The Fox

This is a second hand model I found on Ebay Australia (thanks Adam). The previous owner cared it and it is in an almost perfect shape. This 2 wheel drive buggy released in 1985 reuses many technical solutions found on the HotShot, especially the front mono-shock and front arms, as well as part of the chassis and the gearbox. Moreover, this is the first Tamiya model to use those famous bright yellow hydraulic dampers that would be fitted on many other models afterwards. They still even exist on an almost similar form, but are now only available in black.

The Fox was designed for competition and was often lined up on tracks by the time, even if it was very often fitted with enhanced parts from Team CRP. Its main drawbacks were the access to electronic (enclosed in the chassis, like on the HotShot), the limited front suspension travel and the front drive train took a huge benefit of a stabilizer bar. But for leisure, these drawbacks are not that important.

With age and usage, the golden rims are the parts that most suffered. As it is one of the very rare models to be fitted with them, they are very difficult to find... and expensive. Mine show impacts, but I won't change them.

Apart from its 4WD HotShot legacy, the Fox chassis (2WD) is unique in Tamiya catalog.

Here are photos of a Fox in perfect shape. You can't even notice it is over 20 years old, or the lightest use. This is probably a shelf-queen model:

 

Here are photos of mine when it arrived ...

 

 

Let's see what's under the bodyshell...

  

 

On the two last photos, the chassis looks very well protected. I can confirm that accessing the electronics can be a serious problem for competition: you need to remove a dozen of screws to get in, which disassembles the rear drivetrain at the same time. In fact, when everything is installed, you'd better check everything twice as you'd prefer not to undo everything again.

The penultimate photo also shows the motor protection made of a cut blue balloon. The manual recommends to use it on wet and muddy tracks: I will remove it as I have no intention to drive in these conditions. Also, I don't want to risk to melt it because of the motor heat.

The last photo shows the mecanical speed controller. I had never seen this particular model before. I disassembled it because I replaced it by an electronic one.

Custom changes

Well, there's little to do on this one, especially because I want to keep it almost original (like the Boomerang).

Motor / speed controller: mine is mounted with a Mabuchi 540 motor and an 18 teeth pinion (15 teeth on the original model). I initially thought I would mount a Sport Tuned motor with a 15 teeth pinion; in fact, I decided not to do that because electronics are completely sealed into the chassis and heat can't evacuate. One solution could have been to stay with the mechanical speed controller (which resistors are placed outside the chassis tub), but I doubt it would long resist to the Sport Tuned. The standard 540 drains around 6 Ampers when the Sport Tuned swallows the double (12 A).

For the "vintage" decoration, I will leave the resistors placed on the chassis (what I already did on the Boomerang).

Bearings: the Fox is fully ball raced right out of the box... except on the front wheels. This is pretty easy to understand as ball bearings used to cost a fortune by the time. Hopefully, this time is over: anyway, mine already have the front wheels bearings, but I will have to change them because they are pretty used.

Front stabilizer bar kit: this is an original option that helps the front drivetrain, especially in curbs. Technically, it is almost an exact replica of the Boomerang's, but mounted reversed.

The stock front chassis

The optional kit for the front stabilizer

Front stabilizer installed

Repair: as I said before, there's not much to do. I only had to carefully grease the protection rubber for the steering link, and to tight a few screws. I will also have to add spacers on the rear dampers as they are too soft once the battery pack is inserted. I will also change the rear tires as one is slightly cracked. Hopefully, these are the same as the 2007 re-released HotShot.

Generally speaking, I do understand why this buggy created problems in competition: it took me 3 hours to disassemble the chassis protection, install and setup electronics (including the steering servo link that requires to disassemble part of the front drivetrain), and reassemble. With practice, I guess all this can be done in less than one hour, but this is too much in competition. Especially if you just need to change the radio quartz...

Another Fox!

A low cost opportunity in excellent shape: I could not resist! The shape is perfect, no scratches, almost brand new golden rims, the kit is complete. The body is there too, but painted red which I don't like, and without the original stickers. After all, this will be the runner body, no fear to damage the other one.

This Fox will mainly be driven indoor, used for photos and if needed, provide parts for the other Fox. Fox parts are so rare and expensive that it is better to have spare.

The photos below show the excellent shape this Fox reached me:

Overall view

Rear drivetrain view

Front drivetrain view

I am just very happy with this new Fox. Now I will drive the other one the way it deserves, but still quite carefully not to damage it.

I have very few work to perform on this one (mainly radio equipment), but I won't work on the body: it will remain as is.

First runs

I was so impatient that I ran it even before I received the new ball bearings for the front wheels, the front anti-roll bar and the new rear tires. The track is covered with pebbles and there was a lot of dust due to the summer weather we are having for over a week now. First: no problems at all, everything worked fine. The very first impression on this model is speed. Even with the stock Mabuchi 540, its top speed easily competes with a HotShot mounted with a 23 turn motor! For suspension, I first added the biggest yellow spacers on the three dampers. After a few laps, I modified the setup because the rear was a little bouncy and the front was bouncing all around. I placed one medium spacer for each rear damper and no spacer at all on the front. The result was immediate: the front being very soft, you only have to reduce throttle to get a very good directivity in curbs. And the rear just behaves great. Generally speaking, the Fox grants its pilot an excellent overall behavior. Quiet easy to control in curbs for a two wheel drive, it is very fast in straight lines and very well balanced when taking curbs at speed and skidding. General feeling about it: pure fun! The Fox is an easy to control buggy and it could easily handle a more powerful motor (under 20 turns I guess) without overtaking the chassis limits. I won't do that since I don't want to turn it into a ground-ground missile and wreck it.

The second run occurred on the same playground in the same conditions, except the front stabilizer. The difference is obvious: the Fox is even easier to control in curbs and you only have to worry about the rear drivetrain, which is normal for a 2WD buggy. The front drivetrain directivity is also greatly enhanced and this allows you to take very nice curbs ... as long as the pilot is gifted enough for that

Bonus: the promotional video of the Fox when it was released back in 1985 (© Tamiya)


More photos on the gallery.

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First publication: may 05, 2008 Last modified: august 05, 2009

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