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Last year I converted a Grasshopper 2 to independent suspension all round using a Thundershot rear gearbox and suspension and some 3D printed parts I designed. I called Project Ultra G. Here's the build thread: As this conversion uses a lot of Rising Fighter parts and the fact that that buggy comes with fairly modern 12mm hex rear wheels, then that kit is the best place to start. The Rising Fighter body is very Hornet like so build an Ultra Hornet! My conversion was predicated on using the neon yellow Super G wheels which I love, but it would run modern tamiya 2wd bearing front/12mm hex rear wheels just as well and open up your tyre choice. Although I have tried low profile Schumacher Cut Staggers on the front and they drop the ground clearance too much. I use Schumacher Minipins which are regular profile and have a really nice level of clearance. Rising Fighter kit fronts and Super G kit tyres work great too for ground clearance. The main things you need are a buggy of the types mentioned and a Thundershot rear gearbox and suspension. Here are the parts you need from my Shapeways store: Front suspension conversion for the Thundershot wishbones - http://shpws.me/QLkw If you don't mind mismatched coloured wishbones (the Thundershot wishbones are blue) then my front suspension conversion using DT02/3 wishbones does just as well The bobbins for mounting the gearbox to the Rising Fighter transmission mounts (you need 2) - http://shpws.me/QLky Direct fit front uprights with better clearance and 5 deg caster fit perfectly with the Thundershot wishbones. You need 1 of each (or just get DT02/3 c hubs and fit with spacers as I did originally)- http://shpws.me/QLkD http://shpws.me/QLkG If you want to go whole hog then the Thundershot/Dragon 3 deg toe in rear uprights are these: http://shpws.me/QLjE http://shpws.me/QLjx Thundershot rear uprights work just as well really. I just like fiddling. I'd highly recommend getting the DT02 turnbuckle set 53828 as you'll get all the bits you need for upper arms and steering arms including rod ends and ball screws. The rear suspension in particular benefits from upper camber link, but you will need to make a chassis end rod end using a spacer and a ball collar. For the rest you need some 5mm thick ABS/styrene plastic to cut to shape to make the solid rear gearbox mount plates. The rest is just M3 threaded rod, lots of rod ends and ball screws and nuts to make the chassis reinforcement and top gearbox connections. Shocks are 64mm front/94mm rear so either the DT03 shock set 54567 or for more tunability 50519 and 50520. I run the stiffer DF03 silver rear springs from 53927 and DT03 kit fronts (very soft). Any of the TRF201 front spring set work nicely too. Would be great to see another one. As I mentioned earlier, I think the Rising Figher is probably a better basis for this project if you're not hopelessly attracted to the Grasshopper 2 Super G like I am!

Hey all, Rediscovered my Super Hornet from 20-odd years ago and would like to resurrect it for the small humans to play with. Opened it up and found that the only thing missing was the speed controller. My thinking is that a budget ESC would out-live the kid's interest in the RC car. Looking at the specs of the Super Hornet on the Tamiya website, the car has a 27 turn 540 brushed motor, running on a 7.2v NiCD battery. 1) Would an OCDAY Brushed 60A ESC be suitable for my application? 2) Are the brushed ESCs able to be reprogrammed with the brushless programming cards. The abilioty to lower the power specs would make overall control for the kids more enjoyable at first. 3) If the original NiCD battery no longer holds a charge, will a NiMH 7-pack battery be suitable with this ESC? Cheers,

So I did a 4 bar front suspension mod on my Rising Fighter a few weeks ago because I had so much DT03 stuff lying around due to hopping up that buggy. Thread is here if you are interested I needed to get something from Shapeways for work so knocked up a solid lower wishbone mount for the conversion. It arrived today. Needed a bit of fettling but is pretty much there. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Rising Fighter is so much fun to drive now!

