Acquiring this model was quite an adventure. I made a decision to
display a fleet of "MS" liveried models, so this one was clearly on the
list. The problem was that it was simply not available, even on
eBay. After a lot of Internet searching I found a model shop in
Germany that had one in stock new in box. I contacted them but
they indicated they do not ship to the USA. My only hope was to
find a proxy in Germany who would be willing to get the model shipped to
them, then relabel it and ship it to me. I found just such a kind
person on Tamiyabase and they had the model in their hands within a
week of me sending them the money. They posted the model to me and
it promptly disappeared into oblivion. A month later there was no
tracking status on it. It apparently traveled from Frankfurt to
Leipzig and then back to Frankfurt before leaving Germany. Finally
it showed up in New York then sat for another 10 days before going to
North Carolina for some reason. Finally about six weeks after
shipping I got my package, but the story was only beginning. The
package was destroyed beyond all recognition. It appears to have
been completely immersed in water for a long period of time and then
crushed. Thankfully I was able to extract the contents which were
complete but damaged."MS" stands for "Satoshi Maezumi", one of Tamiya's team drivers, and this version has lots of upgrade options and Maezumi-san's pink, white, and blue paint scheme. This was released as a limited edition chassis kit without tires and using the Dark Impact body as 49496 in 2008. This version was long gone when I started looking, but the same model was released again with a new limited edition run in 2013 as 84370. This was pretty much gone as well, but I found one as described above. The MS version costs a lot more than a regular DF-03, but when you consider that it comes with about $350 of upgrades in the box, it is a pretty good deal.
The DF-03 is a 4WD chassis with ball differentials front and rear. It has 4 wheel double wishbone independent suspension and CVA plastic oil shocks in its stock form, but the MS version has lovely aluminum shocks instead. This model includes a slipper clutch and sizable gears so it could handle considerably faster motors. This car has a bottom loading battery tray, but it is mostly useless. You can't reach the electrical connectors without removing the body, so the bottom load doesn't really buy you anything except a lower CG. Thankfully, there is room for a Li-Po but it is a tight fit. The MS car has a number of other upgrades including some aluminum parts, turnbuckles all around, a front one-way clutch, and heat sinks. I installed a set of competition Dual Block tires and a 23T Super Stock motor.
The model drives very well indeed. Visually it shares a lot with the TRF201 although it is certainly not up to that quality level even in MS trim. Speed is quick and the model is stable and planted. I can't claim it is vastly better than a standard Dark Impact, but it sure does look better.
Update: This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire. It has become extremely rare and probably cannot be replaced.
 Page 1: Assembly |
 Page 2: Final Photos |