My convoluted story of acquiring a pair of TRF201 buggies is a classic
example of collecting gone wrong. Why would someone do what I
did? Where to even begin the story? My first mistake was
probably being born, an error I've never really been able to live
down. Fast forward a few years and TamiyaUSA put their TRF201 kits
on sale. This wasn't just any sale; they were marked down about
75%. It was clear that I needed one, but there were multiple
versions available. The standard TRF201 was the cheapest, but for a
bit more I could get the TRF201 XR which came with a bunch of
extras. Normally I'd go with the most "deluxe" version but in this
case the models also looked significantly different and I preferred the
appearance of the original model. In order to understand my
dilemma we need to back up 30 years and look at the history of Tamiya
Racing Factory (TRF) and understand what's actually in these boxes.
The TRF concept arguably started in 1988 with the
58072
Avante, but that was a four wheel drive buggy and really had nothing
specifically in common with any eventual TRF buggy. A more
reasonable ancestor would be the
58116
Dyna Storm from 1992. While this buggy doesn't share any parts
with the TRF201, it does share the same design concept, basic specs, and
features. This was a high end 2WD racing buggy with all the bells
and whistles. It took until 2010 for the first official 2WD TRF
buggy, the
42167
TRF201, to show up on the market. This buggy took everything the
Tamiya Racing Factory had learned and rolled it into one package.
It used a glass reinforced plastic chassis tub, a three gear
transmission with ball differential, a slipper clutch, universal axles,
aluminum oil filled aeration dampers, titanium turnbuckles, and full
adjustability of every component of toe, camber, caster, roll center,
and ride height. To be compatible with international racers, it
used a 48 pitch spur gear and even imperial sized balls in the
differential. Racing wheels were included but no tires.
In the USA a body and wing were also included. The original body
is shown on the left and the chassis on the upper right. In 2011 Tamiya
released the
42203 upgraded version which included better gears, a thicker aluminum motor mount, and a carbon battery plate. Next came the
42253
in 2012 which extended the wheelbase from 275mm to 286mm by replacing
the plastic tub chassis with an aluminum plate. This updated
version was called the TRF201 XR and the chassis is shown on the middle
right. The XR reused virtually all of the parts from the original
TRF201 except the chassis plate and the updated carbon battery cover
which allowed the use of standard hard case racing packs. Because
of the longer wheelbase, the XR also required a new body. The
sleek body of the original was replaced with (in my opinion) a much
uglier "cab forward" style. The TRF201 XR was never available as a
separate full chassis, it could only be made by converting an existing
TRF201. In 2013 they came out with yet another update, the
42257
kit which converted an XR model to an XM model. The XM was a
mid-motor design which moved the transmission and motor ahead of the
rear axle to put more weight on the front tires. This makes for
less traction on the drive wheels but gives an overall increase in
control on very high grip surfaces like carpet. The same aluminum
chassis plate was retained but a new four gear transmission with
aluminum housing was added along a thick carbon rear shock tower and the
improved motor heat sink from 42203. This time, Tamiya released
the XM chassis as standalone kit
42277
in 2014 so a new buyer didn't need to start with original and then
convert it twice. Just to add more to the confusion though, this
version of the XM was slightly different than the conversion because it
included the upgraded "big bore" dampers and aluminum suspension
mounts. This final chassis is shown on the bottom right.
Are we up to date on the details now? Not quite. The two
kits on clearance at TamiyaUSA were the 42167 (the original TRF201 from
2010) and the
42167XR.
Wait a minute, there is no 42167XR in the exhaustive history
above. The XR version is supposed to be 42203. Well that's
because TamiyaUSA took it upon themselves to create their own package
deal. You won't find any reference to 42167XR on any site other
than TamiyaUSA. This bundle included the original 42167 kit
(without body), the 42253 XR conversion kit (with body), and the big
bore dampers from 42277. So while I preferred the appearance of
the original shorter chassis and sleek body, a purchase of the XR would
get me the same kit AND an extra set of shocks and chassis. Even
though it was more expensive, it seemed like a win-win. So I
ordered the 42167XR kit and then it sat on my shelf for a year during
which time both kits went out of stock and became discontinued.
Then the 42257 XM conversion kit went on sale so I figured I better get
that as well. Three for the price of one!
