Kayak

For just cleaning and paint removal, try walnut shell. It's a nice 'safe' media, only removes the lightest of oxidation and doesn't change the metal. Glass beads would be the next choice. They'll remove oxidation down to 'bare' metal and leave a nice satin finish. Warning: Do not use inside cases or bearing races. Don't use on anything you plan to paint, it tends to leave tiny bits of media embedded in the surface (even after thoroughly wiping and a bath in an ultrasonic cleaner) and that will ruin a paint job. Dry ice blasting is popular with the high end auto restorers and doesn't affect the material being cleaned, leaving the part clean but unchanged. Good luck, I polished mine decades ago.

60, freshly retired. Sold my soul to an agency as a mechanic, then supervisor and after that a supervisor of the supervisors. Hated the job and commute for the final decade, Covid had me as essential (overworked and under protected) for years. Always worked a second job, initially for the money, later on for the simple doing of what I loved to do. A small loophole allowed me to retire 'early', sold the home in the ridiculously expensive metro area and moved to the 'retirement home' I'd purchased 250 miles away in a town of 400 people. 1/5 the taxes, Twice the house, Twice the garage and 20x the land. Plan on figuring out some exercise routine to keep yourself healthy and active. Too many folks just fold up and waste away once retired. Joined a charitable organization/club for drinks, activities, comradery and to make the world a tiny bit better through scholarships and donations/volunteering to larger charities. I flew planes on strings in the '70's, R/C came to me in the form of boats... built a Dumas 'Little Shelly Foss' and installed radio gear using only the plans. Now I was an R/C expert ;). My friend wanted to try the 'new' thing... cars. Bought Superchamps and had a ball ... 5 minutes at a time. Next was a Grasshopper, at least it ran for 10 or 12. For the next decade I built at least 90 of Tamiya's first 100. Bought, built, ran and sold/traded... usually for the next great thing. At one point I had 4 Bruisers... one had 8" wheels and a home made, chain driven gear reduction. Racing happened and I campaigned the SCamp fully kitted with CRP chassis, cage and front end, four shocks and a huge '55 Chevy body painted like a NYC cab. RC-10's meant I needed one to even remain competitive and the costs skyrocketed. Driving a $200 Pontiac to race a $500 car against people showing up with multiple $1,000 cars (usually one for each class) kind of soured the experience and I lost interest. BUT, every decade I'd get the itch and buy n build a couple of Tamiya cars, which would then get passed on to some youngster at work or a friend's kid after I'd had my fun. NOW, I've a dozen or so built, most are runners a few still in the build process. The original Superchamp is getting a modified Rough Rider body (slow progress), there's an RC10 with dyed nylons (A code Cadillac)(just like I built way back when) waiting Paint, and a whole bunch of runners/bashers/crawlers for my friends to play with when they come visit. I've allocated about 100 sq ft to RC 'toyland' and get in there at least once a week for a few hours of peaceful (or stressful) 'relaxation'. Slowly building a small dirt track in the yard, with the classic cars in mind. More time spent on the hobby now that there's 2 feet of snow blanketing the ground and temps below freezing until spring. There are nearly a dozen new Tamiya kits NIB waiting for their turn to be built... ranging from a GF01TR Beetle to a BBX01. Mostly, new chassis I've yet to try building, repops of the classics or stuff I'd built and given away but would like to have again. I have the time, time I never thought I'd have... but the house needs lots of work, the land needs lots of work, the pole barn needs lots of work. My motorcycles (5 of them) sit in the garage on battery tenders. Reasonable weather (40deg F or above) means riding season and I do everything I can using them... travel, grocery shopping etc. I ride every day I can, the car ends up on the battery tender. Already looking to downsize the Super Tenere to a new TransAlp as it's getting kind of heavy... didn't seem as heavy a decade ago. Because the area is 90% dirt roads a RE Himalayan has been the go to for exploring the area. My hands have always shaken (essential tremors), my eyesight is slowly diminishing for the close up stuff, glasses not required but cheaters help with stuff like the 1/24 crawlers. The broken neck, shoulder, ankle and other bones ache more now than decades ago. The knees I spent so much time on, now require lots of exercise to remain usable. I will keep doing it all, until I can't. When I pass from this world, my only hope is all my toys go to 'good homes'. They're not precious; our families, friends and experiences are. That's what will define us, not the stuff.

Kev, they showed no sign of being black, and were simply polished to clean them up, just a hit on the wheel with a little rouge. It did / does have a CRP 'wide' front end in it (FRP 'chassis and cage too), possible they came with that kit? Even the cases ended up being junk, the lower bearing seats were fully worn out and sloppy, thankfully there were re-re's available. Still working (all on hold for the last 18+ months, moving, refurbishing the new house & retiring have taken top spot) on the rebuild... mostly just a body to craft for it. Someday.

