SpeedstaBrad

Though i would make a thread discussing the Df-03 Ra as no-one else has and i am thinking of getting one myself so i would like to here some opinions and see some pictures. Thanks

john01374

I have one on order. Will check back when it arrives. Looking forward to the build

mcspanners

just ordered mine yesterday, the subaru 2008 hatch, im also gonna get a dark impact body, to use as an inner shell to keep out the dirt........ can't wait.

burtoe

I just got mine yesterday, gonna take it out for a test drive tommorow wewt!

d.k.v

looks good burtoe.
any body off pics?

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

For an "official" thread this one is pretty quiet!

I'm REALLY interested in getting one of these, subscribing out of interest but since there haven't been any posts in months I'm wondering; is anybody buying this thing? You guys enjoying yours?


Cheers!

lee172

this body is out soon.. pretty odd, as its a really old body, most have the other have been fairly recent..

pics from: http://tamiyablog.com/

aflipz

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I am all for the classics! More so than new cars... new cars are so ugly and "flavorless" even the WRX; was ok up to 2007 (though I liked the earlier ones better) but the new "round" design... ugh! Full scale cars suck now more than ever; technology gave manufacturers a whole whack of new trick stuff to improve performance and they did just the opposite; take an Mk1 GTI for instance; the 2010 gti makes twice the power, but weighs twice as much and drives like a school bus compared to the original... It'll take a lot of changes in building philosophy before I buy a new car.

Tamiya does have a delta integrale (lancia) and a fairly old celica df03 ra too.

I would LOVE to see a Mk1 VW rabbit GTI, a lancia stratos, a nissan pulsar GTI-R, mazda 323 gtx, early audi quattro etc..


anybody selling one of these df03 ra's?

aflipz

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Ok so I ordered the DF03 RA through my local shop, strangely enough I opted for the body I hate most; the 08 WRX. My rationale is 1) his distributor had it on hand so it won't take long to get here 2) you always drive and mess up your first body, so might as well make a second one for shelf queen purposes down the road. 3) it's "ball" shaped and in a roll over this tends to help roll cars back onto their wheels. For now, the only option I got for it is the slipper clutch.

Got the clutch because I think going brushless is inevitable; I remember brushed motors from a long time ago (basically only ran micros/minis and all brushless ever since I came back into the RC hobby) brushed motors yield very marginal performance, a lot of parasitic drag (when coasting) and go through Mah's like crazy.



I'm eyeballing a couple of brushless setups, there are some interestingly priced deals here and there I'm wondering if you guys have something to recommend? I am definitely aiming towards run time vs high speed; looking for something that I can use to drift endlessly on dirt without overheating on 2S, and that I could wire up some 3S lipos for some moderately fast bashing on tarmac. Again; mindless enjoyment without constant fear of overheating is desireable to me; insane drag racer setups that can handle only seconds of throttle before requiring cool down is the opposite of what I am looking for.

Water resistance would be a giant plus.

Any recommendations?

BillMill

Anyone know if it's possible to mount the Dark Impact body on the chassis AND have a cockpit set on top? I got the complete cockpit set for my soon-to-be-arriving Delta Integrale and am down the road looking to get the Dark Impact body as a chassis cover.

For those who have the Dark Impact body on their DF-03Ra, is it helpful? For those who don't, do you think it's necessary?

aflipz

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-7_5K7CfHo


Looks like it's quite possible.


I'm confused... I saw an "unboxing" video of a DF03 RA on youtube and it had two bodies; a small buggy like body intended to use as a dust shield and the actual outer shell.

Do some of these come with a dust shield and others don't? I don't have mine yet...

BillMill

As far as I know the only ones that come with the dust cover are both the Mitsubishi Evos. The Celica comes with a cockpit, the '07 and '08 Imprezas come with lights (the Evo X comes with the cover AND lights), and the Lancia comes with none of the above [&o]. As frustrating as it is, I am beggining to think that this is a marketing strategy on Tamiya's part based on the popularity of the body styles...

aflipz

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ineffective marketing if you ask me, I dug and dug and couldn't find it (info on the inner shell that is) anywhere on the tamiya usa site. Various web searches and youtube searches showed very little. This car's been out for a year now, the very few user impressions I've read have been favorable. I am hoping to find a satisfying basher in this car, one that will prove versatile enough to be fun on various terrain.

