Do I want a Cat XLS?

[Saito2 1950]

What's the general consensus on a Cat XLS build experience? I seen mentions here and there of poor instruction order, missing parts, poorly made/fitting parts etc. Basically, is this buggy a giant aggravating pain the rear that should be avoided unless you're deeply in love with the Cat? I like experiencing something new (vintage-style, but new to me, that is) from time to time. However, I work with sometime infuriating, ancient (like 100 years old some days), poorly conceived technology at my day job and I don't want a total $310 headache kit on my bench. If its not for me, there's always the Javelin and I know the Kyosho re-releases are good. Thanks for any insight.

[scoobybooster 201]

The CAT is definately not a beginner car, it's a competition racing machine. As such, you'd better be familiar with technical backgrounds like differential setting, belt tension setting etc. The car has a quite complex construction, that might be different from what you see on other brands. Assuming that we speak of the recently released modern CAT XLS, you don't have to worry about a poor manual. Schumacher manuals from nowadays cars are as good as any others you might have seen. This was as issue back then, when the car was originally released in the mid 80's.
If you like to have something diffferent , and if your building skills and technical skills are experienced enough, you should give it a try. Once you have the car correctly built and set up, you will enjoy every minute and quickly forget about all the pain that might occur

[tamiya3speed 171]

I have yet to come across anyone who said they enjoyed the build on one of these.  Having said that, I bought one after downloading the manual.  I like complex builds and the CAT looks to have plenty of complexity.  Having said that, I have almost sold the kit twice as I'm not certain I will run it much when I finally get it built.

[Robert5000 345]

The short answer; Yes. 

The even shorter answer; No. 

For reasons unbeknownst to man I’ve ended up with four kits. One is built. Did I enjoy the build? See the short and even shorter answer. Did I enjoy driving it afterwards? Heck yes! 

[Wooders28 2663]

Off topic slightly, 

Will the transmission upgrade fit an original procat? 🙄

[moffman 1810]

In short definitely get one! I got my one the minute it came out so to speak so the stories of the tough build had not really materialized and I was probably the first one to give it a good coating  it just fought with me from the moment you had to superglue the diff spools and my lid off the glue had fell off and the glue had gone hard so off I went to the shops to get another one! the c clips for the shocks was another "really" moment and I also snapped a drive shaft trying to put them together but putting that all to one side now it's built and running and thinking about it and looking at the manual again a good percentage of the mistakes I made was because I didn't read the manual properly so really my advise would be defo get one but read the manual first! And I just love it!!!

[Saito2 1950]

This is soooo tempting now, and I say that despite hating belt drive. It doesn't get more belt drive than a Cat but its so unique. I'm to point now where I can build every Tamiya 4wd up to the Top Force blind folded. The Manta Ray announcement was such a let down for me, its got me looking elsewhere AND for a different experience. I want the upcoming Lancia Rally but the idea of putting another DF/TA drivetrain together bores me. It doesn't get more different than a Cat.

[MadInventor 2524]

I think it's also worth mentioning that the thing absolutely flies in comparison with contemporary Tamiya buggies.........

[moffman 1810]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

This is soooo tempting now, and I say that despite hating belt drive. It doesn't get more belt drive than a Cat but its so unique. I'm to point now where I can build every Tamiya 4wd up to the Top Force blind folded. The Manta Ray announcement was such a let down for me, its got me looking elsewhere AND for a different experience. I want the upcoming Lancia Rally but the idea of putting another DF/TA drivetrain together bores me. It doesn't get more different than a Cat.

I think you've just answered your own question? And it's definitely different from a tamiya build that i can assure you  i like belt drive and like madlnventor says it's pretty quick I didn't go for the upgrade drive train because I was never going to put a brushless in it I went for the retro and got a vintage 13t brushed!

