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What Re Re buggy is noticably better than a Boomerang?

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I wonder which 4WD re re/vintage buggy is better around a back garden grass track than a Boomerang.

I have been running a standard Boomerang in the garden. I am looking to build another runner but want something that's drives different. I already have a 2WD buggy and I love changing between the two and appreciating the differences in handling and having to change the driving style to get around quickly/ without flipping over/ going off track. As I am mainly interested in the first 150 or so Tamiya models (as this what I remember mainly when growing up) are there any buggies that will handle noticeably better on grass than the Boomerang. Not concerned about straight line speed,  but something that can take corners faster and give noticeably different feel than driving the Boomerang ( I am no pro driver, so probably wont notice small differences)

I imagine on a wide dirt track differences would be more apparent, but would I notice anything on grass? I have about a 60x 25 foot area to play with.

If not, I am happy to consider a newer buggy.

Thanks

 

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Can’t imagine there will be a lot better/different in that era for a rere of a 4wd Tamiya buggy?  
 

I’d imagine you want to be either going for Kyosho or Schumacher rere (optima/cat xls) for a notable better drive in similar era.

Bigwig came similar time to boomerang and was dual front shocks but it won’t be different enough to warrant as far as drive goes.

 

I’d either go rere Kyosho/Schumacher or if you want to stick Tamiya go for a more modern 4wd buggy maybe (but even then it’s hard to think notably better)  Even if you went neo scorcher (TT0B) you’d have a lot more plastic parts I’d imagine. Dark impact seems flawed with the motor tucked away for heat and few other things I’ve read.
 

Pretty sure boomerang will be more solid than most new budget Tamiya.  I had a hotshot and it had a lot of metal drive parts so I’d imagine the boomerang does too.

If it was me, I’d go Schumacher cat XLS

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I have a grass garden track about that size. I no longer have a boomerang though bit i do have a terra scorcher. My egress is noticably better but not loads. Procat is better but its still set up for astro. Best car round my garden track is my super astute.

I depends alot on how the track is. I have a double jump after a hairpin that needs some motor poke to clear with the amount of run up.

On astro my 4wd cars are better, on grass my 2wd cars are better.

I havent really messed with set up yet though.

But, on a track that size, you will notice the difference.

 

Edit, probably the most fun on my track is my stadium thunder :)

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The Terra Scorcher just released is more tuneable (adjustable upper top links, dual front shocks), it has a more robust transmission, and is easy to modify to fit a one way roller in the front. Whether you would notice a significant difference in handling is debatable, (Will mostly depend on how it's set-up), but it's a good excuse buy one and find out ;). If you want something that handles a lot 'better' I'd suggest a re-re Schumacher cat, but they are 'cha-ching' expensive.

 

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The Top Force (and probably Manta Ray) are a notciable step up from a Boomerang. The Top Force is closer to a modern buggy than a rerelease really in terms of performance.

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Terra Scorcher or Top Force if you want a Tamiya 4WD, Kyosho Turbo Optima if you don't really care. The Super Astute is a real peach, too. I'm surprised at how fast I am with mine.spacer.png

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18 minutes ago, Big Jon said:

Terra Scorcher or Top Force if you want a Tamiya 4WD, Kyosho Turbo Optima if you don't really care. The Super Astute is a real peach, too. I'm surprised at how fast I am with mine.spacer.png

From what I’ve seen of the Astute’s on YouTube they jump really well too 👍🏻

I’m glad this topic came up @Typhoon, as yesterday dropping a Sand Scorcher shell over the top of a Kyosho Javelin chewing over ideas looked quite feasible. But buying another (now $500+) kit just for the chassis isn’t really an option. So was considering a Top Force/Manta Ray/Terra Scorcher to work with?

The Javelin is a great car BTW too. But put to hot a motor in it and the garden suddenly becomes very small from experience. 

 

 

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Thanks guys.

Just been catching up on the recommendations here. The CAT looks amazing. Would love putting that together, but not sure I would time to invest with maintenance/ fine tuning. Optima/ Javelin would have been perfect but are a bit more than I want to spend.

Top Force looks like a good shout, FRP Chassis will be different for around the same price as a Tera Scorcher. I know these came out some years after the Optima, so would the Top Force offer Optima performance and handling. Would the Hicap dampers help in a noticeable way? Reading up on the Top Force they seem good for smoother surfaces but I guess they will also handle a grass track. Looks like you can change the ride height easily with the different damper mounting locations.

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Yep the Top Force goes great on a backyard grass track - thats exactly where I run mine. It runs a lot more like my HB D418 or Ae B6D than a Boomerang or Fox.

I have the hicaps because they look cool. I never fitted the standard shocks so no idea how much better they are,  but bought another set for my Super Astute anyway, cos you know, look cool.

It need bearings and the alloy motor mount (Yeah Racing one is US10 from rcmart) but otherwise is fine out of the box. It has adjustable upper arms and steering tierods, but they aren't turnbuckles. You can buy turnbuckles separately rather than a kit as you can use the kit ball ends. The TA02 high speed gearset gives you a lot of gearing options so you could set it up for 17.5T brushless to brushed mod motors

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On 4/29/2020 at 8:20 PM, Jonathon Gillham said:

(and probably Manta Ray)

I noticed they discontinued the Manta Ray last year even though it was only out in 2018.

Really wish I had grabbed one now, you could get them for less than £100. Quite a bargain.

