firebird78

ok I'm a gluntant for punishment.. I know im going to get told how my buggy is junk (most likely by those who have never layed eyes on one let alone drivin one) but I'm pretty impressed with this buggy so I thought I would start a thread on it..
First off this is not a rebaged redcat, exceed...redcat and exceed do not offer this buggy, its far different then the himoto torpeda which carries the same parts as the exceed and redcat buggies...not only is it a more up to date buggy the plastic seems to be much better quality.
This buggy come stock with pbs, captured hinge pins, hex heads throughout, fuel filter, layed down steering servo and will most likely have a sh.21 fitted on it (some came with a go.21 sport but I think are all gone)..
My buggy is a rtr but a roller is available (which includes most if not all the upgrades)..currently other then changing diff fluid and shock oil the only mods I've done is change the center drive dog bones and rear dog bones in favor of cv shafts (under $60 I believe).. I do have a spektrum radio on its way that I plan to install on this buggy...also have better servo's ready to install for when the radio arrives...
there are upgrade parts available such as billet aluim shock towers and other parts, titanium pillow balls, some graphite pieces along with some carbon fiber pieces....only short coming I can think is it comes with a 6061/t6 aluim chassis and the milled chassis is the same material...advertised weight is 3.3kg so its not super heavy
this buggy goes for $300 and some change.. its alot of buggy for the money IMO..can see more pics and info here http://server.sohouniverse.net/~himo...hp?id=396&=SID and here http://www.himotoracing.com/product/...07/details.php ....parts a readily available in the US (warehouse is in Florida)...the first link has few parts listed but the site is new.

sfar785

i don't see why this shouldn't have it's own thread, the Duratrax Raze has it's own and we all know that it's not exactly the best built buggy


the biggest turn-off for me abou this Himoto is the cheesy graphics on the body, and the chassis itself looks weak

firebird78

those pics are straight out of the box...I plan to paint a body just dont know what to paint as of yet...the chassis seems fairly sturdy so far..I've taking it to the bmx track I've been practicing on a few times and so far so good...there is some high jumps and I would guess its been in the air approx. 4 1/2 ft high several times..dont really live close to a track but the 2 I've been to the jumps arent near as high

j_blaze

the worst part is the parts support is not very good. i had the vtx version and if something broke it was down for 2 weeks. tough buggy, drives great but stock up on parts or drive safely.

Nik.

looks like a mugen

vnmsgt

Why is it that every car with pivot ball suspension, someone has to say looks like mugen?? Many other cars have pivot ball suspension like the Hyper 7 PBS, Sportwerks turmoil, Caster ZX1-R etc. So I guess the Hyper's, Cens, Ofna's etc all look like a Kyosho LOL!

Anyways, the himoto looks like a nicely built buggy. I like it.

trarena

a friend of mine has the truggy version of this buggy and he loves it but he needs a non pull start backplate for the Go 28 motor it came with. Any one know which one to get?

martrix

this one should do it. Might be worth emailing them to check though.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ducts_id/16321

trarena

yeh i saw that one but i think that is the one for the pull start...

martrix

my bad, didnt look hard enough. Here is the one you want.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ducts_id/17036

{GBI}Harryball

The chasis looks weak? Have you ever seen one up close. Prob not. Next time make your statment from a educated view


Actually, it is alot like the mugen. Not because of the PVB suspension, but everything else. Its like HSP copied the mugen, lol they look that similar.

check the first post in this thread http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7826194/tm.htm

vnmsgt

I did not mean it in that perspective. It is just that some people think just because of the PBS and some other stuff that it must be a cheap copy! Like the mugen is the mother of all PBS buggies or truggies. People say that with the Caster too but since the Caster turns better and is more stable when driven it should be said the other way around LOL! They ALL look similar in one way or another but people want to say the cheaper ones look like the more expensive ones just because they are more money and should be better which in some cases they are not.

Nik.

no, not because they are more expensive, because they did it first and pioneered with the idea. Like Shumacher making the first ball diffs, Mugens having PBS, or Losi being the first to use 1/10 4wd type hubs on an 1/8 scale.

In my mind there are 2 categories of buggy. The "Flat", traditional style buggies, like the Mugen, Xray XB8, Kyosho,The Ofnas that were copies of Kyosho 7.5's, Jammin, Caster, CEN, VTX, ect.

then there are buggies like the RC8, the Losi, the Hyper 9...that all have new ideas and features... that manufacturers are taking note of, Xray's 808 or example.

vnmsgt

aahhhhh.... Now I get it how you come to your decision. Good description.