[Saito2 1950]

Yeah, I'm not planning on over powering the thing. Old School all the way! After re-reading your frustrations in the re-release thread about the Cat moffman, yet still hearing you recommend it, I guess I'll give it a go. It must be worth it in the end. 

[tamiya3speed 171]

If you need any further reason, check these two videos out:

For some reason, the speed secrets video almost sells the CAT to me by itself. Just takes you back in time.  Then to see Masami talking about the CAT puts it over the edge.

 

[mtbkym01 1886]

4 hours ago, tamiya3speed said:

If you need any further reason, check these two videos out:

For some reason, the speed secrets video almost sells the CAT to me by itself. Just takes you back in time.  Then to see Masami talking about the CAT puts it over the edge.

 

Awesome to watch, better get my original restored back to awesome itself 

[MadInventor 2524]

8 hours ago, tamiya3speed said:

If you need any further reason, check these two videos out:

For some reason, the speed secrets video almost sells the CAT to me by itself. Just takes you back in time.  Then to see Masami talking about the CAT puts it over the edge.

 

Just watched a bit of the video. The first bit seems more of an addendum to the manual to enable correct assembly rather than 'speed secrets'. Definitely not a kit for someone new to the hobby.

[moffman 1810]

9 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Yeah, I'm not planning on over powering the thing. Old School all the way! After re-reading your frustrations in the re-release thread about the Cat moffman, yet still hearing you recommend it, I guess I'll give it a go. It must be worth it in the end. 

Just one more point! The very last thing I did when I was building it was to obviously install the battery but unknowingly to me the straps for the battery are indeed exactly the same ones they used back in the day and that means you can only go up to about 2700mah (if your thinking of going retro with the battery like I have) because any higher mah the battery is bigger and the straps won't go around (I didn't know that) so the cat is educational aswell as frustrational and excellent!

[78Triumph 2409]

Let me guess.  It's British, so it has Whitworth hardware and Lucas wiring

[OOZZEE 29]

I just finished the build and it was quite the challenge, I am missing 2 X Hinge pins for the front suspension and have a massive wobble in the spur gear ( doesn't sit tight between the 2 x Diff rings ), several times during the build I was ready to give up and throw it in the shed, happy to have finished it, it was a massive challenge but well worth it, for the build I would invest in some circlip pliers for the shocks and also complete the steering assembly before the under tray goes on. 

Now I just need to figure out the gearing for a 17.5 and complete the electrics

PS - don't even get me started on the soldering of the sway bar, I still have the blisters on my fingers ( for the parts where it missed the super glue that was stuck to my fingers )

[moffman 1810]

12 hours ago, OOZZEE said:

I just finished the build and it was quite the challenge, I am missing 2 X Hinge pins for the front suspension and have a massive wobble in the spur gear ( doesn't sit tight between the 2 x Diff rings ), several times during the build I was ready to give up and throw it in the shed, happy to have finished it, it was a massive challenge but well worth it, for the build I would invest in some circlip pliers for the shocks and also complete the steering assembly before the under tray goes on. 

Now I just need to figure out the gearing for a 17.5 and complete the electrics

PS - don't even get me started on the soldering of the sway bar, I still have the blisters on my fingers ( for the parts where it missed the super glue that was stuck to my fingers )

Soldering the sway bar!....... join my very unique can't solder to save my life club! And I'm the president burnt fingers, melting car bodies, and ugly soldering work is my specialty and my steering on my cat is very poor it's probably something very simple! But I still think it's a fantastic buggy

[MadInventor 2524]

Can anyone tell me what you get extra if you got for the model with transmission upgrade ? Just been looking at them on modelsports website and wondering where the extra £90 goes

 

[Losi XXT-CR 140]

9 hours ago, moffman said:

Soldering the sway bar!....... join my very unique can't solder to save my life club! And I'm the president burnt fingers, melting car bodies, and ugly soldering work is my specialty and my steering on my cat is very poor it's probably something very simple! But I still think it's a fantastic buggy

Have a watch of this: