TurboFurball

Might as well throw my 2p in the ring ... for detailed bodies and really good entry level chassis the Vaterra V100 is amazing and blows Tamiya out of the water in terms of quality. The Kyosho Sand Master manages to be an interesting retro-styled budget buggy. The Traxxas Stampede is a technically brilliant and long-lived design with great parts support. But they don't have the quirky charm of a Tamiya ... there's just a little something missing. Maybe it's heart, maybe it's that driving RC cars that are a little mediocre brings out one's inner child. I don't know. All I do know is that my recently bought Sand Master is sat in a box while I restore an unusual Tamiya buggy that's well over 25 years old, my V100 was sold in favour of a weird roadgoing TT02-T chassis'd Monster Beetle bodied thing, and I gave away my Stampede after the gearbox went bang, because driving a Lunchbox is far more fun even if it's at half the speed. Embrace the mediocrity!

Thanks, I think I've resigned myself to using either M3, or where not possible posi head tappers ... not the tidiest solution, but it'll be ok! As for the Vanquish, this one is an early early one so definitely worth someone fixing it up - I'll put up pics when finished ... it's a lot more workable than the Avante IMO, has lots of quirks, and still manages to be over-complex, lol. But it does have a shedload of ground clearance, anti-roll bars, and has a more "engineered" feel than a TT02-B based buggy

A vanquish in mostly serviceable condition dropped into my lap recently, and because I'm a masochist I've decided to rebuild it rather than just flip it ... which leads me to some questions ... Does anyone have an original manual they could read details to me from? I've downloaded a scan of it from the intertubes, but it's so low res I can't make out the model numbers for the bearings (if not, I'll just have to measure them I guess, lol) Also, while I can easily find stainless M3 hardware on ebay I'm having trouble finding stainless/hex versions of the self-tapper type screws - any tips on that? Thats all for now, I'm 3D printing a new front shock mount for it and I'm not sure about rebuilding the shocks, but I'm going to see how it goes and hopefully eventually end up with something out of the ordinary Thanks in advance for any tips!

Well, I got it - it appears to be super-modable, the stock battery is a bit limp but the ESC/receiver can take up to 9v so I plugged a little 2s Lipo in to test and it runs very nicely. The articulation isn't perfect (could use slightly less spring, even with the heavier battery) but the speed & torque is fine, and the tyres are suited to indoor crawling more than outdoors (though they shouldn't get too clogged in mud thanks to the big tread pattern). The controller is nice, the chassis & drivetrain is great, and it's big enough that it could be converted over to a regular micro ESC & standard 9g servos if needed, and would then really tear things up. It's also a good size to have a 1/24 static kit based hard body fitted (the stick body is a little on the small size), I happen to have an unloved Tamiya one sitting around (that I rescued from a skip) which I'll be working on next time there's a rainy day

That sounds like a smart move, hadn't thought about the weight!

Hum, ok duly noted! This project has gone on the back burner for now, as I'm building her a new longboard for xmas, but I'll come back to it next year :)

Well, I've ordered one so I guess we'll see!

I appear to have overpowered my Lunchbox - the combination of a 2s lipo and a 15 turn motor gives nice things like being able to pull a wheelie while already rolling at a good speed, but it's a bit more than the package feels comfortable with. I'm going to swap in a fresh 25 turn sport tuned motor from my parts bin instead, to try and ease it up a bit. Which begs the question, where do you think the sweet spot is?

That shell does make the Blizzard look damn good! I'm thinking I might get a Heng Long (or some of the Hobbyking ones that look very similar) and just de-tank it myself I'm not looking for speed, more like fun at scrambling over things

Thanks guys! The T-Rex looks like exactly the sort of thing I was looking for Can always add a body on top to make it look like something interesting

I'm eyeing these up for living room crawling over winter, are they any good? Any known problems?

Are there any decent RC kits with caterpillar tracks that aren't tanks? My girlfriend had an RC lunar rover thing with tracks as a kid and loved it to bits, it'd be great if I could find something similar (or, yaknow, something interesting that's different)

Sorry, only just seen this ... I gave my new Lunchbox a trial run at Greenham on Saturday (there's an issue with the ESC ), but have been generally busy recently. If it's dry this weekend I might try again, try and get some Lunchbox racing together

All the bits I need to make my Lunchbox go have now arrived - all the electrics, new servo saver, new gearbox housing. Unfortunately the paint hasn't turned up and the seller is saying it arrived and was signed for

Unfortunately the TT02-T only has short little suspension arms, I think those would probably bind on the chassis. Having looked up the price of conversion to TT02-B I think I'll probably see about putting this chassis on the road ... I kinda fancy getting the Hobbyking Viper, and popping the Bug shell on it in a Mad Max kinda way - I'll do something with it over xmas

Well, it had it's maiden voyage today, and I managed to completely destroy one of the wheels by coming off a (small!) jump at a canny angle Also, it still has too much lateral grip, it rolled over at anything on grass. I'm considering getting the shocks, towers, etc, to turn it into a TT02-B so it's more like an AWD Blitzer buggy ...

Hadn't thought of changing the angle, that could work (they're just the stock TT02-T posts right now) ... I really like the whale tail idea though! Might have to do a little experimentation with some spare lexan ...

There's foam on the underside too, it's just the body's curve means it doesn't line up with clips ... I'll reduce it down to the minimum size that still protects the body in due course

I'm going with a Turnigy 17kg servo (metal splines are worthwhile) and an Integy alloy servo saver ... that will probably mean I bend steering rods, but I figure that's a better sacrificial part than the servo saver

I might reduce the size of the foam, but I'm not really keen on stealth mounts - keeping it simple lol, once I've run it for a bit I'll add something at the back and a little lightbar/bumper at the front. Ideally I'd pop a V8 in there, or maybe just some kind of Monster Beetle style cover if I'm lazy. Don't want to rush that though, I need to find out where it gets snagged on things and how rough a time extra parts will have - it would be nice to be able to add some drivers or something, too

Not today, but recently ... fitted lights to the Unimog so I could run it after work: Also a friend strapped their FPV camera to it on a Saturday morning, and we all had a laugh sneaking up on cows with it (the plus suspension makes it ok for FPV, I think anything like a buggy would be too shaky). Then I broke a halfshaft in the back axle, so I've decided it's going to live under the bed for a while, as I want to concentrate on building my new (to me) Lunchbox.

I'd bought a couple of bits so I could make something for the Production Car Trials competition that never happened, wanted to use them for something so put this together ... It's a Sand Scorcher body on a Sand Shaker TT02-T chassis, all stock (25t motor, CVA dampers, 2s lipo, cheapy buggy wheels), the first test run was on some crawler wheels and they turned out to be too grippy, flipping over at the slightest twitch ... I'm looking forward to running it on the buggy wheels this weekend if it's dry It's turned out absolutely tiny, but should be a good running companion for my friend's '90s Tamiya Hummer. (EDIT: think I've got the photos sorted now)

Yeah, if you're saving for a proper crawler I wouldn't bother with this. For me it was more something that I could use when my Mogs broken or I could lend to friends so they could come crawling with me

Any update on these? I was toying with the idea of nabbing the 4 wheel version as a budget backup truck since they're at about £100

Welp, I've been generously given a broken Lunchbox as an early xmas pressie - it's payday on Friday so will be ordering all the needed bits then After a year of driving my friend's one it'll be very cool to have my own ... I'm a bit excited! I'll report back with photos in a couple of weeks once it's all together ...