Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

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tamiyadan
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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

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Re: Prototype TRF from a factory driver from PH

Post by Overrev »

slow_jun wrote:
terry.sc wrote:
tamiyadan wrote:there are conflicting reports, either the 211x was the prototype of the dynastorm or it was the prototype for another car that tamiya never built up.
The TRF 211X was the name given to the buggies made for the team drivers around the world that were never for sale. The Dynastorm was the kit Tamiya sold to everyone else.
The TRF 211X was produced around the same time as the Dynastorm in 1992, so they came from the same original prototype, but the TRF 211X was constantly developed for the team drivers with many new and updated parts, and AFAIK was never destined to become a production car at any time. It was a marketing exercise to sell Dynastorms, in the same way in 1990 Jamie Booth was officially racing an Egress while actually racing something a prototype Manta Ray that looked a lot like the Top Force that came out several years later.
oh the dynastorm body was also correct for the 211X you can grab a TBG reproduction and go from there were some Tamiya TRF decals.
AFAIK there wasn't a TRF 211X body and others such as Dynastorm, Astute and Madcap were used. But the silver body in the photo at the top of the thread looks like it might be a TRF 211X specific body as it certainly isn't a Dynastorm one.
Thank you Sir, for the great info. I'm forcing my friend to Join here and I believe he is just viewing as we type. hahahah...he will chime in. so that he can share to us his experience as a Team driver. As for the Body, it came from the Kit that was provided to them to test bitd, ( see name on body).

Now, If I can only make him post on here so I don't look stupid claiming that he is my friend.. hahahah. comm'n Bob, post... pleaseeeeeee.....

Hi guys I'm new to this forum/thread. Have to come out in the open to shed light on the TRX211x prototype. I can only tell you a brief story about this car since i just used it for a couple of months before putting her in the boneyard. Now in between those years i have a lingering question myself maybe and hopefully one day someone will give me some answers.

Here's the story. The car was given to me by a Tamiya distributor in 1991 as far as i can remember, who also owns a hobby shop. He requested that i race/test it whenever possible and give some feedbacks to Tamiya. Since its a new car and its free i might as well give it try but having an rc10 and a Losi, i'm having second thoughts as to which car i'll race. Well the car accelerated better than my other two cars so holeshot wise its an advantage coming into the first turn which is one of the critical parts of the race.

Turning into a corner i would say is slightly quicker than my rc10 using the same tires, while landing off jumps is a breeze but sometimes I get nervous whenever I land it nose first because the front arms easily break and will prevent me from finishing the entire race. Too bad because ordering parts will take a while to arrive, usually 2-3 weeks :x . At one point in time i raced it on-road without the knowledge of the distributor :) . So there i go, lowered the suspension but using worn out off-road tires! To my surprise i won the race and in one of the heats i crashed the car into a tire barrier breaking one of the front arms. I continued the race with a broken arm but still manage to finish in third. :o

Fast forward. Four months after racing the car I quit. No parts, no support from the distributor, lack of interest so I had to retire and forget about her and go back to my rc10. I continued racing and in Dec 1993 i got my double X! Boy this car wins in any track bone stock back in the day. I still have it with me as a shelf queen. Back to the TRX, this car by the way came with titanium screws supplied by tamiya and after retiring her i took some and put it on my rc10. The parts are the usual tamiya shiny plastic which easily break. The tranny internals i have no idea if its the same as Dyna storm or asute/super astute. Shock towers i think is fiberglass correct me if I'm wrong. Chassis is very stiff and light as well. The wheels from what i gathered are similar to D. storm front and rear.

Tires are off the shelf items (i think). Body seems similar to dyna storm as with the shock absorbers as well. Anything i missed just ask. So, to my question. Is the TRX211 the same as d. storm or super astute? Some might be wondering why i ask this question. Well, I retired from racing in 1994 so i lost track and still wondering what might have happened to TRX211 development. Right now i'm restoring this car trying to get period perfect parts. The bug bit me again!

Bob

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Re: Prototype TRF from a factory driver from PH

Post by slow_jun »

[quote="Overrev[/quote]
Welcome Overrv, he's the owner of this nice kit.
“It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.”
― Confucius

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Re: Prototype TRF from a factory driver from PH

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slow_jun wrote:[quote="Overrev
Welcome Overrv, he's the owner of this nice kit.[/quote]


Thanks slow_jun and thanks to rc10talk for this wonderful website.

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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

Post by terry.sc »

tamiyadan wrote:parts support always summed up why tamiya is a huge failure in the racing/competition world, there is none.

tamiya is liquidating the 201X buggy now, for under 200$ there never was parts support for the buggy race it once break anything you can just throw it out.

I'm sitting on a bunch of 511X and 501X buggies (yup the shaft and belt drive 4wd cars) because tamiya lied promised parts support 8 years ago never delivered. It was always a track record with tamiya. pretty cars made of unobtainium glass, drive them perfectly or it will never drive again.
This has nothing to do with Tamiya. There is a plentiful spare support for all those cars, in fact for a good while the most common touring cars at my club were Tamiya TRFs because they were the toughest on track and it was so easy to get spares for them. It was quicker to order Tamiya spares from Hong Kong shops than ordering Xray or Associated spares in the UK and waiting for them to order them in themselves.
In the UK the lack of readily available spares is entirely down to the Hobby Company not supporting the high end cars, most of the TRF chassis available from UK shops are grey imports and not through the official distributor.

