Ray_ve

Got one of these too from aliexpress, while I ordered a red heatsink one. It appears similar to the red 1060 I have, same dimensions, same connections, but the black one is marked waterproof. I believe the red one is also waterproof.... So beats me why there are 2 versions. Maybe its a new version or something? Offcourse calling it 'Black Edition' is great for marketing.

Forgotten projects: not forgotten but status unknown... When my father brought some old boxes, one of them contained my Tamiya Leopard 1A4 tank. I thought I never finished it and it was still missing parts in a half-build state, so I was very suprised it was complete and functional. I also had plans to try a grasshopper gearbox on a Marui Big bear, and another box contained a complete gearbox and full set of lunchbox wheels/tires. Did not know I had those anymore. I know some boxes are still unacounted for... Who knows what they hold...

Ordered some marui decals from MCI, with the black friday code. Got a little frustrated from the small fiddly parts of the Samurai, so I stripped down the Bullhead chassis and started looking into the steering mods as a little sidestep. And experimented a bit with a 3D printed part from PLA plastic. To see if I could sand its surfaces flat, and paint it with regular model paint. Seemed to go well.

My 2 car lot buy arrived today. A tamiya rising storm. Are they suppost to be 4WD? The front seems to missing a diff. I think I'll sell this on for parts, don't need it. And what I was really after in this lot: a Marui Shogun! It looks like it has been sitting in the corner of some paintshop, wheels are damaged and the body needs replacement. Other then that, it is complete and the gearboxes feel OK. So a very happy addition to my Marui collection. (And a long-term project)

I told myself I have enough cars. So today I bought 2 more..... I'm an idiot.

Thankfully, all the other gears are fine. Only the aluminium pinion was badly worn, but the idler only suffered 25% wear from that. The 2 diffs in the rear box are also OK. Since this will be mostly a shelf queen, with limited runs in the future, thats all I need to have. Given the state of most plastics, it will never be an A+ showcase model anymore. Just simply enough for nostalgic value. I''m thinking if I should sand the chassis so it will be a bit smoother, and paint it?? Decisions, decisions..... Edit: Beauty!

Drove the rising fighter for a bit. Fun little car. No fuss or drama, just drive till the wheels fall off! Also finally had some time and resources to assemble some of the Marui Samurai. More on that in the Marui section.

Quite some time ago, end of 2017 I think, I bought a used Marui Samurai. In the 80's, when I got my first Big Bear, I always thought the Samurai was really cool because of the 4WD, and the chain drive. But back then, it was 3 or 4 times more expensive then the bear so never had one. The purchase: First thing I noticed was how small it appeared to me. I thought it would be bigger. But ok, I finally owned one! After the usual tear-down 3 months ago (this is a slow-pace project!), I found that this particular car has quite some milage on it. Als it had not been run in a while. The original rear wheels are ugly (made blue with permanent marker and full of CA glue) but in one piece, the original fronts are badly cracked. That is why it had the Ninja wheels on it. Also, the space frame plastics have some dis-coloration from age, and are really filthy at the bottom. So, all the work now is to start cleaning the parts, and re-assemble. This weekend, I finally managed to get the gearboxes back together. The rear gearbox had broken plastics where a bearing should be... Modelled a fix for it, and printed it in PLA (left) for a test fit (this is the 3rd attempt), and finally in ABS for the final piece. Glued the fix in place, sorted! Next, rebuilt the front differential (old one was quite worn, because the chain was worn) with new plastics from Ebay, and added a brand new chain I was able to get. Put it all together with another motor I had, as the old one sounds like a bag full of angry cats. Next order of business, the wheels. I love the originals ones, very beautiful for that time period and really suit the car. But WHY are the fronts and rears a different diameter? Aaaargh. I'll use standard modern wheels when it gets done, but modelled wheels to hopefully print a set of new front and rears, that are compatible with present day standard tire sizes. Thats all for now, Updates will follow!

The steel 17t pinion for the rising fighter came in today! Installed it on the motor, motor in gearbox and hookup, looking for a manual online on how to set the 105 esc..... It ran great, but sounded horrible.... Back to the workbench, a little more grease on the idler gear, but also found the problem I had set the motor in the 19t position. Runs and sounds sweet now in the correct position. Future mods: Needs the modification that prevents the front of the gearbox slamming upwards under acceleration, now goes clack clack clack every time. Paint the body and wing white, and put grasshopper decals on it.