{GBI}Harryball

Gotcha, I understand where your coming from.

Good description Nik.

firebird78

well has your friend tried ordering parts from himotoracingusa.com???..not all the parts are listed on that site but as I said in the first post of the thread you can look at the parts on himotoracing.com and then email parts support to the himotoracingusa and he will hook you up...they have the parts...maybe vtx doesnt stock parts... you cannot say himoto doesnt stock parts cause vtx doesnt stock parts..

NewKid

My Feedback: (1)

sell it and get something better[:'(] naw just kidding man the only prob id have with owning one of those would be parts and well lets face it upgrades...i know when i own an rc i like to eventually have the option to upgrade it without having to do my own mods which don't work as well as something produced by the company and team drivers

firebird78

what you want to upgrade?....carbon fiber??...its available...thicker shock towers?...available...titainium pivot balls???..available....center and rear cv shafts??..available...there is a host of aluim, graphite and carbon fiber upgrades available....the buggy is light...advertised weight is vertually the same as the rc8's advertised weight

NewKid

My Feedback: (1)

yea that's cool i am driving the jammin no new buggies for me it's a nice buggy i just assume by it being himoto parts would be hard to come accross but i see in your sig himoto usa so i guess you could get stuff from there...doesn't look like a bad car

{GBI}Harryball

Parts are normally 3-5 days out, Im not sure about anyone else but my LHS doesnt have alot of parts for anything outside of the savage. Its two weeks if you order thru them. So you have to wait. The dealer network with himoto, is pretty good. Parts and upgrades arent an issue.

ehroof

Hi guys,

I just wanted to chime in here about parts, even though the rxb-1 parts are not all up on the site yet, they are available. We are just finishing up the rxt-1(truggy) parts on the site and will be working on the buggy parts next. I think they are a great buggy and leaps and bounds above the "other" names associated with us. We will be going places in the near future, designing our own rc's and soon sponsering a US driver. We already sponser several drivers and races in Europe.

firebird78

wow its been a long time since I posted in here....some things have changed...I guess Ive done a few things to the buggy since my last post...


anyways I bit the bullet several weeks ago and tried my hand at racing....man its so much fun....wish I woulda done it much sooner...I wanted to keep practicing to get a better feel of the buggy...but in all honesty all the running I was doing did very little if anything at all to get me ready for the track..

the buggy is holding up great...although I did crash horribly bad my last race and didnt finish, but I wasnt the only one...the track claimed 4 buggies I think..lol......I wish I could say I'm kickin butt and takin names, but the fact is I am VERY green on the driving stand...gaining ground on em though..lol

sooooo....if your reading this and have givin racing just an inkling of thought....get out there and do it....you will never know till ya try

paul_TAB4

hey man. I think your buggy looks pretty bad ass! don`t know anything about it, but it looks cool. I am looking forward to my first race. haven`t been on a track ever. next season will be my first time. I am excited to try my hand on the drivers stand. getting my gear together over the winter, 2.4gh radio, wheels and tires and a butt load of spare parts.

any pics of the buggy with the new parts.

firebird78

I will try to get some this week....also update what I have done if ya like...

if you are a competative type person you will love racing...its like a good drug....just make sure ya let people know ur new, and if your lucky like me they will be happy to help ya....at my track they dont care what ya run...they just glad ur there...really great guys

firebird78

what I have done to the buggy as of now..

rear and center drive cv shafts
billet front and rear shock towers
billet front upper and lower hing pin retainers
milled chassis
ace 1015 steering servo
hitec 645mg throttle servo (will upgrade this winter)
dynamite mid range pipe
2008 sh.21 8 port with ceramic piston (also be upgraded this winter)
aluim clutch shoes
spektrum dx3s (the spektrum dx2.0 was junk)

I'm actually racing with the team cobra vipers tires it came stock with....they hook up well on the track I run at..

here is some older pics...the engine on it then was a 2004 sh.21 8 port..I kinda screwed it up..lol.... the tires in these pics are team cobra pythons...they sorta packed up a couple weeks so I tried the vipers and they seemed to work better

in the year and a half I've owned it...I've broken a total of $38 worth parts.... not counting bodies (1)...the wing is still the one that came on it