Tamiya TRF201, well, maybe it's a review?

Hey, that's my car wall.  .... What's that strange buggy with pink wheels...

That. That's a TRF201.  But.. why a TRF201?  Well, partially because i'm cheap.  In some bit, because I wanted a better 2wd buggy.  In large measure, because my RC buddy said "i'm buying a TRF201, want in?"

He ordered the cars.  I ordered the motors, escs, and tires.  He also can't leave well enough alone.  Note that box is still sealed, and there's a whole pile of HOP-UP OPTIONS bags.  

The TRF201 has had quite the evolution over the years.  Tamiya "sorted out" the suspension a few years ago, back when the short wheelbase wide sidepod chassis were common.  Those chassis were outdated years ago.  This package comes with the XR long wheelbase chassis.  Not only that, but it also came with the large diameter, shocks. 

You'd expect a kit that came with the "upgrade" parts from the factory, to not come with the stock parts.  ... and this time, you'd be wrong.  There is a complete TRF201 kit, along with a complete XR chassis kit.  The normal shocks for the TRF201, and the large diameter shocks.  Finally, it came with bodies for both chassis.

Remember the "leaving well enough alone" bit?  That pile of parts in front of the box, has the heatsink motor plate, the hard suspension arms, hard accessory parts, the hard wide pod chassis tub, the aluminum bellcrank with servo saver eliminator, and a few other bits and pieces. 

Hobbywing power.  What's there to say?  It's a good brand, has blinky programming, and they have US distributors.  It's hard to argue with that decision.

Most of the build, was in the transmission and rear suspension.  Really, building a buggy, is building a buggy.  No big surprises.  We built our cars with the short wheelbase, hardened tubs.  The local indoor track is carpet, and wanting to be different, but not crazy... well that's what we went with.  Oh, I grew up on the wide side buggies, so that's what "looks right".  

It was a busy night, building the cars.  We spent a good 10 hours, I think.   Between the chassis, and painting the bodies.  We did make a few mistakes though.  Just so you don't make the same mistakes, the temperature you paint your bodies at, MATTERS.  Do it when it's warm. 

However, this is as far as we got in the first night.  Leaving a dark and very cold basement a little to close to lake michigan.....  

We rejoin the story at my dining room table.  So we can install the electronics.  That servo you see on the table. That servo is a mistake.  Lewan Soul 20kg servo.  I mean, it's not "useless" but it's not very fast.  I've seen it used on some cars that see a very hard life, so I think it's durable.  But i'm finding that slow servos make me crazy. 

... I wouldn't buy one for steering.

Some wheels, and .. I swear everything is under that hood.

I also built up the XR chassis.  There are some things to note.  The aluminum standoffs, have tops that match the key shapes on the upper chassis supports.  The chassis itself is remarkably stiff.  And that was true even before the side plates were installed.  It's designed to have tunable flexability, the collection of aluminum standoffs in back are supposed to be tuning parts.  As are the number of screws you put in the side pods.  

Those side pods are another thing worth noting.  You can see swirl marks on them.  They are milled, not molded.  That's probally $50 in milled plastic right there. 

And here we go, the buggy ready to go.  

So... it took me a long time before I really got to drive it.  I took it to an indoor dirt track, and I was not exactly pleased with how things went.  It could have been me.  It could have been the nasty environment.  I was at TimeWarp in Lake In The Hills, IL.  The off road room must have been 105% humidity.  It could have been traction issues too.  Either way, I felt "something" was wrong.

A couple weeks ago, I took the car to Windy City RC, in Arlington Heights IL.  There.. the car felt right.  It loves black carpet. 

I do, definitely, have the shocks setup wrong.  The back end is far to soft, and it could probably use a swaybar to keep all the tires on the ground while cornering. 

More to come, as I get serious about the off road stuff.