TOPIC:

Ok, let's deal with the elephant in the room first: the name.  Why would Tamiya call a model "Vajra"?  If you are a native English speaker, you probably find this a strange name at best.  It turns out that a vajra is a Tibetan ceremonial club and the "j" is pronounced like a "d" if that helps.  Tamiya has a long history of using cool sounding mythological names so this is actually not out of the ordinary for them ("Agrios" anyone?).  If they wanted to use a cool Tibetan tool though, I may have recommend the Phurba, a ceremonial dagger, instead.

Did this product sell poorly because of its name or because it is such a strange model?  Tamiya decided to take the newly re-released 58489 Avante chassis which they updated in 2011 and use it on the new 58497 Vajra the same year.  Because they had just put a bunch of work into updating the classic chassis for the new millennium, it makes sense they would want to use it on something else.  If you or I worked at Tamiya we might have suggested a different buggy body.  But we don't work at Tamiya and we don't think like they do.  Instead they took the body, wheels, and tires from the 57796 Super Levant and made a truggy or trophy truck (or whatever this is) out of it.  This involved much higher ground clearance and much, much bigger wheels and tires than a buggy.  The chassis also has a longer wheelbase than the Avante like the Vanquish.

I expected this to be a standard Avante chassis with just a different body, wheels, and tires, but it turned out to be quite a mishmash of parts from different generations of Avante chassis and other cars.  Putting this design together and making it all work must have actually been a big effort.

• The A parts (front gearbox), B parts (rear gearbox), C parts (uprights), G parts (bumper), H parts (plastic gears), and L parts (steering cranks) are from the original Avante and common to the Avante 2011.  Note that the L-parts are from the optional racing steering set.
• The J parts (front lower arms), K parts (rear lower arms), and N parts (bumper supports) are from the original Vanquish and common to the Avante 2001 and Egress.
• The Y parts (rear shocks) are from the Stadium Blitzer.
• The Q parts (front shocks) are from the aftermarket CVA Super Mini shock set.
• The ball differentials and center locker are common to the Avante Black and Egress.
• The wheels and tires are from the Super Levant.  The body is also from the Super Levant but that itself previously came from the Aqroshot.
• All of the carbon chassis plates and shock towers are unique to the Varja as is a bunch of hardware.

Sounds like a kluge.  Maybe it is, but sometimes kluges function just fine and that's the case here.  I didn't expect much in the way of performance but this thing is actually very capable.  It has high ground clearance and takes grass and gravel like it isn't even there.  Jumps are no problem either.  I haven't had a single breakage so far.  Given that these can be had for much less than an Avante, I'd say they are a very good deal indeed as long as you know what you are getting.  My copy is entirely stock and I plan to leave it that way.  One minor issue I should point out is that if you use full steering lock the tires will catch on the body arches.

I already wrote about the build of the Avante chassis in excruciating detail elsewhere and this is nearly the same so I will concentrate only on the differences here.  Those interested in all the other details of this chassis can read about them on my  Avante page .

The Vajra comes in a large box with a "bonus parts included" sticker on the front.  These bonus parts come in the form of a 53840 drift car sticker sheet which makes no sense whatsoever.  It is not a "part" and can't be reasonably used with the Vajra.  Oh well.  The contents of the box are otherwise pretty normal except that the tires are much larger than what would come with a normal buggy.
   


As you can see, there really aren't that many plastic parts because much of the model is carbon or aluminum and therefore packaged in the hardware bags.

    

At first I assumed that the carbon chassis plates would be common to the Avante, but because the wheelbase is longer they are not.  A second guess might be commonality with the Egress, but these plates are actually unique to the Vajra.  The gearboxes are identical to the Avante Black and Egress using front and rear ball differentials.  The 25T GT Tuned motor is the same as that in the Avante 2011 kit but without the special sticker.  This kit uses a smaller pinion (18T versus 22T) for more torque and to better match the bigger tires.
   


Rather than using a center differential the Vajra uses a locked center for full time 4WD and four wheel braking.  This was an option on the Avante Black and Egress.













 

 

One big difference from the Avante are these tall aluminum standoffs (left picture upside down) which space the rear suspension arms away from the chassis plate for increased ground clearance and suspension travel.  The lower arms are plastic and were first used on the Vanquish and later on the Egress and Avante 2001.  The right picture shows the aluminum brackets for the incredibly thick carbon shock tower and the aluminum body posts.  All of these parts are unique to the Vajra.     

The carbon steering system is common to the Avante Black and Egress and was optional on the Avante.  The front carbon shock tower is unique to the Vajra.  The shocks are plastic CVA units with very long travel in the rear.  The gold aluminum front uprights are common to all the 2011+ Avante chassis.  At the rolling chassis point on the left, you could be forgiven for thinking this was an Avante.  Not true once you put the wheels on.  The wheels and tires are common to the Levant and are vastly bigger than those you'd see on a buggy.  I used a high torque waterproof servo to  handle those big, heavy tires.     

These final photos of the chassis focus on the huge wheels and tires and the massive ground clearance.  Because there is so much room under the body, wire management is not critical unlike the Avante.  There is no driver figure.  Note the significant slope of the chassis plate on the right.  The front is much lower than the rear.

The polycarbonate body comes from the Levant but is decorated differently for the Vajra.  The picture on the left shows the body as it came out of the box.  On the right I've trimmed it out, drilled it, and test fit it to the body.  You can see how much space there is beneath it.

I regarded this Vajra model as a novelty at best and didn't really expect to like it.  I've been pleasantly surprised.  It looks great and drives excellent.  Yes it's weird, but it's Tamiya.

A strange hybrid.... And the body has a rear kitt (Firebird trans am) lights....  But intersting. They kept the best of avante and egress. 
very interesting car. 

Always wanted to unwrap the mystery of the Vajra, very nice job!!

I have a doubt about the front hubs. They are so fragile on the avante and egress... Younger when we play with my dad, they brocke almost each time... So with big wheeles, I'm affraid.

stingray-63 wrote:

I have a doubt about the front hubs. They are so fragile on the avante and egress... Younger when we play with my dad, they brocke almost each time... So with big wheeles, I'm affraid.

It uses the updated machined hubs from 2011 so they are pretty strong.  I've been jumping this one with no problems.

Aahhh nice. a jump with original hubs and you end  teeth in the mud.