Hey Addam, great review. I think the TT02B is an excellent chassis for those getting started in the hobby. It is straightforward to build, easy to maintain and easy to drive. More importantly you can get pretty good results out of the box against most other entry level buggies. It was top of the Orchard Raceway last year in the end and will be right up there again this year I am sure! I am also very interested in that TT02BR and will be pitching them head to head at some point. I was going to hop up the existing B but it would be cheaper to get the BR now 😂 Have a great weekend pal 🙌🏻👍🏻
Nice showcase! I like mine it's a great buggy after you place the shocks in the most inner holes on the A arms as I found with this one tamiya makes you set it up with the shocks in a position that the ground clearance is to low for normal off road running and it runs much better when you adjust the shocks. It does handle real good it's no surprise it would be a great one on your track.
It really does drive nice and flat and super predictable on the track! It is a bit low for backyard running as the belly dragging in the grass slows everything down a lot! For the price it is a great buggy for some track fun or ball field bashing!!
Addam, I feel it's been great to fall on your channell. I'm an old guy who restarted with rc cars after 40 years and is restoring all his old Tamiya models. They've been in the cellar for decades and now coming to life again. I did it actually for my younger kid during the covid lockdowns to give him an alternative to the smartphone, but then he bought a motorbike and I kept on my own with this thing that just restarted. I'm buying several models as well, the wild one, a tt 02b, a tt02 and a tt01, I found a perfect condition bigwig, a pajero of 1984, and many others are coming in. I'm just learning how to deal with esc, brushless and lipo. That's a brand new world for me, it's a travel in time from the past. Your videos are giving me a lot of understanding. Thanks.
That is awesome and I am happy to hear you have rekindled the love of RC and are both building new stuff and restoring old stuff! I tend to stick with the simple stuff and still mainly run nimh batteries and brushed motors! I have lipos for some of by bash around stuff but for the Tamiya kits I mainly run them gently and nostalgically around and I have the few "sacrificial" ones to run hard like my Arrma Granite, Senton and the Traxxas kits. I am happy to hear the videos are helping and entertaining you, that means the world to me!
The TT02b is probably Tamiya’s best all around buggy. Drives great. Builds great. Upgrades and parts readily available. It’s a driver that you can afford to drive. I love mine.
Love the tt02 chassis got my 1st tt02b a couple months back but decided to try make something a lil different out of it 🙂 Great viewing as always have a good week sir 🙏
Hi Addam. Another great video. I am with you. I love my TT-02B. I did it last summer as a holiday build project and I was totally impressed of that car. It runs so well around the campsite and it was such a big fun. I had my 10yrs old son with me and we spend a lot of time with jumping and racing around.
Don't forget there's a lot of aftermarket stuff by them and other people for the differentials and gearing in front and rear diffs all my four-wheel drives I plan on having brushless systems in them.
It will do well on your track and the concrete pad and if the grass is short in the yard. Mid spring when the grass is growing like crazy the belly drag with hinder it some. For the price it is a wonderful kit and there are tons of hop-ups available for it! Take care bud!
It is a very simple chassis but works very well in the dirt. Its biggest downfall is the low, wide chassis that drags a lot in the grass. In tall grass it struggles a lot. On the track it is one I really enjoy and it has laid down some great lap times and is starting show it gets out there more than others, the wing is getting pretty beat up! LOL!
It can be a beginners kit for sure, it is very easy and straight forward to build! It can also be a fairly advance kit with hop-ups and tuning parts like the tunable diffs and other options it can really get dialed into a track. I have done nothing to it and it goes around my track perfectly. It is a great little buggy unless you are just going to run it around on the lawn and then it won't be a great, fun still but it prefers the dirt!
I sort of went down a rabbit hole with “upgrades” only to discover that only about half of them were of any use. Lesson learned. Now I have to put on the upgrades I SHOULD have put on the first time and decide if I will keep the others.
