Tamiya Sand Scorcher 2010 Re-Release

[fastgerman]

Hi All,

Complete impulse purchase as I should be too old for this sort of thing :-).

Previously owned a Manta Ray and Schumacher Storm many years ago.

Waiting for the Sand Scorcher to arrive and think I got some good deals on Amazon and Ebay.

So far I've purchased:
- Tamiya Sand Scorcher incl. metal bearings and ESC
- 2.4 Fine Spec remote, servos, battery, charger etc
- Sport Tuned motor

I quite fancy the car as a piece of art in the study over actually being used in anger, so looking for ideas on LED lights, painting, aluminium/shiny bits etc.

These are both interesting

[72twink]

It might also be worth building it with the diff hop-up, as standard they just run a spool. Even as a shelf queen/piece of art it's nice knowing there's a diff inside.

[fastgerman]

72twink said:

It might also be worth building it with the diff hop-up, as standard they just run a spool. Even as a shelf queen/piece of art it's nice knowing there's a diff inside.

Thanks and is this also the case on the 2010 re-release?

I take it the diff hop up is a standard Tamiya part or is it an aftermarket item?

Thanks

[Blakeatron]

The second pic has the super champ/fighting buggy chassis, or at least rear suspension as it is only that model that has the bottle of oil - hope he has a drip tray as all mine have leaked!

Its a slippy slope, do many 3rd party extras, so many hop-ups, so many shiny things - gets expensive quickly!

[C.A.R.]

Have a poke around Shapeways too - there are lots of 3D printed parts which have been designed by hobbyists the world over and some of them are fantastic. Be warned; it gets expensive quickly...

The FAV is also a great scale looking buggy which is cheaper and probably easier to accessorize. That too has a lot of desireable parts on Shapeways!

[72twink]

I

fastgerman said:

Thanks and is this also the case on the 2010 re-release?

I take it the diff hop up is a standard Tamiya part or is it an aftermarket item?

Thanks

Yes, I built my 2010 re-re with the diff, the internals were the same as an original, the changes over an original were more front suspension related. The diff set is a Tamiya part and a direct swap.

Also look out for back date parts for the shell, the re-re lost the embossed number plates, seperate door handles, the rear lights lost the clear lens/seperate base (although the lenses remain in the kit) and the mirrors got a bit clunkier. The wings on the shell have a flatter profile too which is legacy of the mould changes when it was used on the Monster Beetle and Blitzer Beetle.

[Pete Eroleum]

72twink said:

It might also be worth building it with the diff hop-up, as standard they just run a spool. Even as a shelf queen/piece of art it's nice knowing there's a diff inside.

If you're going to run it in it's intended environment, the sand, then it is a hop-down. It's only useful for a tighter turning circle on high-grip surfaces.
Personally I'd leave in the spool and run it on the beach only, where that pretty but fragile body might at least stay decent-looking for a while....

[fastgerman]

Almost built and have fitted the RC Channel alloys :-)

It's now a very expensive, slow, bad handling rc car but it looks good!

I ordered the Tamiya Fine Spec 2.4 kit, which came with an America charger and a battery that is too big...

Any suggestions on batteries for the Sand Scorcher?

I guess it has to be 7.2v and be in the hump shape?

Is there any benefit to going Lipo or upping the voltage?

I have 2 x ESC's, one which is for a brushless motor that came with the Tamiya Fine Spec kit. The other is for brushed, which came with the car. They both look the same except for an additional couple of wires on the brushless ESC.

Motor is Tamiya Sport Tuned.

Thanks

[4321go]

Started building my Buggy Champ (Rough Rider re-re) yesterday. Chassis is finished, complete with ally chassis plate, RC-Chanel front and rear alloy cages, ceramic bearings, stainless steel screws and Sport Tuned motor. Yup, it gets pricey fast! Off to the garage to spray the wheel parts chrome-silver, then I'll think about installing the radio gear.

I think that the brushless ESC will also work with a brushed motor (but not vice versa). Tamiya's brushless motor is about £60 and if you're quick, this looks like quite a good way to install it:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-sand-scorcher-TBL...

Looking at LiPO installations on the web, it seems to require an awful lot of kit and discarding the plastic radio gear box. The best NiMH battery that I found was the hump-pack 7.2v Overlander at 3500mAh bought from Jadlamracing (Russy01 on here).

[fastgerman]

Thanks just ordered a hump battery (3300) and charger from Jadlam Racing

The one with my fine spec kit came with a 1300 battery, so assume the charger wouldn't have been up to the job. Well it's not far off having to buy a US to UK adapter anyway :-)

I think going brushless would be too fast for this car, it nearly flips over just being pushed around haha

[4321go]

This was the chassis at lunchtime:



Now, I'm just beginning a couple of weeks of leave and I should be getting on with some much-delayed diy, so I now have a fully-fitted radio set-up! I've differed from Tamiya's suggested layout as I hate nest-of-vipers wiring. Here's the result:



And finally, here's the radio has x buttoned-up with the hump-backed battery in place. (You're quite correct, they're 3300mAh cells. I believe that Overlander did a 3500 pack, but it's discontinued.)

[4321go]

I've also fitted the anti-gravity pack...... (bloody iPad!)

[4321go]

I can't help but think that that last photo doesn't really show off the rethought radio box to its best. I'd just slapped the battery in before a quick tidy-up. Another reason for the rethink was the length of my receiver aerial. I'm being deliberately old-school and installing 27mHz Acoms gear in the hope that I'll be able to work out how to pair it with a 1979 MacGregor 2-channel transmitter. So I wanted to be able to twine the aerial all the way up the whip wire. This necessitated mounting the receiver in the aft right corner and drilling a 1.5mm hole for the aerial wire.

[ftypical]

On the original kit, the Receiver wire went through the same grommet in the back of the radio box as the motor wires. No need for extra holes.

[4321go]

I tried routeing it that way, but the aerial would only reach to about three inches shy of the top of the whip. This way it's about a half-inch shirt, loosely twined around and secured at the top with a tiny length of heat-shrink tube. Masking and painting the body at present (as well as hijacking someone else's thread!).

[fastgerman]

Exactly as I've done i.e. receiver near the motor.

The 2.4 ghz Tamiya Fine Spec kit came with the shortest aerial ever. Just about touches the engine cage aerial mount.

Been looking into colours and thinking of a bumble bee scheme using VW Imola Yellow.

[x5x3]

Free magazine download with a full review of Tamiya's 1986 Monster Beetle re-release http://rccar.zone/download/

[fastgerman]

4321go - just noticed your shocks are upside down?

[4321go]

Yup! Most definitely!!

They fit the same either way up and when upside-down, the damper oil can't leak out under gravity.

[Pete Eroleum]

4321go said:

They fit the same either way up and when upside-down, the damper oil can't leak out under gravity.

TRF blue o-rings solved that problem for me if you don't want them upside down. You only need half the set for the Scorcher, so the other half I
used on my Fighting Buggy. No leaks so far.