Still plenty of 501X parts available in Hong Kong and in the USA

The TRf201 is reduced in price because it has been superseded by a new upgraded version, the same way the Associated B4.1 is being 'liquidated' as it's been replaced by the B4.2.
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Re: Prototype TRF from a factory driver from PH

Post by terry.sc »

Overrev wrote:Tires are off the shelf items (i think). Body seems similar to dyna storm as with the shock absorbers as well. Anything i missed just ask. So, to my question. Is the TRX211 the same as d. storm or super astute? Some might be wondering why i ask this question. Well, I retired from racing in 1994 so i lost track and still wondering what might have happened to TRX211 development.
The TRF211 was developed right up to a moulded tub version.http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=69011&id=22258 Even during development leading up to the TRF211 Tamiya was using unique machined wishbones on the works Astutes, which were raced using the simpler suspension parts from the Madcap. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/article.asp?id=94

The problem with trying to restore it is that the development was done directly from Japan, and while some parts were shared with the Astute/Madcap and Dynastorm quite a few parts were unique mouldings or even hand machined in very short runs, and decent distributors helped get constantly updated parts out to the racers, and the drivers experiences went straight back to Japan to help develop the parts and cars further. The spares were never commercially available, so it is almost impossible to find genuine TRF211 spares, although Dynastorm spares should be able to be used or modified if necessary, and there are plenty of Dynastorm and the reinforced TR-15T spares on ebay.

It's not something unique to Tamiya, 6 months before the Kyosho Optima was released I was racing a pre-production kit for the UK distributor. I had an accident that broke a wishbone, and it took 3 weeks to get it replaced as I had to order it direct from Ripmax, who then had to get them shipped over from Japan. After that I made sure I had a stock of spares just to make sure I could keep it on the road.
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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

Post by terry.sc »

Unless you think Tamiya are refusing to send the parts to the UK while happily sending them to the Asia, Europe and USA distributors, then I don't think the lack of spares in the UK is anything to do with Tamiya themselves, but everything to do with the Hobby Company concentrating on the bigger selling basic kits and just not supporting the high spec cars.
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Re: Prototype TRF from a factory driver from PH

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terry.sc wrote:
Overrev wrote:Tires are off the shelf items (i think). Body seems similar to dyna storm as with the shock absorbers as well. Anything i missed just ask. So, to my question. Is the TRX211 the same as d. storm or super astute? Some might be wondering why i ask this question. Well, I retired from racing in 1994 so i lost track and still wondering what might have happened to TRX211 development.
The TRF211 was developed right up to a moulded tub version.http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=69011&id=22258 Even during development leading up to the TRF211 Tamiya was using unique machined wishbones on the works Astutes, which were raced using the simpler suspension parts from the Madcap. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/article.asp?id=94

The problem with trying to restore it is that the development was done directly from Japan, and while some parts were shared with the Astute/Madcap and Dynastorm quite a few parts were unique mouldings or even hand machined in very short runs, and decent distributors helped get constantly updated parts out to the racers, and the drivers experiences went straight back to Japan to help develop the parts and cars further. The spares were never commercially available, so it is almost impossible to find genuine TRF211 spares, although Dynastorm spares should be able to be used or modified if necessary, and there are plenty of Dynastorm and the reinforced TR-15T spares on ebay.

It's not something unique to Tamiya, 6 months before the Kyosho Optima was released I was racing a pre-production kit for the UK distributor. I had an accident that broke a wishbone, and it took 3 weeks to get it replaced as I had to order it direct from Ripmax, who then had to get them shipped over from Japan. After that I made sure I had a stock of spares just to make sure I could keep it on the road.

Great this is an eye opener. Anyway i've partially restored the car, all i need now are rear wheels/tires, some turnbuckles and tie-rod ends. Shock absorbers rebuilt, good thing is the oil seals are still intack. As with the body what do you think guys? Are there still dyna storm bodies around? I think that's the closest to the TRX211 body.

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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

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Re: Prototype TRF from a factory driver from PH

Post by EvolutionRevolution »

DennisM wrote:Never seen those shocks before - are they developed from the Hi-caps.
The shocks look like Tamiya's Sleeved dampers, except that instead of light blue they are greyish.

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Re: Prototype TRF 211X from a factory driver from PH

Post by Overrev »

tamiyadan wrote:welcome

problem is the 211X is a mix of things that existed and didn't exist for public distribution.
some parts came off the super astute, some parts were pre production dyanstorm, and some parts were one off molds.

now if you can find a TR-15 tamiya gas truck it used dynastorm molds but they made the parts out of re-enforced plastic making it much more durable. there are a couple of guys making 3d printed parts and one off production parts for the dynastorm front end to beef it up.
i don't know if they would be a direct fit for the 211x or you will need to do some cutting to make it work.

parts support always summed up why tamiya is a huge failure in the racing/competition world, there is none.

tamiya is liquidating the 201X buggy now, for under 200$ there never was parts support for the buggy race it once break anything you can just throw it out.

I'm sitting on a bunch of 511X and 501X buggies (yup the shaft and belt drive 4wd cars) because tamiya lied promised parts support 8 years ago never delivered. It was always a track record with tamiya. pretty cars made of unobtainium glass, drive them perfectly or it will never drive again.

but for the 211X to get into restoration is going to get expensive fast, first you would have to buy some junker super astute and dynastorm cars for parts and start comparing the prototype to production my guess is a very small number of parts will be direct replacement.
finding another 211X is possible but again expensive. since all the cars used for the 211x are rare and expensive you might just want to sell it off to somebody else and walk away rich.

even the rerelease of the dynastorm is rare and prices for the cars are well over 200$ and over 500$ for kits now.

Thanks for the info. The car is more than halfway restored, some small stuff like turnbuckles/tierod ends need completion. Next would be tires and wheels, have to look for the originals i know its lurking somewhere. As for the body i would go for the d storm which is the closest so far. Suggestions please.. :D

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