Tamiya

God this RC stuff is a fookin rabbit hole and a half. Still waiting for DT03 to be available (1 month, fingers crossed), I'm sending back my NiMH stuff, and have ordered LiPo in readiness for the eventual purchasing of brushless goods. Why can't my hobbies be cheaper?

Just wait till you crash it

No doubt I will, a tantrum will ensue, then looking at mods, and before you know it I'll have bought a Schumacher Top Cat. Life goals.

Ok, bear with me here. Just been peering down the rabbit hole, and having a bit of a read, considering it's a far better looking buggy, should I just not get a Sand Viper? Same gearbox as DT03, comes with full bearings, adjustable top arms, metal drive cups and shafts, and is available now. I understand it can be a bit twitchy, but surely that's part of the challenge. Help!

That’s one for Matisse - the more recent Tamiya lineup is bewildering to me!

The last time I had a Tamiya, it was a Falcon! And we used crystals. I miss the old days, simpler times.

I would say yeah, I had a viper and its a good car. More nimble than the dt03 but maybe a little less stable because of the shorter wheelbase. Get a ball diff and firm up the front dampers a little.

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=71854&id=19798

Cool, ta. Nice looking Viper. Already emailed cancelling my DT03 order, will give Modelsport a call tomorrow, get them to add a Viper and steel 19t pinion and black spray paint to my LiPo order. Ends up buying the sv will be cheaper (initially) than getting the fighter and all the extras I wanted. Looks better too.

Thank you for the advice. Ordered yesterday, here Tuesday. Got some coin off the kit as I took out the esc (tble02), but replaced it with a Hobbywing 1060 (as I'm using a brushed motor for now), and got a 15t etronix motor, run on LiPo 2s with a 19t pinion, should make for a decently quick starter buggy.

Finished building mine last weekend. Not bought paint yet. Fancied doing something different to box art and am tempted by orange...

Looks good in orange. Are you going with driver, or blacking out windows? Drivers always seemed a bit naff to me, wild one and any open buggy besides.
Like you, I'm not going box art either, and not gonna use a full decal sheet either.
Post a pic of what you've got so far, would love to see it.

Cherry red? (Tank tracks optional) 😎

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Metallic burnt orange maybe?

Not doing any cable management until the bodywork's sorted.

Really pleased I went to the trouble of treated the carbon edges properly. Despite expecting to fuck it up they turned out really well.

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went to the trouble of treated the carbon edges properly.

What did you use to do this? CA Cement is... superglue right?

I'd read about Zap CA so bought that when ordering the rest of my stuff. Certainly seems very similar to superglue, at least in the effect it had on my fingers.

Can't find a link to the guide I used now, but it involved sanding the edges then going over them with a black marker (purely aesthetic purposes). Glue was applied in a blob at one spot and then using gravity and rotating the part to guide it all the way round, adding more as necessary.

Definitely under consideration. It'll match the bike.

Yep CA cement is essentially superglue.

Cyano Acrylate.

We use Zap in large quantities at work, the pink thin one is a right pain to handle in a controlled way.

The workshop manager exchanges me a personal supply of it on occasion for non-rc models i've been working on in the name of "mindfulness"

I’ve always just used standard thin super glue, cheap stuff is fine. Quick sand and then a light coat.

Heh, I was pretty reluctant to sand the CF decks in my lounge...thought I would live dangerously and skipped it.

This is supposed to be Tamiya PS61. Like the black wheels but presume painting them isn't really viable.

Bit late to the mansplaining on this one but the wavelength of 2.4Ghz is about 12cm which means that the ideal efficiency antenna, normally a ground planed quarter wave for an application like this, is about 3cm for the radiating element.

Cheers (I think). Was just gonna plug it all in and go for it. Definitely gonna go and Google " ground planed quarter wave".