Impressive and I actually read the whole thing. :D

Ugh, I've been gone a year and a half and Niznai is still complaining about cars he doesn't have? Sadly, I have to agree with him. Tamiya isn't fully in it anymore and Tamiya USA could do a MUCH BETTER job, from a customer perspective, to stock product better. Let's not just be fanboys in here.
- Jose

Whats all this bitching and moaning about which company does or doesnt innovate enough? We all bought this car and is discussing about it because either we like the design, love the colors, or like how it performs or just die hard fans. There is no point of comparing other cars in a TRF419 specific thread.

Take your hatred with Tamiya kits and spam it on some noob's thread asking which kit to buy.

You don't know if I do or do not have these cars.

And I've been away for almost a year as well. I was actually surprised the 419 is still remembered.

And like I said above, my interest is in the entire R/C market. I don't buy cars because I am sworn to one company or another. I look at the entire market when I spend my money and even go against common sense (availability of parts and ease of access to support in my neck of the woods) for a car that interests me. That is how I ended up with a very eclectic collection of cars and learned a few things along the way. To me, that is another very enjoyable side of this hobby.

But I find the most important interest that we all share is that 1. our hobby grows and 2. we can afford to stay in it. Tamiya's example is a sad one because it looks they don't really care about either of these two vital components of our hobby (or a sustainable enterprise of any kind). I too am one of those people who wish Tamiya was still a great company whose products would make the money fly out of my pocket and I feel like we have been let down but I also accept that no company has to do anything they don't want to either.

Either way, it is a great loss to the R/C TC racing world if companies like Tamiya leave, because they leave a big gap behind and whichever way you cut it, that is not a good thing.

Sure, you will say, but one big dog goes away, a lot of smaller companies will fill the gap. Yes, true.

But Tamiya was a benchmark (there are others, of course, but each one is important). Big companies are like that (not always, but they can be like that, and Tamiya was). They have the money to impose good standards. Good fit and finish of parts, quality materials, tested designs, large distribution networks, representation, availability of parts, etc. Small companies can't do that. They just don't have the market power (another way of saying "money"), it is not their fault.

Why do you think Xray had to come with their exceptional engineering, and design and quality? Because they had to beat Tamiya (and Corally - at the time another great company, which I deeply regret having seen go away, and secretly hope it would come back) . No one would have given another look to any Xray car if it was some shoddy piece of crap cobbled together from scraps. Yokomo brought their game up immensely because they had to compete in this market as well. Just look at the jump from the YR cars to the MR and then to the SD (and later to the BD) cars. Schumacher as well. Look at their historic lineup of cars and you can almost pinpoint the moment Tamiya becomes the benchmark setting.

That is the most important thing we're losing with big companies ditching the hobby (or the arm we're interested in).

But there is still time, we'll see what happens.

In Europe it does not look that bad in TRF area. Parts are pretty avaiable at least those which are usually get tired over time. TRF419XR is really refined car and stands up aginst Xray or Awe without any problems. Few top fast guys moved here to TRF from XRay last year. I would say that it is shame that for newcomers that currently price is high for new car.

That may be true, I don't know. Tamiya I think has a very large distributor in Germany who does their job well. But from my experience I can say Xray has more presence in physical shops. Just an example.

Online I am not so sure, but what I can say is that many other brands are very well represented and I would say perhaps a bit more than Tamiya. Could be a difference in approach, marketing strategy, who knows?

I spent the day melting in the heat at TQ RC Raceway....great track and cool dudes. Wish I had time to race, was just there for a practice day

Aluminum diff pully half
 

What's is your thoughts on this. Is this a must buy or is the plastic one all you need? Does it really help with leaking diff?

I still struggle with leaking diffs. Just this weekend I believe that I figured out a way to get them to stop leaking. I won't know for sure until I give them a real race test but the initial table tests showed no leaking. Either way I may end up getting these just because the leaking should be eliminated with them.

IMHO no need for alu diff to stop leaking. I use xray orings and 0,1mm shim in "big part of diff" and 0,2 in small one. Dry and works fine. With Tamiya orings I use 0,2 and 0,2 shim (or 0,3) and it keeps oil inside. I use 5k and higher oils

Their idea is probably the same as Mugen's metal diff, its used to dissipate the heat generated inside the diff. It MIGHT help with leaking diff, but not necessarily. There are ways to stop the plastic diff from leaking too. I have no problems with mine and its completely stock

Quick question :

My rear end tends to break loose when I apply power on corner exit. What can I do the correct that?

You can tune your car to transfer more weight on the rear on acceleration.

Have to agree, my car suits me better with extra droop on both ends.
Gets into and out of corners better.
Also played with diff fluids to help entry and exit, lighter fluid turned in well but could make my car too loose going in but good coming out of corner.
Heavier fluid in diff made my car push into corner and looser coming out.
Got it pretty good for me and now a rear wing change is enough to make the difference between loose or push going in and out.
I'm not a tuner but I know what I like ;) lol
All this only after tires, tires, tires and how you prep em

Increasing rear toe will make the rear feel more locked in with less chance of breaking loose. Also, lengthening your camber link in the rear will help. You could also try using progressive springs up front, on my XR I am running smj 2.5-3.0 progressives and my car feels a lot more stable through corners.