Refurbished Fighter Buggy RX

[KhansWrath88 4]

Hi all, I'm fairly new here and wanted to share what I've been doing with like minded individuals. Recently had to stay back home to look after my mum who has recently undergone surgery (it went well and she's all good) but I decided to dig my old childhood Tamiya and work on it to pass the spare time I had off work. It started off by just giving a fresh paint job but then learnt that I could still get hold of parts and such for it so I went on a mission to refurbish and modernise it. I started by replacing the battery from an old Nickel Metal Hydride that felt like it might catch fire during charging to a new Nickel Cadmiun battery and I tearing out the classic Manual speed control for a new ESC. After I got that all in and tested it and it was working fine I went to do some chassis repairs, I filled in all the points where the shocks/dampers mount with expoy resin, this was due to them all having cracks and splits in them from years of childhood use. Once that had dried I then redrilled the holes in them but instead of returning them be used with self tapping screws, I went with using M3 nuts and bolts to mount the shocks, taking away pressure from the points that had split. After that I went with slight upgrade to the shell by gluing in some spare plastic sheeting to fill window holes, I plan on taking this to the beach and don't want the inside to become a massive sand trap, I also went and replaced the aged antenna tube with a nice new gloss black one. After all that was done I went ahead with doing some upgrading. (Parts listed below)

Carson 2wd all terrain tyre set

Absima 75mm Aluminium Dampers x2 (front)

Absima 95mm Aluminium Dampers x2 (rear)

Tamiya RS 540 Torque Tuned Motor

WoMart 12mm Hex Paddle Tyre and Wheel 2pc set. (Painted black by myself)

After all that was done the last touch was a custom number plate I had made up with my birthday on. (shoutout to eBay seller: dimensionrc).

Anyway, let me know what you think and if anyone could suggest any more advanced buggy kits to build that would be great as I really want to get back into this as I had tonnes of fun doing this. Or if anyone could suggest any RC groups or places in Kent (UK) that would also be great.

 

[ThunderDragonCy 7878]

Those sand paddles look ACE on that buggy

[Yalson 514]

Love the paintjob and the number plate. Makes it look like something from a near-future manga cartoon. Nice job.

[Snappy1 966]

Nice job, that'll rip on the sand.

My suggestions for your next project would be 4WD, you could go a 47367 manta Ray DF-01 re release  which are very reasonably priced at the moment or if you want something higher end in the series a 47350 Top Force re release, which is one of my favourite runners, they will handle a brushless motor and check out the FRP sandwich plate chassis .

 

If you wanted something more complicated in the build and old school  a 58391 Hotshot re release.

[TurnipJF 9192]

Or since your Fighter Buggy RX is based on the DT-01 chassis, you could see how far Tamiya's entry level buggies have progressed in the intervening years, and build a DT-03?

[JimmyMcGoose 103]

Hi, just joined as I’m also in Kent and rebuilding my Fighter Buggy. Gave it a run out yesterday and then stripped it down for a clean up and rebuild. Really like the paint job on the shell you’ve done. I’ve ordered a mad bull shell to go on as a second and might paint it black now.