gordb

I do know what you mean. But until I figure out what I want to do with the original NIB bodyset, I wanted a spare body I could "practice" with (both painting and running). I'm still not sure if I want to keep it unpainted, or if I do paint it, which colour scheme to go with. I've never really loved the box art red, so I'm torn on what to do with it. So this one was as close as I could get to a HIB Hilux Body set. I was hoping to get a full NIB spare to use - but alas, the best I could get was a NIB bodyset missing the front grill, and with some priorr paint on the steering wheel. Not fully NIB, but close enough for my runner ;) And seeing how badly I cocked up the letters, I'm glad I did.

Ok, with the original bodyset safely put to one side: It's time to get serious about finishing up the body. Now, while I managed to find original 58028 parts for most of the bodyset, the front grill that came with it was beyond repair. So I figured I'd just grab a re-re one. It was only when I went to install the lights that I discovered they're not the same. The re-release lights (and maybe this applies to the Bruiser update in general) doesn't use circular light mounts - the sides are cut off, and the edge of the grill doesn't allow the original Hilux light to mount flush. Nothing a bit of dremmeling doesn't fix. After getting the grill sorted, I moved onto my nemesis: the tailgate lattering. I've always bought those cool vinyl letters for my Bruisers and Mounties in the past - but the letters on the original Hilux body are different. And after fruitless hours trawling the internet looking for a set for the 58028, I clenched my teeth amongst other things, I starting painting the letters. Now my research suggested there are a few different ways to do this: the best results seem to be to do the letters as the base coat in a different paint type, clear coat them, and then use a thinner for the actual body colour to "reveal" the lettering. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't thought this far ahead, and had already painted the body. So I went to plan B, which was using a firm foam block to lightly paint just the surface of the raised letters. The videos made this look both easy and effective - so what could go wrong? In case your eyes haven't strayed down already, plenty. The answer is plenty can go wrong. After painting over this travesty, I went to plan C and ordered some acrylic paint pens off Amazon (only to find out later that Tamiya also does paint pens - I really need to track some of those down). Anyway, for anyone silly enough to want to paint these letters, I would heartily suggest paint pens. Not perfect - I got a little bit of bleed on the Y - but for a painting sabotuer like myself, I'm well pleased with it. Just need to let that cure a bit before the final rear clear coats, and then I'll just be waiting for the sticker set to arrive from MCI.

Wow, that looks great! As someone who's day job is 3d, I really should look into a 3d printer at some point.

Exactly that - light offroading around the trails. I know it's going to be largely awful (amazingly clunky original speed controller, poor turning circle, hard leaf springs, hard tire inserts). But that's what I'm looking forward to the most - enjoying this amazing piece of RC history as it was intended. This model has sat here on my desk (I work from home) gathering dust for years. It feels amazing to have it moving forward again. I've got a half built Hotshot 2 to finish, a custom trail Scorcher I'mworking on, my daily driver Hotshot to needing some repairs, and a brand new BBX to build. So time to get some of those done!

Well - after quite a while, I'm back to getting this Hilux finished and on the trails! Three things had brought me to a dead standstill: I wasn't ready to paint the "real" NIB bodyset, so I was piecing together a pretty mint but used 58028 body so I could run that, and keep the other unpained. And I was missing a few parts like the front grill assembly I didn't want to silicone the gearbox, so I'd put in gaskets, but even after trying many different gaskets, the gearbox still leaked It wouldn't shift into 3rd gear, and I was so frustrated with the gearbox, I couldn't bring myself to open it up and figure out why Fast forward to yesterday, and my son and I were working on some new builds, when he started teasing me about finishing my Hilux, so I took the challenge and started searching around trying to remember how to pull the transmission out. As luck would have it, I didn't find any easy guides to pulling the transmission, but I did find this amazing set of posts I wish I'd seen years ago: Apparently, uness you're willing and able to machine the gearbox, you can't seal it with gaskets! Imagine my relief. So I've now made my peace that it's going to drip oil after every run - and I'm back to getting it wrapped up and on the trails. After a few hours work today, I've pulled the gearbox apart, replaced 2 more of the bushings with rubber sealed bearings, tightened up the case (which seemed to have wiggled well lose in the middle, put it all back in the car, and adjusted all the radio settings so it can happily find all 3 gears. Woohoo! Next, on to finishing up my "runner" body (handsomly painted in my trademark paint scheme of all black ... the only paint scheme I seem to have mastered - see my upcoming thread on my first attempt at a sand scorcher paint job - spoiler, it was rough). Anyway - mainly just wanted to thank all the folk in that thread above for restoring my faith in this Hilux build!

