Mugen / Team Associated familiarity

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CCB-MN

CCB-MN

Well-known member
Messages
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557
Location
MN USA
Corally RC's
  1. Kagama
  2. Kronos XTR
Hey all,

One of the the local guys at the track has run into some, let’s just say, financial trouble. (Don’t feel too bad for him, it’s self inflicted). While I definitely do not need another truggy at the moment, (kinda want to pick up an Asuga) he’s got 2 brand new truggies that he would be willing to part with for a sizable discount (Approx $200-250 off of sale price). Below is what he has.

Team Associated RC8T4E

https://www.amainhobbies.com/team-a...MIv-Pl16jqhAMV3khHAR24HgwqEAQYASABEgJ3rfD_BwE

I have almost no familiarity with TA, except that a lot of the guys racing buggies locally are racing them. Not so many in the truggy classes however. Parts are easy to get but I’ve heard that TA can be fragile in general but easy to drive.


Mugen Seiki MBX8TR

https://www.amainhobbies.com/mugen-...MIwPiTiKnqhAMVTnJHAR0cdA-tEAQYASABEgJRP_D_BwE

I have slightly more familiarity with Mugen, however their parts require more effort, (still available but generally need to be ordered in my case). Almost none at my local outdoor track but the indoor guys are running them competitively around me. Easy to drive, fairly tough, maybe a little out dated.

There are plenty of mixed reviews on both, but you guys usually scream loud and proud with a ton of good advice so I figured I would ask you all to chime in.

Are either of these jaw dropping good enough to add another truggy at a good discount?

Thanks all.

-C ✌️
 
You can always pick them up and sell them later. If you're into racing, then they'd definitely be a good choice provided they are in good condition. If I came across a deal like that I'd probably use them. I got my ET48.3 for roughly the same price that he's asking, so I'm inclined to think they're at a good price.

If you're not a racer, then you can still pick them up and then maybe sell them online for some extra Asuga cash. 😬
 
I really like both manufacturers. 👍

Mugen make very strong, durable racing buggies and truggies with excellent results - Maifield etc.

Team Associated Buggy/Truggy design is near identical geometry wise to the Mugen.

Either is competitive and you see good numbers of both at large events in the A final, being driven by team drivers.

You can't really go wrong with either.

Edit to add: Or both!! 😜
 
Thanks guys, I assumed that the geometry was close, I’ve seen people out Mugen parts into a TA car before to compete in a race and I know that they can both be competitive. I told him that I might take the Mugen. I have never had a Mugen rc before so for the price it’s probably worth it for the discount. For some reason I just can’t get myself to like TA, no idea why, they make great stuff but they just don’t do it for me. I still want to add an Asuga badly as well so I may buy the Mugen and just put it up for a bit. Both are factory sealed boxes, so they need complete builds. I know that I’ll probably be off of my feet for a few weeks this summer, (cervical disc replacement) so I may end up with a little down time.

I’ll see him on Thursday so I’ve got a couple days to sort it out.
 
Thanks H,

All in all, it’s not too bad. I had one done a few years back. I think I was only under for like 28 minutes. One night stay but that’s just policy, you honestly could walk outta there within the hour. It’s the after care that sucks for me. Basically they want you to go someplace and stay there for 2-3 weeks and do next to nothing. Even though you’re fine, they worry about accidents, (someone rear-ending you while in a car, slip, trip, etc). For many people, this may sound wonderful! But, for a high speed, workaholic type A personality with slight add, such as myself? Well, that’s not a great idea.

Besides, I’m pretty sure that if I tell Darth Vader that I’m “saving it for recovery”, I may not even need to pay the usual “purse” tribute this time.🙏

Really the only major downside is that I would prob have to pump the brakes on rc’s for a bit. I still have a good plan to get an Asuga through the door but my interest in Mayako, Sparko and Sworkz would have to wait a fair bit. lol, To be fair, Mugen was on my list of “one day” cars so I’m definitely not counting it as a loss in any way.
 
wow...that's crazy. I'm not too bad with my OCD/ADD. Actually, I don't think I'm bad at all; maybe just slight cases of both. When Covid first started and everyone went home, I thought it would be a great thing. Two weeks in, I was starting to get cabin fever, so I went out hunting more. About half a week later I got called back into work. 🤦‍♂️

Hope your procedure and recovery goes well! 🙏
 
Thanks VT. Much appreciated!😀

Like I said, overall it’s not that bad, I just know myself well enough to know that I will need to have things to occupy my time.

