john01374

Yeah it's amazing how many people just don't get it. If I wanted to race I would have kept my Losi and associated stuff but that gets boring in a big hurry. It's obvious the newer cars are far superior in the handling department. The problem is they are all exactly the same in both looks and the way they drive. If I took the bodies off my B4 and XXX I'd bet 99.9999% of the people on here couldn't tell which was which. I like the uniqueness of the Tamiya stuff. I love the odd ball cars. I have a Hotshot because of that funky mono shock setup front and rear. I have a Frog because of the swing arms with the lay down shocks in the rear and NO shocks up front. I bought the Madbull because it's a buggy with LB tires. I also love the quirky handling of all the different models. No one will ever say the Hornet handles great but that's the point. It hops and jumps all over the place. From the videos I've been watching this Madbull is going to slide all over the place with the stock tires and I'm looking forward to every second of it.

kaiser01

you're making me want a madbull. maybe once my monster beetle resto/custom is done.

john01374

You should post up some pics of the MB resto. I had one of those many years ago but beat it pretty bad. Wish I still had it.

kaiser01

i will, it just came in the mail the other day. it's actually a beat up blackfoot that i am restoring into the monster beetle i wish they made.
i'll be sure to document everything with pics and post a build thread.

this car is in terrible shape and smells like a dead animal, it's gonna make a great project. lol

Eman77

Nice build so far, John. I always enjoy reading build threads.

The tranny gear that hooks up with the diff gear is an awful lot like the one in the DT02. (Big wide spur gear on one end, and tall, skinny long one on the other that goes into the tranny). Same color and beefiness, too.

rclugnut10

My Feedback: (1)

i didn't get it until it was gone... i just had my evader then but now evader, savage, chaos and b4... all newer and highly engeered chassies, i'd like to have the goofly looking simple chassie to run...

the lug

john01374

Well guys we're getting pretty close to the end of this build. Like I said from the beginning there's just not many parts to this kit. Last night we made it through the end of the build and all that's really left is putting on the decals.

Here's what we did last night.

We picked up the build with attaching the rear shocks to the chassis. Like the fronts these are simply held on with 4 shoulder screws. The screw holes for the shocks are a little larger than they should be and it allows the shock to flop around on the screw. Also, like the fronts I tried to avoid using grease on the shock shafts and hoped the shocks would move freely. This does not happen. Without grease on the shaft the entire rearend binds up and sticks. Once greased they move pretty well and seem to work even at the odd angle.





In this pic you'll see the rear body mount attached along with all of the servo trays etc. It's clear that this model was designed for a second servo and MSC and they changed nothing when they switched to the ESC. I had to use all 3 pieces becise of the way they screw together. I'll need to find a better way of holding to steering servo in place so I can get rid of these trays and mount the electronics lower in the chassis later. Also note the Traxxas 2075 waterproof servo. Just a hint of what i'm planning for later.

Lunchboxer

Will you be upgrading the shocks to oil shocks later?!

Looking good so far!!

Oh yeah, sir, please stand back with your hands behind your back, I am going to remove the Traxxas servo out of the Tamiya vehicle... (joke)

john01374

Next was installing the ESC and receiver. For now it has the stock Tamiya ESC and depending on what motor I go with later it may or may not stay. I'm using a traxxas mini receiver and radio for control. You'll notice that the ESC is completely out of site and only a small of the receiver can be seen. I have it all buried down in the chassis.



You all know what comes next right!!! Wheels and tires!!!! we're getting close. In this step the servo saver and steering rod are attached as well. I don't think i've ever seen that many bends in a single piece of wire!!! BTW the slop in the steering system is horrendous!!!! I can move the tires left to right about and inch without moving the servo. this will need to be dealt with ASAP.

Well that's it for the assembly. All that's left is paint and decals and a test drive. Here are some pics for ya!!!

john01374

Here are some pics with the body in place along with a couple of flex shots.







Notice the amount of flex in the suspension. This is mostly due to the rear axles attachment design that allows the rearend to roll. Very nice setup..





