casethejoint

That's the same thing I thought when I read that I have a very understanding girlfriend, and none of my friends ever grew up anyway. So the only people that matter totally *get* it. Maybe I'm lucky.

Thanks Dazaa - that's what I feared and what it looks like on mine. Sealed all the way around. So I guess the scalpel will be too much like hard work. I'm not keen on taking a dremel to it (or any kind of circular sawing tool) - sounds like it'll be very hard to control and keep it in the line. I might take a hacksaw to it though and try and do it in sections, one side at a time. Mine is also very brittle (although not yellow). I wonder if a strategic light tap with a chisel along the line might also do the trick.

Thanks Paul - this is exactly the kind of info I was fishing for. It's a 6v pack (so not the hump pack) but I'm sure the type of plastic and joining will be the same. Is the join "welded" all the way around? I note you used a dremel. Do you think I'd get through with a scalpel, or too much like hard work? I note that someone above achieved this by dropping the battery (!) but not sure if that indicates there's a weak spot that's worth concentrating on, or just age making the plastic brittle. Many thanks. I don't want a hump pack. This is a 6v battery (no hump) so I'm looking at taking it apart and replacing the internal cells. It's a 30 year old battery case and I'd like to keep that part original if possible (I'm a sympathetic restorer - maybe overly so!). Love the LiPo idea but all my cars are runners (older ones light runners on short grass only) and I'm not keen on running a 30 year old buggy designed to run at 6v on 7.4. Sounds like trouble to me (even if a lot of fun!).

I haven't seen any NIB Tamiya packs going for $10 - $20, especially not the 6v 1200mAh versions. Am I looking in the wrong places? So that might be the trick - drop it! Can you let me know how it was held together? I assume there are glue spots between the two parts at strategic places? I may have given the wrong impression with my original post looking at some of the replies. What I want to achieve is new cells in the old case. So I'm looking for tips for opening up the case. Building the internal cell pack I can do, no problem. I just haven't opened one up before so don't know what I'm up against/cutting through. This is an original 6v Tamiya pack, circa late 1970's/early 1980's. Reference pic attached. Thanks!

I've got a dead 30 year old Tamiya 6v battery pack (1200mAh one) and I'd like to replace the internal cells. Before I just attack it with a scalpel, I wondered if there are any tips/tricks out there for doing this an easier way ? Thanks...

By the sounds of it you'll need to re-enforce the shell underneath the crack. I can't remember whether or not the windscreen goes right over that section on the Scorcher (mines in the attic at the moment so can't look). Assuming you can get something underneath, I would tend to approach this kind of repair by re-enforcing under the crack with some pasticard and epoxy adheasive (the slow drying one - it sets harder) before making good the top-side and repainting. With any serious crack like that you have lost strength in the shell, and for that reason you might need to anticipate it's going to crack again through the new paintwork you do with only a relatively small amount of stress on it. Cleverly places stickers can help a great deal in hiding that kind of damage also.

Me too, please Nothing available as far as I've seen on the open market, but you might be able to get something custom made.

Thanks - that is a helpful read. I'm hitting top speed near instantly so I still think there's some torque left to play with. Info in that thread is more around over-gearing, which I don't think I've done. That said I might experiment by dropping in a 17 tooth pinion just to see what happens. It's possible that top speed is down on what it could be because the motor never gets into its power-band.

Hi there, My Gravel Hound basher is up to the max gearing I can get it to using the stock motor mount (alloy version) - 22 pinion/67 spur. I have a cheap and cheerful 23 turn Venom Fireball motor in it and it still seems to me plenty torquy enough - hits top speed near instantly. Track is a hard dirt track near home, so it's not real off off road and really not far off being on concrete/tarmac. Got a wonderful long straight (about 60 meters) and I'd like to see what I can push it to. Is there a way to crank the pinion gear up beyond 22 tooth or should I just drop turns on the motor down to a 19T or 17T ? In the interests of experimentation I'm relaxed about frying a motor (as long as it's cheap). The 23 turn does not get unreasonably hot (too hot to touch sometimes, but nothing has melted yet!). Batteries are decent 3700 NiMh. ESC is a no-limit cheap Chinese job. Can upgrade ESC, but not sure it's worth it - would prefer to experiment with a cheap low turn motor or find a way to gear up first ideally. I appreciate I'm probably close to the limits of this chassis already (it's pretty quick). Looking at the gearing suggestions available it seems it was designed for silver can or Sport Tuned up to 22/67 geared. I suspect my 23T Fireball is about equivilent to a Sport Tuned. But as mentioned above I don't mind destroying it in the process of experimenting/educationing myself Thanks!

No you're not alone. I'm exactly the same. I have many cars that I've built from kit that have never actually been run. Actually I would go as far as to say I prefer building them to running them. You and I may hope not, but at the end of the day Tamiya will take to market what the market is demanding. If that's RTR's then that's the way it will go. We can't really control that. Whatever happens I imagine there will remain a market for kits, however niche. And if not, I guess we'll all be buying lathes, mills and moulding equipment instead....

No! You just made me spend $200 **** you! <edit>Those asterisks make it look like I was being extremely rude, but actually it was only d@mn !</edit>

Still in business. Better range of slot cars than RC now though. 308 Hobbies.

Maisto:- http://www.maisto.com/products_detail.asp?...;id=140&pg=

Correct, and yes I see your point - buckets of nasty stuff around children not a good idea....

Ah yes, but I know what's inside there! As for the dishwasher, that's well and truly out of bounds and I would be in serious trouble doing that. A bucket of bleach in the garage is generally tollerable by my better half though! Thanks.

I've heard of people using bleach - just curious if anyone has a guide for how strong the bleach can be and how long to leave them in ? These are nylon (I think) gears out of the gearbox of an old Sand Rover. Thank!

Thanks chaps. That'll be the majority then I suspect - useful tip, thank you.

Don't! Keep it. It's part of the models history. £60 isn't going to make a whole load of difference, but you'll never be able to get it back again. Looks like a great attic find, in fabulous condition. Enjoy!

Hi there, If I click on a username link in a forum thread to get to their "profile" page I can't seem to get to their showroom from there. Is there a shortcut? At the moment I have to go to the main site and search for a users name. Thanks!

Looking good. Good question and I don't know. I've never put carbon tubes onto an SRB - I just saw your front-end and thought a bit of carbon would look good. I did a google search for "carbon tubes" and quite a few UK suppliers came up so doesn't look hard to source in general. Trick will be getting the right size tubing.

Very nice! Did those front suspension parts start off as yellow CRP ones ? Who's the chassis by and who made it ? Some carbon fiber tubing to replace the alloy would be a nice finishing touch....

Yes, and I think that will always be the case.

Agree. From what I'm seeing on eBay, the overall prices are starting to drop quite rapidly now. There are still high priced vintage pieces on there, but they're not selling. In all aspects of the economy now is a good time to be a buyer.

Apparently heat makes a difference. I read somewhere on here recently that if you have this in a cold garage it can slow down the process.

I found this if it helps:- http://www.modeldisplaycases.co.uk/plist3.html The Mahagony bases are not that great (bit old fashioned). Love the carbon idea. The people above might be willing to just sell the tops (2mm glass - the last fish tank I had was at least 4mm unnecessarily thick and heavy). I see they use aluminium corners to cover over the sealant lines.