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burakol

At $159 why not?

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So both the Defender 90 and the Isuzu MU CC01 has been on sale at Tamiya USA. At this price, why should or shouldn't I get it? 

My eyes are really into getting the Dynahead and Terra Scorcher once they start re-stocking it. AAMOF, I've already sourced the full 70+ bearings for the Dynahead... but seeing this deal on Tamiya USA, I've had two nights being restless... While I don't fancy the body as much, I know there are tons of things that can be done with it. 

So who's going to help me talk myself out from buying it??? It has been sitting in my cart and I've been staring at it for about an hour now... 

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6 minutes ago, burakol said:

So both the Defender 90 and the Isuzu MU CC01 has been on sale at Tamiya USA. At this price, why should or shouldn't I get it? 

My eyes are really into getting the Dynahead and Terra Scorcher once they start re-stocking it. AAMOF, I've already sourced the full 70+ bearings for the Dynahead... but seeing this deal on Tamiya USA, I've had two nights being restless... While I don't fancy the body as much, I know there are tons of things that can be done with it. 

So who's going to help me talk myself out from buying it???

I've almost pulled the trigger on the Defender several times. I think it's a great buy and it's in stock in the US!!  That's unheard of right now.  Only thing stopping me is the intricate body work that I'm just frankly terrible at.  I can prep and spray paint a body just fine.  I would struggle with the detailed painting necessary to make this kit look halfway decent.  And holy crap I had no idea the dynahead had 60 bearings.  That's nuts.

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10 minutes ago, A-Baum said:

I've almost pulled the trigger on the Defender several times. I think it's a great buy and it's in stock in the US!!  That's unheard of right now.  Only thing stopping me is the intricate body work that I'm just frankly terrible at.  I can prep and spray paint a body just fine.  I would struggle with the detailed painting necessary to make this kit look halfway decent.  And holy crap I had no idea the dynahead had 60 bearings.  That's nuts.

And it needs every one of them. I think it’s something like 74 if memory serves me and some are small and not your normal ones. Get the D90 now , as long as you are not looking for a dedicated rock crawler it’s a good model. In fact it will do everything and a bit more than a real one. The body isn’t that difficult. If you look around there are loads of block colour ones on the road. The stickers take a bit of time but if you use washing  up liquid and water sprayed or painted on first it allows you a bit of wiggle room so you get them in the right place. Then a blast with a hair dryer to make them follow the contours better. By the time you’ve done all that the Dynahead will be back in stock!! It’s a really good trail truck although personally I hated the body so converted mine to a Dynamog. 

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Uh oh... what have you done - you've got me looking there now...

fwiw. that is a great way to get the MU/Frontera hard-body (and an spare CC-01 chassis ;o), and I also noticed the pre-painted CC-02 G-Wagen is on sale too - $75 cheaper than the unpainted version, so you could sell the finished body on and use the chassis for something else!

Oh and look, even the Monster Beetle Trail (portal axle version of the shorty GF-01 chassis) is reduced too - So. Many. Ideas... !

Jenny x

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Is there a preference on having a Lexan/PC shells vs hard body plastics? Does it carry a significance in terms of modeling/designing it? Isn't the plastic hard body more prone to cracking? 

Since you guys are not helping me talk myself out from buying it 😀, and I'm not totally attracted to either body designs, I'd want to know if having a hard bodied kit is better and in what way/s? I also think that the Mu body is metal plated??? 

FWIW, best part about buying it from them is they dont seem to charge a sales tax... 

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Crazy part is I am thinking of buying both the D90 and the G Wagon.

my problem is that I am addicted to Hop Ups .....$$$$$$$$

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Just received my Bruiser that I bought at the $499 sale price.  One thing you can count on is death and Taxes. Death stare from your girl for getting another package and Tamiya charging you taxes. 

The CC01 chassis is a great runner on most walking trails.  My Jeep is a solid runner. However it needs a lot of modification to make it a mediocre crawler.  

I would talk you out of the CC01 chassis and into CC02 chassis. The chassis looks more capable plus the merc body comes prepainted which is one less thing for you to worry about. 

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6 minutes ago, Shodog said:

Just received my Bruiser that I bought at the $499 sale price.  One thing you can count on is death and Taxes. Death stare from your girl for getting another package and Tamiya charging you taxes. 