I finally decided to start building after I finished a project to build
the 3 buggies with the MS (Maezumi Satoshi) livery in blue, pink, and
white. These were the
TT-02B MS, the
DT-02 MS, and the
DF-03
MS. This is the same paint scheme typically depicted on the box
art for the TRF buggies, but while the MS kits come with stickers to
reproduce the livery, the TRF kits do not. I knew that my painting
skills were not up to the challenge and I really wanted something as
special as a TRF buggy to look good, so I scoured the Internet for a
professional painter that could do the job. I found
SKG RC Painting
on Facebook and sent off my body to be painted. While I waited, I
finally got started on the build. I found everything about the
build to be a pleasure. The kit uses hex hardware, there are no
tapping screws, all of the plastic is either glass or carbon reinforced,
all of the rotating parts use bearings, the axles are universals, the
tolerances are perfect, etc. This kit clearly represents the top
of Tamiya's abilities. I planned to use a Tamiya TBLM-02s 10.5T
brushless system right from the start and already had it sitting on my
shelf waiting. I also had a set of competition compound Dual Block
tires ready to go. Even though I didn't have a body or wing for
it (since they were at the painter's), I found the performance to be
incredible. Everything about driving this car is precise and
stable. I left the car this way for a couple of days, then I moved
on immediately to the XR conversion. Again I drove it for a
couple of days with no body (and therefore no benefit of
downforce). Finally I installed the XM conversion and the big bore
shocks. The mid-motor conversion is intended for "extremely high
traction surfaces", otherwise known as carpet. I've never even
seen a carpet track and have certainly never driven on one. I can
say that on asphalt this version is essentially undriveable. The
slightest application of throttle or brake makes it spin out. I
can mitigate this by using traction control and ABS on the radio or by
dialing down the slipper clutch to allow almost no torque, but then
there is no point in a racing buggy. I will try switching to some
much stickier tires from Proline.
This story doesn't sound so bad. Why did it sound like such a
cautionary tale at the beginning? That's because the story is far
from over. After I finished up the 3rd version of the chassis in
the form of the XM variant, I found that I had a whole lot left
over. The original plastic bathtub chassis was surplus, as was an
entire set of TRF buggy shocks in the original smaller bore
diameter. In fact, when stacked all together with the extra
hardware, it appeared to consist of a considerable portion of a complete
kit. A crazy thought tugged at the back of my mind that I might
be able to get two buggies out of this: the XM with all the upgrades and
the original model whose appearance I like better in the first
place. To figure this out, I needed to know what I had and what I
was missing. I sat down with the instruction manual and made a
spreadsheet containing a complete list of every single part, including
nuts and bolts, needed to build a TRF201. Then I took inventory to
see how many of these parts I had available after my TRF201 upgrade
saga. It turns out there are 448 parts in a TRF201, and I already
had 290 of them. That's about 65% which confirmed my suspicion
that I had a nearly complete extra model. That means I could have a
second TRF for "virtually free"! On the other hand, 448-290 means
I still needed another 158 parts for a model that was out of
production. Many of them could be ordered at a low price.
Many could not. I spent the night scouring the Internet for
availability and the best deal. Rather than trying to order all
the parts for the ball differential and slipper clutch I found that it
was better to order the entire A hardware bag which had the parts I
needed. I also ordered a complete set of universals instead of the
individual parts. Many of the plastic parts trees I needed were
readily available. Where things got difficult were the steering
parts and the front suspension mount. Both were impossible to find
so I ended up with a racing steering upgrade and a weighted front
suspension mount upgrade which came at a premium price. The
titanium turnbuckles were also not to be found so I ended up with some
alternatives from 3Racing, the only non-Tamiya parts in the
project. I believe it was Carl Sagan (through character S.R.
Hadden) who said, "Why build one when you can have two for twice the
price?". I ended up paying vastly more for just the 158 "extra"
parts than it would have cost to buy a whole extra 42167 kit from
TamiyaUSA when they were on clearance.
Don't be like me.
Update: This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire. It has not been replaced.
My convoluted story of acquiring a pair of TRF201 buggies is a classic
example of collecting gone wrong. Why would someone do what I
did? Where to even begin the story? My first mistake was
probably being born, an error I've never really been able to live
down. Fast forward a few years and TamiyaUSA put their TRF201 kits
on sale. This wasn't just any sale; they were marked down about
75%. It was clear that I needed one, but there were multiple
versions available. The standard TRF201 was the cheapest, but for a
bit more I could get the TRF201 XR which came with a bunch of
extras. Normally I'd go with the most "deluxe" version but in this
case the models also looked significantly different and I preferred the
appearance of the original model. In order to understand my
dilemma we need to back up 30 years and look at the history of Tamiya
Racing Factory (TRF) and understand what's actually in these boxes.
