Tamiya Durga DB01 EP Buggy (A cheaper 501X?) - Page 52

DCM · #**1021** 03-02-2008

buy a slipper, and when 3Racomg pull their finger out, get the alloy suspension mounting kits front and rear, the rest is tuning.

sosidge · #**1022** 03-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoolio

Well, first of all I've got to say it got some attention even if a combination of crap build and crap driving did its best to ruin the day. The car was built with kit oil, pistons and springs and managed 2 qualifiers OK. Running minipins on a mix of carpet and boarding I certainly did not suffer from a lack of steering, the car was very pointy indeed. On the sleeping policeman jump the nose had an almost magnetic attraction to the floor and I was constantly flipping the car over - never really sorted that one all day, but generally got the hang of flying it OK over the table top. Had huge chassis-slap issues until I put loads of spacers on the springs then it sorted itself out. The slipper slipped a bit too much too, but adjusted that for Q3 and was much improved until the crap Tamiya quality kicked in and one front shock lower ball end came out of the rod allowing the spring and seat to make a successful bid for freedom. I had reservations about this when I built the chassis as the plastic is very soft and the rod only seemed to thread in about 4mm. I put it all back together for Q4 without much hope and sure enough BOTH front shocks did the same thing on landing from the first jump. Bugger

. For the final I bodged it with some RPM ball ends out of my RC10 spares. Was doing OK (started 3rd) and kept my nose clean despite not being particularly fast.

Then my crap driving kicked as I went over the tabletop at a slight angle and the rear right wheel nicely caught on the exposed lip of the downramp where it was wider than the tabletop. This removed the rear corner with surgical efficiency. I'm sure it would have done the same on any car so I can't really knock Tamiya for that. I eventually managed to find both the ball ends for the end of the hinge pins too and nothing actually broke so I assume the impact flexed the rear fixing enough for the hinge pin to pop out. Need to fix this for next time or at least buy lots of spare A-parts!

The one-way stayed in the pit box as I really didn't need it, there was plenty of steering and this was a very tight track, the carpet helped there I think.

The car got some good comments and I was very happy with how it went straight out of the box - it can only get better with practice and a bit of time setting it up. Found out when I got home the the cambers were all different on every corner - so much for the dimensions given in the manual.

Reading your post reminded me so much of my first outing with the car two months ago! Same kind of handling (good except for the chassis slap and limited damping), same kind of interested looks and nice comments - and also my own driving letting me down

All I broke was a rear tower and since moving the wing back I haven't broken a single thing since having run the car at four or five race meetings so I rate it as pretty tough.

I have now got some TRF dampers on the car at last so hoping this will solve some of the damper/handling issues.

Bsr241 · #**1023** 03-02-2008

Hey sosidge, can you give us the details on how you moved the wing back? I broke my rear tower again and have been waiting 2 weeks for a new one.

sosidge · #**1024** 03-02-2008

Easy, cut the holes about 6mm ahead of the dimples - wing sits just behind the tower, haven't broken a thing on the car since.

sim · #**1025** 04-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vin

Thanks mate! The turnbuckles are from the DF03 (Hard Turnbuckle set), which is a set of 6 turnbuckles. However the ones for the steering are too long. So I used the kit supplied turnbuckles there.

I'm really curious about this. The DF-03 camber links are 50mm and steering rods are 46mm (the kit ones are anyway, according to the manual). The DB-01 (also kit, also according to online manual) are 42mm for camber and 32mm for steering.

You are running the DF-03 (shorter) rod ends?

Spoolio · #**1026** 04-02-2008

Anybody know where I can get spare A-parts and a bodyshell? Been to the usual suspects and can only get arms, uprights, castor blocks, B-parts and M-parts. At this rate I'll probably end up with another car for spares!

Vin · #**1027** 04-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by sim

I'm really curious about this. The DF-03 camber links are 50mm and steering rods are 46mm (the kit ones are anyway, according to the manual). The DB-01 (also kit, also according to online manual) are 42mm for camber and 32mm for steering.

You are running the DF-03 (shorter) rod ends?

As far as I remember I'm running the long ones. It's not only the rod that determines the length of the plastic thingies that go on them (I believe they're called rod ends right). The 'rod ends' supplied with the Durga are a lot longer than the ones supplied with the DF03 Turnbuckle set. Look at the picture below and you'll see what I mean:

I'm not at home right now, but if you want I could measure them next weekend.

