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ThunderDragonCy

When a car sneaks up on your affections

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Had a bit of a revelation this week. RR-03Ra (my RWD RS200 rally car) has been off the road due to terminally worn rear tyres, and the replacememts being rubbish (don't buy the HPI Pirelli copy rally blocks BTW. They have no discernable grip). I really missed it! I always consider myself a buggy guy, but as fun as the conversion project was (it started life as a TRF201X if you haven't seen the Build Thread) it was mainly a vessel for justifying getting an RS200 shell if i am honest. I wasn't expecting to run it much, but finally having an "on road" car with a bit of ground clearance so i can use it without trouble in any street has meant i am using it way more than i thought i would. If i don't have time to get to the park, or the weather is a bit rubbish i can just whizz it up and down the street outside the house for 10 minutes and get my RC fix. As i have been super busy this last week, not being able to do that has made me realise how much i miss it when this car is not usable. 

And now i am off on a work trip for a few days i am thinking of taking it. I would never bother with a buggy as you have scope running locations fairly carefully. As i said above, if i have this (now eith some schumacher rally blocks which stick!), i can just whizz it up and down in the street of an evening. 

Anybody else had one of their fleet unexpectedly worm its way into their affections? 

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The Blackfoot. I never cared for the Blackfoot as a kid. The Monster Beetle was my favorite and what hooked me on Tamiya. It was the uniqueness of it that caught my eye. The Lunch Box, my second favorite, also due to uniqueness. Then the Clod Buster because of its massive size, the Midnight Pumpkin with its old school body and the Bruiser because of its realism and high metal content. But, the Blackfoot? It had no hook. It was just a monster truck.

I got one about 20 years ago while piecing together a Monster Beetle runner because it was cheap on Ebay (yes, at one time people weren't out to gouge you with "collectible" prices on Ebay). It turned out, I actually grew to like the look of it running around. So, it never got converted to a Monster Beetle and I picked up more over the years to keep it going. I still love to watch my Monster Beetle gently run around the backyard, but I take the Blackfoot with me  everywhere.

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My Re re Hornet. Its what got me into this hobby all those years ago and I wish I'd never got rid of my original. Compared to all my other buggies it's utterly hilarious at just how bad it handles, bounces, skips, turns, rolls and stops. 

Its brilliant and definitely the most fun one to run. I'll never get rid of it. 

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Basherbear fits that description.

Bought it as a used HSP Himoto chassis with motor and esc, and it looked like everything you would expect from a unloved chassis sitting in a dusty and damp shed for some time. I believed I paid too much and it would never amount to anything. Only bought it because it was 4WD and I liked the dual-shock per wheel look, and I wanted something cheap and simple for the occasional drives.

After a good cleanup, a team Bluegroove Marui Big Bear replica shell with MCI decals, and chinese 13cm chevron monster tires, it did start to look better. But broke a wheel upright on the first run. Had to wait a few weeks again for metal replacements to appear.

Since then it had some changes in motor to get more speed and other tinkering, but...... it always seemed to remain in one piece and ready to run at any time! Nothing seems to break and believe me.... I tried! :lol:
And since I gave it a 3600KV and a 3S lipo, it is such a great car which flies over the tarmac with a great grunting sound from its chevron pattern tires as they grip into the surface. And will lift its front tires even when on half speed with a punch of the throlttle.

So this car went from 'trash chinese stuff' to my most brilliant main runner with high reliability and high fun factor. ^_^ 
Everything my original Big Bear was.... in my mind at least when I was 11 years old and did not know any better... :lol:

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Blazing Blazer. 

Loathed it as a kid. Dumbed down chassis, cheap MSC, boxy, weird roof, no front lights, crap back ones, weak detailing, boring decals, unimaginative black paint, driver looks like he’s being goosed etc. 

Fast forward 35 years and I bought / restored the Hi Lux I craved ... and little by little the old Blazer grew on me.

Its not boxy - just purposeful for 70s beach rally. Which is why no lights or detailing ?

