Jump to content
Evilweevil

Astute restoration decisions

Recommended Posts

Happy new year everyone, 2021 had it’s up and downs. It was filled with many new and wonderful RC purchases some of which I am still waiting to receive, I spent weeks in the hospital with Covid and I am still recuperating. I also lost my father before Christmas which brings me to this new feeling of mortality as I am reaching an age where I want to finally start completing projects I’ve had in the back of my mind for years . 

I’m not a stranger to this club but it’s been a while so I’ve created a new profile as I could not find any login information for my old profile .I’ve been building and driving RCs since the mid-80s. I was fortunate enough to have a job at a local toy and hobby shop a few years out of high school where I was building RC‘s primarily Tamiya for customers. This is where I saved up enough money to purchase my first Hornet,  Astute and a few other models. I’ve kept all of my used and broken RCs all throughout my life thinking I would someday maybe restore them and I think now is the time. Probably not financially ideal today as opposed to 4 years ago, but as I get older I long for that feeling that I first had when I built my early Tamiya vehicles. Since then, I’ve collected 27 other RC vehicles, airplanes, boats and tanks but my heart has always wanted my original Astute back in my life.

Back in the day, I would immediately start modifying any new vehicle and this one was no different. I would also make sure that my modifications would not damage the original vehicle so that it could be brought to its box stock appearance later on if possible.

As you can see here my astute featured a Pro line Baja bug body, Custom aluminum shocks probably from associated and modern electronics to that time period. After assessing what is left and looking at the condition I have the remaining parts,

I’m thinking when I would like to do with this vehicle it’s not quite bring it back to its complete original stock configuration but instead may be slightly upgraded by installing all new stainless hardware, leaving the custom shocks and reinstalling modern electronics although I do have the original speed controller. The original body is not in bad condition but will have to be stripped of paint and repainted and the box stock red. The same goes for the wing which I painted silver and immediately removed. The under tray is missing and I have not located it yet. I don’t remember what condition it was in but I guess I will have more time to look for it and then determine whether I need to replace it. I know my decal sheet it’s probably in a collection of decals in the garage somewhere but it will be missing a few decals that I used on the original build so most likely, I will have to purchase a new Repop decal sheet or create my own. The only thing I worry is I have actually ordered a decal sheet from MCI for a monster truck project I was working on and it was complete garbage. I don’t know if it’s an isolated experience of the print quality was completely horrific To my standards so I don’t know if the re-pop astute decal sheet is any better. I’m also considering new wheels and tires as I’m sure the originals are either rotted or missing and the wheels are pretty tore up. I was considering purchasing egress wheels and white and dying them black which will give me a slightly wider front tire but I think I could live with that. If I can’t find my under tray, I’ve seen some repop bodies for sale which look pretty decent at least from the photos.

If any of you folks have ever restored the astute,  any advice you have would be appreciated. The biggest determining factor of how I take this restoration will be pricing. I did find a brand new front bulkhead that I will be replacing once I strip down the vehicle. I believe I had purchased that set to replace the rear A-arm mounts I broke after taking a big jump. Well here goes. I don’t expect this to be a quick restoration but I think I’m ready to do it

 

06FCF60C-A26C-46EF-9B04-649253E3C3EC.jpeg

0800E696-F22A-47E4-A48A-C17F9E61B7A8.jpeg

  • Like 9

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

With the recent release of the Super Astute you work has been made much easier, but your main issue will be the ball diff, it just isnt going to handle a mild motor, let alone something modern.

Options,  restore it and put it on the shelf, or really fork out for a Super Astute gearbox.

If you are going to run it be prepared to replace ALL the plastics unfortunately, it is just the way it is with Astutes.....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It probably will become a shelf queen. When the super astute came out, I really wasn’t paying much attention to Tamiya As I was building and playing with more bashing and crawling type vehicles but I have the nostalgic bug has hit me, It would just make me really happy to see that original Astute on my shelf along with my other collection.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear you had such a bad year mate. Welcome back to the warm embrace of Tamiya RC. I only got back into the hobby myself back in Sept and that was after 25ish years.

I'm no expert, but offer the below points of view...

The original Astute is worth a fair bit these days mate. So I would suggest restoring to original spec and shelfing it as you say. This would be dependant on the condition of your current car, which is looking well used so that may be easier said than done to restore and of course also depends on what your full plans are, whether you wish to run it at all etc.

