Name one car that *isn't* crap without upgrades. Cars that include upgrades in the kit, and thus cost 2-3x as much, don't count.

..i get that some of Tamiya's kits can seem dated, but i do love that they continue to produce the same kits year after year and support those kits. I can't tell you how many kits I've purchased over the years only to have them discontinued after 3 or 4 short years ...then parts become hard to get and your kit becomes pretty much obsolete (hpi and your cup racer, ...thinking of you). ;)

My Tamiya Hornet from 30 years ago ...i can still get parts for it! New parts!!!

I get that, but that could be done with any kit at all. Nothing that spectacularly great about the Tamiya over any other kit as far as the build goes.
I build kits with my kids to, but I also enjoy showing them what you can adjust to get different effects from your chassis and watching them learn from it once they make a change.
Understanding the effects of tuning are equally if not more important in my mind and the entire point of owning hobby grade RC vs toy grade junk.

Yeah I knew when I posted what I did it would be controversial and disliked by many and that is okay with me, as they are just my opinions of course.
But my opinion does hold credibility in the sense that I have been into the RC hobby for the last 24ish years and have invested probably well over 25k into it from cars, planes, helicopter, and everything else in between.
While that doesn't aid my opinions credibility in the engineering department, I feel like the fact I own a (small time at the moment) manufacturing business in the industry as well as hold my own prototype and design patents does somewhat qualify what I'm saying about the engineering quality of a thing in it's time frame.

I don't want to aggravate anyone with the whole "back and forth" either, I just felt it nessisary to state my opinions and why before other jump into something they may not enjoy due to not having said information.
I have 0 argument against your opinions as far as what you like about the idea of running spec classes. That makes sense completely.
I also agree with your stating it doesn't have to have the latest top grade material to be competitive or to just work.
My gripes lay in the fact the design and functionality is terrible to say the least.
There are a lot of things that could have been easily built better for the same out cost without needing anything past different molds and a real engineer behind the product.
I understand that Tamiya has been around for a long time and that there is a fan base built behind nostalgic memories from the past. But the fact they use that against it's customers is simply unacceptable and bad business in my opinion and I have no respect for it, hence my bold comments.

I think you are missing my point.
It's not the fact that they can't all benefit from upgrades, it's the fact that you can't even tune these TT02 cars with the parts they do include what so ever.
The only good thing about these are the scale bodies and the fact they come with a stock motor/ESC. I would rather have paid more than to have wasted my money.
I honestly feel stupid for buying the kit, as I knew what it included and the club rules about altering anything, but I tricked myself into thinking they must run okay without them since they are so popular. I was wrong. On the concrete we run on, they are nearly uncontrollable and the race is 60% demolition derby.
If they would have just included negative degree rear hubs, probably 80% of that problem would have been taken care of.
But in rebuttal to what you said, I can name a plethora of better cars for the money that you can actually tune without needing any upgrades.
No doubt will run circles around these TT-02 cars right out of the box.

Here are a few just to get you started.
Budget Touring Cars
Granted these are RTR's and it is unfortunate that the majority of the industry is going to this these days. But being lazy has become the way unfortunately.

If you must build> RJspeed

The thing that got to me, and probably the weakest points was the servo horn, no bearings and 1980s shocks in the standard 02. As a beginner, not understanding why the car wouldn't track straight was bit of a nightmare but these are the lessons you go through when you start this hobby. The type S seems like a big jump from the original

The hk bt-4 /sakura xi sport are probably better alternatives out of the box and economically as well for parts.

If you don't like it - replace it with something else you will enjoy.

Here's a good tip - if you're going to post in an RC online forum do so in the thread for the chassis you enjoy. You'll find most people enjoy their RC vehicle no matter what it is & although there is often something better available. Remember to keep it into perspective - having a Tamiya RC vehicle is much better than nothing & for many it's perfect for their use. I thought my Tamiya drift car was awesome, until I got something more expensive & of better quality. Which is a fact of life - if I had the latest & greatest supercar I wouldn't go around bagging what I thought was inferior. Pretty easy to do this sort of thing hiding behind a computer but you're just drawing attention to yourself & not in a good way. Besides if you turned off that computer/tablet/smart device, went outside & actually used the Tamiya you'd learn to appreciate it more. I appreciate it that if I damage anything parts are easy to get, inexpensive compared to high end kits, really easy to fix & there's a huge range of upgrades available.

