El Gecko

Same same (20yrs for me). I won't forget about RC for the summer, but it'll definitely take a backburner to everything else (BMX mostly, besides ofc family stuff). I want to add another vote for sticking with simple and bulletproof. My NiMHs have been perfectly fine, other than dropping volts when they got cold this winter (like any battery). But the maintenance is easy: I let them cool after a run, charge them up and leave them charged, then whenever I want to run again, throw one back on the charger to peak it, and it's ready to go. Same as NiCds except we fully discharge NiCds for storage. Definitely not the fastest, or lightest, or whatever, but I don't care as long as they keep working and allowing me to enjoy driving my old cars around (for far longer at a time than NiCds!!!). The charger and batteries just sit on a metal shelf in my office while they charge, and only get slightly warm to the touch when they're peaked. I've never had one "blow up" or even bulge, and this is with simple automatic peak chargers, nothing fancy. They're robust too. The Traxxas NiMH used to be an 8-cell hump pack, but I cut the top 2 cells off and soldered new leads on the end... I think I got it in maybe 2012, and when I dug it out last year I wasn't sure it would even hold a charge, but after a little "conditioning" it sprung back to life and has been working solid ever since, through mud and snow and everything I can throw at it... even exposed in the ORV chassis! Although I wish the HW1060 ESC didn't have a low-voltage limp mode for NiMH because I want to drive my cars in all seasons!!! The batteries work perfectly fine, even when cold, with the Traxxas XL-5 ESC, which has no such cutoff.

Indeed, they have been a source of essential information as I've restarted my RC journey... I'm glad I've kept them all these years!

Glad to hear you were able to get new parts, I'm sure it'll be back on the road in no time! (I've also never seen one of those gearboxes break like that--impressive job!)

The March '93 RC Car Action has some possibly relevant info...

Just my opinion but I wouldn't have bought it in the first place because it's "too nice" for me. I like to drive all my cars, and I wouldn't even want to power this one up because it's so pristine (and has been kept this way for so long, it would be a shame to break that streak!). I'd love to have a vintage Sand Rover too, but it would probably have to be a beat up basket case with no collector value for me to really enjoy driving it without fear of breakage. I've even been considering the DT-02 version lately but I've got a lot of other cars to fix before I start buying more

Just a guess but I'd say the RPM/speed brushes would be harder than the torque/power brushes. I believe a softer brush gives more punch on the low end but also more friction, possibly limiting top speed/peak RPM. Assuming all the dimensions of the brushes etc. are the same otherwise.

It looks to be in good shape for its age, although maybe a bit bloated (not sure if it's just the angle of the pic, or if the cells have bulged). It may give you hope to know that I still have two of the 6-cell 7.2V "hump" packs like this, and they still charge up just fine despite their age, and are actually quite "punchy" compared to some of my other old batteries. You won't get much runtime out of NiCds in general though

Do you happen to know a part number for those bearings? I'd like to replace the worn bushings in my old Yokomo stock motors with bearings at some point. Lots of great looking cars in this thread! @Marcus2116 I had to laugh at your modified shocks I did the exact same thing the other night with a pair of shocks because the original shock ends/spring plates were too short which limited the suspension travel. When you don't have proper replacement parts, improvise!

Thanks for clearing this up with some firsthand experience, and sorry if I misdirected the thread... apparently I have only ever had OLD (pre-BEC) MSCs!

It was the "Youtube mix" for that album, not sure who the uploader was but every track was really muddy and low quality. The weird thing was that it sounded remixed too, as if they took all the edge off of the guitar and his voice, and cranked up the keyboards instead somehow. I've just listened to the one you embedded in your first post above, which sounds like what I remember. Ah, I see what you mean now, yes a bit lost in translation there! After I posted that I thought about it some more and realized "of course, RC planes and anything nitro will have been doing this for ages now" I just haven't delved into those categories in my RC journey! And yes, that's exactly I was thinking: you could have a servo located essentially anywhere in the chassis tub/frame, and just have a cable linkage to a steering actuator on the axle. That's cool they're already using it for remote locking diffs, I can visualize all kinds of applications for it. I'm sure the big rig and RC construction equipment folks use remote cable linkages all the time. Which has now got me thinking of how to use cables and a remote servo for a plow or snow blower on the front of one of my trucks...

I was describing the typical MSC setup. Yours is clearly different, as I have never seen an MSC with an extra power plug for the receiver. This makes it function basically the same as an ESC. Except with two plugs in the receiver for the MSC (servo plug, battery plug) instead of just one in the servo channel for the ESC. All 2.4G receivers should have BEC built in, so even if this is the case on OP's car, it should be no problem to just plug the old switch harness right into the new receiver, same as the old setup.

