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BlockPattern

Tamiya 4WD Buggy Range

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Hello, for those of us who can't afford or don't want to buy a re-release what other 4WD buggy options are available? Is it really only between the Neo Scorcher (TT02-B) or Dark Impact? (DF-03)

Is that really it? What am I missing? (Apart from a personality:-))

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That is pretty much it in terms of current chassis unless you can get hold of a DB-01 or DB-02.

There are a couple of other body options for the TT-02B though. The Dual Ridge and Plasma Edge II use the same chassis. 

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The DB01 Durga is really the best choice as far as 'modern' Tamiya 4wd buggies go. You can still find them on the 'bay and elsewhere for not so ridiculous prices occasionally. If you can't be bothered to hunt around for a good deal on a DB01, then the TT02B and the DF03 are your only other options, and they tend to be pretty widely available.

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Whats the objection to a rerelease? I have TT02B, Boomerang, Top Force and some modern race buggies and for general backyard racing the Top Force is my pick. There are a few versions on the DF01 chassis and the Top Force and Manta Ray have both been released recently so you should be able to find one.

The TT02B doesnt have the ground clearance of an old buggy so it works great on tarmac but not so great on grass. Its also heavy and the longitudinal battery means it doesn't jump well.

The DB01 as suggested above though would be the best outside of the TRF buggies.

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TL01B is another option. But I would be more inclined towards a tt02b. I wouldn’t rule out some of the rereleases you could potentially find a used one on eBay and the DB01 usually cost a lot more if you can find one. Also if it doesn’t have to be a buggy there are other truck and rally car options that make good 4wd bashers. What is the intended use?

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18 minutes ago, Trowa Jakuard said:

Ground Clearance?20210219_184617.thumb.jpg.731037f7bfdcf49228b10cf9f736bcd2.jpg

Impressive ground clearance! I have a plasma edge II and would like to know how you did it. 

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TT02B is a fine dirt buggy. Affordable and fixable, I have one and its still running great after 7 years.  DB01 is gonna run ya 300 plus your prob gonna upgrade a couple parts so add that in, DF01 is great particularly Top Force but prices are way up, I have one built one NIB.  DB02 will cost you an arm and a leg if u can find one but many have issues with the drive design But, i have one NIB waiting to build until i have collected hopups i want only a couple more to go. But they did reissue the TF EVO. Gonna be cheaper than a 2017 TF. 

All that being said, I agree with the premise of your post, not alot of buggies to choose from at the moment. @BlockPattern

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15 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

Whats the objection to a rerelease? I have TT02B, Boomerang, Top Force and some modern race buggies and for general backyard racing the Top Force is my pick. There are a few versions on the DF01 chassis and the Top Force and Manta Ray have both been released recently so you should be able to find one.

The TT02B doesnt have the ground clearance of an old buggy so it works great on tarmac but not so great on grass. Its also heavy and the longitudinal battery means it doesn't jump well.

The DB01 as suggested above though would be the best outside of the TRF buggies.

Hi, there's no real objection to a re-release. I'm just not particularly keen on paying hundreds of pounds for something that was designed over ten years ago. Then there is the high price of most of them, then they all get sold quick, then you have to upgrade them anyway, then people flip them. It can become a bit tedious. The VQS price for example just seems crazy to me. And it hasn't even got metal shocks.If you can recommend a good out of the box re-release I'd go for it. I'm tempted with a Top Force Evo because at least it looks like a lot of thought went into it and it will be good straight away. I know I can avoid even higher prices by shopping around and getting a back order done. 

Edited by BlockPattern
spelling mistake
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10 hours ago, Trowa Jakuard said:

oh! that's just the GPM alloy lower arms, turnbuckles, Aftermarket Shock mounts, and longer dampers.

 

20210219_191028.jpg

Haha, yes so just four things you had to change. :-)

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4 hours ago, Finnsllc said:

TT02B is a fine dirt buggy. Affordable and fixable, I have one and its still running great after 7 years.  DB01 is gonna run ya 300 plus your prob gonna upgrade a couple parts so add that in, DF01 is great particularly Top Force but prices are way up, I have one built one NIB.  DB02 will cost you an arm and a leg if u can find one but many have issues with the drive design But, i have one NIB waiting to build until i have collected hopups i want only a couple more to go. But they did reissue the TF EVO. Gonna be cheaper than a 2017 TF. 

All that being said, I agree with the premise of your post, not alot of buggies to choose from at the moment. @BlockPattern

Thank you. Yes I do think the TF EVO is an option as what I would say is a high price is somewhat justified with the design. I might get a TF EVO on order and then a Neo Scorcher as well. You see though, even the Neo Scorcher bugs me with the design. In the sense it was a touring car first. Then they made it a buggy and lots of people only get good ground clearance by changing stuff. I just find it frustrating, but maybe I am wanting too much from Tamiya. 

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4 hours ago, Finnsllc said:

TT02B is a fine dirt buggy. Affordable and fixable, I have one and its still running great after 7 years.  DB01 is gonna run ya 300 plus your prob gonna upgrade a couple parts so add that in, DF01 is great particularly Top Force but prices are way up, I have one built one NIB.  DB02 will cost you an arm and a leg if u can find one but many have issues with the drive design But, i have one NIB waiting to build until i have collected hopups i want only a couple more to go. But they did reissue the TF EVO. Gonna be cheaper than a 2017 TF. 

