NEW TC4

[John Lindsay]

Much though I hate to say it :lol: I think this car looks beautiful!


http://www.realrc.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=98



John

[frickinevilpaint]

Oh yeah. That should hit the spot.

[ballsie]

Evo IV MS anyone? :lol:

[Grant Barclay]

definatly not, its definatly a tc4 ascociated don't copy inferior makes :lol:

[ballsie]

I can see that - they only copy the double IFMAR World Champions :lol:

[stulec52]

But Associated are not MULTIPLE World, European, US, Reedy etc champions for nothing.
Mind you I do wonder how the Thunder Tiger influence will show up especially on the high end stuff.

That said, I will be trying an FT out soon.

[Maxxed_Ross]

Any car with that much carbon fibre can't be a bad thing :D I must agree the top deck outriggers are a bit Evo IV MS ish, but then again what other way is there of doing it? :wink:

[frickinevilpaint]

I want one of these really badly!
It's not a copy of a Tamiya for one thing. Yes the Evo and 415 had outriggers like the new TC4 seems to have but those were first seen a long time ago on the BMI chassis conversion for the TC3. I think tamiya copied them from that.

All the chassis parts are new but the moving parts -suspension, steering transmission - all seem to be from the TC4 and TC3. Because of this I think it will be a very reliable car compared to the tamiyas. I'm not saying it will eclipse them in terms of speed but i think it will be far more reliable car.

[ballsie]

I had reliability problems last night, but funily enough, it was down to an Associated Part! :P

[frickinevilpaint]

Interesting that there are associated parts on your tamiya. What are they for?

[ballsie]

It was only the diff grease. I was getting the "Simon Dawson Diff Effect" with ceramic ballraces in the diff - they seem to produce a shed load of heat that the grease can't cope with.

It used to work fine with standard ballraces.

[stulec52]

I ran a BMI TC3 for a while, and it does indeed look very similar to the FT TC4.
THe only part I didn't like on the BMI was the motor mount.
But the new BMI TC4 looks like it will be a better car, possibly better than the FT?? but 'only' $125 US for the conversion kit !

[frickinevilpaint]

I will need to wait and see what the BMI is like then. Also I have no idea how much the TC4 FT will cost. I really liked the Tamiya evo 4 when i first seen it but I think it costs too much and goes wrong even more than the other tamiyas. I still dont think that TC4 will cost as much as the tamiya and it should be bulletproof in terms of reliability.

[stulec52]

No way an Associated car will cost as much as a Tamiya.
Quality will be nearly as good.
Performance will be on a par I would expect.

I have a brand new Team TC4, still not even finished building it yet, so I am not sure if the BMI conversion would be the best valu for money route for me to go.
There is a BMI thread on RC Tech if anyone wants to check them out, and if you decide to buy from them the main man there is Jason, he is awesome to deal with !
http://www.rctech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25530&page=242&pp=30

[ballsie]

Stuart B - gimme a shout if you want a Evo IV - I've got a virtually brand new (most parts are new in the bag) Evo IV / MS Hybrid going spare.

[Maxxed_Ross]

I really liked the Tamiya evo 4 when i first seen it but I think it costs too much and goes wrong even more than the other tamiyas.

Don't take my car as a base there Stu. Ok I have had alot of problems with it but it looks like that might be down to associated grease too :lol: I don't think anyone else has had any big problems with it that you don't get with any other car :?

I still can't see past Tamiyas, the whole experiance is there :wink:

[frickinevilpaint]

I know you have had bother with yours Ross but haven't others? The general chatter I have heard is that its a great car capable of beating the best but that it is tricky to setup.

Saying all this aside, the entire character of the TC4 could have been upset by all of the mods on the FT version and nobody will be able to say that its any better than the evo 4 until somebody actually races it and it gets a good result.

By the way, what is up with associated grease? The buggy guys insist on that and they have a lot more strain going through the diffs. I personally use castrol grease nicked from my dads garage in my diffs and it must be about 25 years old. Also my diff plates are about as smooth as the surface of the moon and the balls are about as spherical as a potato so there is no slip! All this ceramic diff balls and really shiny diff plates is the wrong approach. A good diff is a rough one!

[big si]

eh no stu not true a good diff if a properly serviced one

[Colin Barclay]

Yes that may be true but you are actually advised to rough up the diff plates with sand paper/emery paper to give the diffs balls more grip.

[Maxxed_Ross]

Or you just buy Tamiya ones that are ready to put in :wink:

I dunno where the associated diff grease problem came from but it seems that it can't cope with the heat generated by tamiya diffs on high grip surfaces.

I don't have a comparison with the Evo IV as I'm the ONLY guy who uses one on carpet. But now that some 415's are starting to have similar problems the grease seems the only common link. And before anyone points at the diff itself the two models use totally different designs :?

I think it was Ballsie or Scott who mentioned someone else who was having diff problems, changed to Tamiya grease and never had a problem again :)

[Colin Barclay]

I can't see a diff generating that much heat if its working properly, the only reason I can see for a diff to generate excess heat it that the diff is slipping.