Yeah, I tend to avoid most upgrades and stick to the most meaningful ones like shocks, motors and tires. Everything else I tend to live with and feel a lot of it is eye candy! Nothing wrong with having a a great looking car but I would rather have two plain ones for the price of one and a ton of upgrades. I have such a long list of kits I still want to get I would prefer to invest in them usually. I am interested in getting the BR kit and running it head to head to see if what they did is worth the extra money!
its a pretty great kit at that price point with 4wd and oil filled shocks! almost everything else at that price point is on road, 2wd, or friction shocks.
I agree! For the price it is a great buggy. It does work better in the dirt than the grass but it has tons of upgrades available and it is easy to find parts for which is rare these days for any Tamiya kit!! It really does great out on my track. A bigger and rougher track would make it struggle a little bit. I enjoy this one a lot!
Yeah, that's a good one, Addam! Funny, like you said, I also didn't like mine to begin with and you described it pretty well "Did okay but not anything great", that's probably how I felt also... I made mine into a street buggy and it really shined like that. Actually it's a project that is still ongoing, I need to get back to it next summer... But sadly it cost quite a lot to make mine as good as it is now, quite a few aluminium parts needed to be put there. I'll be looking forward to seeing videos with the new upgrade version they are releasing, I hope you get one and can do a nice comparison, would be really interesting to see them head-to-head. Have a great rest of the weekend there, buddy!
Thanks buddy! I do want to get the new BR model. The price tag is a little much but you are getting a lot of nice stuff included in there! I am sure I will end up with one and get them out for a shoot out on the track and see if all the hop-ups do anything for it or is it all just bling! I also think these would make great road course or rally type buggies! I would love to see a tarmac and dirt track run with a bunch of these! I think it would be awesome!
This is one that I have wanted for a while. The closest one I have is the Sand-Viper which is the DT02 chassis. I'm going to buy another kit to build on the channel again soon. The last ones I built were the Top-Force EVO and the Blitzer Beetle.
It is a fun one for the track or a ball field for sure. It drags its belly in the taller grass so that hinders it some. It is a great budget car and tons of hop-ups and potential in it!! I love the sand viper and this car has a faster time around the track as it drives so flat and steady. It is very predictable and consistent! I also love the Blitzer Beetle and have yet to get an Evo.
Hi there Addam, a great opinion and advice on the TT-02B, so nice to have your views. I’m looking to get one and one stage and had the same idea as you with the head to head with the TT-02BR version, although funds and priorities may hamper my quest 😊😂😊 anyway, awesome as usual. Take care and best wishes to you all😊😊
Thanks buddy! The new one is a bit pricier but I have a feeling it may be worth it. I have not ordered mine yet and probably wont be able to until after the holidays but I am very interested in seeing them head to head! Take care!
Great What's On The Wall Addam👊. I've always wanted one because they look like a lot of fun and don't cost a lot and for a few minutes you had me deflated until you said how good it is on the track haha😂 I'll still get one for myself in the future. I can't wait to see to check out the BR, going by your video they look pretty trick👌,hopefully they're not too expensive. Thanks again for your video's mate👍🦘🇦🇺
It really is a great car in the dirt! The grass it is a little less exciting as the belly drags and slows everything down. It is a great fun buggy out o the box and there are tons of hop-ups available to make it as wild as you would like! I think the BR version is going to do really well out on the track and it is currently on pre-order for $252 USD which is a jump from the PE2 but it does have a ton of hop-ups already included so it is actually cheaper to buy it as the kit than hop up the stock one. I will get one, I have not ordered one yet but will. I will run them head to head and see if the extra $120ish is worth it or not!!
It was cool looking! The gun metal is the closest thing but those are getting pretty hard to find for a good price. I just wish they all came with the grey or block shocks. I am not a huge fan of the white as the get grungy and funky looking way to fast!
