Just built my first car -- (TL-01) Tamiya Subaru 2001 WRC Impreza

[jdl1138]

I got the kit, brand new and sealed, off ebay for $62 (it even included the prepainted body and a full set of ball bearings). This chassis scares me -- too many mechanicals are buried in the frame! (tb-02 might have been a better chassis choice) Because I had never built an RC car before and due to all the mechanicals being buried, I was VERY careful when building it. But she worked perfect the first time I put a fresh battery in her. One thing for sure is that by building your own car, you get to know it inside and out, so that ought to make future repairs easier to perform. And it was fun building it. After manually screwing in half of the screws, I bought one of those cordless screwdrivers (6V Black and Decker) which sped the assembly up a quite a bit. The only other tools I needed were some cutting pliers, needle nose pliers, and some screw drivers. Tamiya's assembly instructions are VERY clear and easy to understand. The mechanical speed control is going to have to go. It's crude. Anybody have a recommendation for a cheapie ESC? Any will be better than the mechanical one. I know it's just a cheapie Tamiya, but it'll be fun to throw around.

To power the Subaru, I ordered from Tower Hobbies:

DuraTrax Piranha CX-15 AC/DC Fast Charger w/Meter for $32......nice charger, but I should have bought the digital one for only $17 more..........DOH!

2 cheapie Tower Hobby brand 1500 mAh $9 batteries

Futaba 2PH 2-Channel AM with 2 S3003 Servos (seems kinda cheaply made, but then again it was only $47 so I can't expect much).

By the way, Tower Hobbies is great.

[702nitro]

I got the kit, brand new and sealed, off ebay for $62 (it even included the prepainted body and a full set of ball bearings). This chassis scares me -- too many mechanicals are buried in the frame! (tb-02 might have been a better chassis choice) Because I had never built an RC car before and due to all the mechanicals being buried, I was VERY careful when building it. But she worked perfect the first time I put a fresh battery in her. One thing for sure is that by building your own car, you get to know it inside and out, so that ought to make future repairs easier to perform. And it was fun building it. After manually screwing in half of the screws, I bought one of those cordless screwdrivers (6V Black and Decker) which sped the assembly up a quite a bit. The only other tools I needed were some cutting pliers, needle nose pliers, and some screw drivers. Tamiya's assembly instructions are VERY clear and easy to understand. The mechanical speed control is going to have to go. It's crude. Anybody have a recommendation for a cheapie ESC? Any will be better than the mechanical one. I know it's just a cheapie Tamiya, but it'll be fun to throw around.

To power the Subaru, I ordered from Tower Hobbies:

DuraTrax Piranha CX-15 AC/DC Fast Charger w/Meter for $32......nice charger, but I should have bought the digital one for only $17 more..........DOH!

2 cheapie Tower Hobby brand 1500 mAh $9 batteries

Futaba 2PH 2-Channel AM with 2 S3003 Servos (seems kinda cheaply made, but then again it was only $47 so I can't expect much).

By the way, Tower Hobbies is great.


In the future make sure that when your screwing anything into plastic, especially Tamiya, make sure not to over torque the screws, or you'll end up striping the thread of the hole on the plastic.

Good luck! I hope you have fun. I know I did with my Tamiya

[nomad1]

The Duratrax Intellepeck ESC are good and cheap. I have the 2 without reverse, if you have to have reverse the make one for a little more. It works really well.

[Prelude14WRX]

I agree^^^

[johnstoys]

Congrats on your first build...

I agree about Tamiya...have built dozens of their stuff and their instructions tend to be among the best. You're also correct about getting to know the cars and its parts. RTR jobs can be great for some, but if you build it yourself, you're already ahead of the game when it comes to trouble-shooting, repairs, and parts replacement.