The parts for the original Astute appear to be fairly rare and don't come up that often on eBay. However, the buggy does share it's gearbox with its little brother, the Madcap and parts for that buggy are a little more common. Saying that, there has been a seller on eBay parting out an original Astute kit very slowly on eBay over the past couple of weeks, and most parts don't tend to hang about for long when they pop up. If there's anything specific you're after, it could be worth sending a message to the seller to ask -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-Astute-Front-Damper-Stay-4314010-From-a-Split-Kit-New-/304284104392?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

The Astute is known to be a fragile car, hence the Super Astute with stronger arms, a TTC slipper clutch gear box and other upgrades. As @Snappy1 mentioned, the Super Astute was re-released in 2018 (I think!) and whilst it was a limited run and I believe not to be released again, Tamiya are still producing spare parts for it, although they are a bit thin on the ground at the moment they're due to be more readily available in the first half of 2022 from what I've been told by the dealers.

Re the MCI sticker sets, I had a similar experience with my first order from them in Nov and was not happy with the print quality either. Apparently it's down the their printer, but an unacceptable lack of quality imo. It is cool to be able to create custom coloured sets, but the trade off with MCI is the poor quality.

Good luck with the restoration and keep us updated on the progress with a build thread and photos is you're up for it. Others on the forum have far greater experience with the Astute family, members such as @kontemax will be able to offer a far more detailed breadth of knowledge.

 

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Astute! My first RC car. They are great cars and not as fragile as eluded to by internet lore.  The differential when in the Astute can handle some hp when new and taken care of. But that was 30 year ago.

1) Ditch the trans for the rere super astute one. You can still piece one together through eBay and Tamiya USA. You can use team associated spur gears and pads with it and tune the differential with putty.  The route I went w mine.

2) For the hubs front and rear purchase the metal jaz rider set up I used this for my child hood Astute Restoration.

3) The front bulkhead will break if you hit it head long, any car would. Either use the super astute set up w the reinforcement or go metal jaz rider, I went metal jaz rider. 
 

4) the body is the same as the rere super astute, get that and MCI decals, I did the same for mine.

5) you can currently piece together the Mini front and rear hicaps via eBay for less than the Vgs hicap set, again the route I went and matched the hop up option from the 90s

6) Forgot, boil the suspension arms, which hey aren’t known to break but it’ll make them pliable again.

7) The rear wheel and tire are the same as the rere egress, easy peasy. The front wheels are hard to get but looks like you have them. Boil to clean up and Schumacher still makes a 1.9” front tire.

ENJOY IT!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you for the information . I will most likely not ever Drive this car again. I mostly want to just be able to look at it and have it serve as one of my earlier vehicles. The wheels I have on the car are pretty trashed. Back then I used some tires that did not protect the wheels as good as the original stock tires dead so the edges of the wheels got pretty gouged tab. I was thinking about just swapping the wheels for a set of egress wheels and tires and maybe dying them black. I think I could be happy with that say that even though it wasn’t technically original. I’m gonna try to make my own decal set as I have not been happy with the MCI offerings. I’m gonna take a look at the body and see if it is suitable for stripping and repainting so it looks now but I am missing the under tray. I’m trying to see if it would be worth it just to buy an entire new body set.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I want to go with the original style looking wheels in black. I am fine with dying A set of white wheels but I would like to know if I could use front and rear wheels from let’s say an egress or a Avante that I’ve seen in red even though those are four-wheel-drive cars. I do not care for the super astute wheels. I don’t mind if the wheel and tire combination are a little wider but I just want the look of that spoke

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey mate, the Egress wheels are black, so if you get a set of those they'll be fine for the rear, but not for the front. Yes the front are wider, but sounds like that doesn't bother you, however they will also be a 12mm hex fit as they are from a 4wd car and won't work on the front axles of your 2wd Astute. These will work though and they are available in a few colours - 

https://www.jcracingproducts.co.uk/tamiya/astute

Any more photos of the project car to share?:)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Those wheels will be perfect if all I have to do is dye them. My originals or a little bit chewed up. I can probably definitely clean them up and maybe file some of the rough edges but I guess I won’t be able to truly see what they look like until they are in a tire that covers the backside of the wheel. I just received the upper deck kit as I was missing one of the body mounts. Who knows where it went. I also have a stainless steel hardware kit arriving soon so the dismantling of the entire chassis will happen soon and cleaning of the parts and the rebuild with more photos. Thank you for the Link on those wheels I think those will be perfect. I’m debating whether the body is in good enough condition To provide a fairly good candidate for a repaint

5BEA613C-A0FC-46AA-A6A2-5719EF1FC56F.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I can’t seem to locate the under tray so I may have to purchase a new one. I’m debating whether I want to buy a repop Body sets that I’ve seen on eBay or work with this pre-painted one and strip the paint off. I’ve used brake cleaner before to strip paint jobs off and it left the Lexan nice and clear with no fog and able to paint a new paint job right on it. This body was painted but rarely used on the original car as I immediately changed it out for the Baja bug so there are virtually no scratches or scuffs on this body

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Evilweevil said:

Those wheels will be perfect if all I have to do is dye them. My originals or a little bit chewed up. I can probably definitely clean them up and maybe file some of the rough edges but I guess I won’t be able to truly see what they look like until they are in a tire that covers the backside of the wheel.