And those decals are true to life for racing rigs back then - which, if you read about, explains the driver looking bombed ...

Finally, I saw a Big Olly conversion and crumbled 😂

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The Super Champ I thought it was fussy, fragile and for goodness sake it is held together by zip ties.

Owned 3 sold 3 just bought my 4th which I won’t be selling.

I now see it as ahead of its time and a little bit exotic. 

The Lunchbox, cheap plastic, toy like. Owned 6, kept one absolutely adore it as a huge piece of entry level fun. Will buy another and go bonkers with it! 

I’m no longer a Tamiya snob and the LB is the closest I will ever get to modifying a modest car and turning into a hot rod 👍

 

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All the ones I dident own back in the day that i now do.....esp the Super Sabre which I did not rate back then as it was released at the same time as the Thundershot which was just so much better as it was the NEW generation in 4WD....now its a sneaking favourite, hard to find and my own was bought in about 5 different auctions.

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the Twin Detonator 

Sold a long time ago , but by far the most run RC car i ever owned.

Fast, goes anywhere ( and that is before the time of lipo's and there power options it would have now )

And not to forget, insane strong , ran it bone stock ( minus bearings ) , that thing would just not give up.

 

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Back in the day I didn’t get the space frame, only interested in tub chassis but now I have 6 and another to build in the wings. 

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For me it was Tamiya's F1s, specifically the F-103. I initially thought of them as limited, impractical, fragile and temperamental things, but my mates started racing them so I thought I'd get one too. And aren't I glad I did!

Turns out that they are tough, reliable and very well suited to their intended purpose, an absolute blast to drive and a great way to improve one's skills as they are very demanding, but also very rewarding when you get things right. 

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6 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

For me it was Tamiya's F1s, specifically the F-103. I initially thought of them as limited, impractical, fragile and temperamental things, but my mates started racing them so I thought I'd get one too. And aren't I glad I did!

Turns out that they are tough, reliable and very well suited to their intended purpose, an absolute blast to drive and a great way to improve one's skills as they are very demanding, but also very rewarding when you get things right. 

I just picked up my first F103 about a month ago and love it. I'm about to add another one, the Tyrell six-wheeler.

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26 minutes ago, NWarty said:

I just picked up my first F103 about a month ago and love it. I'm about to add another one, the Tyrell six-wheeler.

That's a great one! I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

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I have just purchased one but read in a 2009 post fitting the batteries is tough. Has this problem now been solved? I was told not to put a Lipo in as the car runs better with additional weight in it for traction

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9 hours ago, Superba said:

I have just purchased one but read in a 2009 post fitting the batteries is tough. Has this problem now been solved? I was told not to put a Lipo in as the car runs better with additional weight in it for traction

I haven't had an issue fitting LiPos in mine. A Core RC rounded LiPo or any other that matches the length of a standard NiMH or NiCad pack fits straight in, and even the longer ones can be accommodated by leaving the stock battery holder ends off and taping the battery in place with glass tape pro-racer style. It doesn't even have to be rounded - as long as the width and height match a NiMH pack, rectangular packs fit fine too. 

As for the weight, I started running mine on NiMH, then switched to LiPo, and found the lighter battery to be beneficial. Less mass might give less grip, but it also needs less grip to accelerate, brake or change direction. Choose suitably grippy tyres and the car is faster on LiPo than NiMH by a noticeable margin, plus the reduced mass means less force has to be absorbed if it crashes, so fewer breakages occur too.

 

 

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Thanks for the info, mine has foam tyres which feel super grippy. Is there better tyres out there? Also can I fit large4 pinions? Any advice or pointers to other posts would be appreciated. But on the course I use top speed is a bonus

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47 minutes ago, Superba said:

Thanks for the info, mine has foam tyres which feel super grippy. Is there better tyres out there? Also can I fit large4 pinions? Any advice or pointers to other posts would be appreciated. But on the course I use top speed is a bonus

It might be worth starting an F1 thread so that others can provide insight on this without further derailing this thread. A few of us race F1s, so would be happy to contribute I'm sure. 😁

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