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This past weekend I took my Rocky Project for a spin on the re-purposed tennis court that serves as my girlfriend's neighborhood dog park, while her dog was with is. Immediately found that her dog finds the car a threat and/or a chase opportunity. I was able to duck and dodge despite being in tears laughing, but she eventually caught it and chomped the body pretty good while sending it into a fence. The body wasn't painted, yet, fortunately, and the car survived with little more than a derailed chain (got another body on order from bluegroove).

Now, my girlfriend wants this to be a regular way to exercise her dog, yet I don't want to sacrifice this Rocky I've slowly pieced together and just got running for this. So I'm soliciting ideas for a chassis to buy as a "chew toy."

I was thinking an older, shaft drive 4wd racer I could put sway bars and hard surface tires on, but with parts still available. The idea is something I can dart around with (that rocky mono-shock front end did it no favors), and really power away.

Would like to be under $200 if at all possible, but an initial search suggests a 4wd racer like a Lazer ZX 5,6,7, or an Associated B44-something, but those seem to be a lot of money still.

Ideas?

For example,i was considering this ZX-5. Looks to be an FS, possibly? I'm not familiar with anything made after the mid 90's, though - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kyosho-lazer-zx-5-Vintage-roller/233884633522?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dc6b1d4ca52cd49f286059856d3682404%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D124555574628%26itm%3D233884633522%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DKyosho&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Aaa602f03-6a50-11eb-94ca-3ecf55677ce0%7Cparentrq%3A83720b481770a69d43aa8ec0ffee5c26%7Ciid%3A1

RJ Speed Legends car?

Cheap, very basic, easy to work on, not much there to get damaged.

http://www.rjspeed.com/kits/Legends/2010.html

I use one of my Diggers to chase my great dane. It's tough as nails and he can't really get ahold of the beetle body.

Is the Digger the old Bolink/RJ Speed? Do they handle pretty quickly?

HS-YZ250 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:08 pm Is the Digger the old Bolink/RJ Speed? Do they handle pretty quickly?

Yes. The only reason I mentioned the Legends and not the Digger was concern over the battery mounting position.

LowClassCC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:51 pm

HS-YZ250 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:08 pm Is the Digger the old Bolink/RJ Speed? Do they handle pretty quickly?

Yes. The only reason I mentioned the Legends and not the Digger was concern over the battery mounting position.

I actually prefer the bottom load battery, with the large o rings.


They are fun, fairly nimble little cars. Don't misunderstand it, they don't handle like a touring car.
They have foam tires and no suspension. They do tend to skip and bounce some. And being rear motor, they tend wheelie a lot too.

But one of the best things about them and the Legends cars is that most of the replacement parts are cheap, if you need something.


How can you go wrong with something this simple?

Anything Traxxass

I've had this discussion on other forums , to me its a bad idea , not for the car but the dog , a torn lexan body could cut up a dogs mouth badly , if its fast and big enough to survive then it could injure the dogs legs if they collided , we have three dogs and I know that our Border Collie would go bonkers for it but I just can't see it as safe for the dog . just my humble opinion sorry .

Dadio wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:09 am I've had this discussion on other forums , to me its a bad idea , not for the car but the dog , a torn lexan body could cut up a dogs mouth badly , if its fast and big enough to survive then it could injure the dogs legs if they collided , we have three dogs and I know that our Border Collie would go bonkers for it but I just can't see it as safe for the dog . just my humble opinion sorry .

This might sound callous, but this dog won't care. Seriously. She's a 70lb pit mix that ROUTINELY bloodies herself, and just plays through. Once, at a dog park, she smacked her head against a rock hard enough, while wrestling, that the dozen people nearby all groaned and winced because it was pretty obvious and sickening sound. But then she rocketed off with the pack, leaving onlookers stunned.

It's funny because she's super sensitive about my girlfriend hand trimming her claws, but wore her claws down until they bled chasing after my rocky, then kept playing with the neighbor's dog for another half hour.

I'll definitely re-evaluate if/when we try it again, though.

Also, I could always carve out a polyethylene foam block to act as a "Nerf" body.

Looking at the Digger image, I do think I like the Legend for the battery mounting, also. Keep it contained in case she manages to get hold of it, again. Also, seems it'd be quicker handling; only reason the rocky didn't get destroyed aright away was being able to turn relatively fast, though I was cursing that monoshock front a couple of times.

Is RJ Speed still in Georgia? I remember Bolink was located at the end of Gwinette County Airport.

Maybe you should check out the WLToys 144001. It's a bit smaller of a buggy at 1:14 scale, but should be easily nimble enough to keep out of the dog's reach. I'm modding one here, if you want to follow the upgrade process.

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=114&t=45819

You can get these for under $100 USD and upgrade parts and entire parts sets are cheap. It comes with a brushed 550-size motor but a lot of people swap in their own electronics and turn them into brushless. The cheapness and availability of parts might be worth a consideration.

Traxxas slash with a children’s stuffed animal ziptied to the top will make that dog go ape shit.

I was thinking an SCT of some sort, too. They have a large body that covers all the sensitive equipment (and sharp edges), they are easily tune-able and most are quite robust. Plus, cheap ones are all over the place. Nothing vintage about them at all, but they seem to fit the rest of the requirements.

Lunchbox.....its a no brainer!