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cowboyjon

Plasma edge 2 or the new re-re terra scorcher?

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Hopefully this week we will finish our racing fighter and I'm honestly stuck on what to buy next. 

Built a grasshopper with my ten year old and he loves it, despite its flaws. Its also one of the best cars we have at actually lapping round our garden track, which is why we went for the dt03. 

Kinda looking at something similar but different I guess. 4wd should be an interesting build and I like the look of the plasma edge 2 but I understand the re-re terra scorcher is the hot thing this week! 

 

Any advice would be appreciated. The car will be on our (very short cut) grass garden track for 99% of its life. Might even go for a 4wd rally car or something if it can handle tight turns on grass. 

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I used to own a Fire Dragon way back when, and I own a Plasma Edge II now.  I prefer the tt-02b chassis.  The plasma edge is a great runner, never had any problems.  It's also quite a bit cheaper at least here in the US.  $125 v $199 for the terra scorcher.  As a pure runner and not for any nostalgic factor, I'd go tt-02b. 

 

Also, we have a racing figher my son runs and I run the plasma edge and we have a blast together.  They are VERY close in speed.  I don't know where the TS would stack up speed wise with the RF.

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The TT02B, like the DF02 before it (it's confusing, but that is the family lineage!) is flawed as a buggy.

If you intend to use it on anything other than fine packed dirt or rough tarmac / pathways, good luck.

These buggies are compromised because they're based on touring car chassis'. They have longer arms and bigger wheels with redefined suspension towers - that's really it in terms of what separates them from their humble entry-level touring car beginnings. However, since the driveshafts are designed to work at as close to perpendicular to the differential as possible (ie. horizontal) the ground clearance isn't defined by the suspension, but rather the wheel diameter increase. 

Grass? No chance. It'll get stuck. Don't let the ground clearance and the spikey tyres fool you!

Terra Scorcher will be more fragile, but will have better ground clearance and probably be better for a large back garden / grass. In short, I think you'll be disappointed with the TT02B.

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It sounds like you are using them basically the same way we do, a backyard mown track. I have 2 of the TT02B and some rere buggies but not a Terra Scorcher.

The Plasma Edge II is fast around the track BUT needs the grass to be cut short. If it gets into long grass it will get stuck quite easily. New tyres (just the kit ones) make a big difference, if you run on concrete then the spikes will wear quickly and it'll get stuck all the time in the grass. Mine are stock with just bearings upgraded and they go well. The diffs wear out eventually but they are cheap, just buy a set of diffs and replace them when they completely give up, they run for ages when they are clicking. If you upgrade to brushless then you need the metal rear diff, the DF02 is a drop in (with a bit of filing of the diff pinion). Tyey also don't jump well so if you build jumps then just expect them to struggle with them. Durability is surprisingly good.

The rere buggies handle grass much better which is really due to ride height. I was surprised when the Fox didn't get stuck in places where the TT02B would. In short grass though the rere buggies can grip roll easily as they need to be lower. The Fox and Boomerang understeer a lot. The Top Force is the best if mine, the right blend of old school cool buggy with modern performance. In the backyard there isn't much difference between a Top Force and modern race kit.

I've also found that any car that is basically stock (ie just bearings and fix any fatal flaws that are weak spots but no hop ups) are very closely matched. We have raced monster beetle, fox, boomerang, top force, bigwig, wild one, plasma edge II and probably others and they are all so close, it comes down to the driver. Even when i hand my race cars to friends I'll still beat them with a monster beetle. 

My suggestion is a TT02B for carefree running and you can lend it to anyone (your sons friends or your drunk friends at a bbq) or the rere if you want it to look much better and you can accept that it'll be more fragile and you'll be more worried about it.

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Just how durable is the TT02B? I see it getting recommended over older design buggies. I don't own one. From what I hear, it has poor ground clearance and problem with the rear geartrain. Rereleases often seen touted as fragile things. Aside from the A5 part, I never found the Terra Scorcher to be fragile (or any of the T-Shot buggies) and honestly don't think of the Hot Shot series as really delicate either. The Terra Scorcher in particular was a pretty good performing buggy in its day.

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1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

Just how durable is the TT02B? I see it getting recommended over older design buggies. I don't own one. From what I hear, it has poor ground clearance and problem with the rear geartrain. Rereleases often seen touted as fragile things. Aside from the A5 part, I never found the Terra Scorcher to be fragile (or any of the T-Shot buggies) and honestly don't think of the Hot Shot series as really delicate either. The Terra Scorcher in particular was a pretty good performing buggy in its day.

I've found the TT02B to be very durable, with the exception of the rear diff if you put a faster motor in it.  If you run the kit motor then the rear diff will probably last a year and need replacing, but it costs about NZD$10 for 2 diffs so its cheap enough to keep replacing them.  The DF02 metal diffs make them noticably slower, so you need a decent brushless motor to overcome the extra drivetrain drag.

The handling flaws for me are the low ride height (which is fine for modern off road racing, which is just touring cars with bumps), the weight and the longitudinal full size battery.  The battery means they just can't jump well, you can't control the car in the air like you can a race level 4wd buggy.  In a race kit you just blip the throttle and the front comes up, tap the brake and it stops.  A TT02B just does what it does, throttle inputs don't change it.

Otherwise, very little goes wrong with them.  Having the fixed steering rods mean they just pop off rather than bend.  The number of time mine have the the garden and the dog bone sort of pops out of the steering knuckle, you just pop it back in.  Its all bendy rubbery plastic which makes it very durable, but also less precise.  So a perfect entry to RC really.

The Plasma Edge II looks pretty good, a bit like the 90s buggy, but the other 2 don't really do it for me.

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I don't have either of the buggies you are considering, but I do have their close relatives the Neo Scorcher and Thundershot, which use the same chassis and running gear. Both are good performers, with flaws that are easily addressed. The Neo Scorcher has slightly bigger wheels than stock and a DF-02 rear diff, and handles short to medium grass and 13.5t brushless power with no issues. The Thundershot has a metal A5 brace, and handles rough landings and normal collisions without the front end coming apart.

The TT-02B, although following a different nomenclature, is far more of a successor to the DF-02 than the DF-03 ever was, being the buggy sibling of the TT-02 touring car just as the DF-02 was the buggy sibling of the TT-01 touring car. You'll find that it is of much the same grade as the DT-03, but 4WD. Just the sort of thing to bash around a garden track, secure in the knowledge that breakages are unlikely, and if they do occur, parts are likely to be easily available for many years to come. I wouldn't say that the Terra Scorcher is significantly different in terms of strength once you have braced the A5 part, but it is likely to be a more limited release and parts availability may become an issue further down the line. I recall having to pay almost 40 quid for a shock tower sprue that had to be imported from Norway when I was restoring my Thundershot, which was also re-released a while back.

So, long story short, go for the Plasma Edge II!

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Tt02b has no soul whatsoever!

Terra scorcher much nicer build, plenty of driving character, bumpers had become expensive and B part trees were rising in price but with the terra scorcher now released that should limit price rises for a while, spares have always been available since the thundershot re release in 2005

I vote terra scorcher every time

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