Beasty Build-off

Paul, this post and all its gory details are for you to enjoy at your leisure. I want you to be able to smell the plastic and rubber (starting to sound a bit iffy, but go with me here) of this freshly minted kit.

First up, the gear boxes. They come pre-assembled and there are two identical ones. As stated previously, its a symmetrical car, almost in both axis. I see no reason why it comes pre-assembled, there is not much more going on than Mevil and its easy to grasp. I would have thought a madcap ball diff much more fiddly. The diff in this is a bevel gear, same as bear hawk/mevil

This is the gearbox with its 3 gears, 1 diff and motor. Its has nylon bearings everywhere and two metal ones on the first gear, just visible. I built it as standard but it has been given ball bearings everywhere...24 of the buggers. Good thing they are all the same size.

Rear end put together. It looks like a sway bar but its actually the wishbone pivots, however its one piece rather than a bolt per side

Main chassis together. Twin motor esc on top, battery slung in centre underneath. You can just make out the circle cuts outs on the bottom for the gearboxes to fit into

Two gearboxes and some (huuruumphh...madcap shocks....hurrumphhh. Sorry bad cough there)

Ta-da! Simple build really and would have been very quick had i not stuffed around with trying to get non-standard shocks to fit. They are a 70mm shock, mevils were 100mm so i have used the ones of the madcap for now. I'm planning to modify this car so that 100mm can fit anyway, so they'll be back on the madcap very soon!

Overall the design seems pretty good, with no obvious flaws like the Bush Devil had. However the plastic is definitely softer and 'soapy' and the arms twist and flex quite a lot for something with this much potential. Not a real problem as i will be modifying all these parts, but a little disappointing for something that I was hoping would supersede mevil in every way

Next up, the body!

Mini-Rango

Thanks to the good folk at Hobbyco (this is by no means an endorsement, in fact they've been pretty shoddy in the past) having a sale on Tamiya gear I bit the bullet and purchased a car of supreme shenanigans potential, a Tamiya Dualhunter

Twas a very gleeful I that came bounding home that day ready to relive a car build, something I had not done for over 10 yrs..

I had enough time to make the overhead lights work in the photo. Very arty.

But lo! The goodness within!

Just look at it. If only I could go back in time and appreciate this moment of less than a month ago. If I knew then what I know now I would have savoured this moment so much more. But I was young and impetuous then

A note on the design of this beasty. Tamiya tout it as symmetrical chassis concept which means essentially you either get two, four, eight etc of anything and it can all go anywhere. Designate a steering end and off you go. Easy to see how people have made it 4ws.

Now to get out the muffin tray and get building

Colarango

This is the new work car i picked up prior to christmas.

Its a Holden Colorado 4WD 3l turbo diesel and its a fair bit softer than the previous triton.

It serves as inspiration for whats to follow.

Welcome

Greetings to you all and thank you for spending your work time viewing this. Your employer really appreciates it.

This serves to record all the time wasted over at the Frazer Razor Dome for a bit of a laugh for those in far flung lands. Generally this involves RC cars, but age and money have contributed to other worthy pursuits.

But let me set a scene for you...

4 young lads, 2 pairs of brothers are joined in giddyness one Christmas season when they all enter the world of proper radio control cars.

At this point i must point out that RC at this age didn't necessarily mean radio control; remote control was all too common.

"OH WOW, A REmote control car....oh.....great...i can take it for a walk"


Proper Radio Control meant to us Tamiya kits. Beautiful, complete, shiny, build them yourself
1/10 Tamiya Buggy kits. 3 Tamiya Madcaps and 1 Bearhawk for myself were birthed and many a happy day were spent charging, driving, fixing etc.

Several years later the Bearhawk was given a brother and a legend was born. A Bush Devil came along. A big chevy ute thing with silly sized tyres. Suddenly buggy driving seemed...tame. Particularly when driving surfaces were limited for flat fanging, but the Bush Devil was up for it on any surface. It didn't break. It toppled a lot but it didn't break.

It broke other cars. Several times. Sorry guys.

But the toppling got a bit weary, so a hybrid Bearhawk / Devil was trialled, with big wheels and shocks on the buggy. A shame the offset steering meant it could steer really well. To the right.

Time moved on. Unis were attended, jobs came and went, like-minded people were met.

Then one day Lad A mentioned to Lad P about those madcaps and it went from there.