Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit

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Price: $309.99
Discontinued Online
This item is discontinued and no longer available for purchase. You may want to search our site for a similar item.

The Schumacher CAT revolutionized off-road racing when it was introduced in 1986, being years ahead of the competition. It became an international success winning British, European, Japanese, Australian, and American championships. It was updated with a longer wheelbase and Masami Hirosaka went on to win the 1987 1/10th 4WD IFMAR World Championships in Romsey, England. We are now excited to offer this iconic replica of the car that Masami used to win the first of his many World Championships, and put Schumacher Racing on the map as a leading RC car manufacturer.

 

 

Features:

  • Ball differentials, which had been invented by Cecil Schumacher in 1978.
  • Unique integrator system offering adjustable torque split between front and rear.
  • Double wishbone suspension with massive travel.
  • Full replica decal set.
  • Alloy coil over oil filled shock absorbers.
  • Huge steering lock to handle the tightest tracks.
  • Front O-ring ‘crashback’ system to minimize front end crash damage.
  • Compact design with low polar moment of inertia and low center of gravity gives the CAT remarkable maneuverability and balance.
  • Tough polycarbonate bodyshell and undertray to keep out the dirt.
  • Original Schumacher spiked tires.
  • Accepts period correct NiCd/NiMH batteries or modern shorty Lipos.
  • Accepts brushed or brushless motors.
  • Transmission upgrade available to handle modern high powered motors, and create a class leading buggy for historic RC racing.

This product was added to our catalog on July 20, 2017

John Masden
Verified Owner
Tuesday, Nov 28 2017 (about 6 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
This car is a legend, and deserves to be. It has to be the coolest RC car made by anyone, ever. It is also the best looking. Compare it to any of the modern cab forward things and you will see; the CAT is Kate Upton to TLR's Kathy Griffin. The greatest RC racer of all time, Masami Hirosaka, burst onto the scene with one of these. Think about that. When it was just a kid and his father spending THEIR OWN MONEY, he drove a Schumacher CAT. Yes, he ultimately won about 11,000 more World Championships for the Team Associated\Yokomo\Reedy empire, but the first one was with this Schumacher CAT.

The build- This kit is a bit more difficult to build than a modern one. Nothing is pre-built. The front and rear ball diffs and integrator obviously have more parts than a modern geared setup. The manual is pretty good, but the sequence is a little off in places. Google is your friend as several folks have posted a better order of assembly online. That said, I built it in the order prescribed and it went together fine. If I build another one, I will definitely pre-build the steering assembly. Also, I own about 75 Phillips screwdrivers, and NOT ONE of them fit the screws that came with this car properly. I was able to complete it, but I had to be be careful and go slow, or else I would have stripped every last screw in the kit. Schumacher should take a hint from Kyosho and include hex head screws.

Quality- Even though it is a 30+ year old design, the quality is quite good. You will occasionally have to trim casting flash from the molded plastic bits to get the best fit. Speaking of plastic, there is a lot of it, much more than on today's carbon fiber and exotic alloy wonder-buggies. But don't forget that this was a world beater in its day. The parts are very well designed and come together nicely. The materials aren't exotic, but they were well chosen for their intended purpose. One of the best parts of building any Schumacher kit, especially the vintage ones, is marveling at the cleverness of the engineering.

Performance- This is actually an extremely good handling car. I run it 100% box stock: shocks, oil, tires... It is very driveable. It has tons of steering on or off the throttle. It accelerates quickly. It has a good top speed and is very quiet, which suggests that the drive train is fairly efficient. It tends to move around around on its suspension quite a bit. Personally, I like this trait. Schumacher was way ahead of everyone with suspension droop, weight transfer, and general vehicle dynamics back then. My home made track has a short grass surface, 3 decent straights, 15 turns (9 left, 6 right) and no jumps. That is what a typical English track would have been when this car was new, so it is no surprise that the CAT performs so well on it. I have not driven a modern 4WD for comparison. I have to assume things have improved over the last 30 years. Even so, this car got all of the basics right. It does everything very well. The performance gap to a newer car is probably not as great as one would expect, especially at "reasonable" power levels. I have a 13.5 turn Reedy brushless in mine, and it gets around my track extremely quickly. My KF2se (7.5 turn Reedy) is faster, of course, but there is so much drama relative to the CAT. That drama can be fun at a track, but in the yard with no marshals, it is quite tedious. The CAT is very fast and very fun without needing to be turned back over onto its wheels every 90 seconds or retrieved from the neighbors swimming pool.