I have a Rising Fighter I bought for my kids. It's had a couple of hop ups with my old CVAs and AMPRO rear shock mounts and transmission stabiliser but I have hunkered after a 4 bar front suspension. What can I say? I like tinkering. As much as the AMPRO kit is cool as this is my kids basher I really didn't want to move away from ABS plastic. That and not wanting to cry each time 22 bucks worth of AMPRO wishbone snapped in a big shunt! I also have a load of DT03 front suspension leftover from my upgrades to my Grasshopper3 DT03, and I saw some cool double wishbone mods on grasshoppers on YouTube which got me thinking...... First thing I needed was to make a plate to mount the DT03 central wishbone mount (DT03 part C2). I used some 3mm aluminium and the Rising Fighter parts as a template for holes. Hand made and a bit rough. Holes in the DT03 part are 20mm lateral and 21mm longitudinal. I drilled 4mm holes to give me some wiggle room then some 12mm m3 machine screws and nuts to secure I bought a pair of DT02/3 wishbone sprues Part No 10004254 on eBay for £6. Mount them reversed to clear everything. I used screw pins to mount them but 48.5mm shafts would also work. You need to open out the holes in the central mounting with a 3.1mm drill. They don't have a pivoting shaft on the DT03 so are a tight fit otherwise. I used the DT03 c-hubs (part B1) and uprights as I upgraded my DT03 to GPM metal c-hubs and blitzer uprights for truck wheels so I had them spare. The Rising Fighter uprights would also work but you need the c-hubs. I mounted the 64mm eye to eye CVA shocks in the outer position. For the top arms I used part 5 from the DT03 wishbone sprue Into the end of this I threaded a ball screw from the CVA shock kit I then lined up the part with the top of the chassis, backed up against the stiffening rib on the front suspension mount I used the hole in the part as a template for a 2.5mm drill to put a hole in the tub. I used m3 x 15 self tappers as they were spare but 12mm would work. I then drilled a second hole through part and tub and installed a second self tapper. The top arms and steering arms were all made using the DT02 turnbuckle set. I mistakenly bought this for my DT03 but the steering turnbuckles didn't fit. They are perfect here. All the longer steering arms and top arms can just as easily be made using M3 threaded bar and the tamiya ball ends and ball connectors. And finished. Really good geometry. No bump steer here Bit of fun with some spares really. If you add up the cost of parts all together I am not sure I makes sense but it works REALLY well. Maybe one for you GH2 ReRe buyers? Hope you like. Cheers!

Looking to buy a Super Hornet in good shape. Doesn't need to be pristine, but light wear is ok. Somehow I have never gotten one of these, and want to help round up the last few I want. Thanks for your time! Any leads would be great!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331919950933 Vintage Tamiya Bigwig Hotshot Sand Scorcher Clodbuster NIB Wheels 50293 50121 NIP Bigwig Moon Craft Wheels P/N 5293 50293 For Models: Bigwig (58057) NIB Sand Scorcher Front Wheel + Tire Set P/N 5121 50121 For Models: Sand Scorcher (58016), Frog (58041), Hornet (58045), Grasshopper (58043) NIP Hotshot / Supershot Gold Plated Wheels P/N 266 50266 For Models: Hotshot (58047), Supershot (58054) NIP Grasshopper II (Super G) Front Day Glow Wheel Set (Yellow) P/N 49022 For Models: Grasshopper II Super G (49501), Grasshopper II Super G (92018), Grasshopper II (58074), Fox (58051), Wild One (58050) NIP Super Hornet Front Day Glow Wheel Set (Orange) P/N 0445495 For Models: Super Hornet (58124), Grasshopper II (58074), Fox (58051), Wild One (58050) NOS Original White Clod Buster Wheels P/N 0555026 For Models: Clod Buster (58065), Bullhead (58089) Price dropped to $120. $20 more than the last set of Moon Crafts alone that sold on ebay went for...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331918064630 Vintage Tamiya Super Hornet, Kit No. 58124 ** Classic Hornet Alternative Style Very Good Used Condition w/ Many New Parts Including Body, Wheels, Bumper New Super Hornet Body has Classic Hornet Decals Applied -- Non-Official (Better Looking) Variation See last pic for Tamiya USA Super Hornet webpage showing similar alternate design Like-new Tamiya TEU-101BK ESC Tamiya Sport Tuned Motor Futaba Attack II Radio Set Included as Bonus, Not Guaranteed Working Transmitter powers on, Tx and Rx match, crystals appear to match ESC, motor both confirmed running well when using a different radio

