Ferruz

I was aware of the recommendations (and actually ran a Sport Tuned), but still I'd wondered for a long time until I found this thread and decided to give it a try. What @TurnipJF and @Juls1 said made sense to me, so I decided to give it a go once convinced I probably wouldn't lose anything by trying. I installed an HPI Firebolt 15T motor on my Hornet yesterday, and so far so good, definitely good. I ran two full battery packs (3000 NiMh) with no shut downs, stops or issues whatsoever. The car now flies like no other rc of mine ever did so far, sheer speed not being my priority. I was quite impressed! The rear tires are now worn enough to be able to run it on tarmac, so I went for a few speed runs in a straight road: I can't quite believe it didn't end up tumbling. It's ridiculously fast and delightfully hard to handle now, very challenging and fun, I really hope this setup will last hassle free like that. I kept in mind that I'm pushing it and thus didn't abuse the throttle or "run the car continuously"(like Tamiya instructions recommend not to ) and by the end of each pack the ESC was barely even warm, outside temperature being around 25°C in the evening. Like others stated before, it makes sense that a lighter car with low gearing can get away with that. I wouldn't push it on heavier setups. I've run this motor only on my Big Boss before, the significant current draw from the NiMh was pretty obvious especially when moving from still (headlights would flicker) but it had a suitable brushed ESC, with all that weight and the big monster wheels I doubt that the TBLE02S could have pulled it off. But yeah as I said so far so good on the Hornet, will let you know if that changes!

@Saito2 those tires look alright, good to know there are some alternatives to the original tires available! I think that if you happen to have two sets of original Kyosho Bridgestones, you should definitely run them! One set will be enough for the shelf, you could pick the best 4 looking tires out of the 8 and enjoy the others without guilt (bear in mind though, this comes from a guy that runs them daily and has no spares ). I find the "life is short" philosophy, when finally applied to RC, does often turn into a lot of fun and fulfilment. The truck looks great! As for filling the engine hole, you could go a few ways. If you have any spare lexan left from trimmings that is big enough, you could try and cut it to fit, using putty or resin but not sure how sturdy it would prove to be, I guess it depends on the use. Personally, for the sake of functionality I went the ghetto way and stuck tape inside and out. Seeing that it didn't sink much, I applied a sticker on top of it and found that it blended enough with the roughness of my Big Boss for it not to bother me. It's a runner so it's far from perfect aesthetically speaking, it's got scratches here and there and the chrome parts are faded, I like it like that but if you want to keep a more pristine look for your runner you should probably go for something more refined than tape it sure works, though! I never had to touch it up since. I don't have better pictures handy at the moment, but this will give you an idea of how it looks The front grill you made looks pretty cool!

Not today but yesterday. Three more lil' packages in the mail box. One even had a logo that slightly resembled the one from RCMart! ...all were for my wife, once again. Frivolous, non-essential mask samples (how many variants of such item can possibly exist?), where are my needed, absolutely-essential hop ups?? Aaaargh I will leave that mail box alone for a few days (told myself yesterday, went back to check today)

Useful and interesting thread. After reading this, I'll definitely try a 15T motor on my Hornet and see how it goes...

@Saito2 loving your find, congrats. I dream of finding such donor myself someday. Although, on second thought, it looks so complete that it deserves its own restoration. Is this one going to be a runner?

Three more little packages in the mail box today! Got excited... ...once again, all for my wife. Re-bummed.

Ordered yet one more hop up for my Manta Ray. I'm starting to lose count of how many are slowly moving across the globe towards me, so I made a list in order not to forget. Meanwhile, this morning our mail box was clogged with multiple packages, six small ones and a medium one. I thought "Hey! Finally! This smells like Tamiya hop ups!" Turns out six small packages were for my wife (various ppl's takes kmon covid masks).. and so was the medium one. Bummed

I would go to 540 motor specs, should be more than enough power for you to enjoy the Grasshopper realistically, without Frank having to consider upping his life insurance every time you run it. Nice experiment fitting the smaller BL though!

