WC

iTrader: (28)

Offroad racing is pretty dead in Japan & Asia, everyone's gone TC.
Bear in mind that Tamiya's biggest market is still Japan & Asia,
so they don't need to pander to every segment of the RC market
unless they actually want to.

Yeah there's not many serious Tamiya offroaders out there since
the Egress & TopForce Evo of the 1990s. Ok so they brought the
DynaStorm back for a short while year before, but that's not
quite cutting-edge design anymore either.

However Tamiya has previewed a NEW 4WD offroader with
twin-belts running in a molded chassis. This will be interesting
to watch when it comes out.

fatdoggy

WC that's very interesting, about 6 years ago when I was back in Aus I was given some r/c stuff, and in with it was a 4wd offroad buggy that had a sealed belt drive system. I wasn't into R/C much then so I have it in storage back home. I have no idea what brand it was, any ideas?

dirk

Thanks Evoracer I'm currently in the process of constructing a new alluminum chassis for my F201, with added room for electronics and 30%stiffer, its gonna rock.

A couple of days ago I bought a Tamiya MIni Cooper from some kid for $30! Its such a cool car, it has so much personality! The dogbones are so adorable, they're like 1 inch long! and its fast, not like some touring car but fast! I need something to bash around in while I mod my f201.

WC

iTrader: (28)

FD:- depending on how ancient it is... might be either a late 1980s PB Mini Mustang (black backbone & plastics, green FRP bottom plate - SINGLE belt) or one of the Kyosho Optima Mids (silver or gold ally chassis plate, FRP top plate etc - TWIN belt). Kyosho's Lazer Sport/Alpha/ZX/ZXR from early 1990s also had a sealed beltdrive.

But Tamiyas so far have always been shafted!

trf racer

dirk how is ur mod gouing on ur f201?

dirk

Its going great, I just cut the chassis plate yesterday, I just have to smooth out the edges, and I'm adding a special feature that will reduce the motor's heat. On the chassis area just underneath the motor I'm going to drill a whole bunch of 1/4 inch holes for cooling. since the chassis has so much material on the sides, it'll still be rock solid. Just one tricky thing is I have to make a dust guard for the gears.
I'm still waiting for my next paycheck to get a Tamiya alluminum motor mount, the high speed gearing set, the EVO III motor heatsink, and some oil shocks.

trf racer

iam glad its going ok.remember not to go too far with the development as it could start going the opposite way.i done that on a ta04 tried redisgning the3 chassis for better weight distribution and it just went all wrong.

fatdoggy

Thanks WC, from your descriptions it sounds most like the "Kyosho's Lazer Sport/Alpha/ZX/ZXR". It was an all black platic tub chassis with a red plastic belt cover, the belt was also red if I remember correctly.

Cheers.

rccartips

iTrader: (3)

Hi,

The TL01 is not so bad... easy to maintain, and very smooth drivetrain.

Once raced in an rc slalom race sponsored by Honda... came in third, losing to HPI's by 2 seconds. At least I still won some cash money

Managed to beat yokomo's.

Used stock TL01 except for 10turn motor, ball bearings, sticky tires, and electronic speed control.

DuffMan

Dirk.
I havent visited the F201 forum yet but Tamiya has released a harder, longer lasting tire, for 15 bucks.

I love my little tamiya.

WC

iTrader: (28)

Tamiya makes realistic scale models that look & perform like the real thing... how many sets of tyres does a real F1 car use per F1 round??

Don't compare that to the grocery-getting TC class...

dirk

Thanks trf racer, its actually funny you mentioned that because my radio and esc systems are large, i mounted my esc on the left and mounted my receiver on the motor guard on the right side. I guess that must have added extra weight on the right, because whenever I took right turns the car drifted very smoothly and predictably but when I turned left the car was slightly twitchy and unpredictable.

dirk

Yes the tl01 is a good car. But when you're used to being spoiled driving a graphite car with ball diffs and alluminium shocks, it has a psychological effect that makes you think like you're driving a slower car. I realize that now, I was just a little narrow-minded.

dirk

Yeah, I got a set of type "A" reinforced tamiya tires, thanks DuffMan. Hey DuffMan, do that thing you do.

dirk

You're right, if I where to build a scale track like one of the f1 tracks the car would probably get the same lap times as the real cars. If it was faster it wold not act like authentic scale.