lowen93 Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 (edited) Hello all, Today I recieved a Tamiya TA02 with a Mitsubishi Evo shell hich I intend to use as a basher on tarmac, grass and mud etc so treating it like a rally car. I'm not sure which route to go down whether to buy some more Evo shells whens the current one falls apart as there's currently a few cracks on it or whether to get something different like a Land Rover Evoque, Porsche 911, Lancia, Metro or some other alternative shell that is cheap to pick up as during my first use today it ended end in the grass bank in my garden a few times so I reckon a metal front bumper to follow the shape of the bodyshell could be on the to do list to help keep the shell from cracking above the wheels arches. I did however mount the body as high up as possible after the first time I drove it onto the grass it got stuck! Anyway I'll use this to keep updates about it's progress. Currently it's got a 12T Brushless in it on Vapextech 3700NiMH batteries, ball bearings, adjustable shocks, otherwise standard chassis so I may modify as and when I see a need for it such as suspension travel otherwise I'm hoping to just enjoy it how it is. First on the to do list is strip it down for a clean, grease everything and reassemble so that I know what it all looks like and to check the condition of all the parts then it's ready for playing! I was impressed with the run time on these batteries as well as the price and delivery speed at Edited March 28, 2013 by lowen93 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavyleftthumb Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 looking good pal, ive always had a sweet spot for the ta02 as i have used one for years and it very rarely breaks, bearings and metal motor mount and your good for years tbh. you might want to look at changing those tamiya style connectors as they dont last long as a good connection and might cause issues with you using a brushless setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowen93 Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Im impressed how good it is design-wise with it being made of plastic, very simple too. There's a few washers missing here and there on the suspension so ill try to get some soon but its already on bearings so that's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom C Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Yup TA02 is a nice little chassis, basic but it works my Bowlers sitting on one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowen93 Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Got out in the park for about an hour this evening to see how it handles and performs etc and quite impressed but have few ideas in mind for improving the handling. This is one of my local parks. It has a basketball court and a fairly big open field that is regularly very quiet, just the grassed area is maybe a bit bumpy for it although it still goes well fully raised over the grass. Some of the tarmac in the court has collapsed so makes avoiding them rather fun otherwise they make it very easy to flip the car if not careful. Posing just before sunset after a good session in the park with no breakages too. Also my first ever time using an rc out of my own garden so very happy how it went. All muddy and dusty after the fun and filled with leaves. It was fairly clean before so my park is quite dusty at the moment but will clean the car when I get round to taking it apart and greasing it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowen93 Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 (edited) Yup TA02 is a nice little chassis, basic but it works my Bowlers sitting on one. I like this chassis very much! However I found that it could do with maybe a bit more grip on the front so I'll start looking into that, mainly noticed that it was down to the diffs in the car letting one wheel spin freely so I'm going to look into solving that whether with a one way diff of making a limited slip diff although I do still need to add some foam to the tyres to stop them flexing as much. But I did also notice that the front lifts up and the back dives significantly even on light throttle so may be down to adjusting the springs and dampers etc, or trying to move the weight forward, I like the FF01 chassis too and was thinking it would be cool to have a front mounted motor instead of mid. Another thing was because it's been raised so high to clear the ground it rolls very easily, I measured the width to only be 180mm roughly so possibly may look into lengthening the suspension arms and making it wider along with slightly longer travel. But all in all I'm happy with it and have a nice casual project to improve to how I want it. Also I'm tempted by the Land Rover Evoque shells, fairly cheap to batter up and I'm a Landy man, plus I couldn't find a Bowler Nemesis shell just the Wildcat Edited March 28, 2013 by lowen93 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowen93 Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 looking good pal, ive always had a sweet spot for the ta02 as i have used one for years and it very rarely breaks, bearings and metal motor mount and your good for years tbh. you might want to look at changing those tamiya style connectors as they dont last long as a good connection and might cause issues with you using a brushless setup. Just broken the motor mount So an alloy one is on it's way now along with some spare spur and pinion sets as it chewed them up within a few metres. Also ordered some tyre foam inserts to see if it helps the handling and a set of tie rods to see if I can make some adjustable top arms to change the camber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldcuppatea Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 How different is the TA02 to the TA01? I've got a TA01 which I've had since about 1991. Looking at those pics it's very similar to the 02. Quite tempted to spend a bit on it, but not sure if it's got the suspension travel or clearance to make a decent rally car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavyleftthumb Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 How different is the TA02 to the TA01? I've got a TA01 which I've had since about 1991. Looking at those pics it's very similar to the 02. Quite tempted to spend a bit on it, but not sure if it's got the suspension travel or clearance to make a decent rally car. for me the ta01 is better then the ta02 for off road the link below is very usefull and outlines the differences and similarities. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=48983&id=2193 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonysmini Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 The main differences between them are the 02 has revise front suspension for better control, and a shorter chassis with swept back rear arms to shift the battery weight further forward for better front-rear balance and better clearance for the motor and rear wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowen93 Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 How have you found it better? The 01 front arms are shorter so i would assume that gives it a slight disadvantage? I've also got an FF01 on its way now so would be fun to compare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Custom)(Custom)(Custom).thumb.JPG.2660545437631950b6f82e734d0a88f7.JPG)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.