Painted body pics and a test drive to come. Need to get a video camera to shoot this. Anyone near chicago wanna meet and shoot some video for me?

john01374

LB - Yes your are correct on the shocks. I'm already looking for a set of the CVA's that come on the Fire Dragon. During this build I compared the MB shocks the the FD and they are exactly the same size front and rear so it would be a direct swap and the yellow CVA's work great.

As for the servo. I had a standard S3003 in there and with 44oz it just wasn't enough to turn the big tires so I pulled it and tossed in the 2075 with 125oz torque. I also like the fact that it's water proof. There's enough power there to push the buggy over when it's sitting next to a wall.

ElectricGuy007

A freind of mine runs that same servo in his brushless boat and it's torquey enough at 125oz.

Now the question remains, what color are you gonna paint that body? Just the stock look?
I would, if that was me, try to match the box as close as you can.

I wonder how this thing handles, because I was gonna get one to experiment with.
But after reading that people just didnt much care for this, I settled with a Blackfoot Xtreme.

john01374

I'm going to do the stock box art black with decals. I'm going to try to keep this body pretty nice as I display my Tamiya's when not in service. I already have plans for a basher body.

As for the handling. From what I've seen on Youtube these things pretty much just bounce and slide all over the place stock. The stock friction shocks do nothing to control the wheels and the stock LB tires are hard as a rock and smooth so.....

I'll address the handling as we move forward with the hop ups. I'll cover each of those in detail as I do them.

I'm going to take the car out tomorrow and see if i can get some radar testing done. I have a friend that is a cop and he's into RC so we play with the radar

Any guesses on the stock top speed ? I'm gonna guess right around 15 mph.

Lunchboxer

I was obviously just joking about the servo.. a friendly jab at the Traxxas products...

Looking good.. now let's see some action pics!!

john01374

I hear ya on the servo LB. I'll get some action pics ASAP but i'd like to get some video of it as well.

860Crawler

Nice work! I was watching the MB videos on YT last night, looks like fun!

john01374

We managed to get the body painted and decals applied. Just a simple Black paint job. I still have to so the roll cage bars in Silver and put a few coats of clear on it but overall I thing it looks pretty good..

Here are some pics for you guys. I'd take it out for a spin but it's raining like Hell here right now.

The Collector1

My Feedback: (2)

I see someone like Tamiya . Thats awesome, makes me want to put mine together right now

john01374

guilty

Kitsune

My Feedback: (7)

Does that say "Barf 'n Berry" on it for the driver?

mineralvann

i have one of these from when i was a kid, and my tires are made of soft rubber. But i remember mine has a mechanical speed control that would just stay in the same position when the batteries were low, resulting in some spectacular crashes and replacing the tub. But after reading this thread i want to fire it up again, but now i want a better speedcontroller so i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Want to keep it cheapish so thought about just getting one of those stock tamiya esc's, is that my best options or should i get something else. And do you think it could handle 3s lipo or should i just use an old 6cell nimh

Kitsune

My Feedback: (7)

Those ESCs that Tamiya includes with most of their kits is pretty decent, but I'm sure it can't handle a 3s Lipo.

john01374

KIT - Yu are correct it's Barf'n Barry.

Mineralvann - The old versions of these cars did come with a MSC and yes they would stick when the battery got low. The stock Tamiya ESC is a pretty good piece. I've used it in a number of my other cars with good success but you are limited on the motors it can handle. I've been able to run 21 turn motors on some of my 2WD buggies without a problem. A 21 turn in the Madbull on the Stock ESC might be too much for the ESC to handle due to the large tires.

If you want to stick with a Tamiya ESC i'd recommend you get a nice stock motor. The C027 is a great motor for around $30
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXLXT7&P=ML

If you want to go faster I'd recommend you get an XL5 ESC and 19 turn Speed Gems. Thats about all i'd recommend for a stock Madbull. I think anything faster would just be too much.

If you have read through my build you know that I have plans to hop mine up with better shocks, motor, steering etc. Maybe after those hop ups it'll be capable of handling a stronger motor but I guess we'll see.....

860Crawler

Is there still a driver figure in this kit?

Lunchboxer

John, what's with this crazy talk?!?! (joke)