d1ddl3

I dont really see either one as a clear winner stateside at this point mainly because of the availability of thunder tiger products here at the moment. However, with them getting a new distributer here, ill be keeping an eye on their products. Im enjoying my typhon and my slash at the moment, but things wear out over time, and parts availability eventually drops off as new models are released. Im also considering picking up a nitro when summer rolls around. Tt may be a strong candidate for my next car when that day comes. Anyway, back to the original thread. Is there anything else out there That would be good competition for the kraton and mt4g3 within their price range?

Debate? Sorry mate, i didnt realize thats what this was. I thought this was an open forum for sharing knowledge. Regardless, in the states, the kraton is $499 shipped. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXECKVGG&P=FR&gclid=Cj0KEQiAuremBRCbtr-1qJnKi-4BEiQAh0x08B_W_-XEtPdIQU6xmyT8YnlWBJAipC_8KbhNJeY2WqMaAmin8P8HAQ It would cost a lil more for the mt4g here. And i would have to buy it from outside the country. How is their support in the states? What is their warranty like? the kraton's is 3 years. Arrma is really good about honoring it as well.

Now this looks like a little more of a relevant comparison, however, it doesnt look like they sell the mtg4 any longer (at least not anywhere i could find with a quick google search). Is there anything out there that you can still buy which is comparable in this price range? edit:i did find em on the thunder tiger site, but they are $600 + $60 shipping to the usa. For that price, you can get a kraton and replace all the electronics.

Wait a sec. You guys are complaining that these arent as advertised. fact1: they run on 6s. fact2: if you do cook the esc, they replace it free of charge. What isnt as advertised? These things are barely out of their first production run. ive seen that people have cooked the original escs. Have they had the same problem with the replacements? Now that we have that out of the way...since you guys think these things should be indestructable on 6s, id like to know what other cars out there are. What have you run on 6s without any issues? Im going to assume it wasnt a rtr, so please be specific to what kit it was, and what electronics you used. im constantly seeing people complain about these cars then reccommend something like a basher sabertooth. While the sabertooth is a great truck, and a fantastic value...has anyone run one on 6s? If so, how did it hold up?

Not sure why mydoddy69 is so quick to complain about these cars. It seems the first batch has had some teething problems as most would say. His biggest complaint seems to be about the electronics. I stripped out a servo while putting my car through some very abusive crashes at the track. Arrma replaced it with no questions asked. I just needed to send them a copy of my receipt as proof of purchase. Others have cooked their esc running on 6s. From what i hear, arrma will replace that as well With no questions asked. Ive had no trouble with my esc, but have only run 4s up to this point. There are other 1/8 buggies at this price point, but not a single one of them will run 6s Period. parts are widely available, but there is no aftermarket yet. Theres no gurantee that there ever will be either. Id say you should read through the thread that stretch pointed out, and you will see where the problem areas are, and how people have addressed them. in this hobby, you generally get what you pay for. In this case you can spend more and get more. You can spend less, and get less. I can assure you that you cannot spend less and get more on this one. It is a really good value at its price point.

I just realized the mbx had similar arms, so i asked guy at my track with a mbx7 if he had a spare. He did, so i compared it to mine, and found it nearly identical.

I got the mbx7 arms that i ordered from amain in the mail today. http://www.amain.com/mugen-seiki-front-lower-suspension-arm-set/p246346 They mounted up perfectly. Heres a pic of the original Arrma arm on the right, and the mbx7 arm on the left. and heres a pic of both mbx7 arms mounted up. The only thing i had to modify to mount these up is to use a 3x16mm screw for the lower shock mount. Other than that, everything fit. Even the droop screws line up perfectly. Heading to the local track tomorrow for practice to see how it works in action. I'll keep this thread up to date with how things go.

