- Tamiya DB02 - Build -

By Kentech


Since it is such a unique chassis I thought it would be a good idea to take a closer look.

The DB02 Leonis arrives in your typical Tamiya box, very nicely presented.

Kit contents.

The moulded chassis of the DB02 - fairly stiff but quite heavy.

The cast aluminium center bulkhead/motormount.

The complex center shaft and gears fitted. Everything fit together well and spin freely. All-in-all the center piece with alu gears, steel shafts and the large alu bulkhead is quite heavy. A slipper clutch would have been welcome in the kit, but as is normal on a middle-class Tamiya chassis, this is an option part. The blue cover under where the motor goes is an option part to add at least some of that Tamiya blue to the kit! Included in the kit is a simple plastic cover.

The diffs (same front & rear) are exactly the same as on the TRF502X. This is a huge improvement compared to the DB01, which came with some rather useless diffs. The TRF502X spec means steel outdrives with good quality gears etc.

Lots of axles and gears here!

The rear gearbox with the diff and input shaft fitted. Notice that the input shaft is angled to clear the battery. Camber link mounts are the same as on the TRF502X. A weird detail is that the 4 longer screws are hex head screws, while all other screws on the car are not.

Front gearbox is as far as I can tell exactly the same as on the TRF502X. The parts tree include parts for 2 gearboxes, and a Carbon Reinforced version of ths part has already been announced with a normal 5 digit option parts number. This means that the parts will be easier to get and cheaper also for the TRF502X.

Rear gearbox, damper stay, wing stay, prop shaft dogbone and center gear/spur cover fitted. The damper stays both front & rear seem rather robust and should be fairly reliable.

The DB02 even beats the TRF502X in some parts with angled steering system and a new steering bridge, much beefier and completely different from the TRF502X part. No bearings on the steering posts though, just the 2 bearings in the steering bridge. Front bulkhead also mounted, similar to TRF502X, but plastic instead of aluminium.

Front gearbox and damper stay fitted. Notice angle of the front prop shaft dogbone.

Another view of the rear damper stay.

Front upper deck.

Rear upper deck. The upper decks key into place and makes the car quite stiff overall.

Suspension added. Same geometry as on the TRF502X, just parts not carbon-reinforced. Notice alu front brace to support hinge pins. Dogbones front & rear.

Normal plastic middle-class buggy dampers.

Yellow wheels and Tamiya tyres.

Finished chassis.

Beautiful (imo) body designed by TOM'S!

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The 'Leonis' was an interesting build. The centre gearbox is probably one of the most technical gear boxes I've ever had to build for a 1/10th Off Road buggy. It is very unique. Further, I added the optional slipper clutch as this car will see some racing and 'big' jumps.

However now that it is built, the 'on the table' tests as a roller provides some interesting analysis. The car will definitely require the optional universal shafts in both the front and rear suspension. The dog-bone set up includes o-rings in the diff housing drive cups to keep the dog bones in place. The result is they bind up the suspension travel, a lot! Thus the universals will be ordered very soon along with the metal drive cups for the drive shafts between the gear boxes.

As the car is for my daughter to learn and race with, the CVA shocks wont be replaced for a while yet.

The front gear box is identical to the 502X however the rear gearbox has a different housing halves to the 502X as to obtain the angle so the drive shaft sits over the battery.

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