Tamiya 300058618 1:10 RC Monster Beetle 2015

Product Information

This updated version promises to be great fun for both beginners and Tamiya R/C kit veterans alike! With these assembled we then need to fit the chunky front arms, they have spacer moulded into them that allow the arms to move around and stop them binding together. Here you also fit the bent hook thingy which links to the front of the chassis and acts a little bit like a torsion bar. I use anti-wear grease in the diff gear shown in the photo below. Grease the gear cavities. This is just enough resistance, withoutstuff flying everywhere in your transmission. I put the slightest amount of anti-wear grease on the differential gears, like imagine almost putting nothing at all. It's not necessary to put grease on the metal gears IMO. DON'T let this stuff get on the white gears, that is the main point. I also put the anti-wear grease on the shaft of the outdrive diff (shown in the photo) below. Do this carefully, and you get a limited-slip differential for more traction!

The monster beetle is a joy to build. Once you've got past the first stage in placing a buch of bits inbetween the chassis sides, the build is a matter of bolting a few parts on in each step. Everything goes together easily, and there is hardly any slop in the moving parts. This is a quality little kit! The large front bumper is next. This is attached with 3 screws on the front of the chassis and will hopefully help protect you from the occasional mishap!

ROCKETS

A 3-gear differential is housed between a pair of aluminum plates that make up the transmission case. The original Monster Beetle used hex shaped dogebones for driveshafts and they were prone to rounding out. This time around Tamiya has included a more traditional dogbone with a CV joint on the axles. The rear axles are next, and I was surprised to find that the kit comes with rear universal drive shafts. This is a great thing as they are much more efficient at putting the power down through the whole suspension range. The steering servo is mounted to the chassis and the speed controller is attached with the included double sided tape. I used .1mm, or 2mm, or .3mm shims to remove play in the front suspension arms (I prefer less shake and wobble)

The chassis uses a double-wishbone front with trailing arm rear suspension setups that work in tandem with the CVA oil dampers. At the time of writing, the Monster Beetle is one of the few remaining Tamiya models of the 1980s that has not been rehashed by the company, to cash in on nostalgia. Although I’m sure that can’t be too far away, because… “money”. When fitting the servo you want it to be straight. I found that my servo lug was catching the bottom part of the frame. I just trimmed it a little and then it slotted in perfectly.

GENERAL

Next up it's time to fit the steering servo and esc. The kit included esc is the excellent TBLE-02s. It is able to run the included brushed motor, and importantly it can also run a sensored brushless motor if you want to add more speed. Includes Tamiya TBLE-02S ESC (electronic speed control) Capable of running sensor brushless motors and brushed motors alike. (21.5 Turn BL motor limit) (23 Turn brushed motor limit). These old videos often used to appear on TV sets in Hobby Shops, as in-store promotion to help tempt customers. The kit comes with a classic RS540 motor. You need to fit the plastic motor mount onto it and also ensure that the 10t long boss pinion is attached. Front double wishbone and rear trailing arm setups are cushioned by high-performance CVA oil dampers.