boomerang questions

[Bigwheels_inc]

hi

got a big box full of tamiya parts delivered today and in there is a boomerang chassis and other boomerang parts

i like the look of the boomer but now im thinking do i build one ?

the price of the parts doesnt realy bother me as i build most of my cars from parts or end up replacing most of the parts to get them how i like them but having never owned one just wondered how do they handle are there fast good on corners break easily etc i know there vintage and wont handle like a modern buggy but i like the look and thoght id ask what there like before building one and being dissapointed

cheers

pete

[Robby Hobby]

quote:Originally posted by grasshopper pete

hi

got a big box full of tamiya parts delivered today and in there is a boomerang chassis and other boomerang parts

i like the look of the boomer but now im thinking do i build one ?

the price of the parts doesnt realy bother me as i build most of my cars from parts or end up replacing most of the parts to get them how i like them but having never owned one just wondered how do they handle are there fast good on corners break easily etc i know there vintage and wont handle like a modern buggy but i like the look and thoght id ask what there like before building one and being dissapointed

Hi Pete,

the Bommerang was a mid-class car, but handled very nicely offroad. I say if ya have the parts to build one, then do it and you'll have alot of fun offroad or in snow with it. most people aren't happy with a stock 540, but it still handles nice and has great running time with one. Of course, i mean with ball bearings too. Hope this helped.

cheers

pete

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[DJTheo]

Its not a bad handling, only its steering radius is a bit limited and transmission is pretty noisy and a bit inneficient compared to a newer car. Other things to watch is not to lubricate steering and dogbones as they can stuck under dirt, also battery pin can fall of and battery door and front bumper can break. A must are BBs, nice to have 2 dampers at front and a better/stronger propshaft.

Cheers

[WillyChang]

A fully BB'd Boomerang runs very nicely, real classic 4X4 buggy.

Toss the MSC if you're running it, get an ESC always.

Transmission is strong... what's wrong with the wire drive shaft?

If racing... yeah, we tape up the battery door/pin and

also ziptie the pack to its side holder bars.

My main beef is those silly triangle mounts for the wheels

keep cracking in half on me... [8)]

[kontemax]

Boomerang is a great car and I still use it from 1987. I mount a 13 Turns with 13T pinion gear. You only need some trick to enjoy it better. Don't put grease in the diff and wheels cups. Put an O-ring inside the cups. Don't put grease in the steering mechanic. use a 4.5kg steering servo. use the ESC and full ball bearings. Don't thigh the screws in the lower and upper rear arms. If the rear arms are new try to find steel shafts like Top Force Evo for example or build it by yourself. Don't switch to double shocks on front, they will reduce damper lenght and increase weight. Original damper works perfectly. use always a round washer under the front bumper to avoid breakages. If possible change the triangle wheel adapters with alloy ones or switch to hex adapters and mount Gravel Hound rims and tires.

Lock the battery door and let slide the battery fron one side.

The car is fast with an hot motor, is light and is beautifull to drive. It is lightly oversteering, beautifull to drive.

These are my suggestion after 18 years of Boomerang use and abuse.

Max

[UltegraSTI]

small piece of fuel tubing inside and after teh wheel mount. and dont tighten down the wheel nuts overly so. they did some experiments w/this back when people were racing thundershots and the like in enduro races. no failure. give it a try and try some variations. also make sure that ur wheels have not oblonged the mount holes.

-R

[DJTheo]

quote:

Transmission is strong... what's wrong with the wire drive shaft?

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Its vibrates and flexes heavily under high RPMs (= energy loss)

quote:Don't switch to double shocks on front, they will reduce damper lenght and increase weight.

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Personally preffer dual dampers despite less travel at front as they give much better curve stabilization (stock stabilizer is a joke) and also the car doesn't bottom out so much off road or at landings. Also the 50 extra grams is also not really a weight and weight at the front reduces its understeer. If you see also all racers in the 80s had modified their HotShots and Boomerangs to dual front dampers.

Agree though with all your other recommendations! [] Also maybe nowadays it could be good to use the new anti wear grease in the diffs or only the rear one to lock them a bit.

Cheers

[kontemax]

Hi Djtheo,

I continue to think that one shock is better because the car must bottom out on the groung after jumps. If not energy of jump finishes on the shock towers. I think the Boomerang is oversteerer too much to add more weight on front.

You can choose for an harder sway bar at front but, as you can see, Tamiya's designers switched from Hot Shot hard one to Boomerang soft one. What do you think about?

Cheers

Massimo

[DJTheo]

Hello Massimo,

the problem isn't so much the soft sway bar but its plastic holders which are so soft that they take away most of its action, in almost every vintage review that was written. Also as I said all racers used dual dampers at the HS and Boomerang back then and even Tamiya used them at the hop up version of the HS the SS so there must be a truth in them, right? [] Btw, if you want more travel you could use modern dampers which provide more.

