HunterZero

Yes, the Rough Rider was the first SRB that they re-released. They re-released it as the Buggy Champ, which I believe is how this buggy was named in Japan? Anyone know why they didn't revive the Rough Rider name? Possible copyright/trademark? The only SRB that they haven't re-released is the Ford F-150 Ranger XLT. - J

I'm going to add the Hot Shot or Super Hot Shot. Very fun and involving to build (sort-of similar to the Thundershot), decent vintage runners, and they look just so darn cool. - James

I have been meaning to try that pearl clear PS paint with a few combinations. There are clear colours too which you can back with bright silver to give more choices. I have orange clear and bright silver to try out. The other combination I want to try is a light coat of clear blue, then pearl clear, then back with black, to try and replicate the iridescent Honda Nighthawk paint. - Jim

Novus plastic polish is great stuff, but it's not going to magically remove deep scratches. It is really a paste finishing abrasive kit. Novus #3 would eventually take out a deep scratch, but it would take you forever. You need to start with coarse abrasives to flat the surface, then work your way up to finer papers and compounds to restore the glossy finish. I've used Novus as part of a process to remove quite deep scratches from clear and glossy plastics. It does take some time and elbow grease, but surely you have an hour or so spare to do it properly? Certainly faster than just using paste polish alone. You need to start with 400 grit Tamiya paper to get the deep scratches out, and move up to 1000/1200 wetsand to remove the sanding marks from the coarser paper. Then swap to Novus #3 to reduce the sanding marks further, and finish with Novus #2 to restore the gloss. Cotton T-shirt rags work well. Novus #2 does appear to contain a small amout of wax filler for disguising very fine scratches left behind. The plastics/resins used in Tamiya kits are very durable, and can actually resist being polished. Polycarbonate is very difficult to polish, and generating excessive heat from polishing will destroy/crackle the polycarbonate very quickly. Note that plastic polishes should only be used on glossy plastics - if you use them on matte plastics, you will turn them glossy. - Jim

The rarest item I have is probably the complete bodyparts bag for my RM MK1 Can Am Lola. I have a collection of NOS parts for it, I am still looking for a few parts to complete it... The rear bumper, wing mount and screw bag A seem particularly difficult to find... Next in rarity is my NIB 58051 Fox. - J

Part of the problem is the geometry of the rear trailing arm setup, similar to the Falcon. I use the 70mm Yeah Racing shocks too, but any shocks around 65mm-70mm should work. You can put softer springs and thinner oil in them to compensate for the poor trailing arm shock geometry when compressing, but once you get this right, the rear end tends to sag, and since it doesn't have a lot of travel it hits the suspension limits a bit too much. Tricky to get right. The best thing to do is use the original balloon spike tyres. It seems that these large soft tyres effectively form part of the suspension, whether that was by design or not. - J

No shame in displaying a newly built Hot Shot on the shelf, that's where one of mine is. If you want to run it, just get a new NiMH battery and charger. They are cheap, easy to care for, and battery capacities today are three to four times the old 1200mAh racing packs. - J

I have a Fire Dragon which is the same chassis except with independent front shocks - love it. Full bearings, A5 brace and off you go!

You should be able to use the Nova Fox dogbones/half shafts/outdrives, as long as you use the original C circlips. The Nova Fox uses thicker E clips to retain the half shafts in the gearbox output bearing, and has deeper bearing recesses to accommodate. So worst case scenario you will need to replace the gearbox halves and use the thicker E clips with the new dobgone set. - James

A standard DB01 is still a very good choice for a basher. Pretty tough car. It's a basher car that can quite easily go racing if you want it to. Lot of plastic in the standard TT02B. The MS has lots of upgrades, definitely looks superior to the base car and very good value. - J

I would still recommend a DB01 - Durga or Baldre (I think the Baldre is discontinued, but the body shell is still available). If you can stretch to the DB01 RRR, all the better! - J

Stay away from lead free solder, it's a PITA to use. I have tried silver solder and the working temperature is higher and it doesn't flow as easily so is harder to get good joints with it. Good old el cheapo tin-lead rosin core 60/40 or 62/38 or 63/37 is easiest to work with. Get a non-acid flux pen to go with it, and a desoldering sucker/pump. You need a wide bevel tip and a fair bit of wattage grunt to solder fatter wires and connectors. I use a Hakko FX-888D and it's a joy to use. - J

I was seriously tempted by the Tomahawk - but I am holding out for the Optima.

It probably flew into your hair, and fell out onto the pillow as you slept. I put the parts in a clear plastic bag then use needle nose pliers to push off the C ring to stop it flying away into the aether. Be warned that the Nova Fox gearbox halves have similar changes as the re-issue Hot Shot. Instead of that tiny C clip, it uses a thicker E clip, and the recess where the output bearing pushes into the gearbox housing is deeper. You may have problems with your differential mesh if you mix the parts and don't shim up the diff. At least the A, B, C, F and R, parts are interchangeable. The original Fox rubber parts bag includes the aluminium ring and isn't impossible to find (you also need the D1 connector part, but someone with a Nova Fox is bound to have a spare as it is included but isn't used), but if you choose to go the Nova Fox steering route, you will need new locating holes for the servo, or the Nova Fox lower chassis. - J

It says Blackfoot on it, so it's the 1 piece spur/drive gear for use with the Blackfoot and Monster Beetle. It has 52 teeth, same as the smallest gear ratio in the Frog (which came with 49T/19T high speed, 50T/18T standard gear, 52T/16T low speed gear ratios), for use with the smaller pinion on the BF/MB giving a gearing ratio suitable for the larger monster truck tires. - J