Summary- This is a fast, fun, great looking car. Many will be shelf queens, but they don't have to be. They can be driven hard, too.
slow_jun
Verified Owner
Wednesday, Dec 27 2017 (about 6 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
i had some pivot balls(U7150)missing for steps 33(one piece), 2 steel M2 nut (U7222)missing in steps 43. And 1 piece M3x12 (U7223) no holes for the other end where the hex screw to screw in. one tip if you are getting this kit, go straight to steering and install (step 42) before doing anything else. it will save you ton of time. also you need to be patient if you are missing some parts on your kit. i bought the Kit Aug and only assemble it this Holidays, but to my surprise, i may need to wait a little more longer for my missing parts to arrive as the holiday season is up so no choice but to sit this one out after the Christmas holidays. very disappointed at first, but their support is amazing.
Dean Evans
Friday, Jan 26 2018 (about 6 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
A challenging kit to build, just like it was in the 1980s, and small parts are missing from many kits but it's a brand new Schumacher CAT!! And that's the coolest part. Support from Amain and Schumacher is excellent as they're aware of missing parts, and any issues with the build are the same ones experienced all those years ago, which adds to the authenticity. There are tricks to building so do some research and view some vids before building so you're prepared. And a parts check, to potentially order anything missing. Re-live the 1987 IFMAR champion, rerelease cars like this don't happen often.
Chad
Verified Owner
Saturday, Oct 14 2017 (about 6 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
The first problem with this kit is the screws which are junk. The eccentrics were not similar so the rear belts ran off to the side (had to buy more eccentrics to make correct). When assembled, the right front tire had 5 degrees negative camber while the left was 1.5 (upper mounts not molded the same length). Driveshafts are covered in flash including this INSIDE of sliders which required making a cutting blade to cleanup. The included springs are 6lb which is ridiculously stiff. I waited 28 years to get one of these, bought 2 of them with full carbon kits, and am sadly disappointed. This is really a poor way to pay tribute to someone of Masami Hirosaka's notoriety.
Manny
Verified Owner
Sunday, Sep 10 2017 (about 6 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
This kit was a bit of a challenge to build. First of all it was missing two parts but a main made it right.Sent me replacement part fast.also make sure you have a sodering iron because you will need it for front stablizer lol.anyway also make sure you cut the underpan right.This part is very important and if you don't cut it right. It will come back to haunt you later.last thing unless you have shorty packs.You will have a to probably cut holes in the body to get a stick pack to fit 2s or 3s.other then that this kit is made well and easy to build because every step is put in separate bags.
Jason Wazid
Verified Owner
Friday, Jul 17 2020 (about 3 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
Killer Kit once completed but damm quirky to build lol lol.
Such a great car and overall fun build.
Jay Deming
Verified Owner
Wednesday, May 20 2020 (about 3 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
Really fun to put together you really have to pay attention to what you doing. There was some parts missing two of the shock ends and a couple washes.
Shawn Shutta
Verified Owner
Monday, May 4 2020 (about 3 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
First time buyer from AMain Hobbies. I have to say I am very happy. My Schumacher Cat came very quickly and was well packed. I appreciate the care taken for the shipping of items I purchase. Price was spot on and I will definitely buy again!

Thanks you!

Best,
Shawn
The Kid
Verified Owner
Friday, Jul 6 2018 (about 5 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
I have wanted one since I was a kid and really have to say only 2 screws were wrong in the whole kit slightly short but other than that a very high quality kit and went together nice. I have built many kits over my lifetime and really enjoyed this one they kept it really exactly the same as if it was the 1980’s again. You cannot find much to complain about but maybe the screws are a little weak and can start to strip if not straight with screw when driving in. I wish all bodies were as thick as this one and bought 2 one painted as box art and one like they had in a magazine article way back. If you wanted this kit buy it and you will not regret it maybe a little higher price then other rerelease models out there but it’s only money!
chaka sedgwick
Verified Owner
Monday, Apr 23 2018 (about 5 years ago)
Schumacher CAT XLS "Masami" 1/10 4WD Off-Road Buggy Kit
I pre ordered this last May and decided to build it last week, what a wonderful buggy to build. I did my homework before the build and it was very easy with excellent instructions. I skipped the stock steering setup and went straight to customizing my own after I seen a few people doing it. The screws are not that great, I ended up replacing them with hex screws, and I'm glad I did.. I installed it with the pro transmission, and kind of thought it funny that you need to super glue the fences. You also need to solder the ball ends for the swaybar, I used grub screw ball ends instead, I can't solder. Other people mentioned the circlip for the shocks, definitely make sure you have the proper pliers. I was not missing any parts, so I guess my only issue was that I pre bored the holes on the lexan. If I had to do it again, I would trim the lexan, but wait until step 19 to bore the holes, stock dimples were a little off. The fact that Shumacher even decided to remake this classic, I give them 5 stars just for that, awesome buggy.