@nowinaminute thanks mate for all the tips about researching. There are times when I watch the bay attentively for a few weeks, usually when in need of more than one specific part so I end up being interested in all sort of things, but unfortunately I miss out big time on facebook. I've heard that it can sometimes be a real gold mine for RC deals, but by choice I don't have an account so I keep missing out on all sort of stuff. I love the tip about the "generic" research like "rc truck" though, good idea! Better still if it doesn't involve the word "vintage" I guess, as nowadays it's become a synonym for "fancy" and "expensive" regardless of the item. @Saito2 please post pics of your new, chassis cover equipped Boss once it reaches your hands!

I know! That would be great, sometimes it shows up on out favourite auction site for an arm and a leg, just like all the chrome parts. Way too much money for what it is. But last year I found a good alternative when my dogbones finally got brittle and needed replacement. There is a guy in the States (bless him) that 3D prints the infamous dogbones in a material the he guarantees is better than the original plastic. I got a set, they were not cheap but worked perfectly on my Big Boss and they look just like the originals. It got me out of trouble without affecting my enthusiasm about running the car, as they can be reprinted. If anybody is interested let me know and I'll research that seller, pretty sure he still has them available. I agree on the fact that the Boss' Bridgestone tires are like the holy grail: absolutely gorgeous, and close to impossible to find. Again, some seller from Spain has had one or two pairs for sale forever for a ridiculous price: I'll keep passing on this (but still drool in front of the ad from time to time). Good thing about those tires though is that you can swap them around: if you consider that most of the wear happens to the inward part of the rears, swapping them around periodically will ensure they last a lot longer and wear evenly at the same time. My personal impression about these tires, quality wise, is very good. Mine have been sitting in a garage up in the mountain for 22 years straight, and when I finally dug the Boss out they were as good as new. What a fluke huh, I know, I still can't believe how much abuse they got since then and still look great. Hopefully that'll last Wow, how do you find it easy to acquire the bulk of them for quite cheap? I'd love to get my hands on another chassis at least, anything Big Boss oriented, so I could finally cut my Big Boss some slack! About the chassis cover, mine was no exception. I crafted one out od an old lid, worked just fine. Maybe later on today or tomorrow I'll set out to service the gearbox properly. This thread gave me the itch!!

Had some good Tamiya time today, after a few days with no RC history. The GT Tuned I recently installed on the Hornet had something wrong, so I decided to take it apart for a good clean up. The amount of filth packed inside that can was, well... uncanny! I wish I could take a photo but my hands were way too dirty, that filth somehow expanding on the workbench/picnic table like a black hole while I was working at it. Brushed, blew and cleaned the rotor and pretty much everything else with WD40, dried it up, smeared with motor oil and cloth cleaned again. Back on the road, the motor performed much better, but was unbelievably silent and, believe me or not, my NiMh battery pack lasted over an hour I was happy about this unexpected, everlasting pack, but I don't really know how to explain it. Maybe I left too much oil residue inside the motor and that helped keeping temperatures and friction down, which would also explain the noise decrease, probably (definitely) at the price of losing some RPMs due to the extra drag? It was fun anyway, and if it keeps lasting this long now I can go jogging with the Hornet without having to worry about it running out of power. A few hops with the GT Tuned On another note, the whole process of opening and cleaning the motor was witnessed by my by now loyal friend Munchy, which kept sticking around waiting for me to feed him some treats as I would usually do. This time I was too focused on the job though, so, feeling neglected, at some point he decided to try and help himself to the open can of crunchies nearby. I'm glad I managed to sneak a shot of his adorable attempt. It broke my heart, I had to drop everything and go feed him his well deserved treats (I was almost done anyway). Gotta love the Munch...

@Saito2 what an interesting thread! Like you and @mongoose1983 I'm a huge fun of the Big Boss (it truly is embedded in my own "RC dna") and I wish I found it before! Still, it was so much fun to read through it and to find out I was exactly in your same situation when stripping it down and restoring it. Almost all the issues you guys had, I had! Including the tight spot in the gear mesh, obviously. By the way, thanks @nowinaminute for the insight! After a couple years straight of heavy duty in all sorts of weather condition and temperature, I decided to give some proper TLC to my Big Boss next days, whenever I find the time. Tje gearbox will be the main target, so this thread will sure come handy! I too might have some useful ghetto mods to share, I'll take a closer look when I start. I recall doing a very effective one to strengthen the front end, as it is a very weak spot indeed,especially when you like jumps... Great, refreshing thread, again. Glad to find out there's others that love this monster truck! Despite the undeniable flaws, the Big Boss rules and with a few adjustments it's tough as nails! I run mine most everyday and it won't retire anytime soon.