Let me begin by saying that I love the Super Hornet. I know some people don't care for the slightly gaudy decals in their neon glory but for me it represents a transition from the 80's to the 90's. I mean come on, it could have been neon pink and teal green. Would that have made you happy? I bought my sister a Super Hornet when it was brand new. Scrounging up old parts for a hornet in the 90's was not possible so when the chassis split, the Super Hornet was the way to go. She drove it all the time as a kid and even raced it in the beginners class a few times at a track in Corona, California. She had her box art shell which to this day is mint and her beetle runner body by Bolink as I recall. Here is the car today: i I can't seem to find a pic of the stock body but that's not the point. What was I talking about again? ....................................... Oh yeah! Super Hornet! Well I am sure everyone into the Hornet/Super Hornet knows about the prototype blunder on the Tamiya USA site: This is not just a Super Hornet with a different decal sheet. This body is completely different. First off, note the Hornet inspired slots at the base of the front window/cowl. Also, see the louvers at the rear of the cockpit? Even the sculpting of the front end is much sharper giving the impression that this was in fact the direct predecessor of the Hornet. In fact, the only but that looks like a Super Hornet is the rear wing which I always loved as it looked like the wings of a real Hornet. Wheels appear to be a shade different and the rear shock mount is totally different. Much smaller than the SH. Finally, the shocks. They look good in red I have to say! My plan is to take this and give a Super Hornet and a Rising Fighter the same treatment, making a Hornet 2 and a Hornet 3. Here is where we are so far. I know this should be in builds but I suck at build threads. I don't have time for a million pix. Sorry folks. I stared by taking a new Super Hornet shell and a new Rising fighter shell and basically ruining them. I chopped a massive hole on both of their cowls and 3D printed a panel to fill the hole with the trademark 6 slots that the Hornet had. They were super glued into place and then I used the super glue on the front mixed with saw dust and plastic shavings to fill any gaps. I don't like putty. Here is the SH: And the RF: A thick coat of primer: More sanding: And final primer coat: Then I printed me some louvers. I love louvers. They cannot be full length because: SH: Resistor is in the way. Even though I used it as decoration, I still want access. RF: Body is screwed into place there Next we need paint. I know what you are thinking, I am going to paint them black. That, my friends, would be the smart thing to do. The SH will be silver and the RF will be red. Basically, I don't want a mass of black cars. Plus, I like colors. So there we have it. The SH and my Grasshopper 2 are trading shocks. I am dying the yellow ones a dark orange to match the SH rims. The RF has a set of super Hornet shocks and my printed rear mount and rear rims. Here is the RF now. Well I will keep you posted for other updates as they slowly come.

We all know that Tamiya tested out variations of paint schemes and decals for different bodies prior to finalizing them. There are examples in posters, guide books, etc. There's one in particular that I'm really curious about and wish I knew the full story of... so I thought I'd put it out to our resident Tamiya historians and brain-trust here in the forum to see if anyone knows anything or can dig up the story behind what I call the "Hornet II". My theory is that before settling on the (in my opinion) hideous decal scheme found on the final version of the Super Hornet Tamiya designers were toying with the idea of it being a Hornet II instead, akin to the Grasshopper II (albeit, that also doesn't much resemble the GH1 design), which would maintain some of the aesthetic features of the original Hornet in terms of coloring and decals, but otherwise be the same buggy as the Super Hornet. The thing that originally got me wondering about this is that tamiyausa.com has a peculiar image that comes up when you search for the Super Hornet: http://www.tamiyausa.com/items/radio-control-kits-30/off-road-buggies-36450/rc-super-hornet-58124 This is from a Tamiya website! When I first saw this I immediately loved it. So much better than this: I got rid of my box art Super Hornet and made up a shelfer version, and now also a runner, resembling the top pic - which to me evokes a Hotshot II aesthetic as well, to add to the Hornet II mystery! http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=127856&id=39840 http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=118746 SO... thoughts??!

hey guys - continuing to prune my collection and have several really neat things up on the bay at the moment. links and some pics... http://www.ebay.com/itm/330941634758 http://www.ebay.com/itm/330941642406 http://www.ebay.com/itm/330941649168 http://www.ebay.com/itm/330941656380

i was kicking around the tamiyausa.com site looking for super hornet parts and was surprised by the attached picture, sitting there right on tamiya's website. the stickers and body art is something i've never seen used on the super hornet. does anyone know anything about this? thanks!

G'day all, My Super Hornet Project is nearing completion, in which I have repaired the three damaged bodies (Millaput is the best) and also obtained decals for the Super Hornet and also Hornet as a runner body. Super Hornet Decals are rare as hens teeth, therefore their was no way they were going to be put on a runner. Below is a photo of my runner body and car ready to run. It has been good fun bringing an old classic back to life. My showroom has the project photos. Enjoy. Iplan (Jeffro).