Page:
1

TOPIC:

Hornet vs DT-01 11 years 11 months ago #9557

Saito
Offline
Anytime Baby!
Posts: 40
Likes received: 5

I've always been interested in how Tamiya steadily evolved their chassis. For instance, its neat to see the improvements made from the Hot Shot series to the Thunder Shot series. While they may not share alot of parts, the design "theme" carries over. I know nothing of the DT-01 series cars (Mad Fighter, Fighter Buggy, Rookie Rabbit, etc.) but can tell by looking at them that they were follow up cars to the basic Grasshopper/Hornet chassis. So how do they perform over those earlier cars? The rear shock layout looks fairly radical compared to the Hornets. Does it work? How about the odd battery placement?

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re: Hornet vs DT-01 11 years 11 months ago #9563

Jonny Retro
Offline
Staff Writer
Posts: 7881
Likes received: 4868

Honestly, I've never owned a DT01 chassis, but TBH I wouldn't think they have any real benefits over the earlier cars, other than more space to put on oil dampers.

I'm more interested in the "Family Tree" of these cars, I'm sure Edou will want to research it in great detail, but AFAIK it goes something like:

58035 Wild Willy -------------------------------------------------|            		
58037 Opel Ascona 400 Rally                                       | 
58039 Willy's Wheeler                                             | 
58040 Lancia Rally                                                |
        |                                                         |
        |                                                         |  
58043 Grasshopper }                                               | 
                  }--- 58044 Pajero Wheelie-----------            |
58045 Hornet      }              |                   |            | 
        |                        |                   |            |
        |                        |                   |            | 
        |              58063 Lunchbox                |            |
Super Hornet, + etc?   58070 Midnight Pumpkin        |            |
        |                        |                   |            |
        |                        |                   |            | 
        |                        |                   |            | 
    DT01 cars                    |                   |          58242
        |                        |                   |       Wild Willy 2 
        |                        |                   |            |
        |                        |                   |            |
    DT02 cars                    |                   |            |
                                 |-------------------|            |
                                           |                    58512  
                                 58499 Montero Wheelie      VW Camper Wheelie

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re: Hornet vs DT-01 11 years 11 months ago #9614

eddrick
Offline
GO FOR IT!
Posts: 2169
Likes received: 113

Missus has got a tweaked Mad Bull - same performance & hardiness as 540'd Grasshopper. Rear suspension works well, basic springs work better than the Hornet's oil dampers. Not as much rear bounce under hard acceleration as the 'Hopper. Front suspension & "bump-steer" is a joke & is far worse than the 'Hopper, - on loose ground it can have the car stopped & just spinning its wheels when reversing! Front shock tower is a seperate piece to the chassis & detatches with alarming regularity. This piece has screw slots, which really needed to be closed holes.
Battery position & fixing work well (Probably the battery position helping to stop rear bounce more than the angle of the rear shocks).

I'm afraid I disagree about the Thundershot being an advance over the Hotshot - I've had both & the Hotshot although comparatively slow & heavy, is a much stronger & more reliable car. The Thundershot should've been released to the Chinese for them to sell as an RTR Xmas wonder - yeah it's faster but use it once & it'll split the gearboxes at the suspension mounts & break the front suspension brace - 2 battery charges later & it will probably be reduced it to kit form again!
To this day, in my opinion, I think the best (Read most usable) Tamiya cars (Although nothing exciting) have been the TL01 variants - they're just simple & solid, well thought out, & respond well to being tuned/hopped up. In fact, I can't say I've ever managed to break one!

Custom F2 ... Hilux crossmember drawing ... F2 axle drawing ... Quattro radio lid ... Holiday Buggy motor bracket drawing ... Quattro resto ... HitnMiss engine ... Wild Willy resto ... Mardave Cobra resto ... Thunder Dragon resto ... Grasshopper resto ... XR311 resto ... Modded XR311 ... Carbon 25th scratch build

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re: Hornet vs DT-01 11 years 11 months ago #9622

Jonny Retro Offline Staff Writer Posts: 7881 Likes received: 4868	I don't know if you could call a chassis with 24 bearings in it "simple", but I will agree that I've never managed to break mine ... it does seem to be a flawed concept though - it's not that good on road, and off road versions aren't much cop either. For me though, the biggest problem is that it doesn't even have any pretensions of scale looks, and is entirely charmless
	Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re: Hornet vs DT-01 11 years 11 months ago #9637

eddrick
Offline
GO FOR IT!
Posts: 2169
Likes received: 113

My on-road's ok, certainly as good & as quick as my SST, but without the broken driveshafts & busted belts... Having said that, mine's not standard (Oil dampers, turnbuckle kit, aftermarket tyres/wheels, loopy motor, LRP ESC). Also, I don't use mine competitively, just for carpark fun. Offroad version, mine was a fake (HBX Bonzer) but it continually amazed me how much stick it survived & what it would climb, but still keep up with the Mad Bull in a drag race. It also outlived my TMaxx in the bashing department.
My 'Hopper used to get some grief & come back fighting too. Used to launch it off (Or drive it down) the stairs & only pop the back shocks apart. Can't remember ever having to replace any breakages on that either.
The worst, most unusable cars I've had were SRBs. I suspect if I actually used it, the old Hilux would probably take over the #1 fragility slot

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Page:
1

Moderators: caprinut, stingray-63, AndyAus

Time to create page: 0.153 seconds