The CC01 chassis is a great runner on most walking trails.  My Jeep is a solid runner. However it needs a lot of modification to make it a mediocre crawler.  

I would talk you out of the CC01 chassis and into CC02 chassis. The chassis looks more capable plus the merc body comes prepainted which is one less thing for you to worry about. 

It's not charging me tax. Where are you located? I'm not in CA so maybe that's why? The price difference jumping from the 01 to an 02 is pretty steep for me...and given that I am planning getting the Dynahead and using it as more of the crawler rig makes me think the 01 fits the bill.

And painting the body is one of the things I actually look forward to...

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1 hour ago, mtbkym01 said:

HIT THE BUTTON :P

Did it! I ended up getting the MU per my kid's choice... 

No tax for me... whew... need to get bearings for now at least... 

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Agree with @Shodog

It’s a pretty good deal for a decent chassis - with an iconic Land Rover on top

Don’t go overboard on the blue bling though - it turns the CC01 into a hulk that takes down internal walls .... been there, done that + expensive 🙄

Suspect I’ll get some push back from CC01 fans + lexan lovers but, for me,  this one is just not a real Defender ... in body or spirit

For me, a small scale Defender chassis / experience is either vintage TamIya 3Speed true to life or a good RC4WD if you want to pretend + have more fun

At best a CC01 rattles around like a competently gripping bath tub if you spend double the money RC4WD ask ...

Similarly, a Land Rover body is angular, pedantically detailed + (in old times) ludicrously robust - with many better ABS variants available to scale, trim + suit 

So sorry @burakol I’d either go Terra Scorcher to keep things lean or blow a relatively small budget having a go at building a @JennyMo icon ... that blends the best of D90 chassis + bodies 👍

PS First on the list if Jenny builds + sells btw 😇

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1 hour ago, burakol said:

Did it! I ended up getting the MU per my kid's choice... 

No tax for me... whew... need to get bearings for now at least... 

I hit the button too.  $31 in tax, thanks CT.

now I will have 4 NIB kits plus 2 1/2 restorations to complete. 

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I'm trying to be patient and wait until sellers get their stock of the Terra Scorcher. I'm also holding myself from getting the Dynahead but at least it is giving me some time to save more.... 

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1 minute ago, Scott_CT said:

I hit the button too.  $31 in tax, thanks CT.

now I will have 4 NIB kits plus 2 1/2 restorations to complete. 

Hmm...  guess thats the new tax scheme... there are more than a dozen states that started collecting online sales tax... I guess Virginia is not one of them? 

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34 minutes ago, burakol said:

I'm trying to be patient and wait until sellers get their stock of the Terra Scorcher. I'm also holding myself from getting the Dynahead but at least it is giving me some time to save more.... 

This was more of an impulse buy.  I have liked them but didn’t really need them.  My next planned hit will be the TC-01 Formula E that comes out in August.

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2 minutes ago, Scott_CT said:

This was more of an impulse buy.  I have liked them but didn’t really need them.  My next planned hit will be the TC-01 Formula E that comes out in August.

Same here. It's those time where it is too good to pass... this will probably sit in my shelf until I can figure out if I really want it... or if my kids convinces me to open and build it... For a flat $159 to my door, it's hard to defer... 

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36 minutes ago, burakol said:

Same here. It's those time where it is too good to pass... this will probably sit in my shelf until I can figure out if I really want it... or if my kids convinces me to open and build it... For a flat $159 to my door, it's hard to defer... 

Yeah, so, um, I may have also ordered some hop ups at the same time.  Many of them are sold out so I will have to go to the secondary market. 

i recently bought a rally beetle along with almost every upgrade I could get including the complete Yeah Racing suspension kit.  

At least I didn’t go nuts on the G-Wagon......yet.

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30 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

At $159, that's a steal. Go for it.

Got it. Didn't order any hopups....yet...hut will get the bearing for sure...that's probably the only upgrade for now... and been looking on thingiverse to see what other potential parts I can 3d print...

Already found a stroke extension part that I will print...and an under carriage plate/cover... 

