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21 hours ago, Nitomor said:

Are these not them Jason?

http://tamico.de/GPM-Alu-Radtraeger-hinten-1-Paar-fuer-Tamiya-DT-02-DT-03-DT3022-Silber

ps, another DT03T here. For DT03 Tamico has them for 59 euros at the moment for the Neo... and the fighter buggy

http://tamico.de/Tamiya-Neo-Fighter-Buggy-DT-03-Bausatz-58587

http://tamico.de/Tamiya-Racing-Fighter-Buggy-DT-03-Bausatz-58628

I just ordered a Neo for spares as I managed to smash mine up in a big way and needed a chassis and for the momey this was the way to go!

Thanks Nito I'd forgotten about Tamico!

Cant believe how cheap this DT03 is... such good value.

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Got one for my 4 year old as a Christmas present - Santa was explicitly asked for a nice racing Green.

The kit is bone stock with a full bearing set (to increase duration). I actually had to think how to slow it down a bit for the little one. Basically I went for a NiMH pack and a plain 540 in lieu of the included Torque Tuned and stayed with the 17T pinion. This has limited the performance nicely to about 15-20km/hr top speed, which can be handled by a kid in an open field.

Drives vey smoothly, lots of understeer (basically cannot make it spin out unless hitting the brakes mid-turn). Looks damped OK but the travel seems a bit limited for general bashing. The servo saver indeed is crap (needs constant trimming, but the kids don't seem to notice) - this would be the only mod I would do out of the box. I also took care to polish the rear damper shafts (black) with a metal polishing compound paste - the rear damper action is super smooth.

A keeper!

(I was initially considering a Grasshopper as an alternative, but I honestly could not fathom the reason for which both the GH and a DT02 are 20-30% more expensive than this excellent kit!)

2017-01-06 10.13.32.jpg

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Very nice!

I agree with you on the issue of some, seemingly inferior kits, being more expensive. I assumed it was nostalgia that increased the price.

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Have a few more questions regarding the Racing Fighter DT-03 (I'm new to this)

Is this the correct size servo saver? Wasnt sure if "small" or "medium" was the right size.

http://kimbroughracingproducts.com/store/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29902

Also, Tower lists these as an optional upgrade part for GF-01 and DT-03 chassis, but looking through the DT-03 manual (attached generic manual found online), I cant see where this part fits. It appears as an upright, but I dont see where the wheel shaft fits. Is this correctly listed as an optional upgrade, or am I missing something? Please reference where this part fits in the attached manual if correct.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0010p?&I=TAMC4588

And finally (for now), I installed a standard Futaba S3004 servo in my re-re Lunch Box, and purchased the S3010 high torque servo for the DT-03 build, but thought it might make more sense to replace the standard in the Lunch Box (3003) with this high torque servo since it is more of a basher with larger tires to move. Would you recommend doing that switch, or just install the high torque (3010) in the DT-03, and call it a day.

Thanks for your help and patience with my lack of knowledge :huh:

300058628_Bauanleitung_DT-03.pdf

Edited by nosajh
added question

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Man you guys make me want to buy this thing..... I really need to stop reading these threads...... hard to pass up at that price too if only I could read what the pages said.....

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On 05/01/2017 at 6:00 PM, Rb4276 said:

It does not come with the ball diff and i wouldn't recommend it for bashing.  You have to worry about rebuilding it and the stock gear diff is bulletproff

Use google translate. Or just look at the price and order.

buy one and stick it in the loft for a rainy day, there will never be a better kit cheaper

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I have a Neo Fighter and the Racing fighter DT-03, and I agree that you get a lot of bang for your buck!

Even in stock form, they are a nice handling buggy, and with all the hop ups you can get, the sky is the limit....this year i may go brushless with them....

 

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Actually, such good bang for the buck that my 6yr old daugther also got promised one after she drove her brother's and declared ecstatic about it!

Duly built and done up in Tamiya pink and pearl white..

Here's the duo then...

DSC_6067.jpg

DSC_6068.jpg

DSC_6066.jpg

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they are great chassis's........with brushed motors, once I started going further with brushless I found the chassis weak in the event of impacts, even easily breaking the servo saver when only clipping the wheels at high speed.

Now compared to the DT02, it's chassis has proven to me to be much more robust and survives impacts much better, with only a shock tower brace a recommended hopup when going brushless

I'd say buy the dt02 while you still can, instead!

😃

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43 minutes ago, taffer said:

 

I'd say buy the dt02 while you still can, instead!

😃

Buy both!

Is the Bodyshell and wing the exact same for the Neo Fighter and Racing Fighter?

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No the body shells and wings are slightly different, but you could convert one to the other with the parts supplied in the kits...

I have 3 DT-02 chassis as well, and they are good value too, same gearbox as the DT-03..

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20 minutes ago, Palfertronic said:

No the body shells and wings are slightly different, but you could convert one to the other with the parts supplied in the kits...