Going downmarket when you're used to fancier cars will usually be disappointing, but 5 minutes of Googling would've uncovered that the TT series is Tamiya's entry-level road car series. As for the spec race being a demolition derby, it sounds like the spec rules suck. If there are a few simple mods that will significantly improve the cars, they should be allowed, if not required. Talk to the organizers about it.

At 45 years old, and having been kit building since I was in my early teens, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I bought a TT02. I was coming back to a hobby after 30 year hiatus. Battery, ESC and Radio tech had changed dramatically (and for the better price wise). But I knew I wanted an on road car that was very basic to re-learn the hobby on, could be upgraded easily, and would act as a reliable platform for parking lot racing/bashing.

RTR sucks. It ruins fully 1/2 if not more of the reason this hobby was so valuable to me as a kid. RTR takes the learning and satisfaction out for my kids. There is nothing better to learn (or re-learn) building on than a good old reliable, awesome instructions, supported for years, Tamiya kit.

In short, for what I needed, the TT02 was a PERFECT choice. Easy build, easy upgrade, learn some basic setup and troubleshooting/improving 4wd touring cards, hit every curb in town with minimal breakage. How can anyone not love this kit as an entry level chassis?

I've now taken my little TT02 well beyond it's beginning. I've hopped it up, sorted out a number of problems, and dialed it in to be perfect for my purpose. Anyone that buys this kit expecting more than the above is asking too much, from too little.

My only gripe is that on road "parking lot racers" are so few and far between now. I'm glad Tamiya is still making shaft drive kits with covered gear boxes and enough ground clearance to be street "raceable". Not all of us have a LHS or track in reasonable driving distance. Good on Tamiya for filling this gap.

Traxxas was created for people who don't want to build a kit & want it working out of the box. The only RC vehicle I've ever owned from new & not built is a truck that I've never used & don't really want to. Has nothing to do with it being prebuilt, I just like offroad buggies more.

Sounds like you need to be running 1/8 scale if the ground clearance is that bad or find somewhere much better to run. Are in the process of converting another 8ight electric buggy for Tarmac & drifting only. The 1/10 scale vehicles are simply too small to run over an environment designed for full sized motor vehicles & will eventually bottom out. Do this too quickly & it's a matter of time before you'll damage something. Personally I don't have the need to run with others running theirs & that's just an unexpected bonus should it happen. Picked up a tt02d set with the r35 shell & it takes more ability to drive it well compared to my high end drift car. I wanted something to use around the house that I wouldn't mind if it got broken. Chucked in a cheap/nasty Trackstar combo & it does well for what it is plus it takes the knocks really well.

What would you suggest for an 1/8th scale on road with sufficient clearance, needs to be a kit, covered drivetrain to prevent debris issues?

Provided you can get the right parts to convert it any 1/8 scale off-roader should be good. I just grabbed a 8ight 2.0 E because it was cheap, I've already got one & have heaps of spare parts already. Have changed the shocks & set it up similar to my 1/10 drift car. If it's shaft driven it'll help reduce risk - not that I've ever experienced that type of problem. I don't think you can get a belt driven chassis that is fully enclosed in any scale from this years models. My 1/10 scale vehicles are fully enclosed belt driven chassis but they're also vintage models & parts are really difficult to source now.

Hiding behind a computer? In what way have you concluded I wouldn't say the same thing to you or anyone else's face? What I said about the car wasn't a threat or a personal insult. If you like it that's fine with me.
And I like having my "computer/tablet/smart device" on as normal thanks. I'm not some punk who doesn't know what I'm talking about because I read stuff and just repeated it like your trying to make it sound.
You can see my post count you might take note I post a lot.
99% of what I post isn't negative and is in threads of other things I own and do like, but that doesn't mean I can't express my dislikes of a thing or experience either. I already know whats out there, I've been into the RC hobby for 24 years, had planes, helicopters, cars, boats and everything in between, I am more than comfortable to comment at this point.
I admit I didn't research this TT02 as I should before I bought it, but thats because even the most basic cheap'o RC's out there generally include things left to the wind with this thing. To me that is ridiculous and absurd, no matter how many other good points they have accredited.

