|
|
|
Feb 24, 2020 15:28:04 GMT
|
Back before Chrsitmas one of my best friends did a very foolish thing, he dug out from his parents loft his old Tamiya Hornet that he had as a child back in the late eighties/early nineties. As we sat around the remains of his Hornet oohing and ahhing I got to thinking that back in the late eighties/early nineties I was also a Tamiya driver, and I had a Grasshopper which should be tucked away in my parents loft somewhere, awaiting it's return to the road. Well my friend has been working away at his Hornet, and the other day he asked me if there was any sign of my Grasshopper yet? There wasn't, I'd thought about digging it out, but not got around to it. (My Parentls live a good two or three miles away, and I only go there once a week for dinner, so I'd just not had the chance!)  Anyway, long story short, Friday evening after dinner I decided that I should dig it out (Much to Mrs Pistonpoppers delight I might add!) So here is what I've got. I remembered that the shell was broken when I last saw it, but the car was complete, with radio gear... I think I've been the victim of having two younger brothers who were also into radio controlled cars! Of course neither of them know anything about the missing parts!  Back in the day I did cut the shell, and for some reason I then bonded the front part of it to the chassis with epoxy putty. First job was to try and undo that faux pas!  With the front of the body removed and the offending epoxy putty cleaned off as best I can I did think about leaving it at that, but it just looked a bit rough!  Out with the sandpaper...  And then out with the paint... Just for the front bit. So far this is where I am at. I'll be honest I'm a bit out of the loop as far as old Tamiya Radio Controlled Cars go, so I'm not too sure where I go now for bits. Back when I was playing with this stuff there was Beaties, but I think they've gone now, as have the independent model shops that I used to haunt. As you can see there is a fair amount missing, so this will probably take a while! |
| |
|
|
|
|
steveg
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,554
|
|
Feb 24, 2020 15:58:40 GMT
|
|
It's likely Tamiya re-released it a few years back so you might be lucky getting parts. Ebay is probably a good place to start but it's a slippery slope once you start !
|
| |
|
|
jpr1977
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 656
Club RR Member Number: 18
|
|
Feb 24, 2020 16:03:50 GMT
|
|
|
| |
Last Edit: Feb 24, 2020 16:06:49 GMT by jpr1977
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 24, 2020 17:35:10 GMT
|
Ebay is probably a good place to start but it's a slippery slope once you start ! Crikey, I've just had a look, seems they did re-issue it, and it would appear I could get some hop-up parts for my Grasshopper lol... Looks like I could spend some proper money on this if I'm not careful!! Thanks for that... I have a feeling a day trip to Chippenham might be detrimental to my bank balance! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 24, 2020 17:42:44 GMT
|
So I thought that I should have a go at the shell...  I was going to go looking for another one, but I figured any forty year old radio controlled buggy shell was going to be a bit rough. Although, my guess is that most people didn't idiotically chop the front off and glue it to the chassis!  Yep, goodness knows what I was thinking! Still worse than that, I also had a big crack to contend with.  And the less said about the Milliput rear wing extension, and aluminium roof spoiler the better!  So, first of all I took off the Aluminium roof spoiler and uncovered some stickers that I put on there back in the eighties!  Took off the stickers, and the ones below them, and the ones below them, and finalyy I got to the original red paint I put on back when I was a kid. I filled the holes where the rivets went through to hold the roof on with chemical metal...  Then sanded it all flat again! The nose was re-attached with super glue, and then it and the huge crack were re-enforced from underneath with more chemical metal.  Before getting a good coat of car body filler on the top and a thorough sanding! Now off to scour ebay for parts!! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 24, 2020 18:47:05 GMT
|
|
Be careful when looking for parts, as soon as you see one upgrade, you'll se another, and another and another, before you know it you'll have nothing more than a Triggers broom. Its probably a lot easier to get parts for than the vintage Losi's I restored afew years ago. It was a lot easier to get parts for them at that time, than it is now.
Before you know it you'll be looking at ebay going "ooooohh….. titanium, aahhhhhh carbon fibre…" Trust me.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 24, 2020 19:22:19 GMT
|
I'm already there bmcnut I'm already there! Although, for the moment I'm trying to look at the used section, as I think I want it to have a bit of patina. |
| |
|
|
soupacharged
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 52 
Club RR Member Number: 109
|
|
Feb 25, 2020 14:00:27 GMT
|
|
Looks good.