Yes, exactly! The servo on the 2nd channel changes the position of the MSC plate, which makes it contact different points on the base, giving the motor different directions and speeds (some of those contact points are hooked up to the resistor(s), to provide lower-power/speed throttle options).

You just have to think of MSC setups as two distinct systems in the car, working together through the MSC. Instead of everything tied into the main 7.2V battery (receiver, steering servo, ESC), you have the "motor system" and the "radio system" that are electrically separate in an MSC car. The radio system is the control system: receiver and servos for steering and throttle control, powered by the 4AA battery box. Then you have the motor system which is literally just the big battery and the motor, with the position of the MSC plate determining how much power the motor gets and which direction it goes.

Let's clear some of this up, because there's a lot of conflicting info. The car on its way to you has an MSC, two servos, and a battery box that will house 4 AA size batteries. Judging from the plug setup in your pic, it looks like there may already be a receiver in the car. The receiver will be powered by the 4AA battery box, which will also power the servos. The MSC is just a switch plate for the big battery--the direction and power of the big battery to the motor is switched by one of the servos. The 4AA box, receiver, and servos are on the same circuit, which should be completely separate from the large 7.2V battery. (I have never seen an MSC with an Rx power plug, but who knows what kind of funky stuff is out there) You can remove the old receiver and install a new 2.4G receiver to match your transmitter, as long as you plug the servo and battery box into the new receiver the same way they're plugged into the old one. The new receiver will run off the 4AA battery box exactly the same as the old one. And the car will work exactly the same as it would have with the old receiver. You can even keep the ON/OFF switch in the same location. If, in the future, you decide to install an ESC, you will have to remove the MSC switch plate, the servo that powers the MSC switch plate, and the 4AA battery box. Then just keep the steering servo plugged into the new receiver, and plug in the new ESC in place of the old servo (no extra batteries will be needed) and you will be all good to go.

lol, what strange computer voodoo!! Maybe I'll still post up a summary of all the tracks/rounds/winners to date.

Could do an FX10 livery since the tub is white, but you'd have to repaint the wing which looks to be in good shape. Here are some more color and body ideas for you (I don't even own one but I could look at these pics all day long... maybe that means I SHOULD own one??):

By the way, as a quick diversion back to the band, I found TFTKOF on YouTube yesterday and turned it on as I was working, and it sounded HORRIBLE!? I don't know if they've "remastered" it since the original release but the recordings are WAY different (unfortunately not in a good way, so anyone finding them for the first time on YT might be similarly disappointed). Also I was re-reading your entries above and one thing jumped out at me this time: "servo cable" is something that I'm surprised I've never heard or thought of before. All the benefits and power of a servo in a remote location? Sign me up! I bet you can get some really crazy chassis configurations going with a remote servo linkage that's also flexible.

Just a thought, maybe edit the first post in this thread and keep the rules there? We could also keep a record of all the track layouts and top finishers for all the rounds too, and it would be all in one place as easy reference... as I say, just a thought, and I can help get the track info together if you want!

This is great to see!! Like you said, especially considering what you started with It's got a new lease on life!

Wow, another Gloryhammer fan, and you know a band member! Can't wait to see how this one turns out!

Yes, when the boxes still exist. My cars are all secondhand and only two of them still have their original boxes, but IMHO they're two of the best: Grasshopper and Hornet

The Mad Bull with buggy wheels ended up a lot like a Fighter Buggy RX or Rookie Rabbit, looks great! And I bet it drives well too.

Well all my cars are my original cars from my childhood (except one) so I still get that original feeling working on them. Especially because they're all basically still basket cases, even if some of them have fancy motors and ESCs now The one I bought last year is wearing one of my original bodies, and it's the same chassis as two of the others, so it's like the missing link or long-lost brother. Driving them is a different story though. I never got to do much RC driving in my youth, and never to the level of control of an ESC, so it has been fun noticing the differences. The 2.4G radio gear really makes a big difference too. No more worries if a passing radio wave is going to cause me to careen into a fencepost or something, and it's nice being able to use the same Tx for all the cars. I think it actually helps that I haven't gone too crazy with restoring them either. At this point I'm still just trying to get everything functioning, which is the same place I was when I packed everything into storage 20 years ago, so even though all that time has passed, I'm just picking up where I left off.

Depends how old that Traxxas is... I nearly lost a steering screw pin (stripped) and then blew out a half shaft on the Sledge this afternoon, but this is a 30 year old truck we're talking about (and it was -10C ambient temp which probably made things a bit more brittle than usual)