Larger rear holes were likely for Super Champ use, the shafts on the arms for the mono-shock were pretty hefty. The 'bonus' holes were done to fit motors of lengths that didn't match the stock silver can. You'll find that the nubs on the motor side have been ground off as well (had to be to allow adjustments), we'd drill directly through them, until they disappear. The oblong hole allows different pinions and make it adjustable. Was a common mod back in the day, so you weren't stuck with just two gear ratios. It was a pain to get pinions in that pitch! Having the plastic cover as the only thing securing the motor, wasn't the greatest design. Pic is all that remains of my original SC from '82, notice the holes...

Love it. Keep going. The Boba Fet paint scheme is great. Your body builds were the inspiration fro rescuing the crushed Monster Beetle's body I've been toying with. Styrene and solvent has awakened a long dormant 'need' to build some scale stuff... and the beetle doesn't need to look 'right', so I can refresh my paltry skills.

Could you have flipped the pinion gear around on the shaft.... so the set screw would still be on the flat portion... but the 'gear' would move closer to the motor? Sometimes... that's all it takes to get the clearance... so long as it makes good contact with the spur gear. I have found that some of the new motors are considerably longer where the bearing/ bushing area is... and I have to 'flip' the pinion to get a decent fit.

Now it's too nice... take it out and get it all filthy again... before it ends up staying on the shelf. Got to run the restored Willy, Lunchbox, a re-re Grasshopper and the CC01 with friends last weekend. Of course they're all filthy, one broke (Lunchie's steer ball ripped out of the servo saver) and everyone had a great time bashing about in the dirt. Needless to say... we'll be doing it again next weekend... can't wait

The first RC car I ever built was a Super Champ. I'd been building scale boat kits from Dumas and others for a few years and had invited many a friend to go 'play' at the pond. One was very interested, but the months long build process was something he was not interested in. Gave him a stack or RC Modeler magazines and a few days later we were off to buy a kit. We spent the entire afternoon and evening assembling the car, he needed a lot of hand holding as he had no knowledge of the radio/servo setup. I really enjoyed the 'quick' build and resulting car, the instructions were superb and once we figured out that the illustrations were 1:1 with the screws and such... impressed! Needless to say many models followed, nearly all were Tamiya. Many 'alternate' brands were disappointing in fit, finish, instructions or even materials... but a Tamiya build never was... even when the car ran like rubbish. I enjoy the build nearly as much as the cars. For all the decades since, I've recommended a Tamiya as a starting point for anyone interested in getting into the hobby. Usually a Grasshopper, as they're wonderfully simple and tough, with the added bonus of tossing in a 540 when more speed is 'required'. Who recommends a race car as someone's first car? My fully loaded Super Champ was my race car. Reasonably competitive until the RC10's started showing up on the track. I even ended up using RC10 shocks to try and stay in the podium group. It was pointless and after a year or so... I caved. Associated had built an amazing car, a truly adjustable weapon, capable of being adapted to any track or driver (finicky, sometimes fragile and difficult to get setup 'perfectly'). I was occasionally back in the podium group. I learned, watched the Halsey VHS endlessly at the local hobby shop (they'd play it for me every time I came in) and tweaked the setup endlessly. Eventually lost interest when 'kids' were showing up at the track with multi thousand dollar cars and I was driving to the races in a $200 Pontiac and racing a $500 car... that couldn't keep up (well, at least I had my priorities straight) . The only bright spot became the "Grasshopper Racing League", where everything was legal and the only rules were 7.2v (sub C's), battery door had to be used and the stock 380 & gear ratio could not be tweaked/tampered or altered in any way... the 'cheaters' league!... hollow axles, cut away tubs and narrowed gears were all permissible... great fun for those who enjoyed experimenting and closely matched racing. I don't build race cars anymore... I build FUN cars. Tamiya cars are fun, from opening the box and discovering all the blister packed (miss that), bagged and boxed bits, through the building, right down to the running of them. No interest in racing anymore... just the pleasure of building and running the cars. The older I get, the more I miss the 'Hopper League....

Cut a small plug shape from the foam, insert it into each inner and outer drive cup, before the dogbones go in. The foam acts like a spring, tries to keep the dogbone centered between the cups, doesn't allow them to go too far into either cup. If it can't go all the way into one cup, it shouldn't be able to pop out of the other side... so long as all the suspension is moving the way it should. I pulled an RC10 upper arm and snapped a shot, you can just barely see it stuffed in there (it's not even straight :), a normal one is on the ball to the left. I usually like to use disposable orange foam ear plugs (because I have a box full, any disposable ear plug will work), they have almost no tension, so you can fit a nice sized piece in there, and they 'squish' easily so they can't really put any force on the dogbone. Try a piece about 6mm/ 1/4" long, just stuff it into each cup, assemble the suspension and check for binding. If it's all good, it is! Add or take away as needed. RC10's had an actual spring in the outdrive cup already, but I believe they recommended the foam in the inner cup as extra insurance (and it keeps dirt from filling the cup!). It's just something I've been doing for so long... that I do not remember where the idea originated. It does eventually wear out, but the cost is little more than the time to cut new ones and replace them.