I too have ordered one a couple weeks ago, should be here any day now. Seems like a legit piece indeed.

I think you're absolutely right, my friend It looks geat!

Had a good long run with the Hornet today, after swapping the Sport Tuned for a GT Tuned I had lying around. It performed well, but I find that the old black Sport Tuned definitely packs more of a punch.

Some rock c̶r̶a̶w̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ hopping with the Hornet

Driver installed on the RC10 JPS, the project is now 100% complete! Feels good to finally be done. Hope you'll like it!

Thanks, mate! Driver installed: finally, the car is 100% finished! I'm very happy with how it came out, can't wait drive it! Hope you like it

I was gonna give up on having the driver's name on the car as I had no such decals, but then I had an idea. I fetched a little label machine we have at work and fiddled with the settings a little, eventually I was able to print them in pretty much the size and font I wanted. Some gold paint applied sparingly, clear coat and here we go.

Thank you. For the detail work, first off you want to invest in a decent fine tip paint brush (art material supply stores will have it). A few bucks will do, and it will get you much further than a toothpick. To avoid paint runs, you should work towards trying to find the right paint texture and then mind the amount of paint you apply. I use acrylic colours that can be thinned with water to achieve the desired texture. Remember that, on a lighter background, just the smallest smear of darker paint will do: the less you apply, the more you control it and the less likely you will be to get runs. Also, I find that the more drivers you do the more you see how much room there still is for improvement, so have fun and experiment as you can always smear it off and do it all over again!

@matisse Thanks for the info, I finally ordered everything needed. If the Tamiya plastic ball cups are 24mm long as stated in the technical specs, I should be good! But all the parts gotta get here first so... now I wait.

Today I finished my Ronnie driver for the RC10 John Player Special. Took a while (and it survived an attack by some unknown wildlife ), definitely not perfect but it's done by hand so I'm happy with it. will hopefully do the job on the car!

The driver is finally done. While outside drying, the helmet has been attacked by wildlife, which meant I had to do a lot of work all over again, but in the end I coudln't help leaving a couple scratches barely visible, as a reminder of the funny episode! Here is my Ronnie Peterson figure, along with the image that inspired it. I had no stickers so I did what I could with paint, it's not perfect but I like how it came out. It was a lot of fun trying to detail it, but at the end I was so done! Drying overnight, tomorrow I'll get it on the car.

My last order from RCMart hasn't arrived yet, but I've already hit them up with another order... more bits, parts and particles for my Manta Ray. A little bit of trial and error with parts/measurements, hopefully I got the right pieces for what I want to do! But the tedious part of sorting it all out is over, that in itself is a relief!

Oh, wow. I knew that every battery is potentially dangerous, but thought NiMh were safer than Lipo by a long shot. I didn't know that many used to blow up. I have a basic (I feel many would say unpresentable) wall charger, with no switch or led whatsoever. One of those that get bashed hard in every battery/charger discussion. Its output is very low (300 mA) so it takes me 10 hours to charge a 3000 mAh battery, the wait is long but I read that a slow charge has its good sides, one being that it is safer. Dunno if it's true, but I can say the charger never gets more than barely warm even after 10 hrs, and the batteries warm up just the usual, towards the end of the charge. Forgetting to unplug did happen, quite a few times, but apparently one or two extra hours of charge didn't seem to affect the battery (and it sure didn't blow up, fortunately). Does anybody confirm that a slow charge is safer? Or am I risking even more with my China wall thing? My charger is too slow anyway, I have to invest in a decent one, but I have to say I've been going over 3 years like this with no problem. One thing I will do, though: figure out some sort of safety undertray, like some of you pointed out above. It's a good and quite obvious idea, can't believe I didn't think about it, thanks!