25pie · #**1028** 04-02-2008

apparently from an insider source tamiya has decresed worldwide sales by almost 30% since 2002 and is now having financial difficulities..... hopefully it is not the end for the mother of all RC!!

jimmy · #**1029** 04-02-2008

I can believe that, I love Tamiya but over here in the UK it's so far out of it - at least from my perspective. They seem to advertise in the mags - but that's about it. All the time companies like HPI are becoming more 'Tamiya' than Tamiya - getting their products into mainstream shops and on the TV. Tamiya just sit back and stick an advert in the back of a magazine for a car they don't even support (501X, for instance).

Forgive my rant! lol

DCM · #**1030** 04-02-2008

your mixing your manufaturer and your distributor there Jimmy, Hobby Co don't support any TRF car directly, but Tamiya tell them what to advertise I think.

jimmy · #**1031** 04-02-2008

Well yeah, I refer to HobbyCo as Tamiya UK here - when really they just distribute low level cars to shops. I'm pretty sure you're right also on the advertising - but you have to admit at least over here they are losing ground on manufacturers that seem to do a lot more PR work.

DCM · #**1032** 04-02-2008

I think they have lost the club scene and the collector due to the price you ca get EVERYTHING from HK being so much better.

dflament · #**1033** 05-02-2008

i was thinking the same thing, i ordered the Durga from ebay, it cost me about 120-130€, the same car here in Belgium costs 220€ in the nearest R/C racing shop

Spoolio · #**1034** 05-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by DCM

I think they have lost the club scene...

Definately agree here. Last Worksop meet, about 100 drivers I think and 1 Durga. Same last week at Broxtowe, 49 drivers, 1 Durga. Judging by the interest I got in mine Tamiya just need to get product and spares back into the shops that sell to racers but they will have a hard time overcoming the "its a Tamiya therefore its a toy" prejudice that has been allowed to develop. Don't get me started 'cos I can rant all day

.

25pie · #**1035** 05-02-2008

HPI have made loads of money from quality RTR cars (such as the firestorm and savage) whereas tamiya never really got seriously into the rtr scene and the cars which they sell as rtr are just not up to the standards (for example) set by hpi, i mean just compare the Tamiya Nitrage 5.2 and the Savage X, Savage is just better... Also another problem about tamiya that they are simply too big: it sells just about anything which has to do with modeling but children today would rather play on a PSP than build a 1/35 scale tank, and as Jimmy said PR in UK is virtually nil which is the same as the whole of EUROPE sadly

(don't get me wrong i despise rtr but damn it they sell to the masses)

sim · #**1036** 05-02-2008

Tamiya's strategy consists of three steps:
1. Recruit racing talent from Europe
2. Get them to win races
3. Sell kits to Americans

Toonz · #**1037** 05-02-2008

4. poison the asians with hop-ups parts

SiR_Dave · #**1038** 05-02-2008

5. Make 6 versions of the same car and with every change they just add one hop up or new item to make the car different

ralphee · #**1039** 06-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoolio

Anybody know where I can get spare A-parts and a bodyshell? Been to the usual suspects and can only get arms, uprights, castor blocks, B-parts and M-parts. At this rate I'll probably end up with another car for spares!

Hope the linky is cool Jimmy, but i got my spares and a body from these guys spoolio, ask for Ryan he's there U.S rep and a great guy, i think you can mail him direct on the site as there is an english page, if not ill dig out his Email, they do a great service and most my stuff arrives in three days.

lee

http://www.rc-rainbow.co.jp/

Spoolio · #**1040** 06-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphee

Hope the linky is cool Jimmy, but i got my spares and a body from these guys spoolio, ask for Ryan he's there U.S rep and a great guy, i think you can mail him direct on the site as there is an english page, if not ill dig out his Email, they do a great service and most my stuff arrives in three days.

lee

http://www.rc-rainbow.co.jp/

Hi ralphee, been onto the site but got confused as it says the US guy's last day for posting stuff was...yesterday, damn

. All I really need urgently are the A2, A4 and A5 parts for the rear end, anybody got any ideas - this is another Tamiya thing, why are spares so bloody hard to get hold of and why do you have to buy a whole stuffing tree when you only need one part, they could really learn from Associated and Losi here.