casethejoint

I've found a couple, but would prefer to go to a tried and tested source if anyone here has had some SRB bits bead-blasted. Would be grateful. Thanks.

I've never had a problem with bleeding when I've:- 1. Used good quality masking tape (cheap stuff from Homebase doesn't cut it) 2. Burnished the edges with a fingernail (quite hard) What brand of paint are you using?

The front scoops can get a bit bent/distorted, but to be honest it still looks amazing, even beaten up

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49833

Exactly right. Mine also got too fast and I rolled back to a Speed Tuned in it which is about right for the chassis. As mentioned though, yours could be a bit slower than expected if you have the gearing wrong and/or poor batteries and connections.

That is a bit pricey. Worth paying £100 - £120 for one in good condition without the box though. I've thrown £100 at it, but for "upgrade" parts (bit of alloy etc) and it means I get exactly what I want for £185, which I think is about right.

I keep coming across two different types of polishing machine - vibratory and tumbler (rotating drum). Anyone used both and have thoughts as to which is better for polishing small parts (as in modelling - mostly brass/alloy).

I hope it doesn't have the original chassis - technology has moved on quite a bit since then. Hard shell would be wonderful though.

Looks great, cleaned up well!

They're not that rare. Best way to track market prices is via eBay (set some alerts and keep them in your watchlist). Last NIB Sand Rover (same chassis, different body shell) on eBay went for £500. Compare that to an SRB and you'll get a feel for how much less sought after they are. I think anywhere around the £100 is a fair price for one in good condition but no box. I paid £85 for my Sand Rover which was in need of a little work but did come with MK1 period Acoms gear and the original battery etc. Buy it because you like the look of it or for nostalgic reasons. They're not very good runners. I love them, personally (nostalgic reasons I think).

Smoother cornering I imagine. But I do exactly that - pack it tight with grease. I'm a basher though, not a racer. At some level I imagine a small amount of improvement is a big thing that you'd notice on a track and not in a car park.

Great story about the boat Eric Tamiya are all about the detail and quality of model and manual. No-one has ever really got close to those USP's. That's why I love them. If you're racing, there's much much better available.

So am I... Then you've never had it. Trust me, this is noticeable, even to a smoker I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't experienced it. I don't know how it gets into metal parts. Nylon, cardboard and plastics I can kind of understand.

I've often seen people comment in this forum about vintage NIB stuff coming from "non smoking places" and I always thought to myself "it can't be that bad surely?". Having just opened up some NIB stuff I bought on eBay a while back I now fully understand the sentiment! You just wouldn't believe it would be that bad and get into *everything* would you. Boy oh boy.....

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>