I'm in the process of doing something similar with a Tamiya Blackfoot.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2020 14:30:23 GMT
|
|
Ohh, this was my first RC car and I think it's still in my parents loft. You've spurred me on to try and find it next time I'm up.
thing being, I was like 12/13 at the time and have less mechanical sympathy then than I do now, so god knows what state I left it in.
|
| |
1994 S1 106 Rallyé
1996 Mini Cooper 1.3 MPI (Rust bucket, currently in for surgery/resto)
2003 Renaultsport Clio 172 (Daily beater)
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2020 18:27:30 GMT
|
|
I still have my hornet somewhere. If you think getting parts for that is difficult try finding stuff for a PB Maxima - I daren't use it in case I break something irreplaceable!
Would love a PB Ace or the original Yokomo Dog fighter!
|
| |
Last Edit: Feb 25, 2020 18:27:50 GMT by dodgerover
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2020 18:33:19 GMT
|
|
I rebuilt my FF01 in the early days of Ebay, (remember when you paid per minute and had to turn the internet off to use the phone?), it took me 6 months to find a differential, in Japan. Just looked for the same part now and theres at least 3 with 48 hour delivery. Liking the work Mr Popper, I find the building (and rebuilding) more enjoyable than running them these days.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 25, 2020 19:13:15 GMT
|
|
I imagine with lipo batteries and a standard 540 motor you could probably get close to an hour's run time which would have been fantastic as a child!
|
| |
|
|
vanpeebles
Part of things
I am eastbound in pursuit of a white Lamborghini, this is not a recording.
Posts: 978
|
|
|
|
I had the Grasshopper 2 Super G, and also a ton of other Tamiyas  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2020 19:53:26 GMT
|
Looks good. I'm in the process of doing something similar with a Tamiya Blackfoot. Sounds good... Any pics? I was like 12/13 at the time and have less mechanical sympathy then than I do now, so god knows what state I left it in. I was a year or two older, and although I didn't have as much mechanical sympathy as I do now, I know when I put it away it was at the very least complete. I wish I could find the original bits, but my feeling is that my younger Brothers used them to patch up their cars, adn then eventually broke those bits too... I'm not sure ebay is your friend, but it's certainly helping to track bits down. Hopefully should have a few bits to go on sometime over the next two or three days! f you think getting parts for that is difficult try finding stuff for a PB Maxima - I daren't use it in case I break something irreplaceable! Spurred on by my slow work on the Grasshopper I went back to my folks and dug out my Marui Galaxy, which of course has bits missing, and is broken! Quick look on fleabay reveals practically nothing available for the Marui Galaxy, so I feel your pain dodgerover... Gonna keep a quiet eye out for bits for it though, something might turn up. I find the building (and rebuilding) more enjoyable than running them these days. Just been watching adults playing with radio controlled cars on youtube, and I wonder if I'm going to find that I like the rebuilding, and parts searching more enjoyable than the driving too. Although it might be better if I'm out playing with my friend and his Hornet though. I imagine with lipo batteries and a standard 540 motor you could probably get close to an hour's run time which would have been fantastic as a child! What is the witchcraft you speak of? I am very much out of the loop, I'll need to look into this as an hour of run time sounds like somethign only available in dreams when I was a kid. I had the Grasshopper 2 Super G, and also a ton of other Tamiyas Pics? Actually if any of you guys have pics of your old radio controlled car please do feel free to share them. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2020 20:02:35 GMT
|
A bit more painfully slow progress...  I counted nine different layers of paint, three of them shades of Yellow. I wasn't sure what colour to paint it, and was going along the silver, or green route, but after sanding it down my feeling is that it's about to get its fourth coat of yellow.  I'm not really sure how far to sand it down, I'm probably not going to get every scrap of paint off but I think I'll go a little further before it gets a good coat of primer and several coats of Yellow, RAL1018 to be precise.  Chassis and gearbox cleaned and re-united. I really should start to sort out a few replacement parts! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2020 20:51:38 GMT
|
|
The original yellow and red looks good, stick with it. Have you looked at replacement wheels and tyres yet? I can imagine there are loads of options. When I mentioned about sliding down the bottomless upgrade parts hole, I did that when I built my Losi's, the JRX has all the best bits from 3 cars plus afew more cheap ebay finds, my XXCR Kinwald is loaded with nice bits as standard so didn't need much, but I went slightly mad with the XXX and 22. There isn't much other than suspension arms and nuts and bolts that remain standard on those two. My intention was to build them to an as-new standard, and stash them away. Since then the value seems to have gone up and availability has gone down. Aside from that the chassis alone are just so nice to look at with their CNC and carbon fibre goodness.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2020 20:55:56 GMT
|
|
Wow a Marui! A friend had the Marui Ninja from Beaties, even back then getting parts was a pain and you used to have to order by post from adverts in the back of Radio Race Car!