Oddly enough burtoe didn't return to share the info on his ride, maybe we should PM him to get back to us on his driving impressions he offered in july?

alexchen86

Here's mine

Tamiya alloy heat bars
Tamiya slipper clutch
Traxxas 2075 servo
Traxxas XL-5
DF-03 Dust Cover
Waterproofed light buckets and 10 LEDs
Lookin for light bar for hood...

2007 Subaru Monte Carlo WRC Body
Lotus Elise Body (for bashing)

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

Nice car(s) but what's the white "bundle" on top of your dust shield?

And why on earth would you power your leds with 2 ounces of dead weight (2x 9v batteries), glued as hight up above the vertical cg as you possibly could?

One could easily power leds off the 5-6v RX!

alexchen86

Thanks aflipz,

To answer your quesitons:

The white bundle is a crappy Traxxas 2 channel AM RX I had laying around and I couldn't find a balloon big enough so I used a latex glove lol...ziptied and siliconed.

Also running all the LED wiring into the crappy RX is not my plan. I intend to upgrade to a brushless setup later which is why everything is just temporary for now. TX/RX will be replaced with a digital setup as well later.

The 9V battery snaps were supplied as I used Ram LED lights and since I have a dust cover on there attaching the batteries onto the dust cover would just be a PITA to remove later.

The whole idea behind this car right now is to have a waterproof rally car that's easy to clean and maintain. It delivers just that...plus no one rally races down here in Texas so I just race with girlfriend's GTR which was the other TT-01E car pictured above.

Good times!

aflipz

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Though I haven't received mine yet, I went parts hunting today; my (custom made) LED setup will be powered by the bec/RX; to bypass the inner shell is a piece of cake;

you make your led light set and attach it to the outer body, then you use a male servo connector for the LED's power leads (same polarity as on the RX)

You then take a short extension (micro servo extension wire, 6" should be more than enough) Punch a hole in the inner body and pass the female connector through it then seal the hole you made with shoe goo. You plug that into your RX when you mount your dirt shield, this gives you a power outlet right where you need it outside the dirt shield!

As a result, it's easy to take the top shell off , and disconnect it from the dust shield separately.

Using a 27mhz, 2.4mhz and brushed or brushless motors/speed controllers has no effect on any of this, the same LED set designed to be powered off 6V will work just the same on any of these including the stuff you are using.

Between the dust shield (looks like I'm going with the dark impact with velcro) and the "corrosionx" I plan on dousing everything in I doubt i'll have any water issues. I can't really wrap a brushless esc with fan inside a balloon or a glove anyway...

studysession

Do you have a link to the DF-03 dust cover?
Thanks

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

I don't know but we can use the DF03 dark impact body as a shell; it's out of stock at my LHS, so I think I'll give the gutted 1-2L pop bottle a try to get to the driving part asap.

Got the kit on Friday, finished the roller the same night, did the body saturday and finished off the lights on Sunday. All that's left is to mount electronics and fabricate some sort of a dust shield.

For lights I am using 4 5mm whites and 2 yellow 3mm in front, and 2 amber 3mm two red 3mm and 2 red 5mm in the back. Looks pretty nice if I do say so myself.

I painted the body "pactra outlaw black" and only used the side mirrors from the body trim kit. I am disgusted to see how much the wing weighs I can't believe it! Sure it would put some weight on the rear wheels but more due to gravity than downforce.

Pics to come soon.


edit; oh I forgot about the tires! I studded the stock tires for ice driving prior to glueing them on the rims (used sewing pins with flat heads, inserted from inside the tire then cut to length) Should be fun this winter...

aflipz

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Other observations;

the suspension arms, steering links etc are quite sloppy, I wasn't expecting it to be that bad. (probably won't matter that much in "rally" conditions)

the suspension action; the recommended sponges that we are told to put un the diff outdrive add a great deal of "spring" to the suspension; even without shock/spring assembly installed the car barely sagged when dropped onto it's wheels and feels too stiff when shocks/springs are added, especially in the back; to make the suspension action smooth I replaced the inner cushions with dogbone springs from an associated RC18R Much better...


The springs are pretty firm; probably more suitable for on-road use but I think I'm going to need something softer for ice driving.

aflipz

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Just a couple of cellphone pics... better ones to come shortly I hope. (lent my good camera to a new dad to capture those few first precious moments)

alexchen86

Anyone looking for DF-03 dust covers you maybe lucky to snag one off ebay that's where I got mine...

MD6

Does anyone have a DF-03RA roller REALLY cheap for sale?

iomracing

Ihave one posted up for sale...http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemid=584003

aflipz

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Looks like my last picture upload failed, here are some I uploaded on photobucket;