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Another Percymon project - Kyosho Gallop Mk2

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So here’s yet another Percymon project..

A vintage Kyosho Gallop Mk2, courtesy of eBay. Whilst not exactly the highlight of Kyoshos range it was very much a technical showpiece back in its day with chain driven 4WD and 4 wheel steer. They were difficult to steer compared to normal buggies of their day, particularly on long sweeping bends where it was difficult to hold a steady line due to the extra steer.

I bought this purely for the interest of a chain driven buggy with 4 wheel steer – it would have been easy to buy yet another plastic Tamiya as a project, but since I’d enjoyed the mix of metal and plastic on the SRB rebuilds, another project with a similar engineered feel won the day.

The car came with two spares sets of Kyosho wheels/tyres (not Gallop), a vintage Futaba transmitter, a basic Schumacher 12V charger (pretty redundant these days as I think its NiCd only ?), a Parma lexan Beetle shell which looks like its been shot jusging by the number of (bullet) holes in it, and a Beatties bag. There’s a promise of the correct body being sent on later, when its found by the seller, but I’m not holding my breath.

So here’s how it arrived.. not too promising ?

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On closer inspection..

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Original Kyosho MSC, resistor pack and twin servos all in place. All linkages for the 4 wheel steer present , albeit one of the rear ones was disconnected..

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All driveshafts and drive cups present. All shocks present and correct, just covered in grease and grime...

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Original wheels n tyres looked to be in good shape...

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Bottom skid place had some scratches from use as did the front bumper.

The bad bits..

1. The rear upper shock arms have been bent for some reason, maybe to fit a different shell ?

2. Rear roll cage/bumper missing

Other than that it generally looked to be a reasonable used example, with lots of dust n dirt, covered in as much brick dust from years of garage storage as anything accumulated from use !

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Fully stripped down and all parts cleaned – it took a total of 9 hours non-stop just to do this part, such is the complexity of the build ;) The ultrasonic cleaner earned its money !

The good news..

1. NO broken parts – woohoo, that makes a change for one of my projects ;)

2. All the plastic gearbox internals in as new condition.

3. Wheels n tyres all good, no perishing, no hardening and minimal wheel rim marking

The additional bad news..

1. Brass motor pinion very worn

2. 17 tooth aluminium idler/pinion gear in the gearbox worn

.. both of these easily replaced as they look to be 32dp pitch gears

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A project wouldn't be complete without some 50:50 before:after shots !..

Futaba transmitter..

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Wheels - original Mud Star tyres in excellent condition, very soft and pliable...

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A TeamBlueGroove shell is already on its way from Canada.

I need a rear cage / bumper section as that also acts as the mount for the rear wing - anyone got one anywhere ??

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and onto the rebuild..

Front differential - originally this came pre assembled from Kyoshso, but after almost 30years i thought i'd have a look inside. Needn't have bothered the grease was still clean and fresh ! Now reassembled and in its housing..

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This is initally reinstalled to the rear of the slots in the front chassis plate, and then moved forward as a means of tensioing the drive chain..

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It took 2 attempts to get the chain installed - the original manual isn't a masterpiece of instruction like Tamiya manuals, but i evetually figured out the correct chain orientation and direction..

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and with shock 'tower' and upper chain guide plate in place..

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and later with the front shocks (rebuilt with 35wt pure silicone oil) installed..

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Servo saver and front steering arms rebuilt..

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and installed and connected to the front knuckles..

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If you get feed up with it i would'nt mind the parts for my 4x4 SRB idea ;)

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If you get feed up with it i would'nt mind the parts for my 4x4 SRB idea :D

i wondered when you'd chirp in :lol:

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i wondered when you'd chirp in :lol:

Well great minds think alike :D

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Percymon, I love it. These buggies have always intrigued me since I first saw them in Kyosho catalogs.

They have sort of an imposing look to them, so busy and full of parts.

Someday I might think about getting one, but I've never had a chain-driven before and not sure how well they actually operate. Belt and shaft drive is my only 4x4 experience.

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...I've never had a chain-driven before and not sure how well they actually operate. Belt and shaft drive is my only 4x4 experience.

me too so it will be an interesting project, and the reason i went for it.

