MadAnt

Part 2.2. Let's take a look at that Hobbywing speed controller. I've owned a few of these HW 1060's but none that came standard in Tamiya kits and this one looks a bit different. I'm just kidding, here it is. The only thing different is the color of the heatsink, instead of red it's black and from my understanding, that's how they all come in new tamiya kits. Alrighty, on to the shocks. I have guessed that the front shocks are the super mini CVAs and I was right, but these shocks use a longer shaft and a spacer between the shock end and spring retainer. For now I just going to use my pre-assembled super mini CVAs that I already have, I'll lose a bit of ride height, but that's fine. The rear shocks are taller CVAs which I assembled using the two hole pistons instead of the three hole, because I want a bit more of resistance when the shock goes through it's motion and I really do think the soft oil is not thick enough for the rear suspension, but we'll see. Another problem I noticed with the front end was the bending of the upper part of the shocks. The top of the front shocks have a brass pipe bushing and are mounted to the towers with U brackets and the bottom of the is forward off center from that. So the lack of articulation causes the upper shock eye to bend, which is not good. To fix this, I rotated the U brackets until the top of the sock was no longer stressed and now relaxed.

This combination of flames and stripes looks so good.

@netsmithUK I would like to subscribe, but it seems I can't because the system won't take my money. Maybe it's PayPal being dumb, or the conversion of currency, or both. 🤷‍♂️

Part 2.1. This is something I have never seen before, these screws with very, very flat heads. These are for when extra clearance is needed and mounting down the mount plate for the camber links. The servo saver needs one hole drilled larger and gets one super flat headed screw too. I did run into a few issues on the front end, but as a mechanic I know how to solve problems. My metal gear rage servo was a little too tall, so on it's side, even with the new special angled servo mounts, the saver would touch the chassis. Oof! So in goes the TowerPro MG996R and problem solved... almost. The front suspension arms and steering bellcrank setup is something pretty cool to see on a Hornet. Just a tip. If the servo saver is making contact with the steering linkage (which is an issue I had), loosen the servo screws and wiggle the servo up. If you still don't have enough room, maybe put some washers between the chassis and servo mounts. Update edit: I can upload images again and HEIF works now.

Wait! Do you have a regular Hornet or the EVO? For the regular Hornet you might be able to find a 3D printed spool conversion, or at least the file for it. For the Hornet EVO, use some sticky grease in the diff for a limited slip effect.

Wow! This is like the RC equivalent of a barn find of a rare automobile.

I wonder if the outboard axle shafts from the ORV Brat will fit? Sure the length of threads is less, but if pin hole on the shank is slightly further out enough that might work to with the original hubs. I would check, but the closest thing I have to the ORV Brat is a Vintage Monster Beetle and that has hex drive joints.

It looks like a few millimeters can be gained by using the old wheel hubs. Edit: They don't fit. Another edit: They work if there is spacers between the axle inner bearing races and a shim between the pin and bearing.

Part 1.2. With the transmission and drive line finished we move to mounting it all to the chassis, but before I cover that, let's actually get a good look at this EVO chassis. This is the first modern Hornet chassis I have held in my hands. This chassis is different, it's better than the old chassis, it's even different than the re-release chassis. How different? Just a little, but where it counts and for necessity. Not only is there two new holes to mount the front suspension components, but just behind the shock towers the chassis has be reinforced with more plastic. In the past Hornets were prone to cracking by the front shock towers and now after 40 years something has been done about it. In the pictures below you can see the reinforced areas. Just for comparison here is the same area on my vintage Hornet which has been glued and repaired. Anyway, moving on to the rear shock tower. Looking at these pieces here really let's you know that there was no lazy way taken to give the Hornet IFS. No wait! Looks is not enough, you have to feel these parts go together, because It's an amazing fit. Going through the process of mating the DT02 rear to the chassis just felt satisfying as it slipped together like a nice puzzle. I was impressed. I do like the skid plate with the countersunk screws, I'm sure I'll scratch it up lol. I was really impressed at this point and really was enjoying the build. Part 2 will be the front end.

Part 1.1. The Tamiya Hornet has to be one the most iconic buggies from Tamiya, it seems that almost anyone I meet in public who was into RC in the past knows about the Hornet or Grasshopper and some have even owned one of these simple buggies too. My first hobby grade electric RC car was a Grasshopper, which is what the Hornet is based on. It's very simple platform and it's cheap cost made it a great starter car for the beginners, with a stock 27 turn 540 Mabuchi or Johnson motor (Grasshoppers had a 380 size motor) it was fast enough to be enjoyable, but also slow enough to not overpower the chassis and get into trouble. Even the well experienced hobbyists like myself enjoys the Hornet and Hopper platform as they are sometimes the cheap way to do experiments and make modifications fitting other body shells on and whatnot. Now celebrating The Hornet's 40th year of existence Tamiya has decided to do something special(there is a gap, just ignore it). Rather than just a cool paint and decal job those crazy engineers at Tamiya has modified the chassis and given us some new parts as well, technically making it a new car instead of just a simple retro fit with new suspension. That's right! It's not just the suspension that's different, it could technically be The Hornet III if the people working over at Tamiya wanted to call it that, but Hornet EVO I'm sure was the name that better fit the image, which is probably why it was chosen. I've waited a long time to find out what makes thing tick. Follow along this build, because there may be some things you need to know if you are going to build one yourself. We start off like pretty much most RC kits by opening the box. Ok, I'm not doing a box opening thread, go watch unboxing videos on YouTube if yo want that. Assembling the transmission. The transmission as many people know is from the DT02. While assembling the differential, I used Tamiya's AW grease on the bevel gears. This is a choice by me and should both lubricate well and give rotation resistance due to the sticky likeness of the grease. The nylon gears got a light coat of ceramic grease. Nothing really special with that and the motor is just the typical 27 turn Mabuchi RS 540SH silver can. When installing the pivot balls for the rear upper camber links you can use the provided wrench instead of using pliers like the instructions recommended. As of right now, these dogbone shafts are discontinued. Maybe this issue will be resolved soon. I know that there is some concern about these outboard shafts bending, but I think what happened to Shen RC was a just a defect and was bent prior to the first drive. Looking good so far.