I have 3 DT-02 chassis as well, and they are good value too, same gearbox as the DT-03..

Suspension is the same as well. Big difference is the tub in the middle.

 

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1 hour ago, Palfertronic said:

No the body shells and wings are slightly different, but you could convert one to the other with the parts supplied in the kits...

I have 3 DT-02 chassis as well, and they are good value too, same gearbox as the DT-03..

Ok thanks, I want to get a spare shell for daily use to keep the box art one in good nick, as I don't have the parts trees I might just stick with another Neo Fighter shell.

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1 minute ago, Jason1145 said:

Ok thanks, I want to get a spare shell for daily use to keep the box art one in good nick, as I don't have the parts trees I might just stick with another Neo Fighter shell.

Rc Mart had them listed at a good price the other day. Postage might kill it though. I only took mine out the basket because it put me up a postage bracket and it made it more than I wanted to pay. 

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5 minutes ago, Nobbi1977 said:

Rc Mart had them listed at a good price the other day. Postage might kill it though. I only took mine out the basket because it put me up a postage bracket and it made it more than I wanted to pay. 

Yeah that's the cheapest.. $20 inc postage cheers, saved for later.

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On ‎1‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 5:29 PM, Rb4276 said:

I actually bought them in November directly from gpm in blue to match my tamiya hop ups. If I remember correctly it was the last set, but you can find some ugly colors on ebay. Also be warned do not by jazz rider/rc damper aluminum hop ups they are garbage i learned the hard way. 

are the jazzrider rear alum hubs junk to ?

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16 minutes ago, chazekxt said:

are the jazzrider rear alum hubs junk to ?

I bought  the jazzrider diff joints and rear axles to go with the gpm aluminum dog bones i had bought before i went brushless and added universals. I am serious, first run 10 mins in i roll over in the grass the left axle bent and ruined my hub and bearings.   The diff joints showed wear, i could not believe how soft the aluminum was when i took the truck apart  

I contacted jazzrider through paypal and filed a claim but they wanted me to send them all back and the cost wasnt worth it so i ate the loss. Im pretty sure i posted a pic on here of the damage. 

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Hi. New member, although been using your DT03 threads helping to learn what I need to know about sorting out my car. I posted this up on it's own thread, but thought it would be of interest here, especially in terms of driveshafts and such like.

I don't like the modern look of buggies, being a child of the 80's I love the older buggies so I decided to have a go and some light body mods and this is the result, my Grasshopper (DT0)3. 

33150834890_701d9bcbf1.jpg

33150831760_1cf7c8a26d.jpg

The colour is neon orange and the stickers are from MCI Racing. Pretty pleased with how it came out. There's some fairly major cut outs around the front suspension towers, and I chopped the DT-03 suspension mount off to get the front of the shell on and off. Not bothered about the nth degree of wheel control and can always get the fancy TRF carbon one if I feel the need in future. Only other change is new holes drilled for the rear body mounts, which are the large L-shaped mounts of the kit sprues that came with the car.

Another modern look I'm not keen on is the super short front overhang. I like the big 80s bull bars, so inspired by AMPRO Engineering on Youtube I knocked up a bull bar bumper in 3D CAD and got it 3D printed from Shapeways. Only cost a tenner! Sets the stance off nicely, I think. I do love the kit black star dish wheels though. 

As for the car, I loved building it and it seems solid. I've never had brushless before either, so I went for a 13.5t motor, steel 17t pinion and a bearing set to start with. The kit came with the CVA dampers with the fixed solid plates on top of the shafts. 

Initially I was a bit disappointed. I'm certainly no expert and have no plans to race, but it was very understeery and bottomed out a lot. Due to older equipment I have already, I still use ACOMS 27MHz radio and NiMH batteries to keep costs down which I've since learnt are on the heavy side, but they work fine in my Thunder Dragon! 

So, after going down the rabbit hole of what mods to do where, trying not to spend a fortune on hop ups and learning as I go, this I think is my basics for getting the DT-03 to somewhere near it's potential and also hopefully help some newbies looking at getting their DT-03 running nice:

1) Junk the stock tyres. The deep rib fronts that come with the Racing Fighter in particular are useless on hard surfaces and I generally muck about in the street or at the yard at work. With the fiesty motor I started tearing through the rears too, and have ended up with Schumacher Mini Pin Yellows on the stock rims. Works great, and the yellows last longer than the blue counter-intuitively, because the blue is harder it span up too easily on hard surfaces and wore out. On things like the pump track in the pictures, the mini pins are immense. 

2) Connected to 1 - Be honest about where you drive. Having burnt through cool looking buggy tyres I now have a second set of wheels (Schumacher Flexlite rear, Tamiya 2WD Dish front) with Schumacher RT1s and medium inserts for tarmac. 