ok guys...i went to the track for practice last night, and i broke my 6th a arm (4 on the right, and 2 on the left). fortunately it was a left one, and ive got plenty of spares since i broke so many on the right. At this point, the only problem i have with this buggy is that the front lower a arms keep breaking. a friend pointed out to me that the suspension setup is very similar to the mugen mbx7® suspension. i happen to have a friend at the track who has the mbx7, and he had a spare a arm in his box that i compared to my broken arm. it appears to be a direct swap aside from the droop screw and sway bar placement. hinge pin length is exactly the same, and the pillow ball mount hole and placement (geometrically) are the same as well. i think the sway bars will still work without modification, but im pretty sure i will lose droop adjustment. Im perfectly willing to run full droop in the front for the sake of not breaking arms every time i go to the track. i ordered up a pair last night, and im going to see how they work out. ill keep this thread up to date with my findings. on another note, i swapped out cars with another guy at the track that has a mugen mbx6. i honestly didnt see much difference at all in the handling, or power for that matter. hes running a reedy esc with a 1900kv motor (not sure about the gearing). he generally makes the a mains and places fairly well in weekly races. he was very impressed with the handling and power of the Typhon. he said in the corners if feels just like his mugen, and actually likes the way it flies through the air a little better. last night i got my radio settings dialed in a little better, and im starting to feel like this can be a very competitive track car. now that im starting to become a little bit better of a driver, and im getting my setup dialed in...the Typhon is starting to draw alot of attention at my local track.

i picked up a 4pks with receiver off ebay for $180 shipped and couldnt be happier. its literally a game changer. by far the best $180 i have spent on any r/c equipment hands down.

i also meant to add that arrma sent me out a replacement servo, and their customer service was great as well. however, im just going to keep my replacement as a backup since the hitec i bought has a much higher speed and torque output. i also wanted to note that when i was putting in the hitec i did a voltage test on the pins on my receiver and found that it is putting out 7.4volts. in the instructions for the hitec it says that it is 6v max (although i have read on other forums that it can handle 7.4). i didnt want to take chances with my expensive servo so i wired up an external bec, and it has been working flawlessly with loads of torque and super fast response. The main reason im throwing this out there is because i cant help but think that the high voltage output from the bec on the esc might be playing a part in the stock servos getting cooked. if youre having repeated problems with servos, id suggest picking up a servo that is designed for high voltage, or wire up an external bec to drop it down to 6v.

so its been a little while since i posted. I took the Typhon back to the track last weekend and the new servo is absolutely amazing. unfortunately i missed out on 2 out of 3 qualifiers because i broke 2 more front lower a-arms (one on each side). i have been in the process of building a slash so that i can race the 4x4 sct class and get a little more track time in. i ordered up rpm arms for it off a hobby shop on ebay. unfortunately one of the packages came with 2 right arms leaving me with 3 right arms and only 1 left. i have been working with rpms customer service to get a left arm sent out to me, and they have been absolutely fantastic! in dealing with them, i had mentioned that i have a Typhon, and i have experienced problems with the a-arms and wing mount breaking. i sent them pictures of the breakages, and they told me that the parts are glass filled nylon and unless the chemicals are mixed perfectly...they can be very fragile. They told me that they decide which parts to manufacture based on customer input, and if they see enough market desire for these parts they would look into creating molds to start manufacturing them. if you have had any experience with rpm parts or their customer service, then you already know that they make some of the best quality aftermarket rc parts that money can buy, and their customer service is next to none. their parts are more flexible and way less prone to breaking than stock parts. if you agree with me that you would like to see aftermarket a-arms and wing mounts from rpm, then take a moment to head over to their contact page and drop them a message letting them know that you would like to see these items for the Typhon/Kraton. http://www.rpmrcproducts.com/contact/

