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Dakratfink

Bigwig VS Thunder Dragon

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So I’m looking at a a couple of eBay auctions from the same seller. Offering a Bigwig and a Thunder dragon  at a Good price each. I’ve currently got a bid on one. 
are these models the same chassis with different bodies ? 
If not , which one is better ? 
Both  examples in these auctions are sold as used but new builds that were displayed as shelf queens 

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Thunder dragon is just a thundershot with an ugly (IMHO) shell on it. I prefer the Thundershot or Terra Scorcher shells.

The thundershots chassis is much more common than Bigwig and has even been re-released several times under various guises, it is basically a Terra Scorcher but without the hop ups such as twin front shocks, camber adjustable upper arms, rear anti roll bar, UJ driveshafts and different suspension mounts. It is a really good off road buggy chassis for rough ground and can happily run a 19T motor on 8.4v (I should know as I've run one for 30 years with that power combo). Parts are common and relatively cheap, helped by the re-releases. 

Bigwig was a fine buggy in its day, not sure it is any better or worse than a thundershot, possibly inferior to a Terra Scorcher. It is rarer and parts are not as common or easy to find hence they will be slightly more expensive. I used to compete against Bigwigs back in the late 80's on my local school buggy track. Like all things, in capable hands it could beat a poorly driven thundershot based car. However I would wager with equally skilled drivers the Thundershot would be the better car.

Depends on what you are after. I suspect the Bigwig will hold its value better if restored and due to its relative rarity would make an interesting addition to an RC collection. Thundershots are too common, best used for bashing rather than investment IMHO.

NOTE: From memory, the bigwig was the first Tamiya buggy to be designed to run the 8.4v battery packs as standard and I think it also came with a Technigold as standard too? The technigold alone is worth a fortune now so might be worth looking on the auctions to see what motors they come with.

 

 

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They are different chassis generation 4wd buggies. The Bigwig is from the original Hot Shot series and the Thunder Dragon is from the later Thundershot series. They share virtually no parts. From a technical/competitive/performance standpoint the Thunder Dragon is better. The Bigwig holds more importance being the 10th anniversary car for Tamiya though the recent re-release has probably affected values to a degree. The Thunder Dragon is the only Thundershot series buggy not to be re-released but is technically identical to the Thundershot except for the body.

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25 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

They are different chassis generation 4wd buggies. The Bigwig is from the original Hot Shot series and the Thunder Dragon is from the later Thundershot series. They share virtually no parts. From a technical/competitive/performance standpoint the Thunder Dragon is better. The Bigwig holds more importance being the 10th anniversary car for Tamiya though the recent re-release has probably affected values to a degree. The Thunder Dragon is the only Thundershot series buggy not to be re-released but is technically identical to the Thundershot except for the body.

Yeah true but wasn't there only like 2 years between the two being released? I can't be 100% certain but I'm sure I saw a bigwig package in our LHS (Beatties in Liverpool) with the 8.4v pack and the technigold. The 8.4v packs were crazy money so I ended up with the thundershot a few years later. Funny though, as I have almost exclusively run 8.4v packs in my own TS since the 90's as the TS also fits 8.4v packs as standard by simply moving the battery retainers to the outer positions. 8.4V transforms performance BUT I'm not sure it is legally allowed in any competitions? certainly not in UK?

EDIT: Just looked it up, it was only 18 months between the bigwig and thundershot release dates and the bigwig did indeed come with technigold and was setup for 8.4v out of the box. I still prefer my TS's though and there are far more hop ups available including after market parts (even today) and they are just easier and cheaper to maintain.

Edit2: Just looked and Modelsport have 8.4v packs for approx £22 so if you do get a Bigwig with a technigold it would be tempting to get the battery it was always intended for and have a blast :-)

 

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12 minutes ago, Dakratfink said:

Thank you all for the info.

I should Also point out both of these are re releases. Neither is original vintage. 

How much price you talking about ? You can still buy brand new bigwigs so no point in getting a used rerelease version. 

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17 minutes ago, rwordenjr said:

How much price you talking about ? You can still buy brand new bigwigs so no point in getting a used rerelease version. 

This one is a new ,unnrun build for $60 USD ( probably a little under $100USD shipped ) 

So, less than 1/2 the price of a new one from Tower Hobbies 

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Just now, Dakratfink said:

This one is a new ,unnrun build for $60 USD ( probably a little under $100USD shipped ) 

So, less than 1/2 the price of a new one from Tower Hobbies 

That makes no sense. It’s auctions or buy it now? If auctions I’m sure it’ll be very close to price of new 

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It’s someone getting rid of their collection, when , if the price rises up to near new territory, I will let whoever is bidding that much have at it .

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27 minutes ago, rwordenjr said:

That makes no sense. It’s auctions or buy it now? If auctions I’m sure it’ll be very close to price of new 

I noticed the price went up right after this post. Did I Point you at something. Lol ? 

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5 minutes ago, Dakratfink said:

I noticed the price went up right after this post. Did I Point you at something. Lol ? 

No, I found the listing but not interested. It has non stock parts on it and I don’t buy prebuilt cars from someone else often because I end up taking all apart anyways to make sure it’s all put together right. Which takes time so for me, I’d rather buy new and build it once myself but that’s me. Everyone has their own thoughts on it. 

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I know my main issue with pre builds is ball bearings. I am a stickler for ball bearings.  So I’ll have to disassemble anything I buy that doesn’t have ball bearings 

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12 hours ago, rwordenjr said:

No, I found the listing but not interested. It has non stock parts on it and I don’t buy prebuilt cars from someone else often because I end up taking all apart anyways to make sure it’s all put together right. Which takes time so for me, I’d rather buy new and build it once myself but that’s me. Everyone has their own thoughts on it. 

Same here.  I REALLY want a Wild One and there's a built but never run specimen on ebay for a decent price but I refuse to buy a built car.  I have to build it.  That is 90% of the fun for me. 

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16 minutes ago, A-Baum said:

Same here.  I REALLY want a Wild One and there's a built but never run specimen on ebay for a decent price but I refuse to buy a built car.  I have to build it.  That is 90% of the fun for me. 

If you can get it cheap enough, you get to strip it, clean it, replace broken parts AND THEN build it all over again - twice the fun!!! :lol: (at least that is what I keep telling myself)

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1 hour ago, mud4fun said:

If you can get it cheap enough, you get to strip it, clean it, replace broken parts AND THEN build it all over again - twice the fun!!! :lol: (at least that is what I keep telling myself)

I just did that with a roller Frog project I completed.  Man what a mess that was.  Wrong screws used everywhere.  And whoever built it didn't trim a single plastic nub off any parts tree part.  I couldn't believe it.  For a resto project I kind of expected it though.  But it was worse than advertised.  

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