TA-04 TRF

This model is quite apart from the rest of my collection since it is both a limited edition and a pure racer. It is also my first belt-driven 4WD chassis. At first, I wanted a TA-03 chassis because it combined an older design with Tamiya's first belt-driven model. But things went differently and this TA-04 TRF edition was a great opportunity: I clicked.

The TA-04 family

The TA-04 is Tamiya's on-road belt-driven chassis second generation. Strangely, Tamiya abandoned the shaft-driven transmission introduced with the TA-01 when they released the TA-03 in 1996... and re-used it in 2000 with the TB-01. It would have seemed more logic to keep the shaft-driven transmission for the TA series and to use the new TB name for the new belt-driven transmission. Especially since the B could have meant Belt: this is not what happened, I don't know why, but this is not the point anyway .

There are several variants of the TA-04:

Compared to the TA-04 base, the TA-04S (S for Sport) comes with ball bearings everywhere and adjustable steering turnbuckles, the TA-04R (R for Racing) is an hopped-up S version (carbon parts) and the SS version (Sport Short) has a reduced wheelbase by 10mm.

Each variant was used by different models:

 standard TA-04

 TA-04R

 TA-04S

 TA-04SS

This chassis also exists as a limited edition signed by the Tamiya Racing Factory, Tamiya's racing division. The TA-04 chassis being the TRF414 public version, the TA-04 TRF is a version equipped with many parts from its race brother.

My TA-04 TRF when it arrived

The big advantage with a model featuring so many hopups right "out of the box" is that you don't need to add any to improve it .

The model is in perfect state and came with several bags of options, proving that even a limited TRF version can still be hopped-up . So my idea is to give it a powerful motor that my driving skills can deal with. Above all, I want to give it a body with more... steroids.