Believe it or not... I was thinking of razor sawing the case open and adding some ABS or styrene to make the case the tiny bit taller. That, or 'machine' wells into the case halves, using a 3/4" Dremel type circular saw blade. Pretty sure the Tamiya cases can be glued with ABS plumbing cement... a long time ago, I built a new cell set into the giant grey Bruiser battery pack using much better 'D' cells, and am pretty sure I glued it back closed using plumbing stuff or just my regular Plastruct. Bonus note: While searching the garage bins for the thick sheets of styrene I'd stashed, I found a set of original Bruiser axles and wheels. They're beat up, but intact... which surprised me! I had quite a few Bruisers, some ruined ones were cannibalized for spares... as I'd built a 3 to 1 chain and sprocket gear reduction to run 8" rim, air filled tires (think hand truck) like a 'real' monster truck... and broke a bunch of axles as a result. Reverted back to regular sized wheels and it was much more realistic (guess I was crawling... long before there were crawlers) off roader. Sadly, all those 'toys' were sold off to pay for the 1:1 cars and motorcycles, now, I wish I'd kept them all...

Foam, cut from disposable ear plugs, or the foam protectors for ball n cup linkages (like Associated RC10's used, shown in pic) in each cup, can help keep either end of the dog bone from working it's way out.. Just enough for a little tension when the cups are at their closest point in the suspension travel, you don't want it to bind and try to push the suspension away from the chassis. It's cheap, easy to do and makes a big difference that no one but you will know is there.

Tudorp, thanks... that's what I understood to be the problem with NiMh cells. That's why I threw together the four cell Li-Ion, but I don't trust them as 'safe' for non hobby people... want something 'safer'. Although I might get out the Dremel and slice open the original hump pack to see what can be done Biz, thanks, that's perfect! That's what I'm going to have to go for as soon as I know she'll play with it, she desperately needs some fun.... Or I'll just go crazy, buy cells and build another spot welder (spot shorter?) and of course get all the 'stuff' again. I haven't built a 'matched cell' pack since the '80's, when buying bulk Sanyo cells, and all that 'matching' entailed was a yearly ritual at the start of the race season. I don't miss the process, not one bit... but having a pack that went the full 4 or 5 minutes was important. I'm still amazed at the run times I get with the current 'cheap' NiMh packs.

Willy lives! Been six months of other things to do, but I finally got to the finish line. It's still going to be bashed, so I forgave sourcing another windscreen and brackets, flipped the badly cracking tires around when I repainted the rims and gave the body a few coats of clear lacquer to restore some shine (Yes, she painted it blue 35 years ago). Bronze bushing all replaced with nice ball bearings and a HW1060 for speed control. The HiTek was the only 'barn attic' radio that still functioned, every other one was put away wet with AA's installed (receivers and transmitters all rotten inside). Assuming the Samurai I pulled it from, blew out the dogbones and that saved it... batteries scavenged for the other vehicles. Runs and drives just as badly as I remember them but it wheelies wonderfully. Question: What do you do for a battery in these things? The setup is only sized for the old plastic cased Tamiya batteries. I built a Li-Ion 4 cell pack and that works, but I hate them and don't want her house to catch on fire. Is there a 'modern' NiMh (3000ma +) hump pack available... or do I need to make my own from cells (Been a longggg time since I built packs)? I do have an original Tamiya hump pack in fabulous external condition, will slice open if NiMh's will fit inside.

"I need a barn like this... " Even urbanites have barns. Just ask someone over 50... they probably have a few gathering mouse turds or spider eggs in an attic, garage or basement. Like these, they'll have been put away, wet, broken and have had the batteries left in them :) None of the three have a working radio among them. The Beetle's HiTek is rotten at both the transmitter and receiver, the Clod transmitter is gone missing completely ( I looked for 30 minutes, through dozens of boxes and bins) and the Willy's transmitter has had the battery terminals rot away. Going to try salvaged Hitek terminals in a Futaba... Tired of dealing with the layers of gooey black paint (yes, whatever the last coat of paint was, never hardened) and epoxy repairs, I stripped it using the safe but time consuming brake fluid method (can't find my gallon of aircraft stripper?). The original paint layer was a nice shiny black under all the 'whatever' that was on top. It'll never be straight, but it'll be a body again. Massive amounts of styrene reinforcing the underside, it'll also get some Mad Max inspired reinforcements over the top, for added visual 'appeal'.

I'm currently using the silicone rubber seals from some automotive connectors (Deutsch type) to add a little bit of tension. I'm running the same Associated shocks I ran way back when, and while rare, a hard landing used to undo the lower ball joint. The wire ties were in the manual back in the day, you won't see it in a Re-Re manual though (wonder why?). The wire ties were never meant to be tightened down, they were more like limit straps... to prevent the balls popping out of the cups. At one point I was using the little rubber bands from orthodontic braces... recently notice the niece's enormous collection of small rubber bands for making bracelets... think they'd be perfect, and am going to snag a bunch in some colors.