Monster Beetle

[MelvinsArmy]

I think it looks great! Question - did you use a brush to paint around the windows? I found my hand just isn't steady enough to do it by hand - is there a trick to getting it done neatly?

Yeah, I did it by hand. If you look up close, I'm not exactly pin straight on my lines. I got them "close enough" as I plan to run this body and don't want to worry about messing up something I spent too much time on. I'm not sure if there is a real trick. I use a long skinny brush and Tamiya acrylic paint. When i mess up and go over the line, I have a little bowl of water and some paper towels to erase my mistake, then go at it again. I'm a painter, I do realistic work on canvas, so little rc details might come a little easier for me, I don't know. Really, I think shodog is the hardbody paint expert, he probably has some good tips.

Today was the big day. I took it out and burned through most of a 5000mah pack. Must have gone for at least 20 minutes, probably 30. All in the back yard. I was REALLY surprised at how well this thing handles! I figured it would be super top heavy. I'm sure that it is, but it doesn't handle like it is. It is very sure footed. I only put it on its roof twice, and once was an end over end bad landing off a jump. Flooring it around corners, bouncing around in rough stuff, it was super stable and easy to control. Those big tires and CVA shocks really do their job soaking up the bumps. The buggy is very nimble too, it steers on a dime. I'm pretty confident this is my new go-to basher when I want to burn off some batteries and fool around for a bit in the back yard. It's just a blast.

I'm half tempted to buy a second one. Keep it in the box for a while, then build it too. I definitely don't need one, but I'm just smitten with this thing. It is a total BLAST!

Honestly, if I was still living out east, I'd be bringing this to race in the Heavy Metal class at the VONATS. I think it would get around the track pretty well, and it's way more nimble than a Clod.

Here's an action shot from this afternoon.

[Incredible_Serious]

AWESOME!!!!

[tamiyadan]

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[GoMachV]

I am not a big tamiya fan like I was, but Omni has them in stock for $179 with a $16 off coupon, too cheap to pass up!

[DennisM]

Here's an action shot from this afternoon.

-5.jpg

That photo brings back fond memories - The MB was my second rc car, and it was a blast to drive compared to the Marui CJ7 Golden Eagle. I thought it needed a Technigold, and after a couple days it actually really needed new gears, dogbones, shafts and rear tires

Great photo.

[Wahrsuul]

I still have mine, but it's in some rough shape. I gave it to my sone years ago, and he beat it pretty hard. When he got bored with it, I wound up with the remains. Nothing broken so much as to be unfixable, but a couple small parts missing. And it's not high on my list to get "restored" yet.

[GoMachV]

I knew they upgraded the axles but expected to see the frog units. It comes with some beefy cvd's!

Plastic quality seems worse than original but maybe I'm not remembering it well enough

Also missing the servo saver brace that came with the beetle, and the mechanical speed control plate too. Although there is no real need for it, it looks silly with two long posts instead of the plate.

[SFC K]

I knew they upgraded the axles but expected to see the frog units. It comes with some beefy cvd's!

Plastic quality seems worse than original but maybe I'm not remembering it well enough

Also missing the servo saver brace that came with the beetle, and the mechanical speed control plate too. Although there is no real need for it, it looks silly with two long posts instead of the plate.

That is good to know on the cvd's. The originals were awful. I'm sure the chop shop folks will have them soon enough for me to upgrade. I also locked diff too. It was a huge improvement and does not make that clicking noise...

[SFC K]

I hope you don't mind me sharing some links that describe what you can do to make these run better.

http://homepages.xnet.co.nz/~taz/blackfoot/blackfoot.html

and for the screw mod for the diff.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=24674&sid=3142

[Squirrel40]

The Monster Beetle is cool. I haven't had a R/C car in 20 years but found this in a box at a swap meet a couple years ago. It was all in pieces and took a few winter weekends to rebuild it. I painted the frame gray but found out that probably wasn't a good idea since it was original. I still think it looks good on the shelf.



http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/Squirrel40/media/Beetle1_zpsgdkuli3u.jpg.html



Sorry cant figure out how to post pictures.

[tecnica2001]

I always wanted a MB also, and I bought one a couple of weeks ago, took my time building it, and it still puts a smile in my face when I run it, I want to build a Blackfoot out of one of these...

[tamiyadan]

.

[Squirrel40]

One more pic.

[alien3t]

I knew they upgraded the axles but expected to see the frog units. It comes with some beefy cvd's!

Plastic quality seems worse than original but maybe I'm not remembering it well enough

Also missing the servo saver brace that came with the beetle, and the mechanical speed control plate too. Although there is no real need for it, it looks silly with two long posts instead of the plate.

which in thought means you can use a thorp ball diff, without buying the axle set. just the ball diff, since the bog bones or the tamiya cva has the same dogbone connection at the outdrive. (thorp diff pricey, but adds up when you add the dogbomes axle and wheel backs.