Yeah, that Covid crap sucked. We were “essential” so we never missed a beat. Only good part, almost ZERO traffic for like 4 months. The freeways around me were like race tracks. I have a cabin further north and it’s usually a 2-2.5 hour drive. During Covid, it was 1.5 hrs max. The rest, absolutely miserable.
 
You're welcome! Glad to know it's supposedly not too bad; I'd be losing my shiz, though.

Gotta love how they decide "essential" sometimes. :unsure: :LOL:

And yes...I loved how there was barely any traffic. I drive a F250, so it was nice to just kinda meander around without having impatient old ladies mean-muggin me from behind. 😁
 
ooh ooh I'm on a waiting list for two or three hernias I have, and I'm quite scared, even though I've been in surgery many times. I'm worried about the after, that I shouldn't bend over, bathe carefully (!) and I don't know what the orthopedists will tell me otherwise.

Now regarding the two brands, I think that because they are aimed at competitors, they have an excessively high price. Kyosho does the same, of course. The companies should at some point understand that it is not right to overcharge the same design for years.
 
Manolis said:
ooh ooh I'm on a waiting list for two or three hernias I have, and I'm quite scared, even though I've been in surgery many times. I'm worried about the after, that I shouldn't bend over, bathe carefully (!) and I don't know what the orthopedists will tell me otherwise.

Now regarding the two brands, I think that because they are aimed at competitors, they have an excessively high price. Kyosho does the same, of course. The companies should at some point understand that it is not right to overcharge the same design for years.
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Mugen always used to be 'the people's choice' - easily on par with Kyosho performance wise and 25% cheaper. Bear in mind the Mugen shocks were pretty much the gold standard for years.

Mugen & Kyosho now are very expensive. Ditto for Mayako. AE & Losi are less expensive. Tekno & Sworkz are somewhere in the middle.

The designs haven't changed much - but shocks are bigger volume, diffs are stronger - fixtures, screws, and CNC machining are much more precise. When I think about costs of buying RC rigs over the past 25 years - you get more bang for your buck now. But - it's mostly made in China or Taiwan. I like to think that Mugen and Kyosho are still made in Japan.
 
Ain't that the truth. I remember look at some Tamiya kits back in the day; roughly in the neighborhood of 700 bucks for one of their trucks. Clodbuster, USA-1, Bullhead and my favorite Midnight Pumpkin. And that was just the kit. :eek:
 
New goodies arrived today. 😊

IMG_3479.jpeg
 
Will do!

I’ve only had one but it’s been bulletproof so far. One of the local guys at the track (who has been very helpful as I jump back in), strongly suggested that I should try one. He believes that they are more than good enough for a track rc but they take more abuse than some others. Not sure how true it is, but I threw one in the Kagama after I burned out the RTR servo, night and day difference and no issues there 8-10 packs.

He and i bonded a bit over Savox, Hobbywing and Tekno, and old style rc’s like the brat, bandit, frog, etc. All of which we are both fans.
 
Now that brings back some memories! The Brat, Bandit...even the Grasshopper! I drooled over those!

Glad to hear the Reefs is working out. I've been thinking about AGF, Savox and Reef for my next choices whenever I get smore disposable income.
 
VaporTrail said:
Now that brings back some memories! The Brat, Bandit...even the Grasshopper! I drooled over those!

Glad to hear the Reefs is working out. I've been thinking about AGF, Savox and Reef for my next choices whenever I get smore disposable income.
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My mate in secondary school had a Subaru Brat. I had to say, the chassis layout was odd, but the suspension was articulate. If I remember, he often had issues with the drive shafts. The RS380 was a bit soft, but he soon upgraded to a RS540 and 7.2v Nicad battery.

At that time (1986), I had a Tamiya Superchamp and was just getting my head around nitro powered cars. I started bringing my PB Nova to school. 🤣

I lugged fuel, starter motor, 12v battery, charger etc in a kit bag on the school bus. Good grief! I'm not sure they'd allow that sort of thing now.

My earliest experience of RC racing occurred around that time. A number of kids had Grasshoppers and Hornets, there was my Superchamp and one lad had the Wild One. We made ramps in the summer and dragged them out into the Tennis courts for some racing at school.

