longuylander

iTrader: (7)

Tamiyausa has a few vehicles on sale, and I found a TB04R for only $225. I have absolutely no need for this car, and I have nowhere besides the street to drive it. But it was cheap for an R model, and I've been bored staying home in self isolation, so I pulled the trigger. I also picked up a Suzuki SX4 body for $25. That can go on my old TA02 rally car to replace the poor old, beat up Asterion pick-up body (which looked good with 75mm tires on it, until many many roll overs and crashes).

I'm still unsure what electronics to put in it or what body to put on it. I'm not really sure I will even run it or leave it as a shelf queen. If I do make it a shelf queen, I will have to figure out which car gets bumped from being displayed and put into the garage.

Anybody want to give suggestions on a body to put on it? I'd prefer Tamiya, as their bodies are always gorgeous and properly fit the width and wheelbase of their cars.

Phat-Boy

iTrader: (25)

Tamiya Laferrari body is a beauty.

Nicadrauspro4

I always wanted the TB-04R and like shaft cars. I loved my Pro4 and I know the TB-04 is not the best shaft driven car but I just love the way it looks and the side mount motor is just unique for a shaft car. I still have plans of getting this kit as my next project.

longuylander

iTrader: (7)

My first thought was a Ferrari body. None of my shelf cars have a Ferrari body. They're seemingly getting rare, especially the LaFerrari.

I dig the side mounted motor too; it reminds me of the old TA02. It doesn't matter to me if it's the best performing car as it will never be raced.

I wonder, since the regular TB04 could be built with IFS, if the R comes with the parts to build it that way too. I love the way IFS looks, and it'd help if I do find a nice Ferrari body to not have to clear the front shock tower!

zaraz

iTrader: (38)

The SX4 body is a 251 wheel base will not fit a ta02, as most chassis are 257mm but will fit the tb04r you have moves the suspension spacers all to the back, then also adjust the shock mount spacers, make sure you shim the gear boxes as it has to be done so you don,t grind up the gears, I just sold my 04r that had every hopup possible, it was an awesome car to build. enjoy

longuylander

iTrader: (7)

Of the multiple TA02s I have, that one has rear TA01 arms, shortening the wheelbase to just around 251mm. The TB04 will stay 257mm. Looking at what's out there, I have my eye on a couple of Ferrari bodies, but I've also been thinking of an NSX body (the new one or an older race livery one) or Supra body.

IndyRC_Racer

iTrader: (9)

Here is a link to the Tamiya USA Spring RC Car and Truck Sale!

https://www.tamiyausa.com/blog/sprin...nd-truck-sale/

Here is a link on Tamiya USA for all cars. You can find various cars for sale if you scroll through the different pages than what was on the above link.

https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/radio-control/cars/

Nicadrauspro4

Mind sharing pictures of your 04R. What other hop ups did you install? I'm actually planning to get the 04R as my next project and upgrade some parts too. Hope to see some pics.

longuylander

iTrader: (7)

The TB04R should be arriving on Wednesday. Although I wanted a Tamiya body, the new Protoform Corvette C8 is catching my eye... It's not as detailed as a Tamiya body, but the last Corvette Tamiya did was the C5R, and the one I have is in rough shape. Holes are drilled for multiple bodies, the cracks in the front spoiler are held in place with tape, and there is a big black mark on one of the wheelwells where I caught up to a car on the road and touched the inside of its tire as it drove away.

fyrstormer

iTrader: (1)

Here's my street-ready build:
Build Complete: Tamiya TB-04R "Cobblestone Edition"

longuylander

iTrader: (7)

That looks great!

I just finished my build, and I must say, I have never had a kit go together so smoothly. Not a single stripped screw and no wrong parts installed forcing me to disassemble parts and swap in the right ones. I did notice the kit did NOT include any grease, which is unlike Tamiya. Usually their kits include the ceramic and molybdenum greases. Luckily I had some leftover from older kits.

I found it was perfectly easy to build the kit as a 251mm wheelbase. The inner spacers both front and back were 3mm. Swapping them to the outer side of the hinge pins shortened the 257mm wheelbase by 6mm! So I threw on a new set of tamiya block tires, backed out the droop screws, and now mine too will be good on dirty roads. I didn't use the longer shock bottoms, so I have about 12mm ground clearance right now, with a maximum ride height of about 15mm. I have decided to use the SX4 body on it and change the R to rally as well.

fyrstormer

iTrader: (1)

Depending on how cracked and pitted the pavement is where you live, you may decide you need the long lower eyelets on your shocks after all. Where I live now the pavement is better than it was in the place where I built my TB-04R(ally). In that case you will need to modify the suspension arms and the chassis to get full suspension travel, but hopefully that won't be necessary. It works great, but all that filing is a lot of extra work.

longuylander

iTrader: (7)

I have my XV01 and TA02 that run high ground clearance and larger tires. The XV01has 74mm tires and sits about 16mm and has a max height of 21mm. The TA02 (which is now NOT getting the Suzuki body) stays as its T variant with its 88mm tires, riding 21mm high with a max of 31mm. The TA02T can handle grass too, as long as it's not too long. So those cover the need for really bad pavement driving. I want to keep this one as a more true-to-life rally car - good for pavement and loose dirt, and what would be scale gravel.

Giving the TB04Ra a shakedown run, I have noticed that its turning radius is quite large. It's not my servo settings; the farthest the steering will turn to either side isn't very large. I can see the need to keep the steering from getting too tight as there are the mounts for the IFS that could get in the way. This is just something I noticed about the chassis.

fyrstormer

iTrader: (1)

Hmm. I never noticed the turning radius to be especially large. I do think the TB-04R is a drama-free chassis, though, so that's probably just my interpretation of the stability that comes from having a large turning radius.

longuylander

iTrader: (7)

I only noticed it trying to do a u-turn when testing the car in my driveway. Near the street the driveway is only one car width, and it wasn't nearly as tight making that u-turn as my other cars I've driven out there.

I did run into an unanticipated problem. The rear body posts are too short to support the SX4 body. I guess I'll have to buy some sort of extenders to get it to sit at the right height. Or maybe I'll look into that Protoform Corvette C8 body again...