[Maxxed_Ross]

No I said the diff is generating the heat and the grease can't handle it. Apparently if you have this problem and change to Tamiya grease problem solved.

anyway that's me away for two weeks, cya all when I get back :wink:

[Colin Barclay]

Ah right I see what you mean.

[scotty]

Whoah there Stu B.You said others have had problems-well i've run the TRF 415 for 9 months and not 1 problem with it so i don't know where your getting this info from or is it just an excuse to have a dig at the Tamiya cars.They must be doing something right.I also don't get what you mean about the Associated being so much more reliable than the Tamiya,after all there's a TC4 who's wheel fall's off nearly every week at Falkirk-(u know who u are) :oops:
Let's not go down the road of who's cars are better than others.

[Grant Barclay]

lol god knows how it happenes lol iv never had that problem

[Colin Barclay]

fastrax wheelnuts are the problem. its not an associated part :lol:

[scotty]

Still no excuse for what is something really stupid and easily sorted.Also if i'm correct did Stu B not have serious problems with his diffs on his TC4 before getting shot of it.I may be wrong but i think not.

[Colin Barclay]

well anyway. its a great result for the new car to win the first major meeting its entered in. I believe Craig Drescher only got the kit to build last wednesday.

[stulec52]

personally I have found my Tamiyas to be more fragile than my TC3/4's.
But I found my X Ray to be even more susceptible to breakage than any of the 2 makes.
I guess any car will break if you hit something hard enough.

For me though, the best thing with the TC3/4 is that with the smaller hits that you get away with using any car the Associated chassis design does not tweak, whereas the twin deck style of Tamiya/X Ray et al take a tweak much easier.

[frickinevilpaint]

Ah, forgot about Scotty's 415's faultless reliability. Barring Scotty's I do think the tamiyas throw a wobbly more often that the more basic cars. I think Scotty's reliability reflects the careful attention the car gets. I did have a wee problem with the TC4 when i got it but so did everyone with the first batch of TC4's. Beleive it or not that was the first kit I had ever built from scratch and in doing it so quickly I never noticed anything odd about the diffs. Anyway, that problem was fixed for 4 pounds and it has ran perfectly in the hands of Ford Fanatic ever since!

I am sticking with the TC3 but I am however upgrading it to TC3.5 spec with a whole load of new parts. Basicly the car is too good to change completely mid season but there are too many worn out parts for it to continue running perfectly.

[big si]

i cant agree stu i have owned many cars and the tamiya is by far the best of them all build and reliability wise

[scotty]

1 thing i will say about the new TC4 FT is it's a sexy looking piece of kit.

[Maxxed_Ross]

You can't go saying Tamiya's are unreliable - because they are extreamly reliable.

Just look at the lower heats - a fair chunk of them are lower level Tamiyas and they survive everything chucked at them :D

I'd say the top end stuff is just high maintenence, which I personally think is better. You can't expect to fling it on the track and do well - it takes time and prepairation, aspects that only really good racers can achieve :wink:

Plus how many 20yr old Associated's and HPI's do you see? :lol:

[Colin Barclay]

The associated rc10 the 1st buggy they made its a classic :lol: not sure how old it is though. dont think hpi was around 20 years ago

[big si]

the rc10 was released about 10 years ago if memory serves me

[stulec52]

the rc10 was released about 10 years ago if memory serves me

then your memory ain't very good.
1984

Also, the Grangemouth club track is a lot more forgiving than many others, I find at my local club TC3/4's stay together better than any other car in the lower heats.
I cannot knock Tamiya, being a bit of a fan, but in my experience the current cars are not as tough as Associated. BUT they are possibly not designed primarily to be tonka tough, more, they are supposed to be the type of car that allows near the top drivers to get a little bit more from their equipment

[big si]

christ i didnt think it was that long ago stu

[frickinevilpaint]

I think I would agree with big Stu.

To be fair you get all different types of people buying and building tamiya's and associated. You get the inexperienced and careless building both tamiya and associated kits so you see them both breaking down. Give a tamiya or associated kit to somebody who knows what they are doing and has time to put in it will give no problems. I guess we will never know unless.............................

We dont build a track this week, we have a big bowl and have a DD (destruction derby) instead of a race! Last one moving wins!

Being serious though, i used to run a TTech predator buggy and they were reckoned to be very high maintainance and unreliable. I found the one i had to be faultless but despite this becuase it had a reputation for being fragile and the parts being hard to find i drove it with the tips of my fingers and concequently probably never got the best out of it.

I then got a Losi buggy which had more of a reputation for being tough durable and more straightforwards to repair. I drove it only a little harder than the predator and it basicly disintgrated! Belts spewing out in a molten state after only a light grilling! Broken suspension aplenty!

With the TC3 I have found a car that allows me to push to the limits with little fear of it being terminal if it all goes wrong! I must say i give my TC3 plenty of stick and very little attention between meetings. Thats why the car has impressed me so much.