Strange they never took off really, it was a better car in every way than the Tamiya Boomerang which I think was it's main competitor.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2020 20:59:15 GMT
|
|
Re paint removal, I think I read that soaking in a sealed plastic bag containing brake fluid was the easiest way to remove it without damaging the plastics.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2020 21:29:39 GMT
|
The original yellow and red looks good, stick with it. Have you looked at replacement wheels and tyres yet? I can imagine there are loads of options. When I mentioned about sliding down the bottomless upgrade parts hole, I did that when I built my Losi's, the JRX has all the best bits from 3 cars plus afew more cheap ebay finds, my XXCR Kinwald is loaded with nice bits as standard so didn't need much, but I went slightly mad with the XXX and 22. There isn't much other than suspension arms and nuts and bolts that remain standard on those two. My intention was to build them to an as-new standard, and stash them away. Since then the value seems to have gone up and availability has gone down. Aside from that the chassis alone are just so nice to look at with their CNC and carbon fibre goodness. I'm thinking that it's going to be yellow, with the original decals on it as I never ran with the decals before. I've looked at wheels, I originally ran the wheels from something else but I can't remember what, so I've been browsing ebay just looking at wheels. I'd much rather be looking at them in a shop so I could see what they're actually like, but there you go. At the moment I'm looking at used parts job lots as I want it to look old and used, which it is. I have also been looking at carbon fibre and aluminium bits too, like this...  Although I'm not sure how practical a snow mobile is here in England, these people also do loads of other hop-up bits for the Grasshopper/Hornet... I've toyed with the idea of buying a reproduction new Grasshopper, robbing it of all the bits I need to build mine, then build a brand new shelf queen loaded with Carbon Fibre and CNC machined aluminium to do nothing other than sit on the shelf and look pretty. But that may just push Mrs Pistonpopper over the edge, so maybe one thing at a time eh? Yep, here it is...  Wheels were originaly some machined aluminium pieces, long gone of course, and my Brothers have no idea what happend to them! Anyway, replaced with some black plastic wheels with no hub thingies on the back so even if it worked it wouldn't drive!  The chassis is also a bit broken and so are some other bits... Radio gear also MIA!!  Rear wing spoiler thingy also absent without leave... Brothers eh?! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2020 22:53:16 GMT
|
I find the building (and rebuilding) more enjoyable than running them these days. This was exactly what I found when I rebuilt my JRX2, infact it probably started when I took my nitro Losi 8ight out, and thrashed it until I broke something, taking it to bits and rebuilding it was as enjoyable as trying to break it! Without hijacking the thread, heres mine. 1980's Losi JRX2 Pro  Mods: Front bumper, front body mount, fully upgraded steering, alloy servo posts, steel gearbox internals, upgraded bearings, slipper clutch, white (smooth) outdrives, rebuilt shocks with upgraded internals, Hard to find Team Losi branded wheels, fancy rear suspension and long wheel base chassis. All the best parts from 3 cars, plus extras. Leftover parts were sold and more than cover the cost of the car = free car. Just needs battery holder. Losi XXCR Kinwald  It'd had light use so restored it, dyed yellowed (white) parts red and polished alloy parts. Full graphite chassis with titainuim bits, just added alloy rear hubs and new Losi wheels in white. Losi XXXCR Atomic Carbon  Mid mounted motor conversion, alloy front brace, alloy steering bits, 3 spoke wheels, alloy rear hubs, Carbon motor fan mount, other bits ive probably forgotten about. Losi 22  Full carbon fibre and CNC alloy chassis + gearbox conversion (the name escapes me, but just look at that gearbox, its a thing of beauty) Alloy hubs front and rear, alloy steering, loads of other bits. I think the only standard bits on this are the suspension arms and front bulkhead, it had been used when I got it, but with so many upgrades it seemed only right to add to them. Sorry for that, hijack over. I hope it inspires in some way. |
| |
|
|
|
|
