Tamiya Monster Beetle Project

The 58060 Monster Beetle was originally released in 1986 and was based on the 58058 Blackfoot chassis released only a few months earlier.  This, in turn, was an evolution of the earlier ORV chassis used on the 58038 Subaru Brat in 1983 but now with more suspension travel.  The Monster Beetle was re-released in 2015 as 58618 which is the version that I have.  The primary difference is an improvement to the durability of the gearbox.
This is rear wheel drive, simple monster truck chassis.  The front suspension is independent with extremely durable control arms and radius arms.  The rear suspension is an unusual independent trailing arm type which is actually similar to how the original Volkswagen Beetle worked.  The motor is located in the rear above the gearbox which contains a plastic gear differential, the weakest point in the model.  The motor position cannot be adjusted, so only the included specialized 10 tooth pinion can be used.  It is brass and therefore the set screw threads can be stripped quite easily which happened to me.  The chassis is a simple two piece space frame which is very strong.  The steering servo is buried inside the front of the frame at an angle and is very well protected.  The radio gear sits atop the frame.  The 4 oil filled CVA shocks are molded in yellow, and the rear shocks are mounted on cranks connected to the trailing arms and are installed longitudinally.  The kit includes a mix of ball bearings and metal bushings.  Surprisingly for an entry level product, the drive shafts are nice CVD units.  The battery installs crosswise under the frame and is trapped by a pair of brackets so only a 7.2V NiMH or something of equivalent size fits.  I managed to squeeze in a Li-Po by using a Dremel on one of the battery brackets.

The real highlights of the kit are the tires and body.  The tires are large studded rubber without any foams making the car (truck?) very bouncy.  The gold plated wheels look really nice.  The body is a hard plastic shell originally from the 58016 Sand Scorcher all the way back in 1979.  Despite the molded lights, there are no light buckets provisioned for LEDs.  The body is mostly open inside, but features a driver figure with only an upper torso suspended from the inside of the door panel.  There is a transparent part which serves and windscreen and side window, but the rear window is left wide open for some reason.  The body looks really good with the included stickers.

One thing that surprised me about this chassis is the type of plastic used.  Tamiya uses a wide variety of plastics in their models.  Sometimes very soft types are used for control arms or parts which will take a lot of shock.  Very hard types are used for shock towers.  Often fiber reinforced types are used where high strength is needed.  The red space frames in this model are a very hard, brittle type of plastic which seems particularly ill suited to structure.  It can easily crack just from tightening the screws.

This model is a blast to drive.  The stock gearbox is super noisy and the suspension is bouncy, but the drive is pure joy.  It is not particularly fast, does not corner that well, and is certainly not a crawler but on gravel, grass, or sand it excels.  My copy was stock for a long time, but it is not my way to leave it that way forever.  I eventually moderately upgraded to a ball differential and a torque tuned motor.

Update:  This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire.  Unlike many of my models, this one was quite easy to replace with another copy at a reasonable price.  I built it just like my original apart from some minor differences in the electronics.  I also took a bit more time perfecting the paint job this time.  I didn't take any new pictures of the completed replacement because it looks just like my original.

Page 1: Assembly

Page 2: Upgrades!

Page 3: Final Photos