All that being said, I agree with the premise of your post, not alot of buggies to choose from at the moment. @BlockPattern

Thank you yes, I think my search for a Durga would just leave me penniless or frustrated. Even a Dark Impact sold on ebay the other day for £170ish. Yes it did have all the radio gear and battery but still, you could get a new kit and new gear and battery etc for only perhaps £70 more. So I thought why did it sell for so much unless you think that is reasonable? I think it sold for so much because people might want one but they don't want to build one. I think Tamiya should do a few new things. 1) Design and release a new 4WD buggy. Shaft or belt drive, I don't mind. That's a whole new topic. 2) Release a standard brushed kit version of a model. 3) Release a upgraded brushless powerpack version of a model. 4) Release a built standard version of a model. 5) Release a power pack upgrade pack for a model. 

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39 minutes ago, BlockPattern said:

You see though, even the Neo Scorcher bugs me with the design. In the sense it was a touring car first. Then they made it a buggy and lots of people only get good ground clearance by changing stuff. I just find it frustrating, but maybe I am wanting too much from Tamiya. 

The TT-02B was indeed first released in standard TT-02 guise as a touring car, but the ground clearance issue is not unique to it. Most modern buggies have far lower ground clearance than their predecessors due to being optimised for modern buggy racing tracks which are typically smooth carpet or astroturf laid over contoured ramps, rather than the rough dirt tracks that required the greater ground clearance of older designs. Still, if you want an old-school tall stance, longer shocks and taller tyres are there to help you achieve it.

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The DF01 is a really great buggy, especially in top force evo guise. It jumps well, handles rough ground very well, overall grip and handling is ok, plenty for mucking about. The only downside is it’s drivetrain is slightly limited in how much power it can handle “in ultra high grip situations”. It is by no means a modern race buggy though. 
 

the TT02B is a pretty reasonable buggy but it really needs a number of upgrades to be decent. Handling wise it’s actually very good on level surfaces, quite modern in fact, it’s let down by its touring car chassis total lack of any front kickup which snags up on jump ramps and any other front on impact. It doesn’t jump very well but it does reward you when you occasionally get it right. 
 

DF03 is a overall upgrade from the DF01, it does physically handle better, and it’s suspension is improved and overall however it’s support in the aftermarket has dwindled to almost nothing in recent years, and it’s not without its flaws. It can fairly easily be turned into a fake df03MS given the body is the same and most of the basic parts are still available.

DB01 is the best handling overall, is the stiffest and most accurate with the very best in race adjustments. But it’s also the most rare, and it’s a fairly big hole in the ground to hopup and with the hopup pool steadily diminishing that hole is easily 4 figures wide. 
 

if I had to live with one, it’d be a DF01 top force / evo for me. 

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I daresay if re-releases weren't off the table, I would also recommend looking at the DF-01, as well as the Thundershot family of buggies. Older designs from when offroad racing actually took place offroad, they have the old-school tall stance and long suspension travel for crossing rougher terrain than their modern equivalents.

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3 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

I daresay if re-releases weren't off the table, I would also recommend looking at the DF-01, as well as the Thundershot family of buggies. Older designs from when offroad racing actually took place offroad, they have the old-school tall stance and long suspension travel for crossing rougher terrain than their modern equivalents.

That is a very good point. Something I hadn't thought of. It got me thinking about what had changed. Speed? In the 80's we were limited with how fast a buggy could go. Now with brushless and Lipo things have been transformed and I wonder has this had a bearing on the surface change? Because there is only so much suspension and chassis dynamics can do in 1/10 scale once the speed increases.

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On 2/19/2021 at 10:25 AM, BlockPattern said:

Hello, for those of us who can't afford or don't want to buy a re-release what other 4WD buggy options are available? Is it really only between the Neo Scorcher (TT02-B) or Dark Impact? (DF-03)

Is that really it? What am I missing? (Apart from a personality:-))

How about a GF01?

Ta1VCpT.jpg

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, Juls1 said:

it’s let down by its touring car chassis total lack of any front kickup

I didn't realise that. no better than the TL-01B in that regard then? Does it have the same tendency to be skittish and not want to track straight with relatively powerful motors too?

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5 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

I didn't realise that. no better than the TL-01B in that regard then? Does it have the same tendency to be skittish and not want to track straight with relatively powerful motors too?

It is a common misconception that the TT-02B lacks a front kickup. While many buggies derived from touring cars use the same front arm mountings as their touring car siblings, and thus lack kickup, this is not the case with the TT-02B. The front arm mounting pieces are totally different on the buggy version, with parts A9 and A12 positioning the leading edges of the front arms higher than the trailing edges, creating kickup that is absent from the touring car version. See page 12 of the manual. 

As a result of this, along with the castor imparted by the C-hubs, the buggy handles very nicely, not skittish at all, tracking nice and straight.  

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9 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

I didn't realise that. no better than the TL-01B in that regard then? Does it have the same tendency to be skittish and not want to track straight with relatively powerful motors too?

The TT02B handles very nicely, it’s probably not so much the kickup but the overall design that lets it down when you try to drive over stuff it tends to just plough the front down, of course you get used to that quickly and just drive around it, The TL01B was a great buggy in some ways handling similar to DF01, but the TT02B is probably much stronger and certainly handles way better. 

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On 2/21/2021 at 7:20 AM, TurnipJF said:

It is a common misconception that the TT-02B lacks a front kickup. While many buggies derived from touring cars use the same front arm mountings as their touring car siblings, and thus lack kickup, this is not the case with the TT-02B. The front arm mounting pieces are totally different on the buggy version, with parts A9 and A12 positioning the leading edges of the front arms higher than the trailing edges, creating kickup that is absent from the touring car version. See page 12 of the manual. 

As a result of this, along with the castor imparted by the C-hubs, the buggy handles very nicely, not skittish at all, tracking nice and straight.  

Thanks for explaining. I see now. The arms aren't mounted directly to the front gearbox/bulkhead so they can use different parts for the buggy.

So it has both kickup and caster which the 01B lacks.

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