NWarty

Well, I got a little bit of an itch last night to do a test run. Charged up two old Thunder Power 2s 1350mah lipos to use. Worked flawlessly. Car has the right amount of speed and didn't proceed to shed parts during the two runs Plus, their smaller size and less weight makes a big difference. Now to look at some ESC's.

Stone and Sho, Very good points and looks like I'll scale back to a regular 540 (little too aggressive with the Sport tuned ) I have plenty of lipo packs, so keeping it conservative shouldn't be a problem.

I had the same problem, but follow the sticky in the subforum. You have to email your picture: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=69842 Mine finally updated apparently

After spending a bit of time on the phone with my Dad last night regarding the integrity of the 540 endurance motor, I'm having to rethink a lot of things with this re-build. The 540 blue bell motor has to go. After this many years, the commutator, armature and brushes are tired. It sounds tired, it runs tired. Given the limitations of the aluminum housing and its dimensions and retrofit by the previous owner, I'm looking at replacing the motor with a brand new 540 Sport Tuned since it will fit and give a little bit more in performance. In all honesty, the car is a bear to drive in its current MSC-3Speed configuration. Sure, it's pretty to look at, but it drives like a dog. So after A LOT of thought, I'm dumping the MSC/4 AA radio batteries/NiCd in favor of an ESC/lipo setup. I already have a lipo charger, lipo batteries and all the equipment, "So why not?" I asked myself. Also will be looking at upgrading the radio setup to a 2.4ghz system. Two-sticks are for my airplanes and helis only My father and I agreed, it can still be vintage but utilize today's technology for a more enjoyable driving experience. In my opinion, I don't want to own something this special and stare at it collecting dust on my mantle; I want to drive it. I plan on keeping all the original parts, packing them neatly away so that if I ever decide to part ways with the 58002, its new owner and home will still have all the original pieces, motor and radio. I may end up doing all of this, I may not. Don't know. Just some thoughts. P.S. Just realized I could leave all that gear in there and still run an ESC and have the looks of the old MSC and resistor

Removed all tamiya connectors and soldered on Deans. Much happier now as I can utilize my lipo packs and charger, but I can hear the vintage Gods screaming.

I was able to source another set of body parts, specifically the passenger mirror, wiper and driver. I purchased the Tamiya 1/12 GT01 Porsche 934 RSR W Parts Tree, which is an exact match to the original 58002 W parts tree (only it's molded in black). The Q Tree for the 934 contains the one mirror that I needed. Sweet... Keeping my fingers crossed this time with this order. Also ordered a bunch of Tamiya 2mm screws and nuts to replace a couple that were missing on the battery tray.

Building a new wiper arm and blade from Evergreen strip and rod styrene. Got to tweak it a bit and add a couple more things but pretty happy thus far. Decided to polish out the only remaining original piece of glass, the passenger window. The piece was HEAVILY scratched and discolored. I took some 3M Rubbing Compound (for headlights) and hand polished the piece for roughly 30 minutes, going over it roughly four times on each side. Darned impressed with the 3M stuff and how it turned out.

Thank you much Grastens. Yeah, it's frustrating and I was indeed refunded. The issue I have is that it took them a week to figure out they didn't have it in stock and it took some prodding by me (putting in a support ticket) to ask if had even shipped. They responded two days later. The hunt continues.

Well, my Tamtech body set is not to be. Dang company didn't even have it in stock even though it said "IN STOCK" and allowed me to order it. So, I'm in need of a Decal Set, whether vintage or Tamtech. Also in need of a passenger door mirror and driver set.

Hey guys, Did some more mechanical work last night and have some questions. - This 58002 has a retrofitted Endurance blue-bell motor. It's a 540 and not the original 380. The right-rear aluminum bracing was cut by the original owner to allow this thing to fit. If I run a 7.2v pack instead of the intended 6.0v pack, am I going to run into any issues with the MSC blowing up or fuses deciding to give up? - Also, my battery packs are mostly Deans connectors for most of my other stuff. What are folk's opinion on doing this to vintage stuff? The MSC currently has a female Tamiya connector (which is weird). She's not going to be a shelf queen and I do indeed intend to run her. Completely tore apart the rear end and drive train tonight. Pulled the rear axle off and put it in a drill and sanded it smooth. Cleaned up the rear diff and greased everything. MUCH smoother now. Polished more of the chassis tonight, had to rebuild the A-pillar to line up correctly with the passenger door glass (the only original glass piece left), which is why it looks funky in this photo from earlier today and before it was all sanded smooth and puttied. Honestly, it looks like garbage in this photo compared to now. Will reshoot Gloss White once I get the replacement Glass in and everything lines up correctly. All the tires now have lettering done on them. I used the Pactra lexan paint from recommendations from others.

She's alive!!! Battery is for testing only. Freezing cold and dark outside, so I had to run it around the house. When first connected, there was no power to the motor. After trouble shooting for a bit, I tore apart the 3-speed MSC and rebuilt it. The top disc, containing the contacts, was not pressing hard enough on the contact board due to a loose bolt and nut. Cleaned with alcohol and put back together and voila! She fired right up. The motor has seen better days and I need to tear apart all the running gear and re-grease EVERYTHING. This sucker is loud! Going to take a lot to get used to running a 3-speed as this is my first. I've also got to tweak the right A-pillar as the remaining piece of glass, the right window, doesn't fit correctly. So it's more chopping, more filling, more sanding and more dryfitting....sigh. Will wait until the replacement static kit glass comes in to work on the B-pillars.