Does anyone know what colour white that is on the hard body? It looks like it's got a bit more yellow/cream in it than racing white which looks great. But it could just be the white balance of the photo.

Looks like the alcohol is working for you. If you're looking for another option, Oven Cleaner with lye (Easy Off over here in Canada) works a treat. Go somewhere well ventilated, spray the body with oven cleaner, leave it for a good few hours, and then clean it off with paper towel. I've done lots of bodies like this over the years with no ill effects.

Well, I made the critical error of not looking here before ordering some CVDs for my Hotshot. I bought some from rcmart that were specifically marketed for the Hotshot by the manufacturer. They were indeed 70mm and were binding like crazy. I've taken a punt on the suggestion above and ordered the DF03 68mm part above - so fingers crossed. I managed to find it in stock in Turkey of all places. Has anyone had any luck dremeling the suspension arms to let the wheels turn more? Unless it's an optical illusion - the inside of the rim is stopped when it hits the back of the arm.

That's exactly what I needed thanks @moffman. And I'm with you - the Hotshot needs to be low!

Nice - exactly what I think I want to do too. Do you just need to replace the cage? Or is the top body mold different too? (I thought I heard somewhere it was) And is it just me, or does the picture no longer load?

I haven't bought a new car in years ... but as a fellow Hotshot lover, I might have to grab one or two of these! I never got on with the design of the Hotshot II, but this redesign looks kinda cool. I'll admit I'm already working out how I could drop the roll cage back down, and convert the rear back to a mono shock

Hey @hedge I (he) is still here ... but actually very good at leaving things half finished ;) I got stuck where I always get stuck ... painting the body. I was so enormously afraid of painting the pristine vintage body, I actually sourced a second vintage body set that I could paint and run, with the comfort of knowing the real body was safe and sound until I knew what to do with it. It took me a while to find the parts (and I'm still short the body rails) - but I did actually start painting it in the absolute most boring way imaginable. So look forward to seeing that. My other challenge is that the gaskets leak - so debating whether to try again there, or just bite the bullet and silicone it as nature intended. This Hilux will see the trails this summer, and I'll make sure to add an update here.

After years of trying to get my kids into Tamiya, I figured the hobby is more important than my brand loyalty, and got one of my sons the Traxxas he needed. He now wakes up, charges the cars, and pulls me out of bed to head to the local bike track ...

Hi there, If that "wee box with the wire" is the thing at the bottom right of that picture - you're in luck - that's the receiver You just plug the black/yellow/red wire coming out of the speed controller (middle of the picture) into the receiver's throttle / channel 2, and that will usually power it too. Then just plug in the steering servo wire into channel 1. You then need to connect the motor to the ESC (speed controller). Your speed controller looks like it can handle brushless and brushed motors. Brushless motors needs the 3rd wire - brushed do not (that's what you have). I can't quite read it, but assuming that is a TBLE or something like it, you just connect the blue ESC wire to the green motor wire, and yellow to yellow - you can ignore the orange wire. Wiring is shown here: https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/electronics/rc-esc-tble-02s-brushless/

I can't remember who made this picture originally (simensays perhaps from the number plate) - so full credit to them. But this is my dream kit: an old school metal 3-speed FJ40 hardbody - ideally a short wheelbase version.