Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Land Models / September 2005

It depends what you want to do with it.

Tamiya make beautifully engineered starter cars, with excellent
instruction manuals, which almost build themselves.  With the exception
of the touring car category, they don't make cars which are competitive
if you want to race.

Having said that, if you are planning on racing then the Baja King would
be an good car with which to learn to drive, just as long as you don't
waste any money upgrading it, and plan to buy something better once
you've got the hang of it.  There's quite a choice in 4WD these days
(and a couple of 2WD options too) so if you are going racing, pay your
local club a visit ( http://www.brca.org/ ) *before* spending any money.
Talk to the people there - they'll be only too happy to give their
opinions!

If you just want to bash around your garden or the park, then the Baja
King should do the job well.

HTH!
Jonny

If your looking to bash, I would heartily recommend the Tamiya Gravel
Hound or Rising Storm (same buggy, different bodies).  They are
upgradeable, very strong and handle fairly well.  It is a newer design
then the Baja King and there are a lot more upgrades available.  The
Hound allows you to use race style batteries, while the King can only
use stick packs.  A number of us are running brushless setups in the
Hound without problems.  I have played with mine at a local skate board
park, nothing but concrete, metal and airtime!  I would never had tried
that with my XXX4, but nothing broke on the Hound.  It is based on the
DF02 chassis so do a search for DF02 on eBay to see all the upgrades
you can get.

Not sure what the GH sells for in the UK, but in the US Tower has the
Baja King for $80 and the Gravel Hound for $115 if that gives you an
idea of the comparison.  The GH and RS come with electronic speed
controllers, the BK comes with a manual one so that explains much of
the price difference.  For about $50 more you can get an XB (built with
radio) edition.  I would rather get the kit and buy my own radio, but I
like building kits so that's just me.  Stay away from anything Tamiya
that says QD, they are toy and not hobby class.

While I think you could make a GH competitive in a race, I am not sure
why you would.  If your looking to race see what the other racers are
running and follow their lead.

This link is to a forum that has several hundred posts about the GH,
with pictures and info.  A great resource.
http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/showthread.php?t=171449