I'm not saying it should consist of one machined piece - More like the 'Red Workshop' TRF201 that Lee Martin was driving at the 2013 Cactus Classic:

http://www.petitrc.com/setup/teamxtr...sic2013031417/

...but with more overlap between front nose piece and sidepods :)

@patez: I think rear traction isn't the flavour of the month, but the priority has gone to increasing steering (even on RM cars). The chassis should prove stiffer at the back compared to the plastic T-plate of the original tub, so that in combination with a battery that's further forward should make quite a difference... So does it actually have more steering (aside from feeling more nose heavy)?

Has anyone driven the XM yet? And even better perhaps, has anyone been able to compare it with a Vega chassis? I'm curious to see how they compare because I've been hoping for Tamiya to do something with a mid-motor layout - I'd say a plate chassis like Tamiya's might be more flexible and easier to adjust to lower bite surfaces... but of course those things are best felt by someone on the track! :)

I want to first say that I'm not arguing just pointing out the intent of the design. You state it was to cut costs. Have you seen the side pods on the XR? They are machined out of an Acetal derivative which is expensive. There are 3 holes per side plus the inner 2 on the front which are plenty enough to tune with. To be honest I don't care for the "look" either but that is how it was designed.

It is indeed expensive - I know the price of that conversion isn't without reason. But the cost of a mould for two parts that size is considerable too. When you know that not everyone owning a TRF will even convert the car, machining is quite a sensible option I think: They could do it because they're expecting demand to be too limited to justify the production of a mould and/or this allows them to produce small batches without the need of much initial investment... so if the demand is higher than expected they can just machine another batch. I know Tamiya is a huge brand, but in these times no RC company will accept to lose money on any released model in their range - TRF included.

That said, I do appreciate the decision to go for machining from a quality perspective. With low production runs you can consider a cheap mould, lesser material quality or (too) short cycle times resulting in horrible parts... But on that front Tamiya always seem to make sure everything's well sorted! :)

I agree that Red's car is gorgeous and the XR should have been produced in that way. The XR set up with the HRC shim under the trans and rear mount make the car very edgy. Once it's removed and the front shim replaced with a plastic 1mm shim the car is more stable. The XR has a ton more steering from front grip. The length in the chassis (and the added weight of it) make this happen. Adding the 30g weighted bulkhead adds to this even more. The rear is looser than the plastic chassis which is due to the lack of flex (no T-plate) and the length/ front weight.

My 201XR

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...psfb9fbf38.jpg

Curiosity killed this cat:lol: I ordered an XR kit and managed to find a brand new 201 kit on Ebay for a reasonable price. So I'm going to build up an XR from scratch rather than convert my existing 201.

Should be a good comparison. I already have some Big Bores on my 502X so can't wait to build it and get to the tracks!:thumbsup:

Top Aussie, do it do it do it :D

It is not a bad idea Aussie Top Force!!!

Posted some scans from Rc World magazine yesterday of Satoshi Maezumi's TRF201XR and TRF201XM including setups. All of them (5 pages) can be found here:

http://kentech.blogs.se/

I also have a complete new (NIB) TRF201 kit together with XR conversion kits + big bores for sale if anyone's interested:

http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134757

http://data9.blog.de/media/171/72051...bfa4410_o.jpeg

Here a Tamiya Japan magazine ad for the XR and XM:

http://data9.blog.de/media/162/72051...ead95c3_o.jpeg

I like the look of the midship car! Seems to be the way to go.

Will order the XM kit as soon as I can find one! Stella doesn't have them yet, and either does RCMart. TRF cars are hard to find in Aus so ordering from OS, and Ebay are my only options. Any body no an online store that has XM stocks?:confused:

Now if they'd just bring an updated 511 to match.

RC Mart Warning!
 

Got my XR kit today from RC-Mart. It arrived as per the images. Not in a good way. Luckily the parts were untouched and all there as there was a rather large whole in the box, which was plugged by Aussie Post!

Hey Aussie,
I received my XR from RCMart today also (South Australia). The box was in much better condition than yours mate.
Cheers

Good to know! Hopefully this was a one off! I ordered some extra parts as well. Luckily they were in the other end of the box, undamaged, however if they were at the end that was damaged, its likely they would have fallen out or have been damaged.

A lucky escape this time, all things considered! Stella Models packages much better and is similarly priced. Unfortunately for RC Mart, this one off trial will send me back to Stella.

I have purchased from RCMart a few times before without issue but they are a little slower than Stella and RCMushroom. I believe your packing issue to be a one off, in transit, incident.

Anyway, do you have a setup you are going to try on your XR? I am a little unsure regarding the rear suspension mount high and low setting. Is the included XR alloy suspension block raisers high position and the kit 201 plastic raisers used for normal/low position?

Cheers

RC Mart have agreed to give a $10 credit, which I think is reasonable in the circumstance, as none of the actual parts were damaged.

In respect of set up at the rear, I haven't figured out what I'm going to try as yet. I'm going to install the optional aluminium 3 degree suspension hangers. The question is are they a straight replacement for 'J1' and 'J5'?

I do know I am not running the 'J7' part on my TRF 201 LE with Exoctec +8 option.

I think I'll pull out the calipers and measure the thickness of the original T-plate and the XR chassis.

Anybody else have an answer?

check out www.petitrc.com for all for questions regarding the rear suspension blocks and the like

regards

Tod TROWER

try etamiya they had them listed on September 4 for delivery immediately

My 201XR in a rainy day :lol:
Now we can buy the new alu steering set and 201XM in stella (and other stuff)

Best regards

Some pictures of my new built XR. XM conversion and electrics in the mail. Will do some back to back runs between new and old chassis before deciding on whether to buy another XR and covert the original as well, i.e., one XR and one XM, ready to run?