ChattyMatty

Ok, so I got this buddy (who will have to remain nameless to protect his job) who works at Tamiya and he managed to sneak a pre-production version of the new Tamiya chassis kit to me because he knows what a total fanboy I am. When he called me up the other night and told me he had something HOT for me I thought, “Oh cool, another mega buck alphabet soup TRF-EVO417MS-SS-LM-RS super-duper belt drive (read: finicky) touring car I’ll drool over but never be able to afford, let alone learn how to tune.” When he showed up at my door with a large plastic bag with a very square sillouette, you can imagine my childish glee when I greedily peered in and beheld…the new FF02R! That’s right, finally we get the FF02 we’ve all been hungering for all these years! Unfortunately my digital camera is broken, and my phone doesn’t have one, so no pics right now, so I’m gunna try to be a good boy and not build this in a marathon session tonight. But it’s gunna be hard to resist this beauty!

ChattyMatty

After a beer run (and a beer) I gave in and opened the box. Basically, it’s a repackaged M03R with the blue plated chassis (it even looks like it’s just a sticker placed over the old M03R box!) and all its aluminium bling, plus a raid of the TL01 parts bin for all the best of the decade that chassis had to evolve. It differs from the standard M03R by way of a bunch of additional goodies the M03R should have included from the beginning like the TA03 ball diff, hollow carbon gear shafts, universal drive shafts, a full set of blue turnbuckles, sway bars, blue sway bar balls, white turing car tuned spring set (in place of the Mini white spring set) and a hi-torque servo saver complete with the aluminum horn. Instead of blue chrome wheels to match the chassis it comes with clear blue dish wheels…I guess to match the shocks? To make the M03R into the FF02R it also includes the TL01/FF02 Long Arm Suspension kit (for 157mm track width) and two new items unique to the FF02R chassis: a pair of beautiful aluminium chassis extenders (for 258mm wheelbase). No flexy plasic here, but real live blingy goodness! About the only thing I can think of that it’s missing are titanium screws and the quick release battery holder, bummer.

ChattyMatty

Ok, ok, so it’s now well after midnight and after another beer I have decided no harm will come if I just build the core of the chassis. The M03’s been around for ever, and like, if you haven’t owned one yet you’re no TRUE fanboy! Ha! The Rover Mini is just so darn cute it almost substitutes as labrador with a bandanna as a babe magnet at the local park, so everybody should own at least one. Ok, sure the babes it usually attracts are underage, and that does tend to get a little creepy, but I digress…

The chassis goes together like a breeze, it is Tamiya after all. I set the preload on my balls pretty tight, I like them nice and snug, but not so tight it pinches. One other thing I like to do is to run a small bead of Tamiya Anti Wear Grease around the edge of the gear box half of the chassis. It helps keep dirt from coming in at the seams (or so I like to tell myself). AWG also makes a great moisturizer for chapped elbows, BTW. One nice thing about the long wheel base is that there is plenty of room for the electronics inside the central tube instead of taped on top…low centers of gravity are cool. Like the M03R, no motor was included, but I’ve got a nearly new GT tuned motor laying around here somewhere I’ll slap in.

I'll try to hold myself to this tonight 'till I can get some pics up...

TheStig

ChattyMatty

Sooooo not funny to blow the joke before I even get to spring it! I cry foul! I've been working on this one for a month dude, lol.

Ok, so pretend he didn't say that and i'll just put up the remaining posts and go to bed instead of staying up all night just to spring it...

ChattyMatty

2am and another beer later, I’ve decided I can go ahead and install the suspension pieces. I mean, after all, if somewhere along the line in the last 13 years anyone were actually interested in the intimate details hopping up a TL01 with the Long Arm Suspension kit, they like, did it during the Clinton adminstration. Basically it replaces the old two piece lower arms with one-piece FRP arms, and repaces the upper arms with turnbuckles, and includes the SS hinge pins…kinda like a poor-man’s 415 Reversible Arm Suspension set. The universals are the old heavy ones from the TL01, I don’t know why they didn’t use the CVD type from the TA04 as they fit too…maybe just clearing out old stock I guess. A pinch more anti-wear grease in the cups, and my fingers are nice and soft now. The CVA dampers are the clear specials just like the M03R kit, built without the spacer inside for a little longer shock than the M03.

ChattyMatty

Ok, so, with the suspension on, it now occurs to me, the kit is basically done…sorry about that, I really was gunna save this build for a pic by pic buildup so you all could see just how amazing this kit is. Tamiya pulled out all the stops on this one. Really all that is left now is to cannibalize a reciever and plop on a body. Maybe after another beer…

ChattyMatty

4am…another beer down, wheels tires glueing, time to start painting that body. I was in such a rush to get the chassis kit out of the bag that I didn’t even notice my buddy was kind enough to pinch a new body for me, and my favorite FWD lid no less. Like huggy Bear says, it’s good to “Know people who know people who steal things from people” lol. I managed to slice the tips of two my fingers pretty bad cutting out the body (prolly all that AWG, sob sob). I hope I can stop the bleeding before I start putting on the decals, blood’s sticky and all, but I think it might just interfere with the stickers sticking to the body, lol. I could just superglue them I suppose, haha.

Ok, I just realized I am a total friggin idiot! I have a 24 hour WalMart near by, and they’ve got to have a cheap digital camera for sale…BRB!

ChattyMatty

7am…boy was that stupod…I forgot there is douhgnut shop right next to the wallmart and two cops were camped out in front drinking coffee--and I’ve been drinking all night and my shirt is cover in blood…well anyway, the importantthing is I got my $10 camera! Only had to walk around an emplty mall for two hours waiting for th cops to leave! Here’s the details, don;t mind the blood, I think I might need stickes in my finger, bummer.

ChattyMatty

the final product...

ChattyMatty

8am and OMFG am I peeved. All this work, this one of it’s kind prototype and I get to be the only guy on the planet with one, I take it outside for a test run…it ran like a dream for 30 seconds… and then right under the duals on the back of my #$#%$*!-ing neighbor’s truck as he backed out of his driveway likehe was Rickard Petty while I was trying to catch a little video! I must admit my scream was not the most manly tone that has ever escaped my lips…I squealled like a Backstreet Boy at a Pride parade… and thew my new camera at him. I hope my fat lip goes down before work tomorrow. what I really need now is a shower, and a nap, maybe one last beer and then a good cry…and maybe those stiches…



that was they way it was SUPPOSED to play out anyway...lol

Airflow

iTrader: (13)

Man.... Im really sad... Thought it was like an FF01. Tamiya should
revive it and turn it to an "R" version. I really wanted a frontwheel drive
front mounted motor (not mid front).

But I might consider this kit also.


Sad....

tpsolid

iTrader: (1)

you can always convert the TA03 into a fwd. just remove all gears etc from the rear end.