Update again. BOX!

Before I start, I need to replace the camera. Update! Camera has been replaced and is seems to be so far so good. The old camera is in the pic below. These stupid phones cost a lot of money, if I can fix it, I will.

Just picked up the Hornet EVO. This is my first modern Hornet, I don't even have a re-re, all of my other Hornets and Hoppers are vintage. This should be an interesting build for me.

Owning two Clodbusters, I can say I'm well experienced with slow twin motor trucks lol. The plan will be to upgrade in stages and experiment. I have some 20 tooth pinions I could try in the future and 19turn motors I can swap from one of my Clods. Also, that low gearing may benefit me if I decide to put larger wheels and tires on the truck at some point. Lol, imagine these tires on the dagger build, but that's if I decide to go that crazy in the future.

The rear gearbox and suspension are assembled now. I used 5mm tubing which I had to cut to length, sand and grind down so the bearings would fit. The diff got lubed with sticky AW grease and the nylon gears got a light coat of silicone grease. Yea I know, I should use lithium grease, but really I've never had a problem and everything rotates nice and smoothly. As ugly as these tubes look, they should work fine, we'll see. Now Tamiya has the nerve to charge $1.00 for a little wax card stock gasket, I'm not spending that kind of money on something like that. Lucky for me, I have the next best thing. The motors I'm using are recycled from my motor pile and are actually the matching Johnsons that came out of my Clodbuster. They have been polished and some new used wires soldered on. To start off with stock performance, I installed 18 tooth steel Robinson Racing .6 mod pinion gears. I also have 20 tooth pinions if I want to go faster in the future. The reason why the gears look different in the picture above is because I bought one gear years ago and the wider one was bought recently. Here is the assembled rear gearbox and suspension. The motor screws were too long so I used some shock spacers(I don't have the proper size screws), it works and I'll probably never correct it lol. The shocks are some mini CVA's that I had used on a few projects in the past and will be used on this project for quite some time. That's going to be it for a bit, I'm still waiting for parts and the Hornet Evo will become the priority RC project, plus I have other things in life to do in the meantime. Oh wait! That's right, the Hornet Evo build should happen soon, but I need to fix the phone camera first so I can take better photos than these.

Yup! They worked fine years ago, but a small amount of wobble is not bad after the tires are broken in. Too much tire wobble that causes balance issues and shakes is not good and can wear bearings and other driveline components.

I forgot some news. The Traxxas Bigfoot no. 8 body will be available sometime in February. The hobby shop I go to has one on order for me, so that is something cool to look forward to in the future. Lol, a dagger bigfoot is going to be awesome.

100% That's what I did.

So I decided to fix the aftermarket suspension first, it did have some issues. One hole needed to be drilled out so I can fit the pin and modifications were made to the upper links. The metal end of the camber link was not going to work, or work correctly. It would be too sloppy mounting them with the supplied hardware, it would need thin wall bushings. So I ditched them for the next best thing, servo mounts. Used the same threaded rod with the ball end on one side and the servo mount on the other, then attached it to the case with the proper step screw used for the factory camber link. It's a good thing I keep these parts around, this pretty much the same thing I did on my TL01. It fits like a glove, but for 60 bucks these parts should have been engineered better, instead of me fixing them.

I just realized they did not ship the Thundershot dogbone shafts😢. I'll call Tamiya support tomorrow and find out what's going on with that.

I know I said I was going to start this build next year, but... I got most of my parts in and I want to get a head start. So it's now it's officially a build. But please do continue the conversation, I'm no WR-01 expert lol. To start off I'll show a box full off parts that I got today. Also, I apologize for the lower camera quality, I have a replacement camera for the phone on the way and my other cameras are not in the best shape right now, like batteries not holding charge and one of the digital cameras is a bit glitchy. Oh well. I got the aluminum control arms too. You know, for 60 bucks these should be ready to mount, but nope, the mounting holes for the shocks are not threaded, so I had to tap 8 holes to fit the typical 3mm machine screw. @acprc kind admin or moderator. Can you move this thread to "The Builds" please.👍

Still for sale, make an offer.

The setup in my thread is probably almost as good as it's going to get(a chassis brace may help) if you want to spend as little money as possible for the 4 wheel steering setup to handle much better. That clod I have there is running two Reedy 19 turn motors, which is too much power for the setup I have and well... I manage.

I just ordered a new camera for my cellphone, let's what comes first lol.

Those folks over at Tamiya Plastic Model co. are learning from McDonald's and are applying the McRib strategy.