Excellent, Thanks so much! Egress is the magic word to find them. Something for next months parts run!

Love those black wheels and tyres! Can I ask which type they are? Looking for something that will look nicely on the Marui Samurai, these really cought my attention.

Used the 11-11 sale on aliexpress yesterday to buy: 3 ESCs 3 Servos 2 Ball bearing sets 2 Sets of black anodized M4 nuts 1 receiver 1 540 motor mount 1 21T/64T pinion/main gear. 1 NiMh 7.2V 6800mAh battery. Projects to do with this stuff: Blazing Star: disassembly, cleanup, ball bearings, rebuild with new electronics. Marui Samurai: Same as star, and replace the chain and front diff. Bullhead: Same as star, but also suspension repair, chassis paint, steering mod (2 servos), and get a nice custom bodyshell. Mugen Seiki: look into the electric conversion from nitro (brushless, 2S or 3S). So my time is booked for now.

This is a 'low aromate' terpentine, bought it at the local 'Action' store. Seems to be quite mild on plastics, unlike thinners which are way more agressive. Indeed dish soap is also great, I was experimenting to see what possibilities are available. As a last step, the gears need to be cleaned in dish soap, to get the terpentine off, to allow new grease to stick to the Teeth as the terpentine dissolves grease and creates a slippery surface area.

Playing around with the ultrasonic cleaner. This is the rear gearbox gearset from a used Marui Samurai I bought some time ago, all dirty from grease and dirt buildup and pinion gear shavings: Ended up putting it all in a sealbag, with some terpentine to dissolve the grease, and let it run for 3 minutes (the cleaner itself is filled with water): Took the gears out, the terpentine was really black and dirty. It worked well: Then used a toothbrush to loosen any remaining black grease spots, and re-ran it in a new selabag with clean terpentine: Very happy with this result! Time permitting, clean the rest of the gearbox parts.... Great buy this cleaner. Also, got the rising fighter ready as much as I could. I'm only missing the steel pinion gear, and was hoping it would arrive today but no luck. Shipping from the UK to the Netherlands seems slower then usual lately. Maybe just as well, it was rainy outside so I should have waited anyway.

Bought this little ammo box to store the LIPOs. Much safer storage then just sitting on the shelf.

Picked up an ultrasonic cleaner. The water with a little soap was clean when it started, so it appears very effective (Used DT-03 gearbox parts, as a testrun). Very happy with that. Also, in the mail was an envelope with an extra receiver! So I opened the envelope with siccors instead of the old tear and pull method..... The result:

Great restauration, the car really looks awesome! And love the ultrasonic cleaner. So much better then the 'bucket with soap and toothbrush' method I've been using. I feel another dent in my budget coming my way. It will save me so much time.

I bought a used Blazing Star buggy. Yesterday, I bought a used and little beat up Bullhead. Can someone provide a safehouse hideout adress in advance, for when my wife finds out? Artist impression of wife finding out what I've done:

Ordered the small ball bearing, and a steel pinion, for the rising fighter. While that is in transit, I can clean the remaining parts and reassemble up to the gearbox.

silly question perhaps but did you get the differential gear in the correct way? It is not symmetrical. One side sticks further out compared to the other.

... is keeping track on an add for a 4wd buggy, while I just got the 2wd 2 days ago. The world is not enough....

That really looks great! Absolutely something to keep in mind!

A slightly used Rising Fighter to replace the Neo Fighter. Overall condition is ok. Needs ball bearings, electronics, and new rear tires. I'm going to strip all those from the Neo Fighter. Even the CVA's from the Neo, which are only slightly too long, can be adapted for this one by adding a small spacer inside the shock.

Bought a 2nd hand Rising Fighter. While repairing my DT03 fighter, I realised that while it is a nice car for the occasional runs on the street, I was missing the 'connection' (for lack of a better word) with the car. What I really wanted was a grasshopper, with a 540 motor, and semi-independant rear suspension.... Possibility for hop-ups..... So when I saw the ad for the Rising Fighter, that was an instant eye-opener. It needs electronics and new tires. Maybe ball bearings? Plan is to strip all that from the DT03 and possibly sell the DT03 leftovers for parts.

A set of unused Clod Buster wheels/tires. I thought they be big..... but these are massive! On the shelf for a project someday.....