TOPIC:

Just a footnote on driving the thing before I call this thread "done":

I didn't manage to roll it - unusual for me, I don't think I was being any more careful than usual, but it is a lot slower than your average silvercanned car ... it's a little bouncy, but coped fine with "The Bumps of Death" - a series of humps in my lawn that have caused just about every other Tamiya I've had to flip end over end when hit at full speed ... but again, it is slower.

Turning circle at speed doesn't seem too bad, but at crawling pace, it's useless - there's just not enough lock, very little Ackermann angle, and the track (width across the wheels) is too narrow for the wheelbase - it looks pretty odd from above without the body on.

On dirt rather than grass, it's pretty useless in 2nd & top gears, even with the rear diff locked (although the tyres really need gluing), it's much improved in 4WD, even with the front diff open.

Overall... I didn't find it that much fun to drive & stopped before the battery had run out, but perhaps it would be better somewhere other than the lawn & the just dug over parnsip patch. I think the fun for me has been in building it, and looking at it

Hi Jonny,

I'm a bit late with this response but just wanted to say that you have done an amazing job with your re-re Bruiser. It looks fantastic.....
Btw, i love your Pumpkin...looks better in red than my Chrome edition.....

Manotas wrote:

...
Btw, i love your Pumpkin...looks better in red than my Chrome edition.....

I quite like it in red, but it was a real rush job - it was pink & I had less than 24 hours before taking it out in public

Just picked one of these kits up can i ask what speed controller you used Jonny as im looking to pick the electronics up for it im also going dizzy trying to find a 4 channel radio for it.

ESC was definitely an MTroniks one, due to lack of access I'd guess the Auto 20.

4/5/6 channel radios are all going to need fiddling with for ground use:

Planet T5 (as used in my Bruiser) has quality feel but 60 GBP now seems expensive for a single model TX;

RadioLink T4EU is cheaper but nastier & has the habit of going to full throttle shortly after turning on;

FlySky FS-CT6B/FS-R6B combo is really cheap (25GBP), looks a bit naff & needs a lot of fiddling, but feels solid & is surprisingly adjustable. I've written up an article on that one, it's in the queue & scheduled for late November.

I have flysky and hitec 4channels on all my trucks tanks ans f350. They are good radiogears for me

Nearly 10 years since I first built this, probably 8 since I drove it and 6 years of occasionally moving it about on the shelf & thinking [/i]"I really must do something about the failed elastic bands on the snow chains"[/i], I did just that, and gave the bodywork a light clean & polish.

The  switch boot has begun to dry rot, I just glued up the worst of the cracks for the time being. While I had the superglue out, I put in 3 tiny drops on each side of each wheel to stop the tyres making moose noises. 



That wasn't enough attention for it though, it chose this moment to drop a step screw, washer & nut from one of the front shocks

This was a bit of a surprise Christmas surprise  

Realistically, I know I would never have bought another new Tamiya Bruiser kit at 700 GBP, so this clone didn’t take away a penny from Tamiya. The price differential shows what can be achieved when you don’t have to pay for any development though.

The argument that all piracy in any form takes away income from the IP holders presupposes that anyone who buys such a product was going to buy the real thing – but found a cheaper, knock-off & bought that instead.  


First thought - well, third, but it was such a big one it kind of trumped the others – this isn’t just a copy, like the Baja King / Champ copies, the yellow Bat thing Grasshopper copy, or the Holiday Buggy copies. With those, they were blatant copies, but some changes in materials & function were made, along with some simplifications, presumably for cost reduction. This looks as though someone got Tamiya’s toolmakers to do a few extra sets on the sly, everything is that close. 


Second thought … it’s a kit? I thought all these were RTR … Ah, not some much a _kit_ kit, as a number of large subassemblies & a few bags of fasteners