Your right, I should have done more research. I normally do, but dived right in because I wanted to join my club members in the winter racing they where doing. And you are also right about the spec rules. They don't only "Suck", but are flat out stupid for the surface they want to run on. But I already tried to reason with the head members about it but more or less wasted my time. Even after I let them drive my car "completely stock TT02" as the rules say I have to run, they even admitted them selves it was a handful they couldn't even drive. A couple of them wrecked it into the wall on the first two turns. Most of the fast guys are running the TT01, because that's still allowed... They also said they have seen this was a problem with one other members TT02 without explanation and laughed how the TT01 was the better car after driving both. Well thats great!... But thanks to not being allowed to upgrade the vehicles to do what I know needs to be done I'm pretty much screwed since that is out of the question.

Personal i think commenting needs to be constructive about anything and as long it isn't directed as a personal attack it should be fine to say what your thoughts are even if it's not that possitive about the quality or spec rules.
Spec rules need to be equally balanced for every chassis that is allowed or just allow one type of chassis.

To me the TT-02 is a vey fine chassis and from my personal experience a TT-02 can outperform a TT-01 chassis.
A TT-01 though has still some advantages over the TT-02 chassis, as it's able to use stabilizers and droop settings, but all these things can be fine tuned on the TT-02 chassis.
My little girl drove our TT-02R with very good results, even with a slower motor against a TA06R chassis.
She was able to get even laptimes, she TQ'd and even won the race.
Allthough i'm a TRF driver i still can appreciate driving my TT-02 and love it very much.
Therefore i ordered the all new Team Hahn racing MAN TGS kit and the body will be run on my TT-02 chassis while other clubmembers will run theirs on the TT-01 chassis.
This will be the perfect situation to compare.

+1 turning my tt02r into a mann tgs also

Yeah it might be fair to mention the club runs on semi smooth concrete, from which I haven't seen a tire yet that will hold hook without sauce. Then that also pretty much wears away by half to three quarters of the race, which at that point becomes a drift event. Nothing wrong with drifting either if the cars where setup and intended to do such.
The way they have it just isn't any fun due to everyone smashing into one another because they are breaking traction. I was slammed so hard by a side swipe on the first race I ran, it sent my car about 15 feet flipping into the side rail, which snapped a rear A arm and dumped a front dog bone on the track.
Unfortunately I seem to be the only one irritated with it enough to say anything about the rule, so that makes me look like the bad guy, but I can't imagine anyone who knows racing and what it should be having to much fun with it after a couple runs.
So I am selling the kit I own, minus the type S which I have heavily upgraded at this point just because.
But that one might have to go as well if the rule set doesn't change by fall.

...and on to another topic.

I can't wait to show you guys the body I've been working on for my TT02. Its taking me a lot of time but I think it will be worth it. stay tuned! I am building it to look good, but avoiding adding too much detail as I want this car to still be very usable. -I plan on running this one at the park/parking lots ...and maybe bring to the track for some practice runs occasionally.

Many years ago i run at the club that used the facility of a roller skating club, the surface was a very slippery polished concrete where we drove our TA01 cars and Top Forces on(yes it is that long ago) but one of the fellow clubmembers had a machine that he used to prepare his tires.
The machine made the tires rough, it did take away the smooth grippy feeling and his car had great grip, it needed to be done regularly but it sure helped a lot.
Back then we did use the standard tamiya radial 26mm (50419) that was included in a TA01 kit.
Perhaps this helps you to get some extra traction, i personally never tried it.

Can't wait to see it. These last two pages have been a boring and uninformative crapfest to read through.

LOL ;)

yeah, i'll have the body ready soon.

Hey, I do have a question.
I built my TT02 ..I notice that the front bumper plastic piece (the piece that sticks out the front of the car and holds the soft sponge bumper) is the same piece that is used for the rear of the car (that holds the rear suspension arms in place). I get that Tamiya used the same part as its probably cheaper to create 1 mold vs 2. But I don't like how the rear has a bunch of unnecessary plastic. Is there a replacement part, OR has anyone cut that extra plastic off? I don't think removing it would effect the car's balance. thoughts?

