Silver-Can

My 1st tamiya was a grasshopper I got from my parents in 1985 (I think) for Christmas. My brother got one too. The following year we went racing at the Queens hall in Derby, followed by some old skool off road muddy field racing over the summer. I then bought myself a kyosho pegasus that I attempted to build myself (very badly) and then my interest fizzled as I found other distractions (females, mostly). Back in about 2010, I was reminiscing about the grasshopper days whilst at work and wondered whatever happened to tamiya and grasshoppers. Lo and behold, found the scene alive and well. Back when I was racing the grasshopper, my eye was always drawn to these bright red fire-breathing 4wd wonders, the hotshot. Had a quick Google, seen they had been re released and...here I am, 15 odd years later with quite a few more cars. But no grasshopper 🤔

Yep - viewing this on my phone - looks very different. Also just earned a 'badge'. My '1 year in' badge, despite having joined in 2014 (I think). Deffo more than a year ago.

Just finished a light resto on mine. Not sure if you'll gleen what you need but...

I usually take a small food zip type bag with me to the beach (where I predominantly run my cars) with an assortment of screws, wheel nuts, wheel pins and hexes, body clips etc. Just the small little daft things that can ruin a run if they come off/get lost etc. Any structural breakages have to wait until I get home - but the good thing about the beach is there is generally not very much in the way of things to crash into - although I have still managed to do so on a few occasions...🫣🙄. Oh, and a screwdriver too!

That's a shame about ebay. Recently grabbed one of your diffs (although it's in the queue of 'things to do'). I had a look back through your thread the other week. Loads of good stuff in there. I'll probably grab a gearbox support off you at some point next week.

Have to say I'm really digging the wing mod you've done. I'm about to do a light refresh on my novafox, which will include a new shell (which I'll keep stock) but since my existing shell also has wing mount issues (ie torn) I'm gonna give this a go. Would you mind letting us know what hardware etc you've used. Cheers 👍

I've just bought @Muso31 complete gear diff for my madcap resto (same internals as the astute). Received it a couple of days ago. Looks to be a well made unit (you can follow his thread re development on this site). Bear in mind this doesn't have the internal planetary gears, so would need to source these separately. I bought a couple of the pot metal housings previously and they all ended up splitting/warping. My hope is this will be a drop in and forget solution!

I think JC concept racing (name might not be 100% accurate) do the egress, hotshot and fox type wheels in 2.2. I recently purchased a hotshot set in black for my new boomerang and an egress set in pink for my df 01. Obviously they're not official tamiya but they seem OK and they'll be runners anyway. They're available through modelsport.

Yeah, didn't think they were but I'm no guru by any stretch! Cheers for confirming. As I say, I'm probably just used to brushless brakes so...either way, not really an issue, just a 'wouldn't it be nice if...'👍

Are the brakes actually adjustable on these? I have a couple of them and, brakes aside, really like them. Quick and easy to set up and install - just wish the brakes were stronger. That said, I also run some cars with brushless set ups (with very sharp brakes) so maybe I'm just drawing unfair comparisons between them. Either way, that is my only gripe with these ESCs.

I personally wouldn't advise gluing. Tjst area will take a lot of punishment but also needs to be free moving - i would just replace. That actually looks like the gearbox casing that has split. If you can, try unscrewing the screw that is within the red circle you've drawn and you should be able to tell. The good news is that the replacement parts are relatively cheap. If it is just the arm it is relatively straightforward to swap it over. If it's the gearbox casing that's...a little more involved. Rear arms Gearbox halves Good luck.

Some very nice shots - especially @Ferruz and @Re-Bugged - although any rc car getting air is a win (without going overboard).

It does indeed look awesome 👌. Lots of time and effort gone into that. Just hope it survives intact for more than 5 mins - if my experience of letting my then 5yr have a go on Dad's toys is anything to go by!

Agree with this. When first getting back into the hobby it was brushless everything- predominantly re res. Whilst the lack of maintenance and extra speed etc were great, I found that I always limited the EPA of the throttle to slow things down. Ultimately, went back to brushed and lipo for other cars. Like you say, cheap enough to replace the motor.

Boom 💥 head-shot!