Tamiya DB-01 Baldre

26 April 2008.

I cannot really call this one a review for several reasons but mainly, I rushed to build this buggy for a race so I took very few pictures of the build and I installed some hop-up options right away, so I'll never be able to tell how the buggy handles in stock form.

Since this buggy was built to mainly for the Tamiya Asia Cup qualifiers, this will not be a regular review but a running log of issues encountered, solutions found and setting changes made throughout the 2008 indoor racing season and perhaps beyond.

Some Tamiya hop-ups that went into this buggy straight away:
54024 DB01 Titanium screw set, 54018 DB01 slipper clutch set, 54028 Buggy Aeration Damper set, 53124 Tungsten Carbide ball set (X3), 51286 TRF501X diff joint set (X2), 53709 Flourine Coated suspension balls, and also not shown is a set of front universal assembly shafts (54015).

The DB-01 runs identical diffs on the front and rears. The diff halves consists of metal outdrives that slot into plastic disks (similar to those on the DF-03). There has been complaints about the strength of this setup, especially in brushless motor applications.

On the left are the kit diff halves assembled. On the right are the solid metal diff halves from the TRF501X buggy (51286). They are direct replacements. I ran them in both the front and rear.

The slipper layshaft and centre pulleys. I added a 5mm X 0.1mm shim here to remove some play.

The spur and slipper. The spring actually pushes against a blue spacer that pushes against the inner ring of the ball bearing which in turn pushes against the slipper plates. I had my doubts about the reliability of this setup but it seems to work fine. The slipper instructions say to screw the nut in until there are 3mm left of threads on the layshaft. For indoor racing, I went for about 5mm.

The chassis and drivetrain.

The rear arms and axles. Around this stage of the build, I began to realise how many small parts go into the suspension and axles. To keep from losing them all in one mishap, I "glued" everything together with the supplied Tamiya Anti-Wear grease.

I'm running the Universal joint shafts (54015) on the front end of the buggy. I added an 3mm X 0.1mm shim between each steering knuckle and castor block to keep things from getting too wiggly.

I didn't have time to take any more pictures of the build and only finished the buggy on the night before the race. The Baldre body shell hugs the DB-01 chassis better than the Durga as it only has the side bulge on the motor side. This picture was actually taken as I was packing up after the race. As you can see, I qualified seventh. I also finished 7th overall. You can read about the race here. I was very happy with the performance of the buggy. It took jumps very flat and predictable, so it was easy to control its attitude in the air.

After seeing how well the Baldre jumped, I had to compare its weight distribution and geometry with that of the DF-03. In this pic, I have the rear wheels lined up and the DB-01 is about 1cm longer. The one thing you can tell from this picture is that battery weight changes affect the DB-01 weight distribution left to right while it mostly affects the DF-03 front to back.

The only things that broke on the first race were the front wheel hexes. When I first built the car, I thought they were plastic pieces, so I just put the pins on the axle and snapped the hexes on. The hexes are actually metal, so they were obviously not meant to bend back and forth like that. You're supposed to mount the hexes first and then carefully align the hex holes with the axle holes and push the pin through. Since I started putting them on the proper way, I've not had trouble with them.

Outdoor track test -
I took the Baldre out to a big track meant for 1/8th scale buggies for a nice bash. The kit tires were a little too hard to get a good grip in the dry dusty conditions but the buggy itself was very composed, drifting round the more slippery turns and speeding through the high speed areas easily. Jumping the buggy took some getting used to. You need to stay on the throttle a little longer than you would with other buggies to keep the buggy flat. The buggy itself has a slight tendency to nose dive - not so much that it's undrivable but just takes some getting used to if you've been driving a more conventional buggy.

How to bulletproof your DB01
1. Replace all the suspension balls with the flourine-coated ones (Tamiya 53709)
2. Replace all suspension mounts with aluminium units (Tamiya 54037, 54038 and two sets of 54039)
3. Install either the slipper clutch set (Tamiya 54018) OR double slipper clutch (Tamiya 54061)
4. Do not install the carbon-reinforced shock towers as they are weaker than kit ones
5. Do not install rear universals as they are too short if you run the TRF buggy shocks

Other recommended upgrades
1. Titanium screw set (Tamiya 54024)
2. TRF Buggy Damper set (Tamiya 54028)
3. Diff protector seals (Tamiya 53970)
4. Front universal shafts (Tamiya 54019)
5. TRF501X Stabiliser set (Tamiya 53963)

And if you still have money left
1. Front one-way set (Tamiya 54017)
2. TRF501X diff joint (Tamiya 51286)