sorry about the broken links. heres an updated post with pics that (*hopefully) work. ill start with the wing to give you an idea of the beating ive been putting it through. this is the most recent thing ive broken. now for the very first thing i broke. the wing mount. im pretty sure this is the spot where everyone is breaking these. i havent seen one in stock anywhere since i ordered my replacement. fortunately my homemade wing mount supports (i posted a pic a few posts back) have prevented me from breaking another one. and now the lower front a arm. i broke both of the originals. like i said earlier in the thread, with the replacements i removed the lower spacers and threaded the pillow balls all the way in, and i havent broke the replacement a arms yet (knock on wood). and since i mentioned pillow balls...i did bend one of the pillow balls. and heres my home made wing mount support. it has been holding up GREAT! I have upgraded my wing to a proline trifecta, and i ran it at the local track last night. my impressions of the wing are that it is much softer more flexible plastic, and i anticipate it will last much longer than the stock wing. unfortunately last night didnt go without a hitch. my servo gave out in the first qualifier (email sent to arrma regarding warranty). i had read about people having servo problems, so i picked up a solar d771 as a backup for just such an occasion. i swapped it in, and it seemed to have quite a bit less torque than the stock servo, but i ran it anyway because it was my only option. i ran the second qualifier with it, and noticed slower response time than stock, but it was better than not being able to run my heat. then i ran the 3rd qualifier and the d771 died the first lap in. i dont really want to worry about servo issues going forward, so i ordered up a hitec 7995 last night. ill put that in, and hopefully arrma will send me a warranty stock servo to keep around as a backup. i am starting to feel more confident in the replacement a-arms. i really am starting to think the early breaks are just a case of a bad batch of plastic. im still not taking the wing mount support off though, because it still seems pretty hard to find replacement wing mounts (at least here in the us). also, i switched up to the 16t pinion, and it had alot more top end. unfortunately they redid the track, and its alot more technical than before, and the 14t low end punch treated me better in the tight turns so i switched back to it for now. Im glad i have a feel for how i can change up gearing for different tracks / conditions though.

ok, so ive had my typhon for about a month now. ive run around 10 x 4s packs through it. with those 10 packs i have beat on it pretty hard. Ive mainly been running it at the local 1/8 scale buggy track. it is a brutal track. I am very new to racing on a track. this is the only car ive ever driven on a track and this is the only track ive ever driven on. needless to say i need more practice, and ive been crashing this thing alot. so here it is...every thing i have broken since getting the car in the past month. ill start with the wing to give you an idea of the beating ive been putting it through. this is the most recent thing ive broken. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/2jutJ6WDcc8voEyhgOQMXpXdTCpEIAHzoxzG94hpjMyT7P9MUDRBALLU87Ujgou6OIDSLToXzU0=w1338-h510 now for the very first thing i broke. the wing mount. im pretty sure this is the spot where everyone is breaking these. i havent seen one in stock anywhere since i ordered my replacement. fortunately my homemade wing mount supports (i posted a pic a few posts back) have prevented me from breaking another one. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/bL8qYX2P43Xk1IOWYK2UpoLAKjsfU6-eeoPv1I3j4EOV8OKscJxdPof7BbbYVwBOgLSTr1JrBoo=w1338-h510 and now the lower front a arm. i broke both of the originals. like i said earlier in the thread, with the replacements i removed the lower spacers and threaded the pillow balls all the way in, and i havent broke the replacement a arms yet (knock on wood). https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/aRgZjwij_s-sXnkpMbVYug-mDSKhLkeRHFuxldy7auqyaElEQxS0FS2fq3zzCiIlZR0JtFx4eMo=w1338-h510 and since i mentioned pillow balls...i did bend one of the pillow balls. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/1KsaeRIv8MJWRx3NuTOyr2lyJS-kmbJ4tQlclK4jtL6lltgUKXt-ajuYNF8mxVuHZFciEZfpBXM=w1338-h510 the last time at the track, i didnt break anything new, so i think i might finally be starting to become a better driver. lol!

It definitely could be a bad batch of plastic. Both the arms that broke were the originals. The replacements are holding up great. However i removed the lower arm spacers when i installed them, and i worry that might be what is toughening them up. I may remove some of the top arm spacers as well to get the camber back where i want it. Ill post up some pics tonight when i get home of one of the broken arms, and the wing to show where the breakage occurred.

There are pillow balls, but it doesnt seem like a good idea to unscrew them as ive ripped 2 of them right through the a arms. My thoughts are that the further theyre threaded in... and the more plastic theyre biting into, the more durable the setup. after breaking 2 of them, i removed the plastic spacers, and it seems the extra couple millimeters of thread has helped them hold up much better. I guess this wouldnt be an issue with aluminum lower arms. I havent seen anything about an upgraded wing mount yet, but I'd be surprised if they didn't offer one at the rate people seem to be breaking the stock ones. Aside from the wing mount and a arms, i couldn't be happier as far as durability goes. Although i probably wouldn't be as happy with the electronics if i were running 6s. I'm pretty sure the high voltage has to be what is cooking escs and servos, because I've had no trouble whatsoever running only 4s. *knock on wood.