rapscallion

Melon: Nice looking body! Too bad the partial kits on ebay don't come with the decals or little detail items like the mirrors and wing.

btw, does anyone know the exact part that should be used for the 'foam bumper'?

trf

just look at the exploded view of tb-01 on tamiyausa...ooops, looks like the rally versions are not coming with foam bumper at all... this is the number: Tamiya 53353

I just need help with the following items:
1. TG10 gear case...I broke mine, from a quick overhead rolling...the body post suport are broken now...
2. Also didn't manage to find the Tamiya plastic wide hex hubs...

prestonlal

hey Rapscallion,
sent you a pm last night about the dust covers, not sure if you got it...for some reason it isn't appearing in my sent messages box...[:@] . let me know if you got it or not...

rapscallion

PM replied. Thanks.

rapscallion

btw, to whom it may concern, I was at my lhs yesterday and saw that he had a TB-01 Long Arm Suspension kit hanging on the wall with a pricetag of $95. Too rich for my blood, but if anyone here wants it, I'd be willing to pick it up one your behalf and ship it off for an extra $5.

Amazing how many old parts this guy has in his shop, but he doesn't let customers walk behind the counter to see what he has back there, and he doesn't have a computer - so the only way to get exactly what you want is to either spot it from a distance and point to it, or spend A LONG TIME describing the part (and being forced to explain exactly why you want/need it) before he'll make the effort to search it out for you.

But he had the foam bumper I was after and the tires. Plus the long-arm kit. Everything is a little overpriced, and I've never seen any other customers in there, but I swear it is like a treasure-trove of old Tamiya cars and parts...

The Collector1

My Feedback: (2)

If he did online stuff he could make a killing, I would take the offer on those arms but my TB is going to stay nib unless I get another one

rapscallion

I told him the same thing about how he could 'make a killing' online and he said,

"The Internet is a bunch of crap. Who has the time for that?! Just a bunch of idiots ripping each other off. If you want to waste your time online, be my guest."

Charming guy, eh? hehe...

rapscallion

hello again...just thought I'd share my newly painted body...it isn't super fancy, and there aren't any decals as of yet, but you can get the idea...

basically, I was watching the A-TEAM movie this weekend and actually was more than a bit surprised to find myself thoroughly enjoying it - so I decided to make a tribute body to the A-TEAM hehe...




and here is the unpainted upper cover; I'm thinking of painting it RED:

trf

looks nice...but do you intend to let silver the inside of the body...I just like more to have it in black...the view from outside is much nicer, and just need one thin layer of spray...it will looks more filled...

rapscallion

The black paint that I used was a metal-flake, which always requires a matte backing color; now that I think about it, I should have used matte black instead of matte white - but I've always used matte white as the backing color on every car I've painted for the past 25 years or so :P It's funny how you can go so long without really considering other options when you already have a set method for things. I'll probably leave this white, as I don't want too many layers of paint - but I've got a couple more bodies that I plan to paint, and I think I'll go with matte black for the backing color on one or more of those...thanks for the idea!

Russell K

I am about to put alot of TB01 related parts on Ebay - My ebay id is trueblucobra

I will update with pics once I finish my build - its almost done.

But Ihave a set of Penguin CFShock Towers and their Battery Holder if anyone wants these. I will let them go for a good deal.

Ask rapscallion, Iship fast with reasonable prices. Please email me at [email protected]

Thanks!

trf

I receive my long axles...but still didn't find the wide hex...any help?

angrymelon

I don't have a part number, but the wide hexes I used were the ones that came with the TB01 kit. It only comes with 2 per kit, so I lucked out since Ihave a parts car. Ibelieve someone said at some point that they were the hexes that come with the Tamiya Lunchbox.

-melon

rapscallion

There are several cars that come with the longer hexes, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. I used the two that came with the kit, then I stole two from my Wild Willy 2

trf

just try to find the part number of the tree that contents the wide, but still "blurry"...

Russell K

nm

rapscallion

hei everybody...check this out:

[link]http://www.hundred-aker.co.uk/images/setuptb01.pdf[/link]

It's a set-up sheet for TB-01 cars. It might be fun to see some of these filled out by those running other than stock set-ups. I'll try to get one together on mine after I give it a test run or two.

rapscallion

Some Questions About Ride-Height and Suspension:


Is the front end of these cars designed to ride higher than the rear? I used some longer-than-stock shock shafts to allow more complete travel of the front and rear suspension arms - and with front and rear arms in their lowest possible position, the rear of the car sits about 5mm lower to the ground than the front.

I've read some things about front/rear ride height settings, and apparently having the front higher will give more traction to the rear and slow down the overall turning response of the car - but is this ideal? and, more importantly, is it how the car is intended to run?

Additionally, I'm curious if anyone has opinion about performance with relation to the shock angle. I'm using aftermarket shock towers which allow for the shocks to be mounted in 3 angles relative to the ground; nearly straight up, then two angled options of varying degree. Currently, I have the front set-up with the most upright position, and the rear with more angle, but I'm planning to switch it around so the front will be most angled, and the rear will be most upright; I noticed that my B4.1 buggy uses more angle on front and less on rear, so that's where I got the idea to play with the angle.

And, finally, anyone have opinions/experience with varying the shock spring strength from front to back? I've got four different strengths of spring to play with, so just curious who is using what and how it performs.

Thanks in advance for any info

Russell K

Does anyone know where to get the authentic Tamiya Carbon Chassis Kit?  Part#  53408

Certainly someone on here knows someone/somewhere........

