Audi Zone -- Tamiya Audi A4

Audi Quattro by Tamiya. Yes, it is all wheel drive too (mini-Quattro!). It's intended to be dressed in STW logos, spoilers and the rest of the racing garb but I've chosen to make it look like a street car mirroring my own full size vehicle. I still have to tint the windows, trim the body mounting studs (sticking out of the hood and rear window) and a few other little things but it's done for the most part. I do plan to take 35mm pictures because all the detail of the model is lost in these photos. I'll also post pics of the mechanicals at that time. Captured pictures of the mechanicals are pointless... none of the detail is visible.


This car is 18" long and does about 20 mph on smooth concrete. It's fast, 0-top speed occurs very quickly. 20 mph doesn't sound like much but attempts to play with it in the house (hey, you gotta test it sometime!) usually result in my bumping into things along with dirty looks from my spouse as I leave carpet "burn-out" tracks all over the house. <g>

It has 4 wheel, fully independent double control arm suspension, coil-over oil damped shocks with user-adjustable damping via valve disks and various oil combinations. Spring pre-load is adjustable to set up the cars handling balance. I have mine set to favor oversteer. : -) Steering is a simple drag-link type system with brass ball joints. Power to the rear differential is via a toothed belt. Power is transmitted to all 4 wheels via drive axles with inboard and outboard constant velocity joints from the center mounted front and rear differentials. Power is via 7.2v 1800mA rechargeable battery. Continuous run time is about 15-20 minutes, recharge takes 15 minutes so I have a spare battery for uninterrupted playtime. :)

Time to assemble: about 23 hours so far. Assembly is not difficult but time consuming. You have to assemble everything and I do mean everything... including the differentials, shocks (with little damping disks, o-rings, diaphrams and 2mm diameter retaining clips!) and mounting the tires on the rims. The assembly instructions are fairly clear and well illustrated.

Cost: $170 plus the remote controller, batteries and battery charger and paint. I bought mine from HobbyMasters. I've also heard good comments about Tower Hobbies.