Would love a TRF 511X BUT!!!!!
 

After reading a lot of the threads on the TAMIYA section the most striking thing that hits you is the quality of the cars and parts :thumbsup: So WHY on earth doesn't the UK distributor give the backing too these cars ? Will this change due to the signing up of drivers lee martin and elliot harper ?
I hope so, because i'm sure there's plenty of people in the UK that would support the brand. I for one allway's support the local or national hobby stores so come on HOBBY CO pull your fingers out :(

Hobby Co has nothing to do with Lee Martin, as I believe Lee is part of the TRF Team, which is global.

Hobby Co and TRF cars, it is like a chicken and egg, they brought in 10 501X's in, as they said there was no call for them, they also priced them high, so everyone bought from Asia.... so because they didn't sell the kits, they don't think there is a need to stock the spares.

Hobby Co are so far detached from the racing seen, they don't know what is happening.

Hobby Co have no interest in supporting racing stuff, they would prefer to sell 1000 TT-01's instead.

It's very unfortunate and I cant see it changing as I can see them letting a seperate company distribute the TRF lines...

I know lee is a great driver and is well respected as a racer so what's the point in him being a TRF driver when surelly the purpose is for him to promote the TAMIYA name and products in the UK. Would it be feasable for a secondary distributor just for the TRF products ?

Its a nice idea. I have been running Tamiya TC`s for a few years now. Slowly the spares availability has grown within the UK as more people run them. Until there is a full spares back up ill continue to send my money out of the country sadly :(
I got a quote for a 416 from my local model shop via the UK agent, but it turned out that the cost to him was considerably more than a NIB kit shipped from HK to me direct.

Im no expert on economics so dont pretend to be. A lot of it is down to £ vs $ though. Some people avoid the brand as they are frightened of spares availability. Personally though, i have found it quicker to get spares sent direct from HK than i have ordering out of stock parts by other manufacturers here in the UK.

Not many importers or main agents seem to hold any quantity of stock here :(

It's a real shame as there's a real market here for the TRF branded cars and for lee as we all know that more people running the cars then the more development it gets. Mind you lee seems to be doing o.k on his own ike he did with the aero.

Hobby Co. suck. :thumbsup:

Yeah its a shame and i agree. I think he`d make the A if you stuck 4 wheels to a house brick though tbh :D

duplicate post :s

Jimmy - any news on those XLS decals bud - have you nudged the boss yet :lol: ?

Lee is an awesome driver!

Remember, Pidge races all over the world so his influence is global.

He will no doubt go to America, lay smack down and people will want to buy the car off of the back of his drives.

I think its more a global thing than a UK thing.

Plus, id imagine that in the eyes of Tamiya, a sale no matter where the buyer gets their car from is still a sale.

Totally agree fella, but it still does'nt help the people out in the UK :(

:thumbsup::thumbsup: jimmy check out your pm's fella :)

We have they same issue here in Australia with TRF. The Tamiya distributor/importer has no interest in TRF products They are predominantly a toy and hobby(models) importer. No good for any hardcore Tamiya TRF racer fans.

There is no problem running Tamiya in the uk. Demon stocks lots of TRF parts and getting parts from hk/jpn usually is pretty rapid (a week or less).

The other good thing is that due to the fact its a Tamiya it wont really break anyway :)

I can say most importers/hobby shops in the USA are racer oriented but Tamiya kits are hard to get here.. especially TRF electrics.. if you can find kits they're usually $200usd higher then online in HK shipped. Tamiya make great products, and they know it, so they don't really care if the distribtion sux, they know we'll get it however we can.

I was gonna post this, but you already said it. I don't see what the big deal is when people always say this. Stuff comes from HK and Japan in about a week, even to the US. If you're at the track racing and you break something, unless you've got a hobby shop 5 minutes away driving distance, you still need to go home and order parts.

Hobby shops don't make money supporting a hand full of local racers driving expensive cars that they might sell a couple a year. They make money off the hundreds of other cars that are cheaper and more popular.

Racing is about brand recongnition. Tamiya doesn't race to sell high end race cars. They race to get the name out there to sell all the other less expensive cars.

