Tamiya 30th Anniversary Buggy Champ Build (Part 1)

Finally started on the Buggy Champ kit today. Looking over the manual, it should be a simple kit. The only difference this has from any other kit I've built is the major amount of metal components in this kit. That just means a lot of threadlock! Luckily, Tamiya included some red threadlock jelly in the kit; however, I didn't even notice it until I had used my blue Tamiya liquid threadlock on the entire gearbox assembly already.

Something interesting with this red threadlock jelly that Tamiya included: it smells really fruity and sweet! I know the blue Tamiya stuff smells great already, but this stuff is just like candy, it doesn't help that it's in jelly state too!

I got some work done today. Building was quite smooth. The ball bearings fitting on the metal gearbox housing was a bit tight. Some slots needed slight sanding for the bearings to fit in. The only problem I had, and still have, are the shocks. I cannot get them to be work "properly". I am not sure what to think on this part because the buildup of the shocks are definitely different from today's performance shocks. Afterall, this IS a remake of a buggy released 30 years ago. I've read on the Tamiya Club forums that other owners are having problems assembling the shocks too, I will follow up on the thread to see if there are any specific way to build these shocks. I've have already tried rebuilding them at least 5 times, both according to the instructions and others.

Anyways here are some pics of my progress, I hope to finish it tomorrow.

Ball bearings equipped gearbox


The kit includes two gearing options: high speed and low speed. I have installed the low speed gearing set because I don't plan on running this beauty outdoors, probably just cruise on the track haha


Rear end mounted on FRP chassis


Will continue tomorrow...