Sorry for the crummy pics guys. My wife took our good digital camera to her classroom for a project. Anyways, decided to do lettering on one tire. The front left. It's worn pretty good, so it was a challenge. Going to use pastel chalk and some Dullcoat to break up the pattern. Also, I used the extra, NIB rear wheels to put on the car. The box was trashed, but the wheels perfect. So at the end of this build, I'm hoping to send the older set (which are still great) to a good home. They were primed with a Matte Black and then an additional two coats of DullCoat were applied. The red striping was done in flat red, but I'll be shooting approximately four coats of clear once the decals are in place so it'll get a nice gloss finish. Hoping to get a video shot of her tomorrow running on her own power as the battery is arriving tomorrow. By the way, I hate this antenna. This base is epoxy'd to the roof and can't pry the darned thing off. I don't necessarily mind the base, but need a nice straight aerial plastic tube to keep it from looking like Droopy Drooperson from Droopsville.

GTodd, Wow!!! Sending you a PM

NWarty = Northwest Artillery. I'm a US Army artillery officer. I get called Warty a lot

berman, Yep, I've been eye-ballin' a rere WO and have a bid in on an original Grasshopper (new built with an Acoms). The Grasshopper for now as my school friend had one when I lived in southern Florida when I was 10 years old, which really ignited the R/C bug in me several months before I got the Wild One. The Pumpkin was cleaned up this past week before I got the 935 and all the scratches and dings in the paint were filled. It's stil running on its original MSC but it's a runner so I should at some point upgrade to an ESC. And since I could never afford an original Avante as a kid, I have a Takara/Tomy/Spinmaster Q-Steer Avante and Hornet too Maybe you guys can point me in the right direction, but I'm missing two (2) 2mm x 4mm round head screws and two (2) nuts. Does anyone know what parts bag may be compatible?

No worries GTodd;) And thanks Nick, good to see ya over here Nothing much to report other than spraying the red strip on the front valance last night and cleaning up the fog lights a bit. Also cleaned up the 3-speed MSC by repainting the spring and outer metal ring in Satin Black.

For nostalgia sakes and because they were cool, I present you the Midnight Pumpkin racing crew, my Pumpkin and my Mini-T. Photos from 2004

Reading and reading and reading around the forums has really stirred up the nostalgia in me. Although I really didn't make a proper introduction, I thought I'd do so. I come from a family of modelers. My grandfather started his first kits (aircraft) in the 1930's, my Dad in the 1950's and me in the 1980's. My first Tamiya car was a Wild One given to me at Christmas in 1986. It was equipped with a Futaba Magnum Jr. and OEM hump pack. I spent the next two days, huddled in my Dad's workshop, building the kit, painting the body and installing everything myself. I was 11 years old at the time and had already built a ton of models at this point. I ran the bejesus out of that car for two years. In 1987, I upgraded to an AE RC10 and ran it with a Parma Eagle body. I built that one too at 12 years old. That then turned into a Kyosho Optima. My Dad bought an AE RC12 later that year and started to get into road racing. I too was immediately hooked. We moved onto MRP 10's and then to Bolink Eliminator 10's in 1988 and raced competitively in Cahokia, Illinois for a couple of years. The last car my Dad and I worked on was an AE RC8. It was an incredibly exciting time in R/C Racing. Motor/ESC/Radio technology was growing leaps and bounds. Tire goop and a heat gun, those were fun times I moved to Atlanta, GA. in 1988 and fell out of racing. It had gotten too expensive and road racing was non-existent (oval track racing was king, bleh...). We sold all of our old stuff off. Fast forward to my first deployment to the middle east in 2003. There was a Lieutenant Colonel on the post that had put together a R/C racing club. Tower Hobbies generously donated the equipment. 10 Midnight Pumpkins, batteries, radios, chargers and spare parts for all 10 of them. Each truck was done up in NASCAR colors so that the LTC could easily pick them out (well, plus he was from Tennessee). I decided to buy my own Pumpkin and did it up in Terry Labonte "Tony the Tiger" colors. Slapped an ESC and oil dampers on it and proceeded to whip my fellow soldiers a new one A buddy had shown me his Losi Mini-T and I instantly fell in love with it too. Bought one, tore it apart dozens of times and slapped every graphite and aluminum upgrade I could find for it. Outfitted in a Baja Beetle body painted like the beloved Sand Scorcher and dropped a Castle Creations brushless motor in it. And once again, returning home after my trip to the sandbox, I fell out of R/C again. Only this time, I kept the Pumpkin as I knew they had stopped making them. Fast forward to last week and you get the rest of the saga with my Martini 935. So that's my story, my name is Blake and I live in Washington State and I'm an scale modeler/airplane/heli guy too Currently working on a Trumpeter 1/350 CVN-68 Nimitz which is nearing completion.

GTodd, That would be absolutely fantastic! Thank you sir No worries on the decals as the TamTech body is en route from Japan and Myles (Tamiyoman) is looking too if I need an extra set. -Blake

Got it sorted, thanks Twinset!!!

Just tried again matman, no dice...

Thank you much guys and I'm incredibly humbled to be able to even take care of this car. Some better shots of the chassis and body after three coats of gloss white. Missing a couple of chassis screws and nuts and will need to source those too. But REALLY happy with how this is turning out.

Thanks Percy, I was just able to source a Tamtech GT-01 Martini Body set 40164. Woohoo! This will give me the fiddly bits I'm missing like the passenger mirror, driver and most importantly, the decal sheet. I can also chop out the lexan windows to retrofit onto the original styrene shell. Another thing to point out is the roof antenna. I know a lot of 58002's here don't have them. It was mounted this way when I took her home. To me, it doesn't detract from the look much as I plan to run her and not let her grace the shelf too much I'll take some better photos tonight of the cleaned up and polished chassis with my good digital camera. -Blake

Already did, can't login with my IPhone also

Hey guys, I can log into the forum just fine, but logging into the main TC site is an issue, i.e. won't let me. Who do I contact for help? Didn't see a link anywhere. V/R Blake