Sand Rover(Counterfeit)

[Busdriver]

I have always loved good old fashioned beach buggies. Ive made quite a few static Meyers buggies in obligatory orange but missed out on the sand rover as I was doing boats, planes or airguns or possibly all three. Now they just seem to be bonkers money. I have no hang ups regarding originality so was wondereing if I could create one. Someone has offered me a Titan truck which I beleive is a DT02. If I'm right the re re sand rover also is on a DT02? So my question is with bodies etc being fairly available along with some scratch building how difficult would it be to produce a fake sand rover. Is the suspension very different for instance?

Edited November 24, 2019 by Busdriver
terrible grammar and spelling

[Superluminal]

Ive just bought a re re sand rover myself - from the reading I have been doing its just the standard Dt02 chassis that the titan uses. The only difference I can see is the front shocks are turned upside down to suit the very low front end of the sand rover body.

However if its an original sand rover you are after the re re Dt02 chassis is completely different to the original which looks like it has a torsion bar front suspension like the sand scorcher. You could perhaps build a custom flat plate chassis for it and use the front suspension and rear motor and gearbox from an SRB.

[Busdriver]

As I said not to bothered about the original. Quite happy to use DT02, seems to be quite a good simple chassis.. Lots of other plans at the moment so just getting thoughts together!!!

[ThunderDragonCy]

2 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

As I said not to bothered about the original. Quite happy to use DT02, seems to be quite a good simple chassis.. Lots of other plans at the moment so just getting thoughts together!!!

I have seen a couple of these with home made rear shock towers to use mini shocks instead of short shocks so the rear end can be tidied up and a bit more scale. The stock tower and shock stick through a hole through the rear deck. 

[Superluminal]

This thread shows some mods on how to narrow and reduce the wheelbase so it resembles the original a bit more.

http://www.tamiya101.com/article_2010_holiday_buggy_modified.asp

 

[nowinaminute]

There's a narrow front arm design for 3d printing too. They are fairly chunky and simple so are quite tough if you print high infill with something a bit stronger than PLA such as ABS or PET.

I dont have a printer but there's some vendors on treat stock who give pretty good results for very reasonable prices.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2640371/comments

[wolfdogstinkus]

The Dt02 is a great buggy but doesn't look right with the buggy shell. It should be on a SRB chassis with some modern improvements. 

Would like to see someone recreate the sway away adjusters in 1/10 scale for the SRB front axle.

I know it won't run as good as a buggy but scale models suitable for radio control is where it all started.

[Busdriver]

Think I'm just going to keep my eyes out for a re re.

[Juggular]

I was never impressed with the original.  It was before my time too. 

I head that the suspension stays broke off easily on the front.  

Exposed gears + Sand anything = bad idea. 

But what it had was a cleaner body.   

Like the real 1:1 here with the man himself, Meyers, the dude.  

(This was how he looked in the 70's)

(Nope, I'm wrong.  That's another "the dude.") 

I prefer DT02 chassis 10000%.  But the shell has so many holes...  

I don't mind the rear.  I don't mind the body posts either.  But as you've seen in other mods, if Tamiya bothered with modifying the shock tower, the front would have looked a bit cleaner.  There are two more holes hiding under the "Sand Rover" sticker too.  

To avoid trademark issues, the body line between front and rear fenders come down a lower, and the rear hangs low too.  The actual Manx's rear end came up high to make room for the engine.  

But this was how it looked in the original. 

Re-issue is the same, obviously. 

DT02 is wider.  The original chassis had the tires tucked into the shell.  

But here is somebody who moved the shell forward, by cutting off the tail end of the shell, and adding a guard for the chassis.

Is this done by a member?  I wish I can give credit, but I forgot where I got this photo from.  If you are a member, confess your masterpiece.  This is how Tamiya should have released.  No holes except for two for the body posts.  

Since I'm too lazy to go that far, mine is stock. 
The shell for the black bear version would be easier to find.  

Whenever Manx comes up, I must include this advertisement.  I get it that it's a kit car.  Not many women (or men) could just chop up an old VW chassis.  But what was the purpose of featuring the screaming woman?  lol...   

 

[Aerobert]

 

On 11/26/2019 at 8:59 AM, Juggular said:

Is this done by a member?  I wish I can give credit, but I forgot where I got this photo from.  If you are a member, confess your masterpiece.  This is how Tamiya should have released.  No holes except for two for the body posts.  

 

This one is from Tamiyaclub member dr.roberts. This is the link to his showroom:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=114086&id=9813

 

I've also made some modifications on my Sand Rover: