CJ Topspin

Excellent shot!

Hey Shodog, that in HM Bay or Santa Cruz?

I love both. The vintage models I slowly restore (like an old 70 Chevelle SS or 71 Mustang Boss 351, etc.) and make them as pristine as I can. You put a ton of time and love (and cash) into them and you shelve them under lights. The re-res you throw a brushless 7,000 Kv motor in it with a fat LiPo and run it like you wished you could run the vintage models. Thats why my shelf has a restored vintage and, next to it, its re-re counterpart all beat up and smoking. Best of both worlds now.

Well...over a year later I finally finished the project. Don't have anymore progress pictures but I refurbished many of the plastic parts with Novus (Novus 3, 2 and 1 - we use it for our plexi helicopter windshields and side windows) and a small buffer. It restores shine like a champ. Still painting the driver but I figured I would post the final pictures of the restored vehicle. Again, no need for servo battery pack since power is run through the MSC.

Nevermind...checked Amazon.com.au....they want an arm and a leg. Wow.

Not sure how it works for you folks in Australia but I just bought one on Amazon for $170. Shipped for free from Japan. Box was opened but all the parts were there. How are the shipping costs to Australia from RC Mart? For us in California shipping costs are more than the cost of the model.

Yep. Been waiting on my new Falcon body from Team Bluegroove for a while now.

After I made sure the mounts for the suspension arms were solid and not going to break under force I attached them all to the chassis and attached my new vintage bumper.

I scrubbed and refilled the shocks and mounted them to the suspension arms. So, the only issue I had with the vintage parts was D4. Apparently, this is a very common issue with the falcon as Falcon#5 pointed out. I decided to use JB Weld Plastic Bond on it because I have some experience dealing with that kind of epoxy in the past. It worked like a charm. I had to sand away some of the overflow but, after a good 24-hour clamp, even the torque of a 3x12mm self tapping screw didn't break the bond. Of course, we will see once it starts running.

I refurbished the MSC, attached the servos, added a waterproof cover to the power switch and mounted it all into the new vintage body.

Once that was complete it was time to plug everything in, neutral the servos, test the motor and check for wiring issues. Everything worked perfectly.

In order to use a modern receiver, the first thing I had to do is to cut and swap out the old Sanwa 2-wire plug from th e MSC to a modern Futaba J-type connector. (youtube: RC Quick Tips - How to crimp servo leads) Of course, keeping an eye on polarity so I don't burn everything to the ground.

So my shell had a significant crack in it so I ended up having to order a new one...this time directly from TBG. So, in the meantime I am going to build the car back up. I was lucky enough to get a vintage body and bumper from e-bay.

While i wait for the vendor to straighten out the bumper situation i got everything i need to get the body dialed in. I prefer to “score and snap” using a xacto in order to get nice lines and the scissors for curved areas. Since I’m will be painting the traditional red and black scheme I’ll be using a combo of masking tape and liquid mask. Again...much thanks to Team BlueGroove.