Originally Posted by
hacker
what are peoples take on the plastic chassis version?
I know the tamiya ta05 is very competitive against the 416's at my club in stock, and I'm wondering if I should go the plastic way.
the version 2 ta05 and E4JS are about the same price, however the TM has cvd's as standard.
does anyone also have a losi jrx-s type r they can compare to?
the losi was my first pick, however I am considering the TM the more I wait and ponder
I have been running the JS for almost a year. Its a great handling car. I like the way the lipo fits in from the top quite easily. I don't have any lipo fitment issues especially with the new hard cased 5400s. However, the new 5400 compared to my old 4800 20C Platnum is a little tight but still fits fine with out any adjustments.
Before I had the JS I had the TA-05 with IFS. It was a nice chassis but it is an absolute pain to work on.
Just to remove or change belts require disassembling the entire chassis.
After having to go through that twice, I dumped the car fast to all the awaiting Tamiya hungry fans.
Starting with the basic stock set-up you are good to go. The plastic shocks are plenty good for competitive club racing. You'll need to get an optional spring set to fine tune the car to your track condition but that can be said about any car. Although, the shock towers are plastic, they're quite good.
Stiff enough to do the job and flexible enough to avoid breakage.
About breakage, first of all no car is indestructable. You will need spares regardless of what you get. Most of mine wear in the front end particarly the front bumper mount which I find a bit weak. You will need front arms and possibly hubs. I use the 3deg hubs, I think you get the 6deg hubs as stock.
What is also interesting is that the JS chassis is actually three pieces. There is the main chassis and there is a front chassis piece and a rear chassis piece which can be changed to minimize cost resulting from chassis damage. So all you need are the front and rear chassis pieces as spares which I think are $5.95 from Wolf. It is an interesting design and it often turns heads at the track because of its central battery layout with the three belt system which is unique among all the "me too" XRay, TC5 etc. style chassis.
As for the Losi car, honestly, I live in SoCal which is RC country and nobody drives that car anymore. It had a lot of hype before being released and when it finally showed the results of that car was disapointing. Not only that its also quite old by more than 3 years which is ancient history considering RC product life span.
Just to be fair an unbiased, I will add that maybe you should consider a Hot Bodies Cyclone S as well. They're awful cheap and well supported by many shops.