I had the neo scorcher when it first came out just blasted it down my street really. Not sure if you know but they also did a TT02B MS (with dual ridge body) as well which was similar to the the new Tt02b R due next year. A much better spec over the standard kit but the R is better again . Cheers for sharing ;)
I did not know that. I know of the Dual Ridge but did not know they did an upgraded edition. I am eager to see if the upgrades on the BR are going to worth it and make it much better than the regular kit! Take care Andy and thanks as always for the info and insight! I appreciate it!
Hi Adam, hope you are doing well. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the Tt02b-r kit when it is released. I have the same kit as you and it is a little frustrating as a buggy. I did put the same dual block tires and wheels and the Aluminium dampers (got the dampers at tower for about 10 bucks as I used my points ;). The dual block tires are taller, have foams, and don’t give completely like the stock tires do. Combined with the aluminum dampers it really can jump on the level of other modern tamiya 2wd buggies. One caveat I will mention is that the instructions for the aluminum dampers have you put in 3 black o ring internal spacers in the front damper and 4 in the rear. This limits the height of the buggy and the shocks are stiff and at full extend even while standing still. I put zero internal oring spacers in the front dampers and two in the rear. The front damper springs are just snug tight in the front and the rear are adjusted for height. To be honest it is amazing now. I did build them the way tamiya recommended at first and was extremely disappointed because they felt no better than stock. I actually ended up followed the instructions for the dt02-Ms when building them in the end. (Same instructions but have you use less internal spacers.) Night and day difference. Had I known the Tt02b-r kit was going to be released I would have waited. FYI if you are going to get this kit I would start looking for the dual block tires now (k series tires) as they suddenly became out of stock as soon as the R buggy was announced. Tires are not included in this kit. I really think you will enjoy this new kit if you grab it as the hopups included are incredible. Even the chassis and the suspension arms are reinforced parts. You will also need a motor and esc as it does not come with one I believe.
Thanks for all the tips and insight. I will keep a lookout for those tires and I will get the BR on order after the holidays! I think it will be interesting to run them head to head and see how they compare!! Take care and again, I appreciate the info!!
This is the one I chose to get in to the 4wd buggies. Love mine. Its needs a damn good clean though as its still filthy. Out of the box I think its great fun.
Yeah I was not overly impressed with it until I got it on the track and it really turned into one of my favorites for the track! It is on rails out there and it just works well! Tons of hop-ups to get more performance out of it but it is a great buggy out of the box!!
@@AddamsPlayground i would love to fully 'hop up' a buggy as I used to race an Assiciated B2 back in the day.( It is still in the loft here too) so when set up well they are awesome. Done my first video on the channel now so hope to grow it and will concentrate on getting content ready for 2023. Who knows... may be a Fully upgraded TT02B although I do have the DT02 Sand Viper here NIB... That may get some bling thrown at it while it is being built ... 😁😁
@@rivierarc I am terrible about hopups on cars! I usually just leave them as is and use the money for another one but I should get some for this one. I will definitely head over and check out your video in just a moment!! Awesome!!
@@AddamsPlayground that is my thinking. Just for the suspension upgrades on one of my CC01s for instance would cost the same, if not more than the Neo Fighter kit. I love the builds and run them as is, unless I get a good bargain with the upgrades already on.. I have a fully modified CC01 which will appear on another video in the new year. Bought it for a fraction of what it would cost to buy all the parts. Cheers for now
Another one I'm really not familiar with looks like it would handle well I'm always of the opinion that more power isn't everything if it's not handling then it's not drivable great vid bro I really enjoy these while I potter in the shed 👊
It does great on a dirt lot or a track. The low flat chassis drags in something like a lawn and it just slows everything down enough to feel a bit sluggish. On the dirt it is a champ and a ton of fun! There are tons of upgrades for it but it runs well right out of the box! A few cones or course markers on a dirt ball field and you have an instant racecourse that you can burn through a lot of batteries on!! Happy to entertain ya while you are out tinkering!!!!
Thank you! I am interested in seeing how much better it is over the stock PE2! Should be interesting to see how much difference there is in between the $135 kit and the $250+ kit!!