Just do not fit it. I never fit it in my TT02's although on the TT02-S you will need to fit it and cut it down.

Check the weight saving section on this guide for pics http://www.thercracer.com/2014/08/ta...-and-tips.html

Wow! thank you!! Great info on that page.

It looks like there is a different part altogether that may already be in my kit. I'll have to look for it, -but looks like it is a lot cleaner and will save a ton of weight.

thanks!

Wow, plenty of info in that link.

Yes, agreed.
Also per that link it says that the TT02d kit comes w/ some "hardened" plastic parts. I did have duplicate parts trees ...i'll have to look and verify that i used the hardened parts vs the regular parts. That link is great, ...really useful.

Hey guys! This month I bought some hopups for my TT-02. I switched to brushless (Turnigy Trackstar 80A ESC and 13.5T motor) and installed bearings, alu prop shaft, universal front shafts and hpi wheels (Rays TE37 bronze) and tyres. Now the car is quite fast and easier to handle. I'm having a lot of fun bashing it!
I also bought an IR thermometer to check motor temperature. Can you tell me what temperature it must not exceed?
Another question: is there a larger undertray or something that covers the lower deck? I had to disassemble my silvercan because a debris blocked the rotor. There was no internal damage but i preferred to switch to brushless and keep the stock combo as a spare. I don't want to have this issue again, so I need something that avoids debris going in the lower deck.
Finally I understood how to upload picture, so I can present to you my TT-02 :D

Look up rc chassis pretty filter screen. They work great for this reason and no air restrictions

The reinforced parts that are included in the TT-02D kit are grey the standard parts are plain black like the rest of he chassis parts.

-Thanks!

You should check w/ your particular motor, but in general I don't like my motors to exceed about 170 tops. 155-165 is preferred. Be sure to take the reading after about 5mins of run time.

Hey, what is up w/ your tires!! You need new ones really bad..

-I love the look of your RX7 body by the way, -super nice. :)

Thank you very much! I took the picture of the chassis about 10 days ago, when I installed new combo and hopups and I was waiting for new tires and wheels to be shipped. You can see they're not the same in the pictures. New wheels came with foam inserts so I hope now all the tread will wear and not only the inner part.

For a cover would it be possible to adapt a off road body to fit with valcro. T
The shumacher shot gun used a similar arangement

my Tt02, with Yeah and Jaz alloy parts. Rc gear futaba and hobby wing Esc and thunderstorm brushless motor.

so for not upgrading :)

Attachment 1373719

Attachment 1373720

Attachment 1373722

Do you think the Neo Scorcher body should be ok?

Nope, my kit didn't come w/ the hardened parts (lighter grey color).
I ordered the TT-02D type S kit. ...it came w/ a lot of goodies, but not the hardened parts.

So, I am going to order that part, ...going to hunt it down. (I hate the large bumper piece sticking off the back).

Looks good!

It will not fit on the type-S as you have a different arm mount holding the suspension pins.

oh, that is a bummer ...

Do you know if something like this would work:
http://www.rcmart.com/yeah-racing-tt...h=595_744_1585

worst case I just take the dremel to the current plastic part that hangs off the back ...yet was looking for a cleaner solution.

http://www.rctech.net/forum/members/...842-edited.jpg

Eric - thanks for the links to these wheels and tires. Love the look of the 6mm offset under this body!

Sure thing,
-I was hesitant at first ...but they seem to be as good quality as name brand wheels i've purchased. I actually went ahead and bought more in other styles. For the rubber I am sticking w/ some brands that I am familiar w/ and are true and tested (hpi and assosciated treaded ones).

Your body looks fantastic!
I may have to pick one of those Tamiya kit bodies up.
Still working on my TT02 build and body ...soooooon. (also prepping for my next race on the weekend). -hence why i haven't had much time on this build as I'd like.

Steve_pss, ...did you paint that body? If so I like how you did the red and black.

After spending many (many) hours putting all the decals on (the hood itself is like 20 decals) I wish I had painted it. The black is actually a dark grey metallic (shows up nice in the sun). Splitter and other parts are straight black. The rest is all a hair dryer, windex and a sh*t ton of decals supplied with the kit.