Not sad, just a little Blue
Hello all, haven’t done too much with the toys lately. I have been remodeling the basement and doing some extensive plumbing work to the house. On top of that I just picked up a new full-size project that I have to have done in a couple of months so you may not be seeing much more from me in the coming weeks.
About a month and half half ago I got a new job at a fantastic engineering firm. This is been a major bump for my career so I have been in a fantastic mood if a little busy. I seem to work through my lunches and find that to be a little stressful. I have decided that I need to bring a hornet to work so that's my lunchtimes can be spent at the park across the street.
In order to do this I snagged one of my many many hornet projects that I have and decided to complete it. This car started off as a $15 dollar eBay purchase about a year ago. I tore it it down and gave it a good dusting. I don't like to clean cars completely that I plan on driving in sand and dirt because then I won't want to get it dirty. I know that sounds weird but every time I completely scrub a car down and give it an immaculate bath I absolutely cannot get it dirty.
As usual I added full ball bearings, an Airtronics receiver and servo as well as a Novak Hammer speedo. Unlike me I left the motor that came with this car unit. It's an old Losi revolution stock motor that runs very well. Replace the rear tires and cleaned up all the rims. The front shock shafts were lubed and new seals were installed. I also made a Velcro strap to retain the battery door as we all know how reliable the battery door on a hornet or grasshopper is.
The rear shocks, on the other hand, got a brand-new treatment that I have been working on for a while. I have been rebuilding hornets rear shocks often with very much success. The Shocks have ended up becoming test mules for Tamiya’s x-ring’s. They have a x cross-section so each ring has two seals as opposed to a circular cross-section O-ring which has only a single seal. This means that installing to these will give you four sealing blades. I added 80 wait silicone rear shock oil and the cart was good to go.
Unfortunately much like my inability to dirty a clean car, I also have an inability to damage a mint shell. I dug up a decent shell that came with one of the parts cars and peeled off most of the ruined decals. I gave it a good polishing with a chemical based polishing compound that I use. The car's shell shined up beautifully and then it was time to give it some personality. I wanted to add some stripes but wasn't about to put the Tamiya stripes on there as I already have a black box stock hornet shell. I went through my massive box of decals and found some old Blue striped decals that I had several used to sheets of. I pieced together a striped set for the shell as quickly as I could. The reason I try to do it quickly is if I spend too much time doing something I won't want to potentially harm it. I know, I know, I'm complicated. With more time I could've made this shell look like a blue variation of the stock decals but again I just wanted something to play with at work.
The shell was missing the rear wing so I 3-D printed the wing that I designed several months ago while at work. I gave it a couple of coats of primer, painted it black, added the decals, and then clear coated it. Overall I am thrilled with the outcome and I've already got it in my backpack to take to work tomorrow morning.
Thanks and comment away!
All Done and ready for work! I like the blue scheme My custom wing Velcro battery retainer Peeled back Trusty hammer The full size project. Looking good! Car before Shell before
Comments
daverobbo5
Hell yeah! That blue looks trick! Great wing too!. Congrats on the new job! I made a few mods to my Hornet recently. 1)Sanded the steering knuckles for more throw. 2)added about 40grams (1.4 ounces) to the front bumper. 3) added about 150 grams (4 ounces approx.) grams in with the shorty 2S lipo battery. The weight is similar to its original load of AA batteries and helps traction. Just a silver can but it turns laps nicely. Love those blue strips. Great work my friend!
robertoro
hi PINTO, interesting project, are you plumber? i got my level 2 qualification many years ago, unfortunately i never used !!!
Crash Cramer
Very cool looking runner there Alberto. I didn't know you got some of those MASSIVE Foam tires from BITD, too bad you only got three as I would love to put a set on my street Blackfoot.
Of course you know I was drooling when I read of your 'MASSIVE' box of decals, now I want to come over and dig into it for some other goodies.
Tamiyamandan
Looks GREAT !!!! Love the wing !!!
Pintopower
Thanks for the comments folks!
Daverobbo5 - Thanks! I agree about the wieght. This car has some wheel weights in it. My super-fly hornet project has nearly half a kg of weight in it depending on track conditions.
Robertoro: I am not a plumber, I am a Mechanical Engineer. I have learned that when it comes to the house, I feel better doing everything myself. My work is only done once. Most of the time when I have work done by someone else, it is done 3 or 4 times.
Thanks Crash! The tires were crappy and I did have all 4. Bought the car for $15 with my old GHII shell that I sold for $40 on it! Weirdly, the tires in terrible shape sold on eBay for $80. I dont know why anyone wanted them, let alone for $80. I just didnt want to toss them. Stay away from my decal box!!! I have a guard cat. She will ignore you to death.
Thank you Dan!
taffer
Love the stickers and the blue painted resistor cover?
Pintopower
Oh yes that is a long story Taffer. Ill shorten it. In about 1991, when I got my Midnight Pumpkin, I painted it blue. When It was blue I painted the resistor cover to match. Then I painted the truck red...and painted another resistor cover to match. Then I painted it orange in 1996 and gave up. I had the blue one in the drawer and said, eh, why not?
Crash Cramer
I have some spare resistor covers here, sans paint of course.
Pintopower
@Crash- Dont make me take a picture of my MSC drawer.
MAD-BEE
Nice wing! Hornets are fantastic buggies!
Pintopower
@MAD-BEE: I totally agree.
RcRacer
That is easily one of the coolest Hornets I have every seen! That rear wing makes it look like its going to take off! I should do the same at my job. We have a massive dirt lot across the parking lot with some small hills to catch some air!
R/CVET
Looks perfect for bashing - love it!! I recently did the same thing (bare minimum to get it running, no extensive cleaning) to a cheap battered original I found on Ebay but went old-school MSC, etc like my original back in the '80's after building a re-re that turned out to be too nice to run. I love when that happens!
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