It is a great little track basher or a fun one on a ball field! In the taller grass the belly drags a bit slowing everything down but in the dirt it really comes to life and drives flat and predictable! For the price and fun it is well worth it and there are tons of hop-ups available as well!
@@n22pdf Hrmmm... for the track and dirt lot running alone yes, I would take the PE2. For just all around running I would probably go with the Racing Fighter as it handles the grass much better and is still fun on the track and does well.
It would be a terrific entry class and a fun one with a modified class too!! I only have one track near me but it is set up for 1/8th scale and big bashers so I stick to my little one here!
@@AddamsPlayground we have a great track…but these kinds of cars won’t compete - but I can see them as an awesome lower cost class, I mean I’d rather race this as modern cars are getting ridiculously expensive
@@muddfoot69 yeah, I have never had a true race buggy but I do know they are pricey! 4-600 and then you have to add in another 300 for electronics and then you have tires out the wazoo to get... Too much for one car. I'll buy 4 or more fun cars and don't have the stress of racing and race prep to deal with either!! 😂 I would enjoy building a race kit and one day I may splurge and get one for myself.
It is a really enjoyable kit to assemble, very easy and relaxing. In the dirt or a track it is great! I really love it on my track! There are tons of hop-ups for it and can be tuned very well with those too. For a cheaper kit it really does well!
There are tons of hop-ups available and I am sure they all help but it does really well right out of the box. Sure it isn't going to win any races against modded ones but it really goes around my track perfectly with the box setup. I am sure on a more technical track the hop-ups would make a ton more tunable but for you average Joe they are great entry level fun-haver!
I think it’s a decent car, it has a low ground clearance and I have a rough rc track. I ended up doing a lot of mods on it, and put a reedy 15t radon, which is too fast for the suspension on this car. Anyway that’s my rant. Good car, but takes some work. On a side note the traxxas bandit works great on rough rc tracks
Yeah, rough and bumpy will get this one a bit upset and twitching all over the place! It does not have the travel to deal with all that. My smaller and fairly smooth track it does pretty well on. I have spent many hours running my rustlers and the bandit around my previous track at our old house. They are always fun to romo.around and do very well with the tougher stuff! I don't run them too often as I really spent a ton of time running them as that was about all I had for quite a few years so now I have so many I only take one out when I am feeling nostalgic about them! I still need to get some new tires for my slash so I can get that out for some laps out there. Take care and thanks for checking in!
I think the TT02B is one of the best ways to get into 4WD off road buggy driving. I think the variety of hopups make it very attractive and the price. Obviously, the TT02 is one of Tamiya's most successful designs because of its versatility. I have the TT02 and one downfall of it are the steering uprights, but aluminum upgrades are very reasonable. I don't know if that applies to this car or not. I also like the look of this body design. Thanks for sharing
It is a great starting spot and it has a ton of potential! It is better suited for the dirt and track type running for sure but does ok in the grass, just everything is slowed a bit from the belly dragging. It has taken some really good hits to the front arms and no signs of issue yet from them so far so good there. There are tons of hop-ups available and it allows it to go from entry level to a more tunable track buggy for sure!
I don't have the super shot yet but with it having much more ground clearance I assume it would be an all around better runner in all surfaces as the Plasma Edge belly drags badly in the grass. On the track it may be a different story. The PE drives so flat and stable it may out run the SS. However on a rough and bumpy track the SS may have the advantage of a bit more weight and suspension. My gut feeling on the track the PE may still take it due to the stability and quickness in the corners. but again, I am assuming a lot! I will have to work on getting the SS in the collection!!! Looks wise and nostalgia sake the SS wins hands down!!
It runs a bit flatter and is more predictable out of the box compared to the scorcher. The thundershot chassis does really well out there with some different tires and a few suspension tweaks!!
@@AddamsPlayground I have been really sidetracked with work recently so comments have been slow. Not a lack of interest on my behalf...just really distraaa... SQUIRREL!!!