Cheers

[kontemax]

Hi Djtheo,

yes is true, the sway bar stays are soft. I turned with carbon hand made ones on my Super Boomerang, but don't know if result is better. The Boomerang force is the flexibility. Don't know what means have a rigid front end when the rear end is soft (check the rear damper stay!) and when the chassis torques like the rubber.

Anyway if you absolutelly want double front shocks is better turns to Big Wig configuration in my opinion. What do you think about?

Ciao

Max

[WillyChang]

quote:Originally posted by kontemax

Anyway if you absolutelly want double front shocks is better turns to Big Wig configuration in my opinion. What do you think about?

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Always wondered about fitting BigWig front shock towers to HS/B/SSabre.

Need new upper arms, ya?

[DJTheo]

Yes and don't know how easy those BigWig parts are to get. Why not use the Super Shot configuration with modern damper with more travel as I wrote above?

Cheers

[kingeddie]

should be debuting my resto at clumber on sunday 30th, with twin fronts, so i'll chuck in my 2p on monday[]

[kontemax]

Hi DJTheo,

Super Shot front configuration is older and heavier. If Tamiya changed it is dued didn't work very well. At the rear Super Shot work bad for the same reason. The dampers are long but cannot use their lenght. The car doesn't bump on the ground with bottom. Boomerang rear configuration is better.

If you can see the Super Shot front top damper mount is wrong cause the screw is mounted 90 degrees in front of lower movement. This don't allow to have a smooth movement.

On the big Wig the top screw position is right with the shock movement.

Then BIG WIG front shock towers flex a little bit helping the car to absorb the rough terrain. The BIG WIG front arms are better than old Hot Shot ones. They are stronger and the lower ones are curved to avoid to touch the inner wheel. At the end the weight is less and positioned before the front axles and the damper travel is longer. When your car after a jump bumps is better that bumps on the bottom that on the top of towers (this is the reason because the Baya Champ shock towers are always broken!). Big Wig is newer than Super Shot so modifications are made to improve the car. A friend of mine has a Big Wig with alloy damper and believe me, they work better than mounted on the Super Shot. I forgot to say that Big Wig front damper stays have the same design of the rest of the car (speaking about Boomerang).

Cheers

Max

PS I continue to preffer front mono...

[DJTheo]

Hi Kontemax,

sure Big Wig front damper design is better then the Super Shot, never said anything else, as also dual dampers are better then monos as Tamiya never used them again on buggies after the Thundershot, only said if Big Wig parts are hard to find, people could use the Boomerang/SS arms, just with larger travel dampers as the original short CVAs don't give much travel. Don't agree though that dampers mounted front of the axle is better, as the effect of their mass is then inceased (center of mass more front, higher moment of intertia around yaw axis). Also soft damper tower maybe good for jumping, but for the rest it isn't as dampers should do all the work and not flexing mounts or suspension arms.

Maybe for jumping mono shock is better but for racing dual shocks is the choice, as said never saw a racer Boomerang with a mono front damper. If you see also in all articles about hopping it up it is one of the first modifications done http://www.tamiyaclub.com/article.asp?id=116

In the end I guess it all depends on how and where do you drive the car, maybe for your track the mono shock is more satisfiyng (more rough and jumps) and for the places I drive (more flat & racing) duals work better.

Cheers

[kontemax]

HI DJTheo,

personally I had been satisfied by the front mono. I tryed when I was young the SS front dual, I used it for 5 minutes then come back to mono. The car was extremelly stiff on front end in my opinion.

But this is only my opinion.

Cheers

Max

Post Scriptum I don't think Big Wig parts are so rare to find.

[WillyChang]

Going from 1 shock to Two... you'd want springs of half-strength each?

[DJTheo]

quote:Originally posted by kontemax

HI DJTheo,

personally I had been satisfied by the front mono. I tryed when I was young the SS front dual, I used it for 5 minutes then come bask to mono. The car was extremelly stiff on front end in my opinion.

But this is only my opinion.

Cheers

Max

Post Scriptum I don't think Big Wig parts are so rare to find.

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Weirldy it was the exact opposite for me when I was young, but as said it depends on driving style and terrain.

Cheers

[Metallo]

Hi Kontemax

So you're a big fan of mono-shock, uh?

So have a look at my MSN Space (http://spaces.msn.com/members/Metall0): you'll see my Boomerang has rear mono as well :-))

Ciao

Metallo

[petris]

If you need any parts for the car let me know I have a ton of parts for the car! Probably all the trees for the car and most of the bags, A painted body too. Let me know, Thanks Peter

[greenlightning]

I think the Boomerang is one of the good ones. I bought one off eBay this spring (see my showroom) with the dual front shocks. I haven't run it a lot, as radio gear is expensive, but my Hotshot II is nearly the same. It's a great runner, the blocky tires really grip on any surface.

I also really like the styling. It has a long, low look to it, and the big, heavy front end looks nice and substantial, unlike modern stuff. And, what's wrong with tranny noise? I like it! But then, I think cars sound cool when their mufflers fall off!

Kevin

[kontemax]

Grande Metallo! Grande!

I like mono shock and your rear mono seems good.

Cheers

Max