What i really wish would be re-released

[markbt73 5316]

I've been looking through the first few years of RCCA magazine (thanks again, Ben) and really enjoying it. Some articles and reviews I remember, some I completely forgot about, and some I think I skipped back then because they weren't interesting to sixteen-year-old-me, but are fascinating now. It's fun to read reviews of cars that have been re-released, and that I've had the re-res of (Hotshot, Fire Dragon, RC10) and see funny things like the Hotsnot's steering described as "responsive" (which, by comparison, it probably was, in 1986).

But what has really been grabbing my attention is the aftermarket. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of companies that sprang up in this little cottage industry around the hobby in the 1980s, some of which didn't make it (Trackmaster), some of which did (Pro-Line), and some that still limp along, but not nearly at the level they were then (Paragon). All of them made some really cool stuff, stuff that I'd love to try out, but without cracking open 30-year-old plastic bags that cost a small fortune on ebay. Belt-driven gearbox for a Blackfoot? Yes please. Advance Mini-Mags and fat road tires on a Hornet? Gimme. Long fiberglass-plate vertical trailing arms for the rear of an RC10 or Ultima? Sure, why not? And let's not forget JG and Pro-Line monster truck conversions... what better way to spice up a re-re than with re-re aftermarket parts?

I know it's not likely to happen, unless I brush up on my 3D modeling and have the stuff made myself. But man... wouldn't it be cool?

[Saito2 6686]

Oh man, don't I know it! When I got back into RC 15 years ago, it was tough seeing all those aftermarket companies dried up and gone. All that cool stuff just gone. Sees wheels. Thorp. CRP. Twister motors. Maricle Speedway. The list goes on. I guess you don't know how good it is until it's gone. The tough part is I could make alot of that stuff with my current skillset but simply don't have the time. Such is adulthood.

[MadInventor 3884]

RW (Formerly SRM) Racing made some very nice allow wheel hubs for the hotshot series, had a set on a second hotshot I bought, wish I could still get them now.  I could make them myself, but as Saito2 says, it's finding the time.

[mongoose1983 3335]

3 hours ago, Saito2 said:

[...] Such is adulthood.

 

 

[moffman 5752]

I would love to see all those brushed motors that tamiya and kyosho (le-mans range!) Plus a few other manufacturers used to produce make a comeback!  Don't get me wrong Brushless are good in fact brilliant but a bit soulless can't beat a nimh with a brushed motor!!

[Saito2 6686]

I know what you mean! As good as brushless motors are, open endbell brushed motors just looked awesome. I had a much better idea or "feel" of what those motors would be like by reading the specs over brushless motor ratings. Plus there was all the neat tweaking and tricks you could apply to brushed motors.

[Pablo68 1049]

I wish someone would start mass producing the Thorpe MB ball diff to get the price of them down.

That and I would do horrible, unforgivable things to get Tamiya to re-release the Porsche 959.

[Frog Jumper 3663]

9 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Belt-driven gearbox for a Blackfoot?

There's one of these NIB Vintage on FleaBheyz right now:   http://r.ebay.com/YUz678  Happy bidding!  Ha!

I'd like to get a set of these:  http://www.junfac.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=436

Maybe someone here has an extra they sell me???  We can only hope...

Terry

 

[moffman 5752]

9 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I know what you mean! As good as brushless motors are, open endbell brushed motors just looked awesome. I had a much better idea or "feel" of what those motors would be like by reading the specs over brushless motor ratings. Plus there was all the neat tweaking and tricks you could apply to brushed motors.

Yeah your right when I use to go to my LHS I knew that when it came to choosing a motor what it would be like in the car and the batteries and because the technology wasn't their guess work was part of the course (charging batteries until they were very hot!) Imagine guess work on the modern day brushless systems and batteries? Either your model you or your house would be on fire!! AND what's with the bags to charge in because of the volatile nature of lipo's?.........no thanks! (mind you these re-re have benefited from the modern tech superior servos, 2.4ghz and hi-tech materials etc gives what is 30 year designs a new lease of life that's brilliant IMO!)

[Saito2 6686]

I guess the cars have gotten so much better that alot of the aftermarket "fixes" aren't needed anymore...except for Tamiya re-releases. And BTW, I still stubbornly refuse to use Lipo. It's all Nicad and (begrudgingly) Nimh for me. 

[Thirteen30 74]

I can give up brushless if I had to, but LiPo is something I can't go without anymore. Run times and constant power are what this hobby needed for so long.

 

[moffman 5752]

2 hours ago, Thirteen30 said:

I can give up brushless if I had to, but LiPo is something I can't go without anymore. Run times and constant power are what this hobby needed for so long.

 

You have a point their lipo's do have brilliant run times and I suppose the brushless hpi savages and other big 1/8th trucks wouldn't be around if not for lipo's (and they are ballistic! Models for hooligans) But very expensive! Still not my thing though and a lot of them have started to replace nitro which in the current climate of everything that burn's fuel is evil and now we have been sold a pup with diesel (don't get me started with that latest government con  ) I suppose battery technology is something we all have to embrace!........still prefer nicad and nimh's though!.

[MadInventor 3884]

3 hours ago, Thirteen30 said:

I can give up brushless if I had to, but LiPo is something I can't go without anymore. Run times and constant power are what this hobby needed for so long.

 

I just got back from a holiday and have been running my stock clod (with bearings) on a beach on 2S 4000mah LiPo, getting between 25-40min run times, and that was hammering up steep sand dunes with very loose fine dry sand. If I'd been using Nicads or NimH I'd be lucky to see 10mins run time, and that would be with a lot less punch.

 

[mongoose1983 3335]

19 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

There's one of these NIB Vintage on FleaBheyz right now:   http://r.ebay.com/YUz678  Happy bidding!  Ha!

I'd like to get a set of these:  http://www.junfac.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=436

Maybe someone here has an extra they sell me???  We can only hope...

Terry

 

Here's another chance: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-TAMIYA-TRACKMASTER-BELT-DRIVE-TRANSMISSION-FOR-PARTS-OR-FIX-/111984833079?hash=item1a12d0f237:g:YU4AAOSwZSFXJoET

Not sure it will sell for cheap but on eBay you never know...

[markbt73 5316]

9 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I guess the cars have gotten so much better that alot of the aftermarket "fixes" aren't needed anymore...except for Tamiya re-releases.

I don't care if they're "needed," or even if they're better... I just want to mess around with them. They're interesting. But I haaate buying stuff from ebay (especially in an auction situation), so maybe one of these years I'll try my hand at reverse-engineering something... and keep an eye out for an old wreck with a set of Advance wheels on it, from someone who doesn't know what they are.

[Saito2 6686]

Oh, I get what you mean. I just meant that (the cars getting better) is why so many of these aftermarket companies dried up. I still wish they hadn't. Looking around it seems ESP Clod parts may be gone as well now.

[moffman 5752]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

Oh, I get what you mean. I just meant that (the cars getting better) is why so many of these aftermarket companies dried up. I still wish they hadn't. Looking around it seems ESP Clod parts may be gone as well now.

I think it's a case of if you see them you got to get them I remember my very first clod way back looking in the then magazines (before internet) and all the add on cosmetically aswell I could spend hours just browsing all the aftermarket bits for all the tamiya's!..............oh memories!