 

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37 minutes ago, burakol said:

Got it. Didn't order any hopups....yet...hut will get the bearing for sure...that's probably the only upgrade for now... and been looking on thingiverse to see what other potential parts I can 3d print...

Already found a stroke extension part that I will print...and an under carriage plate/cover... 

 

I honestly don't like the stroke extension. It feels so artificial and flimsy to be honest. Do something else to able to extend the dampers to 90-110mm depending on the mounts. 

Here's what I did. Installed a universal aluminum shock mount ($6 pair) and used 105mm shocks (ZD-Racing - $10 pair). It now has more suspension travel and damping is really good. Very easy to install.

t5Xew6Tl.jpg

hhc59WHh.jpg

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Congratulations @burakol - fwiw. the Isuzu MU would have been the one I'd have chosen too (out of the two) - if only for the hard body, which as SuperChamp82 suggests is both more realistic/detailed as a model, and easier to modify/customise.

for info. while Lexan bodies are much lighter - which is better if you want reduce the centre of gravity and for general performance, and while they can generally handle a tumble with minimal damage, equally they can also split (although typically easy enough to repair with tape on the inside) - which is why they are good for 'runners' racers and general bashing.

However, if you like the scale modelling aspect of the hobby more, then a hard-body offers much more detail, accepts a wider range of paints and other modelling/weather techniques (such as adding dents and other damage) and basically just 'looks' more realistic - both static, and while the model is running as the extra weight of the body helps the suspension to react more realistically.

 

For anyone else interesting custom projects and combining different chassis and bodies, don't forget MST make a very nice live-axle/coil-sprung chassis which accepts a number of the CC-01 size wheel-base bodies - so if in future you ever want to expand your collection into a more capable crawler, that is a great way to get a Tamiya bodied crawler that actually performs pretty well, although as @SuperChamp82 says, there is also the CC-02 platform now which is similar in execution (complete with the inevitable Tamiya quirks ;o)

In fact just nosing around on the MST website, I spotted this coming soon from them too - I like it!

http://www.rc-mst.com/news_info.php?sn=219

Jenny x

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9 minutes ago, JennyMo said:

Congratulations @burakol - fwiw. the Isuzu MU would have been the one I'd have chosen too (out of the two) - if only for the hard body, which as SuperChamp82 suggests is both more realistic/detailed as a model, and easier to modify/customise.

However, if you like the scale modelling aspect of the hobby more, then a hard-body offers much more detail, accepts a wider range of paints and other modelling/weather techniques (such as adding dents and other damage) and basically just 'looks' more realistic - both static, and while the model is running as the extra weight of the body helps the suspension to react more realistically.

 

 

Thank you. When referencing to the paint, I suppose the metallic finish in this particular shell can be sanded off should I decide later on to repaint it with a different color right? 

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11 hours ago, JennyMo said:

For anyone else interesting custom projects and combining different chassis and bodies, don't forget MST make a very nice live-axle/coil-sprung chassis which accepts a number of the CC-01 size wheel-base bodies - so if in future you ever want to expand your collection into a more capable crawler, that is a great way to get a Tamiya bodied crawler that actually performs pretty well, although as @SuperChamp82 says, there is also the CC-02 platform now which is similar in execution (complete with the inevitable Tamiya quirks ;o)

In fact just nosing around on the MST website, I spotted this coming soon from them too - I like it!

http://www.rc-mst.com/news_info.php?sn=219

Jenny x

Been considering on getting the MST as my next crawler/trailer project. I have friends who have the CMX and the CFX and they look great especially when upgraded with essential parts.

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14 hours ago, burakol said:

Thank you. When referencing to the paint, I suppose the metallic finish in this particular shell can be sanded off should I decide later on to repaint it with a different color right? 

Hi Burakol - yes, that metallic plated finish is not especially thick (if you’re not careful you can scratch it in a roll over anyway), so yes, it could always be sanded down if you ever did want to prime and repaint it.

Jx

ps. If you wanted to try a weathered effect in future, I would actually try and use the metallic coat as a base - lightly sand it with fine sandpaper (1500 grit) to dull it and key it for the primer, then use the salt/layer technique with a primer coat and then a top colour, so that the chipped paint reveals the ‘metal’ underneath - much as I did with the Baja Blazer recently:

i-5VV85rd-XL.jpg

 

 

 

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