Bashing 2 brushless Tamiya Dark Impacts (DF-03) & the realities of running RC cars in public!

In today's video, I thought I'd share the first proper run of my hybrid Tamiya Dark Impact 4x4 off road RC buggy. Links to the gear further down in the description! The reason I say hybrid is because it's running a Traxxas Velineon VXL-3s ESC along with a Traxxas Velineon 3500 brushless motor (commonly found in the Traxxas Slash 4X4). We've also squeezed the biggest 3s Li-Po battery in there we could.

I decided to go a slightly different route with the finish on the Dark Impact. So, rather than box art, I went with Tamiya's PS-46 spray paint, which is an iridescent Purple/Green (so cool, check out the beginning of the video) and backed that with the PS-5 black. Totally worth the effort.

I know there are some open questions in the community about this radio control model and just how good/tough it might be for bashing. Well, hopefully this video both answers some of those questions for you and goes someway to demonstrate how capable this RC car is!

It's worth mentioning that I am not endorsed by any RC manufacturers and the funding for all of the equipment and production has come out of my own pocket.

Both myself and MR SSH are running Dark Impacts, key differences, he is running a Hobbywing EZRUN MAX10 ESC 3652SL and brushless motor.
We're both on stock gearing and both running identical batteries. Therefore, it would be fair to assume that they are pretty evenly matched. MR SSH has upgraded to hardened turnbuckles already, I however have not yet.

THOUGHTS ON PERFORMANCE:
If you want a Tamiya that you can bash, and not get caught up in the nostalgia, these are worth a shot! As you can see in the video, both MR SSH and myself ran these pretty hard and both took some hard hits and tumbles (there was plenty more footage but it's long enough as it is!). The plastics held up way better than I expected. MR SSH suffered the worst damage with a broken front shock mount, owing largely to a really hard forwards roll that slammed that mount straight down. You can hear it snap in the video. I'd say that was just bad luck more than anything though.
I had to straighten a rear turnbuckle and lost some of the diff foam as a result of that happening. I also had to tighten the servo horn back up, you'll see that in the video. Other than that, I was back running until we quit for the day.

There are some really harsh bumps where we ran (hard to spot in the video but they really kick the chassis up), and the Dark Impact really did do well. For the money, it's really good, I wouldn't think something like a Hot Shot or Super Hot shot would be able to take the abuse.

WEAK SPOTS:
Turn buckles - They are quite soft and the metal bends easily. Having said that though, they can be bent back, albeit not totally perfect, but good enough. The plastic ends seem fine.
Ball diff - It's really not up to the task of the brushless combos we used. It has taken it, but for how long. Definitely some interesting noises coming from the back gearbox!
Tyres - Bit of a moot point this, the stock tyres are next to useless on wet grass. Fun on the surface we were running on but could use some beefing up and better grip. Saying that, the lack of traction may be a saving grace for the gearbox...

Next time out, it'll be time to use higher gearing to see if we can achieve a higher top speed. Also, once the rear ball differential is shot, it'll be time for a geared diff and slipper clutch.

The realities of running RC cars in public:
Depending on the time of day and the location, running RC cars in public comes with its challenges! Hopefully today's video shows some of the amusing sides of that. :)

LINKS TO GEAR IN THE VIDEO
------------------------------------------------
Tamiya Dark Impact:
https://amzn.to/3yP6MNP

Traxxas Velineon VXL 3S Brushless Combo (ESC and Motor):
https://amzn.to/3hZ7Mbv

Hobbywing EZRUN MAX10 ESC + 3652SL Brushless Motor Combo:
https://amzn.to/36vkBVx

RadioLink RC4GS-V2 4 Channel Transmitter With 1 x R6FG-V3 Gyro Receiver and 1x R6F-V2 Standard Receiver:
https://amzn.to/2TTEEdP

Gens Ace Li-Po Car 3S 11.1V 5000mAh 50C Bashing:
https://amzn.to/3AUfNqP

Tamiya PS-46 Iridescent Purple Green Polycarbonate Spray:
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/...

Tamiya PS-5 Black Polycarbonate Spray:
https://amzn.to/2U1OIkU

I really hope that you found value in this video. Please do like, share and subscribe for more and don't forget to leave a comment!