I forgot to mention i also bought a Kyosho Progress as a potential donor car - make 1 good one from 2 no so good. That's winging its way from California - i don't need any parts from it so with a bit of luck (can i be lucky twice ??) i might have 2 good runners.

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Tonights progress - rear end and electrics (not too many pics from tonight :lol: )

Rear knuckles fitted with kingpins and then locked into the rear swing arms. steering linkages added to rear servo saver.

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Servos added to top chassis plate, MSC added and chain put into its guides before screwing/bolting it all down..

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Next job, rear shock towers and then the shocks themselves - got to straighten the shock towers out first though :D

Will be no progress tomorrow - got to wine, dine and pamper my Valentine on account she bought me this project !

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Today ordered a set of Repro Gallop Mk2 decals.

Will re-do the photos from yesterday and upload later

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Have been working on the rebuild over the last few evenings, and this is how it sits this morning. Apologies for the lack of rebuild pics but the buggy is so complex in places that its difficult to photograph specific parts once installed..

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rear sprocket could do with a few shims to centralise it in the chain guides

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The ***** body arrived from Canada on Thursday as did a set of decals.

A kind TC member is sending me a rear cage - its a red Mk1 cage, but at least it means i can mount the rear wing, and if i'm ever lucky enough to find a MK2 cage later i can revert back.

Colour scheme undecided as yet - boxart might win the day, not many pictures on google to get much inspiration either. Its always the choosing of body colours where i'm hopeless !

There's still a few bits n bobs to improve ..

- tie off the aerial cable spool

- front bumper needs a refurb, or a new one for shelf duties

- ditto the side rails - some fine wet n dry should sort those

- MSC needs a small wire resoldering

nothing major but fiddly, time consuming and the things that drag on.

Overall though i'm pretty pleased with it - not a bad Valentines gift :D , and more exciting than the vintage Lulu Guiness handbag that she got :)

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Two months since i updated this thread :)

during that time the new body and wing arrived, were cut and painted. I based the scheme on google images of the box lid - the choice of Fire Red Fastrax paint was slightly darker than i'd hoped (would have liked it closer to the red of the shock plastics etc), and i got a bit fed up with all the masking but its done now.

the Mk I rear cage arrived and is fitted - i've left it red for the time being.

just got the decals to add and to fabricate a rear wing mount from wire rod, plus paint the tyre lettering.

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5 weeks on from my last post and i can report i believe i have pretty much finished with this project now..

repro body sprayed with Fastrax Fast Finish Fire Red, Gold Leaf and Solid Black; repro decals added.

The rear cage is from a Mk I, but does the job. I had to fabricate the wing mount myself with some wire rod heated on the gas stove.

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  • Like 3

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Excellent job mate, I love the vintage 'K' cars, and this is a real beauty

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Looks great! But the real question is... how does it run?

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A very well executed restoration I must say , well worth the effort . It's nice to see something out of the ordinary for a change

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I've got one small wire on the MSC to resolder and then I can give it a test run!

Thanks for the comments guys - much appreciated

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Great restore '

I just recently bought a NB Progress but it has bits of a Gallop. No Body. It is like new but the tyres show a little use. Has some odd points about it.

Do the Progress come with Nerf bars as I just purchased a set as mine had none.

Any Advice much appreciated

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The Progress didn't come with nerf bars..

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http://www.vintagerc...m/progress.html

There's a few manual on that site too http://www.vintagerc...om/manuals.html

and plenty of other Kyosho manuals at www.competitionx.com too

only the Gallops came with nerf bars so you should send yours to me ;)

Are you still looking for the black cage bars for your Gallop? I have a set as i bought a Gallop MKii which i am using the rebuild a Progress and i dont have any use for them so if i can make a TC member happy with them...Also the original wing mount i can throw in with pleasure or any other Gallop specific parts i do not need for the Progress restore...

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Are you still looking for the black cage bars for your Gallop? I have a set as i bought a Gallop MKii which i am using the rebuild a Progress and i dont have any use for them so if i can make a TC member happy with them...Also the original wing mount i can throw in with pleasure or any other Gallop specific parts i do not need for the Progress restore...

PM sent Dominique

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