Since I'm unable to test the Desert Gator tomorrow due to a flooded track, I decided to pick up a quick & easy build to be my second test subject for the week. Even comes with a finished body in this re-release edition! Score!

The Group C chassis cars feature a build order that's not too common among Tamiya kits. Step 1 is to mount the tires, and step 2 is to set up the servo horn.

Picture 1: Be sure to carefully plan the placement of those adhesive strips before applying them to the wheels. The front wheels are wider than the tires and foams don't stretch, so I don't recommend putting the inside strips all the way out at the edges of the wheels, or they'll be left with adhesive exposed to the air to just collect dust & fuzz.

Picture 3: Here's the rigid front end setup with the typical pan car style floating kingpins. No big surprises here, as long as you center the kingpins properly in the knuckles.

Picture 4: Four super-long 4mm bolts attach the forward chassis brace and clamp the front clip onto the main chassis tub.


Tips:

Because this is the second Group C chassis I've done for Ultimate Tamiya, just refer back to my F40 build for tips. Also, as always, use threadlock on all set screws.

Picture 1: Four straight sides do a box form. This is essentially the rear chassis pod, with the wing strut mount attached to the back.

Picture 2: All mounted up with that sweet black-anodized motor that should propel this ultralight chassis quite nicely. The axle runs on just two bearings, and thankfully actual ball bearings are included here, though bushings are used elsewhere.

Picture 3: The diff uses just six balls and they're easy to insert, and the thrust bearing assembly goes into the outside hole on the hub. The thrust bearing is a preassembled unit, so finishing this whole unit off is a very simple and straightforward task. Just be sure to lubricate the business sides of the large pressure rings (unclear in the instructions).

Picture 4: I LOVE it when an onroader comes with an actual wing stay assembly! It's actually a lot more flexible than it looks.

There you have it! All done except for the electronics, which I'll drop in tomorrow. I only wish I could cheaply buy up a bunch of these bodies, unpainted, to use on future projects!

Looks great!

Drove it today and I really like it! The Gr.C F40 I only drove on asphalt and it was good, but this one I ran on carpet and it had great traction and controllability. Video to come!

So is that smaller than a 1/10 and how tunable is it? What electronics are you using in it? That's one thing I love about Tamiya, how realist everything is. It looks really fun to drive around too.

Ray

It would be classified as 1/10th, but it's actually very very close to scale and thus larger than most 1/10th electric street RCs (which are smaller than 1/10th scale). It's 205mm wide, 19" long. It's not a proper racing chassis so it's not exceedingly tuneable, but you can change:

• Pinion
• Monoshock oil & spring
• T-bar bushing (not sure exactly how that works other than fine-tuning CoG, but the manual suggests it's for oversteer/understeer)
• Front springs
• Front toe

The ball diff doesn't seem to be designed to be tuneable, though I think you could do it with fine shims and/or thicker lube.

For electronics I just threw in whatever was handy & available, this time my trusty DTX Intellispeed 8T Pro, and an Airtronics FHSS rx.

Wow, this is the car that my neighbor offered to me for 80$! Not the re- release, the original. Body and everything, even... I think a MSC buried underneath a bunch of random maybe R/C related stuff. I thought about buying it, but I'm not one to limit an R/C to a mere shelf.

Thrust bearing is locked down on the outside of the right wheel hub, not against the diff itself. The wheel hub is then locked down against what's effectively the axle. It's set in such a way that you get a fixed amount of pressure against the plates, and the gear is actually slightly free-floating over the balls. You literally can't tighten it further.