Tamiya Neo Fighter buggy DT03, Re-re Frog, and Top Force builds

[carloco8]

Hi everyone, with a little free time after new years day and looking for a fresh start to 2021, I went through some of my r/c things and came across some tamiya kits I had purchased about 5 or so years ago. I raced and bashed my dads blackfoot to oblivion bitd (RIP) and always wanted the frog to complement it, but that just wasn't in the plans for my then young self. So, when the opportunity for me to get one came, I snatched a re-re frog along with a neo fighter buggy that was on sale. They sat it the closet and ofcourse, I also missed the coveted (to me) 2017 re-release of the top force. Ok, so long story short, I will now be building these kits to run and I also now have enought parts to piece together some form of a top force roller.

First up is the recently finished DT03, the frog and top force will be progressive builds.

Neo fighter buggy:
-Alright, so some thoughts on this buggy, it has that typical vintage tamiya "fun" and "plastic" quality and feel to it with modern buggy styling. It was a fun and simple build, and the racer in me enjoyed installing various available hopups shown in the pics. Screw-type hinge pins swapped out for SS hinge pins, graphite shock towers, adjustable tunbuckles, df02 universals and a ball diff are the main upgrades. The real let down for me was the pre-set gearing, it just wasn't going to fly with me. I found on ebay an adjustable motor mount for my frog build and I was curious if it would work in the DT03. Well, it FITS!!! I now can fit pinions from size 16-22 in it and with a 13.5 brushless and stock tamiya esc in mind, I was looking to get in the ballpark of a 7:1 FDR. Using a 22t pinion with everything else in stock form got me down to about ~7.17:1, so I'm quite happy with that.

[carloco8]

Frog progress, nothing special but a simple fun build. MIP ball diff and blackfoot idler gear, universals, some crp parts, and a slightly less sloppy front suspension. More to follow.........

[coxbros1]

so classic!

[TheDiamondOne]

Really dig simple fun builds such as this. Nice job!

[losiXXXman]

Nice pick-up on that motor mount. I'm going to get one for our DT02. I don't know much about the 03, but they it shares most components with the '02. The chief complaint I've seen/heard on the'02 was the short wheelbase. Many would flip the front arms over to gain the needed stability. The '03 looks long in wheelbase. Have you driven it hard yet to see if it has any push?

I never had Tamiyas as a kid went from Raider straight to a JRXT, and never looked back at that ABS. As I'm getting older, and don;t have the need for the newest, raciest tech, they are beginning to appeal to me more.

[carloco8]

Yes, that motor mount really opens up gearing options! I found it a tricky I have driven it on multiple surfaces and the push people talk about really isn't too bad. The main thing with the front of the 03 being really light is that it does make the push a tad more noticable coming out of turns when trying to grab throttle a little early on high grip surfaces. Otherwise, steering entry is very stable off power and normal when you roll out on power while turning. I did mount the front shocks on the inside of the arm and tower to get the softest feel out of them, and am using associated 35wt all around. I've always had associated and tamiya cars so I know that feel about having "race" trim cars and "fun" time cars. Some times the real enjoyment comes when those lines start to blur and you end up building a track prepped frog with all the hop ups or a beater monster truck converted rc10 to bash at the park..........

[carloco8]

Alright, I got this frog 95% done, just a few details left to finish such as trimming the front upper shock screws, custom front shorty bumper, and custom rear shock mount braces. I stuffed a novak duster esc and xxl receiver down in there and have an old rebuilt yellow can race prep mod motor to replace the speed gems one holding its place. Overall, everything went well except for deciding on the front shock geometry. I wanted a more "plush" dampening feel and tried nearly every shock/spring/oil combo I had (didnt have crp srb shocks) with the lower mounting positions on the outer hub like most people do, but it was just too firm and not right to me. I then tried drilling a hole further in on the lower arm to mount the shocks and that did the trick. I settled on some tamiya super mini cva shocks with red soft springs. Its quite a stretch and durability is unknown, but the "feel" is right. Associated silver front buggy springs on the rear shocks, center mounted servo, custom antenna mount made from parts laying around. Picked up some black tamiya dished rims, threw on the stock tires from the dt03, and I'm ready to go racing in the 80's! Okay, maybe not, but after a little testing, i just needed to adjusted shock preload and hey, it handled pretty well! Modern tires truely change everything.

Next up, top force build, now x2............

Frog pics:

[carloco8]

Engine swap for the frog. I had an old yellow can race prep mod motor and red label ump dymond code 1 motor to pick from and after doing the rebuild on the dymond first, I just decided to throw it in the frog. I gave it a fresh com cut, reedy 737 brushes and some endbell surgery due to the bearing holder being blown out (I dont know how, it was used and came in a lot I purchased). After getting it re-shimmed and put back together, I did a light break-in and then soldered it up. According to the 10talk vintage motor guide, the red label code 1 is a 16x2 and it definitely felt like it!

[carloco8]

Next, its time for the top force and DF01 builds! Okay, well the DF01 tub car will be a project car where I will display the build here. The top force was a new incomplete roller that I finished up quickly with some nos wheel/tires, a team blue groove body and under tray, and a few misc. screws and washers here and there. My goal was to keep the TF as close to stock as I could and build a custom DF01 tub car. More pics to follow!

[carloco8]

I stepped outside to take a few more top force pics. It was purchased as a new incomplete built top force chassis that I then tore down and rebuilt with a full set of bearings, finished off with a tbg body and undertray, and a set of new top force wheels and tires. The only changes are a tamiya hopup aluminum motor mount, tamiya hi-torque servo saver, and all plastic gears swapped into the rear gearbox. I installed a novak xxl fm receiver and one of my favorite esc's, the novak hammer, and a reedy ultra mr. E 13x3.

[carloco8]

A couple quick snaps of the frog family while i was outside.

[carloco8]

I started the rebuild of my df01 tub buggy. Most of the stock plastic parts were reused and only a few had minor cracking around the screw holes. I added some hopups from jazrider and yeah racing, a full set of bearings, and swapped out all the screws for m3 hex ones. I did end up using longer turnbuckles and added rear universals after the pictures were taken.

[carloco8]

Powerplant and shocks for the df01 tub. I decided to go brushed again and put in a decent reedy mr. A 14x3 with an aluminum motor mount and robinson metric pinion. The shocks I have for this project are a hybrid of manta ray and supershot with 501x damper pistons. Basically, fronts are stock manta ray/supershot short cva body with supershot front shaft, threads trimmed for a short rod end and rears are supershot long cva body and shaft. Springs are stock manta ray, rod ends are 5.8mm from the tamiya big bore upgrade set with axial 5.8 flanged ball ends.

After putting everything together and attaching it to the chassis, I finally have a complete roller. I went with a terra conqueror body and wing that will get a paint job variation of the box art.