I am desperately trying to find one - and yes I know about the Penguin chassis - I have one.  A 3 piece lower deck is not ideal imo.

rapscallion

So...today I took my TB-01 out to the local track...basic set-up as follows:

Stock Chassis and Gear Boxes
Alloy Threaded 60mm shocks with Medium Springs
Alloy Motor Mount
Alloy Shaft Guide
Full Bearings
Reedy 3300KV Brushless Motor (taken from B4.1 RTR Brushless)
LRP 45A Brushless ESC (taken from B4.1 RTR Brushless)
Racer's Edge 5000mah Nimh 6-cell Pack

Overall, the car felt doggedly slow; I'd estimate top speed of possibly 18mph compared to the confirmed 22mph top speed of the B4.1 using same motor/esc combo.

Additionally, handling over jumps was very poor.

On the upside, overall traction and handling through turns was excellent.

Final Verdict: This is a fun car for running up and down the street in front of the house, or cruising on flat open areas with surfaces of concrete or dirt - but actual track-time should be limited to on-road or rally specific types, because the true off-road tracks are way too much for this car to handle. It was fun, and I'll definitely take it back out there - but next time I'll focus on handling the turns while rolling safely over the jumps without attempting to catch any air.

rapscallion

just curious what everyone/anyone thinks about using screws like the ones pictured below to hold the cross-bar down covering the drive shaft? It would allow body clips to be used to hold the upper cover in place instead of the velcro.

angrymelon

Assuming that everything clearances properly, I don't see why it wouldn't work.

In my opinion, the velco does have some added benefits as it helps to keep out dust/debri. This experience is of course from other RCs, as I still haven't purchased an inner body cover for the TB01

-melon

rapscallion

Follow Up Performance Review:

After last weekend's initial experience on the track, I had been feeling slightly disappointed with the TB-01 performance.

In all fairness, I think it was as much my fault as the fault of the car. I had unreasonable expectations for a vehicle that was never intended for running on a 1/8 scale offroad jump-laden course. So with revised expectations in check, I went back to the same track this weekend.

I took the first few laps super slow. Just cruising at about 30% throttle, easing off even more over the jumps. Once I had the layout firm in my head, I started to hit the gas - though remembering to ease almost to a 'crawl' over the larger bumps and jumps. Surprisingly, I found that my laptimes were not that far off from my B4.1 buggy; though the buggy is definitely more suited to the track and has a faster top speed, the handling of the TB-01's 4WD is much more predictable on the loose packed layer that covers the hard clay underneath.

'Drifting' through the turns was awesome and more exciting than anything that I've experienced with my B4.1. The car did take a beating, though, with the body getting completely thrashed. And the motor/esc got very close to 'too hot'; I've got to look into adding a fan to the ESC and to the motor.

I wouldn't mind getting a bit more suspension travel to allow me to at least go a touch faster over the jumps. I don't necessarily need to 'catch air', but creeping over then so slowly as to actually get hung up on the lip occasionally feels 'too slow'. With just a bit more suspension, I wouldn't be so shy about gassing it enough to at least blip the lip and avoid catching the bottom of the chassis.

Some more top end speed would also be nice, though there isn't really much opportunity to use it, as I'm already feeling squirrelly everywhere on the track other than the one main straight. As it is, I may need to pinion down a tooth or two to reduce the heat from the esc/motor combo.

Overall, the TB-01 takes a little getting used to if you're coming off straight up offroad vehicles like a B4.1, but when viewed from a clear perspective, it really proves itself to be a capable and fun rally car with alot to offer even more experienced hobbyists.

rapscallion

For those who are still playing with their TB-01 cars and considering mods or conversions, I just thought I'd let it be known that the Tamiya Levant (not the 'super' version) is entirely based on the TB-01 chassis and gearbox. This leads to some very interesting modification options within reasonable prices. I'm planning to convert my TB-01 rally car into a 4wd buggy using the arms/dogbones/suspension from a levant, then using an associated B44 body (which fits almost perfectly based on measurements I've taken, though I haven't actually tried it yet).

Would love to see what people may have done in the way of extreme mods to their TB-01.

rapscallion

just started trying to price things out and realized that it is much cheaper to use MAD BISON parts to extend the width of the car.

Basically, use Mad Bison suspension arms on close-out price from tamiya directly at $2.21 per side, for a total of $4.42 for full set of front and rear arms. Item ##0114016

Then, use Mad Bison dog bones (also used on many other cars, including all the boomerang re-release and all of the DT02 and DF03 based buggies). They are $8 for a set of 2, so this will be the most expensive piece for this conversion at a whopping total of $16. Item #9805551

Then you'll also need a total of 4 additional 3x42mm threaded shafts (your TB-01 should have already come with one set, but just to be safe, I'm buying 3 sets). At $2.80 per set, this feels steep for something so small, but necessary. Item #9805628

With shipping included, this comes to a total of $34.82. Not really too bad. Then add in the cost of a body/wing set for another $20 or so, and I'm looking at $55 to turn my rally car into a buggy. Sure, it won't be outperforming purpose built 4wd buggy kits - but it will definitely be fun and totally one-of-a-kind unless someone else here tests out the same mods :P

Everything else you should need will already be in your TB-01 kit. The only thing I can see that I'll be 'missing' is a convenient way to mount the rear wing. Maybe I can just clip it to the current body mounting posts, though it will be a bit flimsy.