I was told something similar to that by my local shop a few years back with the 501, although it was more like, "this is coming out soon, how many do you want?, by the way, we won't be bringing in spares for it", pure madness:thumbdown:

I find kits competitively priced in comparison. MyAtomic, Speedtechrc, Ampdraw and others stock TRF kits, and parts are less expensive than TamiyaUSA.. If all else fails, Japan and HK is a good backup plan.. Tamiya (TRF) support is good here in the USA if you know where to look :D.. Anyway, I have seen 511 go for $475-$525 in some online shops

Sorry for off topic

....dead thread BUT - 2 questions........
 

Hello Everyone.......I know it seems TRF support is lacking in most markets, but I have some general questions based on all of your experience with the 511X...

1.) Are the quality / design improvements really worth going after this buggy (support issues aside)?

2.) What are the major options / changes /upgrades one needs to make to shake out the remaining gremlins in this buggy?

Thanks for any input you might have.

Best Wishes All.

Kydawg1 - stateside

The quality of the 511 is superb!!! The build and fit of everything is amazing. The only thing you Have to change on the std car is the ball studs. These are very soft and break/bend easily. Apart from that nothing needed, but you will get the blue addiction and get every hop up available to make it one sexxxxxxy looking car!!!!!!:thumbsup:

The quality of the car is lightyears above everything else atm. And I'm not saying this just because I'm a fanboy. I've tried many cars over the years and the 511 is without doubt the best car I've ever owned. Af Griff said, the standard ball studs are shit and will need changing to the hard hex ones. The turnbuckles are not very good either, but changing them are more for convinience. The standard ones are plenty strong, but crap to adjust.
The diff is very smooth, but does not last long. Especially on carpet. Its the rings that burn out, but they're only $3 a set.
The standard upper shock mount bushings in plastic will develop slop quickly. These can be replaced with metal ones from the DB01. Inexpensive and much better fit. Last a lifetime.

As for spares; front tower, caster- and steering blocks, diff rings and thats about it.

...except...

and
and
and
Way to sell the 511 there :) :D

As far as quality goes, I love my TRF501X (and 511 should be even better, at least it is a lot easier to service). I've got aluminum caster blocks, Kyosho ball studs and "hard" ball cups and titanium turnbuckles on my TRF501. I also have carbon fibre lipo trays (by Fredrik Emilsson), and gear diffs.

As for the 511, you might want to upgrade the ball cups to something better and get a lipo tray. Tamiya makes a lipo tray, but if I am correct, it does not shift the batteries location, which means you most likely need to modify the center bulkheads for lipos to fit. The tray made by Fredrik for the 511 shifts the batteries backwards slightly to allow clearance for the batteries, so if you use them, the center bulkheads don't need modification.

Also you might want the rear diff cover by Fredrik, depending on the surface you drive on.

@cosie:

Yeah, I realize I was a bit contradictory in that statement, but if you compare it to, say, the B44, then you'll see a clear difference. The plastics are better, screws are better, ease of wrenching is far better and handling is better.

The things I described is minor, easy and fairly inexpensive to replace. The parts are easily sourceable aswell.

The B44 is shit to work on, screws are utter crap, old style dampers are crap (or the very least very difficult to build correctly), front shock tower is weak and can contribute to the breakage of the upper front deck and tower mount if broken, plastics are astoundingly poor, but the handling is good.

I am long fan of Tamiya. especially the TRF Kits
I would love to see more kits in the shops but the problem for hobby co is simply the cost to buy.
The tax they have to pay and the strenght of the pound versus the Yen and the Dollar means the cars are very very expensive, they cant make any profit as the UK customers would rather buy from hong kong on the cheap then pay the real price from a UK shop.
Its a shame but unless you the punters are prepared to stop buying from far east and support your local dealer the hobby co cant possibly have a reason to stock them.
Its just the world economy works against importing certain goods from certain territories. and also the fact that uk customers are willing to break the law to avoid paying import duty.

So as much as you love your Tamiya TRF Kits you cant blame hobby co for not supporting them you have to look at everyone who is either not willing to pay for them or are buying from offshore.

:thumbdown:

Hobby Co suck at supporting any Tamiyas, not just the TRFs, I run a DB01 and how long have people had to wait for bodyshells and other consumables, and heaven forbid you would dare to want to upgrade it by fitting the TRF option parts.

"Hobby Co suck at supporting any Tamiyas, not just the TRFs, I run a DB01 and how long have people had to wait for bodyshells and other consumables, and heaven forbid you would dare to want to upgrade it by fitting the TRF option parts".

I cant comment on that, maybe hobbby co are not doing the best job.