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19 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

I noticed they discontinued the Manta Ray last year even though it was only out in 2018.

Really wish I had grabbed one now, you could get them for less than £100. Quite a bargain.

RCMart have it in stock for US92 at the moment.  Will be a while until you receive it though I imagine

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I like the chassis of Terra Scorcher, but not the shell. 

KInSRbz.jpg

As much as I love Tamiya, that shell reminds me of a fish. 

D201DAa.jpg

I was hoping that Tamiya would move the cab back a little (like the photo-shopped version below), but they didn't.  

IDecx6q.jpg

At least to me, the photoshopped version looks better than the 90's cab-forward design.  

ZYjSspF.jpg

 

So, I would go with Top Force too.  

CC01 was 132nd.  Or skip ahead 3 decades and get a CC02.  

MF01X with the motor behind the rear wheels would be interesting to drive too. 

 

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Doesn't the Dirt Thrasher use the Terra Scorcher shell without the wing?  If you really like that shell, turn a Top Force into a Dirt Thrasher

Wait, thats way off topic now right?

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2 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

thats way off topic now right?

Well, most of my purchases were from off-topic.  I was reading about "DT02 vs DT03,"and ended up buying DN01.  DN01 wasn't the topic.  I wanted get a Rough Rider, but ended up getting a DT03 with a lexan copy of rough rider.  (put some clay in the differential, DT03 can perform almost as well as 4WD)  Green is my least favorite color though.  

BK49OkT.jpg

Plato said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." 

aB9SWvc.jpg

(but he lied, because chocolates didn't exist back then! that's really off-topic, because Plato never said that in the first place! Haha! Sicilian logic!)  

a9kSQf8.jpg

Anyway, I'd say as long as our boxes contain Tamiya RC, we are on course!  

I need to find sponsor stickers I bought for that shell...  

 

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Definitely Top Force for 4WD and Super Astute for 2WD.

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Better than a boomerang around any track? 

Schumacher Cat or Kyosho Optima.

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2 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Better than a boomerang around any track? 

Schumacher Cat or Kyosho Optima.

I think the OP wants to stick with Tamiya.

21 hours ago, Typhoon said:

Thanks guys.

Just been catching up on the recommendations here. The CAT looks amazing. Would love putting that together, but not sure I would time to invest with maintenance/ fine tuning. Optima/ Javelin would have been perfect but are a bit more than I want to spend.

Top Force looks like a good shout, FRP Chassis will be different for around the same price as a Tera Scorcher. I know these came out some years after the Optima, so would the Top Force offer Optima performance and handling. Would the Hicap dampers help in a noticeable way? Reading up on the Top Force they seem good for smoother surfaces but I guess they will also handle a grass track. Looks like you can change the ride height easily with the different damper mounting locations.

Yes it would. Much smoother damping and rebound. Also like Jonathan said, looks way cooler and the you won't have oil leaking problems along the shaft. That's what I did to my Astute way back. Not the Hi-cap but the gold dampers same with the Avante. The difference of the gold shocks from the CVA plastic ones in performance was big. For sure the hi-cap is a little even better.

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Just to update what I ended up buying. Decided what I really wanted was something that handled different and not necessarily better, Also wanted to the get something from the era when I was first active in Tamiya RC

So ended up getting the Bigwig. I remember it was the most expensive buggy at the time, even without the added expense of a new bigger battery and new charger that would charge 8.4v ( hence  I ended up with my original Boomerang instead). Will fit it with 8.4v NIMH and Superstock BZ (which I guess is going to be close to the Technigold?). Added power and weight over the Boomerang should require a change in driving style. Just opened up the box and that Lexan body is by far the biggest 1/10 buggy body I have seen, should give it a bit of presence.

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On 4/29/2020 at 9:03 PM, Re-Bugged said:

The Javelin is a great car BTW too. But put to hot a motor in it and the garden suddenly becomes very small from experience. 


 

 

Just how hot a motor might that be? Asking for a friend.

Seriously, my OG Javelin with a 240 LeMans, HW 1060 ESC and NiMH battery drives pretty well, but it doesn't seem to be any kind of speed demon, at least not in a straight line. Maybe it is and I'm too inexperienced to know.

I don't want to go too crazy, at least not to the point where I start breaking stuff all the time. Thought about a Kyosho G2X, since that's the factory recommended upgrade.

Apologies if I am threadjacking.

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On 5/8/2020 at 11:19 PM, Mrowka said:

Just how hot a motor might that be? Asking for a friend.

Seriously, my OG Javelin with a 240 LeMans, HW 1060 ESC and NiMH battery drives pretty well, but it doesn't seem to be any kind of speed demon, at least not in a straight line. Maybe it is and I'm too inexperienced to know.

I don't want to go too crazy, at least not to the point where I start breaking stuff all the time. Thought about a Kyosho G2X, since that's the factory recommended upgrade.

Apologies if I am threadjacking.

I started off with a 17.5t (2200kv) brushless Hobbywing and HW ESC on 2s Lipo which was great for around the garden, but was underwhelming in an open space so I upgraded to a 13.5t (2800kv) brushless put a tooth or 2 bigger pinion gear in it and was much better. I was getting over 40 km/h which is plenty for the mostly rough terrain I run on. Its to quick for a confined garden area now though.

It could easily handle more power some have 10.5t brushless in them without any issues. Nothing has broken on mine yet either.

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