King/Super Blackfoot interest

[Saito2 6675]

Perhaps its their release timing in the marketplace or maybe its just me, but I see little interest in the Super or King Blackfoots. I've always had an interest in how Tamiya developed the basic ORV monster chassis, first with a completely new rear end with a widened front (Super) and then with a new design front suspension added (King). Tamiya really ran that old chassis design out for a long stretch. Only the upgraded 'Foots never captured the imagination like the original. Its no doubt down to timing and competition for other manufactures plus perhaps a downswing in RC in general. I've never had either, but they do intrigue me. I would assume as popular as the original one was, a factory version with many of the short comings fixed would be at least equally popular among us Tamiyaclubbers. Anybody care to share insight into these two trucks (plus the Bush Devil too)? Sorry to fans that love them, but the Blackfoot Xtreme and Blackfoot 3 never quite "fit" into the family for me, being a totally different chassis

[markbt73 5311]

I missed out on the Super, but I had a King that I bought for cheap in about 1999 or so.  It might have already been on clerance sale. I had a lot of fun with it, and put it though its paces, but there were definitely some weaknesses that I never could get sorted out.

The most glaring one was the front suspension geometry: the pivot points for the suspension arms were in completely the wrong spot. The way it was set up, as the suspension compressed, the wheel would go to positive camber and toe in, at the same time. And the springs were very hard. As a result, during use, it never really moved at all. The rear suspension was pretty good, but the front was way too stiff, so the only real bump absorbing in the front was the tires, and play in the suspension.

The redesigned gearbox was pretty tough, I think it was the same internals as the Blitzers, or close to it. The brackets needed to graft it onto the back of the ORV frame were interesting: big chunky things that looked like they were prototypes thrown straight into production. And I remember it being overgeared; with a modified motor it would struggle to gain speed, and there were no gearing options.

It sure looked the part, though: tall tires, stubby wheelbase, and a black hard-plastic Ford truck body will always say "Blackfoot," no matter what's holding them together...

[Frog Jumper 3656]

I love my Bushy D...

The SBF tranny is bullet proof but I’ve yet to attempt to try an adjustable motor mount. 

I also  run a combo of the Bf and SBF front end, ie standard BF parts except for the arms and radius arm. The added length makes the front end softer.

50520s all around

Terry

 

[J@mes 2326]

Blackfoot ORV is my obsession now due to back in the mid 80’s I never got one. FFWD 35 years & I now have 2xKBF 2xSBF 1xBD 1xrereBF and a hybrid built from NOS 

If (I mean when) they rere them I’ll be buying them up for sure. They are wobbly as jelly & cool as ice.

 

[Mad Ax 9295]

I had a Mud Blaster back in the 90s - it was my only childhood NIB - and although I loved it, I was surprised at how simple it was compared to the old and very used King Cab that it replaced.  The new-built ORV could never compete with the much-abused King Cab.

In fairness, I had no reliability problems with the original besides the fragile Brat body, which self-destructed within a few weeks of ownership.

Over a decade ago I acquired a used KBF and was very surprised at how different it was.  I had intended to use it as a runner but ended up giving it to a mate in payment for some work on a 1:1 car.  I don't think he's ever used it and two years ago he said he'd give it back to me as a birthday present...

Anyway, I missed never really running it, so a few years back I bought another.  It's become one of my favourite runners.

As @markbt73 points out, it has some glaring flaws in the front suspension geometry.  It's a more elegant solution than any other ORV but it just doesn't work.  I've looked a few times at fitting a modern steering system to reduce the bump-steer but there is so much that is wrong, it really needs a ground-up rebuild.  It's always one of those "one day" projects - pull off the front end, re-engineer it with modified, alternative or 3D-printed parts, and make a better runner.

To be fair, those kinds of flaws never stopped people buying the myriad other Tamiya designs, and there always seem to be used KBFs and Bush Devils floating around on ebay.  I don't know if they sold less than earlier ORVs during their initial production run, but there does seem to be less love for them in the collector's scene.

[Re-Bugged 10099]

My first Tamiya RC was a KBF, a used one bought from Diamond Free Ads paper early 2000’. 
I worked in a small Carpentry/Joinery Shop fitting workshop at the time where a few of us decided it would be a great idea to invest in some cheap RC’s to bash at lunch time as there was some fantastic unused land around us. The budget was 40 quid so we bought toy grade cars and soon realized they were crap, and seeing as someone completely blew out their budget and bought a Grasshopper 2 or a Fighter RX Kit or similar it obviously ran rings around the rest of us. 
One guy subsequently resurrected an original Blackfoot, another dug out a Kyosho Subaru Impreza and a brand new nitro HPI Monster Truck turned up. 
So cue an ad in above mentioned classified paper for a ‘hardy used new built KBF, radio, 2 batteries & fast charger for 70quid.” 
I turned up there after a phone call that day with the cash and immediately took it away. The guy was selling it to buy a Clod. 
Stoked I was with me first Tamiya. It was also fitted with a 15 turn double motor. 
I didn’t know until this topic that the KBF had any flaws, as I only have very happy memories of that Truck. It never gave any bother, charge the battery and go. One battery did eventually give up the ghost so I bought a new higher capacity one that seemed to give it even more poke. You couldn’t turn full lock on anything over half stick without it rolling on pavement. I can’t say I ever noticed the bump steer as the front wheels were in the air most of the time!  So much so I fitted some aluminum brackets to the back end as to avoid ripping the bumper off with all the wheeling. 
Man I had some fun with it.
 

I lost count of how many times I kept looking at a NIB KBF that Tamico had for sale in the vintage section last year for a while. I just couldn’t justify the almost A$700 it would have cost me. Pity because if I could have only one Tamiya it would be a KBF. So I’m ever hopeful for the rere 😉