rx, monsterised of course! I missed it on his article. I'm struggling to find the content with the new layout, under kits you can find your model by series then there is a link to certain chassis that gives more history. Just found good content on the DT02 with a good review of the sand viper on page 2 which might help Brisca here.

http://www.blackholesun.fr/en/35-en/my-models/off-road/buggy-truck/120-tamiya-58374-sand-viper-dt-02 

 

[Nitomor]

Found what I was looking for...(under Tamiya heading)

Tamiya off road chassis;

http://www.blackholesun.fr/en/39-en/tamiya/201-tamiya-off-road-chassis

Tamiya On road chassis

http://www.blackholesun.fr/en/39-en/tamiya/93-tamiya-on-road-chassis

all the history of the different chassis there for you!!

[briscaF1]

Once again, thanks for the links and info. The sand viper review brought up something I hadn't considered in that it's too well mannered in the driving department and, therefore, a bit tame. Unlike the MB,for example. 

It seems that the hornet is perhaps somewhere in between (?)

I'm going to end up assigning a number from 1-6 to kits then rolling a dice....

[briscaF1]

Problemchild: He's 4 and a half so a bit young yet but he had a go of one the other week and was good at it so i thought that it might be a good time to buy a basher.

I think I need to just look at this as getting a MB then something else if he outgrows it later on rather than trying to buy something that tries to tick too many boxes all at once since that's impossible.

If he takes to it, I'll buy something like the viper for myself so we can thrash them together/that he can step up to or see the differences in build and performance.

 

[TurnipJF]

That sounds like a great approach. The MB is a great beginner's car. Other cars are great racers, scalers, bases for custom projects, etc, and when the time comes, they can be added to your fleet too if you wish.

 

[Problemchild]

4 1/2 is pretty young

so the MB is defo for you haha

its a GREAT vehicle and v forgiving but easy to flip

make sure you get the gearbox mod too

JJ

[briscaF1]

It is young but he can grow into it and it is partly for me (but aren't they all?! :D)- I can't deny it. That said, I'll probably enjoy screwing it together more than driving it which is why I was a little disappointed with the MB being partially assembled at new.

Overall, I wanted to get him going with the idea of driving an RC car with a view to racing (it's what I did when I was a kid) and I learned a lot about electrics/electronics/mechanics from doing it which probably helped me into the type of job I do now. I don't think we'd ever race buggies (too expensive to be competitive as I recall but maybe things are different now) but return to oval stocks, instead, unless they do something like the German "fighter" kids series in the UK somewhere local.

But all that's a few years off.

If it was entirely for me, I'd probably buy a RC plane - always fancied one!

 

So, there are 3 things I need to do if I get a MB...

1) Ball races.

2) Steering mod (3mm threaded bar, caps, ball joints, 3mm nut spacers) (?)

3) Gearbox mod...what is the gearbox mod?

 

Thanks,

D

[Problemchild]

JJ

[GregM]

I don't know of any gearbox mod for the DT-01 chassis.

I guess there's some confusion between MB = Mad Bull and MB = Monster Beetle, isn't there?

[briscaF1]

The gearbox on the MB is the same? Am I right in thinking that the gearbox separates under load and so needs additional clamp force to keep it all nice?

If so, does that mean the mod needs to be done from new (to stop gears wearing/stripping) and can this happen even with the standard 540?

[Problemchild]

oooooooh - mad bull not monster beetle - apologies

JJ

[briscaF1]

NP!

[Dangerseeker]

I just found this threat and wanted to share my experience with the Mad Bull: 

1) I think you cannot be wrong with the Mad Bull. Its a lot of fun driving the car. Its no rock climber or racing car but a cool and fast basher even with the standard silvercan. Morevover, the car is virtually indestructable, ours was involved in quite some (minor to moderate) accidents and still runs without damage. 

 

2) The kids like the car but its still too fast for them to control it. When I got that one (cheap chinese something) they could not stop running it (its quite slow but can climb everywhere):

 

3) That means Mad Bull for me (at the moment) 

4) If you want a car that can be handeled easily (does not flip over etc.) looks cool and makes driving a blast then I would go for the Mad Bull. If you think your kid can drive cars with a 540 motor (they are indeed quite fast for kids) then you have to go for a MB rather than any of the other aformentioned cars (my opinion of course)

5) Beware: Motor can get very hot running through grass etc. 

[Nobbi1977]

Mad bull with a 50t motor is a great speed for kids. Impacts lower, batteries last longer and motor does not get as hot.

[Nitomor]

At 4.5 years old maybe a Grasshopper with its smaller 380 motor but be a good bet?  Cheaper again too and you could still easily big wheel it. I'll be building a big wheeled monster hopper shortly (wife bought me a candy green one last xmas which I've yet to build!). 

 

 

 

[Dangerseeker]

3 minutes ago, Nitomor said:

At 4.5 years old maybe a Grasshopper with its smaller 380 motor but be a good bet?  Cheaper again too and you could still easily big wheel it. I'll be building a big wheeled monster hopper shortly (wife bought me a candy green one last xmas which I've yet to build!). 

 

 

 

Thats probably the way to go. Put a 50T motor in the Bull or use a car with 380 motor, but I have to admit, I do not know how fast a Grasshopper with 380 will be. Exchanged mine for a 540 right after unpacking.

[briscaF1]

Funny as I was looking at a deal and I was thinking this about the 380. I guess a 540 is a straight swap and pretty cheap (gearbox is OK with the swap?)

The deal was @ Time Tunnel models, who have a Grasshopper (deal; radio+1800mAh+charger) for £99 but it's a two stick jobbie. I already have a batt and charger but a spare battery wouldn't go amiss.

I'll see if they can do a wheel radio for the same price...that might just be good value.

What's the thought on that?

 

[Dangerseeker]

The Grasshopper is a Tamiya super-classic, maybe the apex-classic  if you want. With its 380 motor surely very controllable for kids, but I cant tell how fast it is, as I never used my 380. As things evolve you can always switch to a 540 (gearbox should accept even faster motors) and you can switch tires to get a "Monster Hopper" for instance.

Controller: I prefer the 2 stick controllers, a bit old school but I can handle them better - some stick controllers, however, might be too large for kids hands.

If you need a 540 I can donate one (you only have to cover shipping fees).