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Finished building my re-release Fox this weekend (less driver, which I still need to paint). This is the 2nd re-release I've done this year that had some teething issues so I figured I'd share with everyone for awareness-sake. It was a fun build and is a GORGEOUS car, but a little finesse was required...

1. Transmission: the differential has a brass bushing insert that's a pretty tight fit. As a result, the diff behaves less like an open diff and more like a locker/posi. Might not be the worst thing on loose dirt but it will make the car understeer on higher traction surfaces until it breaks in.

2. Transmission: the differential bevel gears (outer gears) had some flashing on them that I overlooked. It caused interference with the counter-gear once assembled and made the trans 'catch' at certain points. Trimming the flashing off fixed it, but I also added a small washer to space the counter-gear away from the diff gear. The differential had enough side-to-side play that the two gears would touch (albeit lightly) under the right circumstances.

3. Front sway bar: at full droop the front sway bar end-links touch the front tires. Spacing the front tires out a smidge would fix this: I ignored it since mine is going on the shelf.

4. Front tires: the provided bushings (plastic) are WAY too tight on the axles. Bearings would fix this as would a very light reaming, or probably a battery pack or two of running.

5. The body: due to the motor/battery wires exiting on the passenger side, they push against the body, causing it to sit high on that side. To fix this I took the black rubber hose that came on the motor and pressed it into an open-boss on the top of the driver's side of the chassis, test fit the body, cut the hose a couple times until it contacted the body just right, and boom: perfect stance.

That's it though - nothing major. The car is absolutely stunning and probably handles well...but I'll never find out. LOL

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looks great, standard box art colour? how did you find the decals for the cockpit columns and roof? The original had them painted, I'm wondering about masking and painting mine if and when I ever get round to building it

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Yessir, PS-4 if I recall (the standard Tamiya dark blue, same as the Terra Scorcher). I was tempted to use a different color but it does look sharp. The pillar/roof decals were all part of the provided sticker-kit. Maybe that's one of the differences between the original and the re-release?

It was a fun build though - the car has a lot of curious little design features, like how the pinion mesh is set.

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Good tips.  I have a NIB novafox I'm waiting to build.  Probably do it this winter.

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My favourite tamiya is the fox,still have my original,never run original and a novafox yet to build.Thanks for the tips for the build.

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On 7/6/2021 at 12:44 PM, Unknown Driver said:

Finished building my re-release Fox this weekend (less driver, which I still need to paint). This is the 2nd re-release I've done this year that had some teething issues so I figured I'd share with everyone for awareness-sake. It was a fun build and is a GORGEOUS car, but a little finesse was required...

1. Transmission: the differential has a brass bushing insert that's a pretty tight fit. As a result, the diff behaves less like an open diff and more like a locker/posi. Might not be the worst thing on loose dirt but it will make the car understeer on higher traction surfaces until it breaks in.

2. Transmission: the differential bevel gears (outer gears) had some flashing on them that I overlooked. It caused interference with the counter-gear once assembled and made the trans 'catch' at certain points. Trimming the flashing off fixed it, but I also added a small washer to space the counter-gear away from the diff gear. The differential had enough side-to-side play that the two gears would touch (albeit lightly) under the right circumstances.

3. Front sway bar: at full droop the front sway bar end-links touch the front tires. Spacing the front tires out a smidge would fix this: I ignored it since mine is going on the shelf.

4. Front tires: the provided bushings (plastic) are WAY too tight on the axles. Bearings would fix this as would a very light reaming, or probably a battery pack or two of running.

5. The body: due to the motor/battery wires exiting on the passenger side, they push against the body, causing it to sit high on that side. To fix this I took the black rubber hose that came on the motor and pressed it into an open-boss on the top of the driver's side of the chassis, test fit the body, cut the hose a couple times until it contacted the body just right, and boom: perfect stance.

That's it though - nothing major. The car is absolutely stunning and probably handles well...but I'll never find out. LOL

Resized_20210705_160128_4259.jpeg

Resized_20210705_160151_9026.jpeg

Resized_20210705_160139_5083.jpeg

What do you mean you had to trim flashing off the bevel gears.

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Extra plastic that had to be trimmed off. They were little whiskers on the outside of the gear that would smack the adjacent gear when turning and sound awful.

Nowhere near as bad as the bevel gears in the Re-release Fire Dragon though. That transmission didn't even spin freely.

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You’ve done justice to that build for sure. I’m a bit of a Fox fan tbh :ph34r:, I still have my original that got used and abused when I was young, then I have another original, and a Nova. Oh and a TTG Fox, and I almost forgot about my NIB original

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On 7/6/2021 at 12:44 PM, Unknown Driver said:

That's it though - nothing major. The car is absolutely stunning and probably handles well...but I'll never find out. LOL

 

 

 

If you'll never find out I think we can say it handles like a champ, corners like its on rails, floats over bumps and wheelies on demand :)

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1 hour ago, hedge said:

If you'll never find out I think we can say it handles like a champ, corners like its on rails, floats over bumps and wheelies on demand :)

Oh I think that's a given! :D

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mtbkym01, nice collection :)  Which wheels are the white and black ones, and what tyres on them? I just got some JC racing 2.2" in black for mine, so I can find tyres more easily and don't scratch up the gold ones...

has anyone used the fox decals from MCI? much prefer them to the Novafox version...

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16 hours ago, foz75 said:

mtbkym01, nice collection :)  Which wheels are the white and black ones, and what tyres on them? I just got some JC racing 2.2" in black for mine, so I can find tyres more easily and don't scratch up the gold ones...

has anyone used the fox decals from MCI? much prefer them to the Novafox version...

The white wheels are original Wild One (so same as the gold, but not plated), with what were known as “Copy cat” tyres from the 80’s. The same tyres as what are on an Schumacher XLS CAT. 

The black wheels are Tamiya 2.2 Buggy wheels, with just some generic 2.2 tyres which I can’t really recall (Fronts are Tamiya I’m pretty sure). I used wide hex’s on the rear to get a better stance with the zero offset wheels.

would be documented in my Project thread here:

P.S. sorry about the tread hijack @Unknown Driver

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LOL no worries man, this thread was a dump-and-run for the community anyway. Where it goes from here I don't mind.

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Got a built Novafox and a NIB on the way. Just wondering if anyone knows if there are any universal shafts that are a direct fit?

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On 7/14/2021 at 8:39 AM, hedge said:

If you'll never find out I think we can say it handles like a champ, corners like its on rails, floats over bumps and wheelies on demand :)

Well, my Fox definitely likes to wheelie.

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