Our school club grew for a couple of years and I remember getting a brand new Kyosho Rocky on my 14th birthday. It was excellent - my first 4WD RC car - and it was extremely rapid on 8.4 volts and the supplied Le Mans 240 ST. I ran a Futaba MC112B ESC. It was ground breaking at the time!

I didn't exactly advertise the fact my battery packs were 8.4v and so the speed it had was impressive compared to the cars we'd seen. Even the school Tamiya Bigwig with a Technigold motor couldn't hang. 😅
 
I'd bet that was a sight to behold. Nitro in school. :LOL: I remember my 8.4v nimhs; thought they were pretty good until I was tainted by lipo. I didn't even bother with 2S. I went straight to a 3S in my 2WD Stampede and Rustler. That was a riot.
 
VaporTrail said:
I'd bet that was a sight to behold. Nitro in school. :LOL: I remember my 8.4v nimhs; thought they were pretty good until I was tainted by lipo. I didn't even bother with 2S. I went straight to a 3S in my 2WD Stampede and Rustler. That was a riot.
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🤣 Yeah, it was lots of fun. Nitro powered cars were very rare in Wales, with it being a largely rural area, the school staff were as fascinated with the PB Nova as the pupils. I was allowed to store my stuff in the Maths store room. Next to all the paper and stuff! 😝

1000017068.jpg

This PB Nova is featured on the Tamiya Club forum by the member Retro modeller. I literally have no images of mine unfortunately.

I bought mine for a bargain £50 in an advertisement in an advertising paper called Exchange & Mart. It was pre-mobile and pre-web obviously. So when the chap who sold it realised I was just 13, he very kindly sent letters to guide me through carb tuning and getting it started.

In fairness, it ran very well with it's Webra .20 engine. Even on the cheap 5% Nitro Model Technics fuel. It was crazy fast compared to the typical Tamiya RC cars.

In terms of electric cars, battery choices were limited to 6v and 7.2v 1200mah Nicads. There weren't any NiMH yet - not until the late 80's early 90's.

My charger was literally an overnight slow charger until I got my first fast charger - a wind-up one, where you set the charge time from 0-20 mins. It was DC only from a 12-15v source. Because it was only charging at 3a, I used to give it 20 minutes, wait for it to ping, then give it another 5-10 minutes till the cells started to warm. Peak chargers came later, but I couldn't afford one until the early 90's.

As for voltages, our 540 size motors were good upto 12v - but hotter motors were optimised for use at 7.2v.

Gearing was crucial to get the right punch, acceleration and top speed. I remember my bitter disappointment, bolting in a low wind modified motor, running the same gearing as my Le Mans 240ST and running it on 8.4v. It died within 2 packs. 😅

With decent batteries, a good, low-wind, modified brushed motor on 7.2v could hit 30mph on a 1/10 buggy. Pan cars and 1/12th scale cars were lighter and faster.

My Cat 3000 on a Reedy Fury 11 double was extremely punchy and fast. I never checked the top speed, as it was geared to the outside track for optimal lap time - but it was certainly hitting at least 30mph on the longest straight. I loved that car! 😁

Horatios buggy fleet.jpg


Cat 3000 in the middle. Yokomo MR4BC at the bottom, Losi XXX at the top. The Yokomo MR4BC was a prize. One of my lads won the Junior indoor touring car championship. It was a great car, handled bumpy tracks really well and was durable.
 
:oops: This reminds me of a Celine Dion (a friend told me) song: "It's all coming back, coming back to me now!" :ROFLMAO:

Not only the blast from the past RCs and the overnight charging, but scouring the paper in the Classifieds section for any juicy morsels that may have been hidden. My favorite haunts were the yardsales or the moving sales; you'd always find something that you didn't need but had to have. I was always glued to the RCs. Heck, I even bought a plane that ran on nitro. No controller, just a string. :unsure: Apparently you held the string and it would fly in circles above your head. Yeah, that's exactly what an 11yr old needed; roaring engine with a prop spinning fast enough to give you a bad haircut. I didn't understand until later what nitro was. I tried putting regular gas in it and of course that was the end after I figured a lighter would help it start. :oops:

I'll bet that Nova ran like stink. The current crop of nitro pan cars are wicked; their predecessors I'd imagine weren't slouches either.
 
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