3) Suspension - I'm using the DF03 (not a typo, the 4WD car) setting springs, hard rear, softest front. Both are firmer than the kit springs. The DT-03 settings springs were right out because the colours would have looked rubbish if I'd needed the red ones. Yes, I am enough of a tart for that. Plus, couldn't see the point of a softer set of springs if the kit springs were in the middle. I saw the DF03 springs suggested on a thread on here I think. Great call, especially if you're NiMH batteries as I am.

I got the TRF 54043 piston rods for the rear shock and standard CVA mini shock shafts 50601 for the front and used the kit sprues and some e-clips to convert the dampers to proper pistons. After some experimentation I'm running single hole pistons with the kit Soft Tamiya 400 CST oil.

4) I got the anti roll bars, but have ended up not using them. Now I have the suspension firm enough to hold the car up it handles fine without the anti roll bars. IMHO.

5) I used the leftover ball studs from the unused roll bars to replace as many of the step screws in the damper mounts as possible. Much nicer and less rattly I got a bag of ball connectors to finish the job off, although the fronts need a bit of filing to get them to fit the wishbones.

6) Turnbuckles - Don't be a cheapskate like me and pick up a cheap DT02 set, as the steering arms don't fit! These do seen good for getting the grip up though. 2-3 neg both ends.

7) Driveshafts - I had no issues with the toughness of the plastic driveshafts, but I couldn't believe how much they restrict suspension movement. I didn't want to spend out on Universals as I'm not racing. I ended up taking a leaf out of the Sand Viper book and went to the metal driveshaft and cups. Only cost about a tenner for the parts, and the car stands up at the rear about another 10mm! They look better too, IMHO. Parts are:

Shafts - Tamiya 9805551

Outdrives - Tamiya 9804237

Hub end cups - Tamiya 50823

8) Geared diff with the kit seems fine. I stuffed it with grease as advised somewhere on the internet and does fine for me. 

9) Kimborough servo saver was a fiver well spent. Much more crisp steering.

10) Not sure if the Hop Up servo mount was £18 well spent, but it looks pretty and does look into the chassis and servo much more firmly. I'm open on this one as it's pretty expensive. 

Hope you like it, and hope that helps anyone looking at getting a DT-03.

Cheers!

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Simple question....what size rear and front tires fit the stock rims, and any recommendations? Since I built mine in February, the rears are already bald from pavement to dirt bashing (only had a chance to take it out a few times this winter).

BTW this kit was easy and fun to build, the car is fun to drive, and it seems very durable so far. The only hop-ups were the carbon fiber front shock tower, aluminum battery bar, and aluminum servo mount. All unecessary, but more for looks. The only flaw I seem to notice with the whole kit, is the rear could bottom out hard (especially on pavement) and crack the chassis where the gearbox is mounted. I have been extra careful with drops or jumps on hard surfaces, as it seems this could be a weak spot. I may put some rubber spacers on the rear shocks to prevent this down the road. Has anyone had any issues with weak spots in the chassis, or parts more prone to breaking on this chassis?

IMG_1545.JPG

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If you have a couple of minutes, take a read through my post above as I've come across all the same things you have. As far as I can tell any 2.2" buggy tyres will fit the rims. I'm running Schumacher Mini Pins in yellow compound on mine. If you don't want to spend out on springs to prevent rear bottoming, and you have the stock solid piston plates in the shocks I'd say try getting some 60wt oil or Tamiya Hard oil and putting that in the rear shocks to increase the damping force. 

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9 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

If you have a couple of minutes, take a read through my post above as I've come across all the same things you have. As far as I can tell any 2.2" buggy tyres will fit the rims. I'm running Schumacher Mini Pins in yellow compound on mine. If you don't want to spend out on springs to prevent rear bottoming, and you have the stock solid piston plates in the shocks I'd say try getting some 60wt oil or Tamiya Hard oil and putting that in the rear shocks to increase the damping force. 

nice post, and good idea, ill try the heavier oil and see how it handles the rear

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Only thing I'd warn you about changing tyres is that those ribbed fronts have very little grip on tarmac compared to almost anything else. I tried dialing the understeer out on those tyres, then got the Mini Pin fronts which have LOADS of grip and suddenly had a wildly oversteering car! Had to get the matching MiniPin rears to even out the grip. Have fun with the tuning!

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Depending on where you're planning to run it I'd go with Schumacher low profile cut staggers (without inserts) in yellow up front and Schumacher mini spikes in yellow with Schumacher inserts at the rear. I use this combination in all my 2wd race cars and it's fantastic. The rears won't last long if you use them on tarmac but on grass etc they'll have a decent lifespan. Don't forget to glue the rears to the wheels you won't have to bother gluing the fronts. 

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Something I did forget to mention, is that gravel loves getting jammed up in the dogbones and the rear arms. I tend to not run in gravel because of this and the annoyance of un-jamming tiny gravel with a small screw driver to get the rear suspension moving its full motion and freely again.

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