Just be aware sometimes when you as a customer are waiting a long time for your order from a shop it could be that the shop account is not clear with the supplier or a shop needs a certain size order before they can proceed.

Being an Importer of Japanese products into the UK i know very well the issues faced:(

I'm sure everyone's pretty aware of how hard it can be for UK shops and importers to import & sell stuff from Japan, however i think the reason people feel 'a certain way' ( im being nice... ) about the Hobby Company is for their attitude to anyone who actually wants to, God forbid, race Tamiyas and help promote the brand ...

I see no reason for not getting the TRF511
 

First off, you are in The States, I thought Tamiya America was an active distributor that always carry a good stock of parts? Most replies seem to refer to the UK.

Here is my input to your questions:
1. Yes. A solid yes, even. I live in Sweden and have no real problems getting parts (the few that break) from our distributor. In the rare case they cannot help me out urgently, Vellrip Stella Models on eBay can. Ask Tamiyausa for a hobby shop that carries a lot of parts and you should be good to go. Come to think of it, can't you order parts directly from Tamiyausa.com?

As for quality, I would say it is top notch. Every car has drawbacks. The 511 is no exception, but that does not make it a bad car. If you where to wait for the perfect car, you will never be able to drive. A good car is a car where you can live with the kinks. It is easy to change them on the TRF511. I prefer having it the way it is rather than have a car where more expensive parts are troublesome. Look at Durango and their wheel shafts...

2. I have changed the following:
42142 TRF 3mm Ceramic Diff Ball - two sets required
53969 Hex Head Ball Connector - two sets required
They are the parts that need to be changed. The rest you can deal with if you break it.

My car also has:
53961 Aluminum Caster Block
53962 Aluminum Rear Upright
54121 Aluminum Horn For Hi Torque Servo Saver
53971 Aluminium Steering Arm
53972 Aluminium Steering Bridge
53973 Aluminium Steering Base
42117 turnbuckles
42118 turnbuckles
42121 turnbuckles - two sets needed
53963 Stabilizer Set
aluminum servo stay I do not remeber exactly which part no but can check.
Alaste's front and rear diff covers
Alaste's LiPo tray
Most important upgrades to me are Alaste's (Fredrik Emilsson here on Oople.com) front and reaf diff covers. They are a must for a dirt track. Alaste has also made a LiPo-tray that is better than Tamiya's. Lee Martin and Viktor Wilck also use the Alaste parts.

The next time I will tear the dampers apart I will use these to replace to stock red parts:
42137 Competition O-rings (damper parts)
The brass parts that replace the stock plastic parts for the upper shock mounts (the part between the shock and screw that attaches it to the shock tower).

Good spare parts to have:
51271 B Parts (wing stay)
54131 C Parts ()
54034 D Parts (unless you go for aluminum caster blocks)
51274 E Parts (unless you go for the aluminum rear hub)
54141 DB01 High-traction Lower Arm (Front)
54142 DB01 High-traction Lower Arm (Rear)
54140 Drive Belt
51314 Spur gear 91T
53989 Pulley
51287 Diff Plate
51287 Ball differential Pulley 37T
4304094 Front Damper Stay (front shock tower)
4304095 Rear Damper Stay (rear shock tower)

Apart from the Tamiya body, Team Azarashi also make a body that fits the TRF511.

Hope this helps!
Andreas

FYI, the competition o-rings will need plenty of shims to flatten them a bit or they'll leak.

Based on people's experiences with hobby co I can't see it being account issues or minimum order amounts. Several UK shops are turning overseas for their supplies as they have given up waiting for Hobby Co to supply them.

But to say 'not doing the best job' is very polite and perhaps we should leave it there.

Hobby Co, when they do bring in the TRF parts, overprice the parts and kits, thats WHEN they bring them in, they can't even support the cars like the DB-01, TA-05 or TB-03 correctly, always having to 'special order' parts, and then it is at least an 8 week weight, which is ok if your 'model building' but if you are actually using the cars, no good at all.

Some shops have got round the problem by breaking kits, which really shouldn't happen.

In the end, Hobby Co have no interest in the RC Car market, simple as that.

Only if you live in the USA - they wont ship overseas direct. Use Speedtech USA for 511 kits and hard to find parts that dont appear on Ebay and he orders and ships overseas :thumbsup:

Nice guy called Jeff, very helpful.

Thanks for all the information, it is very helpful.