Any issues buying vintage tamiya crawler - TA-01? Special pieces? Better one?

[Evilive99 2]

Hi,

 

I wanted to get a crawler for my 3rd build and like some of the old TA-01 I have seen online (I like the hummer)  They don’t look very difficult.  If I get one new in the box they are many years old - will they still work OK or do I need any special pieces besides servo, esc, transmitter?  How do they compare to the CC-01 and CR-01 hat are new and available online?  Thank you.  I did the comical grasshopper and found the difficulty and build time great - took me a while but not too long, was not very difficult.  If that helps. 

[Doc Hollywood 160]

The TA01 chassis are good mechanically the gearboxes are strong and they do have reasonable off road capability if you buy longer reach shocks and different suspension arms. Also if you fit big wheels like the hummer has with soft grippy tyres it will go off road better too. My chassis is really messed about with as it has a fly wheel gearbox fitted in the middle that has two props that go to the front/rear gearboxes which dose mean it is very low geared I were towing a mecano trailer behind it with a sand scorcher on the back including handset and battery it still would go over gravel and obstacles. I don't have any experience with CC01 or CR01 but they do look like they would be good off road as they have got big tyres. I can Take some photos of my chassis if needed mine has a series 1 land rover body on it that was scratch built. I hope this helps  

[TurnipJF 9192]

The TA-01 is not a typical choice for a crawler, but with enough customisation I suppose anything is possible. As a scaler though, it has is place. 

In terms of extra bits, for reliability you'll want a steel pinion, all-plastic gearset, alloy motor mount and hardened propshaft.

As far as performance goes, all else being equal it won't quite keep up with a CC-01, and will be significantly outclassed by a CR-01 on rough terrain. However this doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't get one. On more even ground such as a rally course, it is likely to out-perform both of them.