JC Racing do those wheels in black. They are in a modern 2.2" diameter, which opens up more options for tyres. Check out a set of the Schumacher 2.2" mini spike slims, for a similar look to the original Astute front tyres. Those are what I fitted to a yellow set of 2.2" star-dish Holiday Buggy wheels on my Madcap.

DhL5tBz.jpeg

If you like the star-dish wheels, they came in black with the 19mm 2wd width on the Racing Fighter, so they are also available.

The original wheels can certainly be sanded back, check out my Grasshopper II restoration thread for the work I did on the front wheels.

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/99553-grasshopper-ii-send-off-a-cliff-restoration/

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Parts are now starting to show up at my door. I typically like the KNK brand of fasteners kit but they aren’t available so this will have to do. New wheels, tires and foams have been ordered from JC Racing. I still haven’t decided in a replacement body as I have found a crack near the rear mount on this one.

3831B603-2DD3-4198-9EB5-95A443032873.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I’ve been looking at replacement bodies. Like I’ve said I’ve lost the under tray so I know I at least need to buy one of those. I was going to simply repaint the original body but I found a big crack on the back near the mounting area. Wing is in great condition and complete with mounting grommets and bracket. I have a couple of options here that I didn’t even know existed. I’ve contacted all three companies to get more information figuring if I’m going to do this I’m going to want to do it as close to the original but without breaking the bank because none of these companies are in the USA.

first we have Kamtec bodies in the UK. Picture in green. These are sold as a complete set of 3 parts body, undertray and wing

then I found Penguin body shells also UK (rear view photo) also sold as a complete set.

and finally Team blue groove in Canada (red body black wheels) body and wing sold together. Undertray is a separate purchase.

I’m only familiar with Kamtec who I have purchased before and was quite happy with the bodies. I’ve never purchased anything from Canada but the TBG set would be the most expensive from what I gather. I know nothing about penguin.

46769C64-CB11-49B9-B920-84E0FAFA46A3.jpeg

3ED2DCFE-195A-48F2-BC60-BCD907D994A8.jpeg

D84D8C07-FF37-446F-BAFE-B76808F7AB1B.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 hours ago, Evilweevil said:

New JC racing 2.2 wheels and tires ready to go

E3ED2BCF-CE6C-48B0-9EF2-7CCEABBC990C.jpeg

Nice one mate, how do you rate the wheels? Any good? They look real goodB)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Kol__ said:

Nice one mate, how do you rate the wheels? Any good? They look real goodB)

The wheels look good. The quality of the plastic looks good.I honestly can’t tell if these are injection molded or 3-D printed or what. The size is really close to the original but obviously just ever so slightly larger for the modern tires. 
there is a slight difference on the front as they have the same rib that runs around the spokes as the original rears do. The spokes also connect to the outer lip differently in the same as the origional rear. Here you will see the original wheel does not have the rib. I never really noticed this before but I think I like this new front wheel better as it is a better match to the original rear wheel. I definitely recommend these for a runner or a shelf queen

B03004A5-BB7D-4EC6-AEF1-37F7867B68CF.jpeg

image.jpg

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Cool, thanks buddy, good to get some comparison pics and a review. Glad they are gonna work out well for your project. I'll keep an eye out for the next update!:)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In trying to keep this restoration to a reasonable price, i was already to pay secondary market rates for this tree. I ended up finding it on the Tamiya website for $10.00. One of the few things they have in stock.

0486D100-8A5F-4C4E-9089-87D65FEF5D07.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I’ve been so busy with her getting my mom’s finances, living situation and other issues taken care of in the wake of my dad‘s passing.

I found time today to start in with the clean and rebuild. There is a lot of specialized hardware that is not included with the stainless steel screw set. I knew that from the beginning because I had purchased screw kit from KNK which I prefer but their kits often do not carry the specialized hardware either. I also received a replacement body, under tray and wing from Kamtec. The Lexan appears to be much thicker and sturdier than the original Tamiya shell. I have replaced the ball head although the original had a few scratches not a big deal. I also replaced the front skid plate/bumper but is not shown in the photo here and I am working my way back on the chassis. New 2.2 replica wheels and Schumacher tires are installed. I’m using a polishing cotton to clean up some of the parts and make them look new again as this will be a shelf queen for the rest of my life.

67E50F76-C12B-4C75-9BFC-A1D2A5B8535D.jpeg

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It’s almost finished. New bumper and rear skid plate added as well as rear upper deck. Stainless steel kit for this car did not seem it was purposely selected for this vehicle as I have a lot of screws left that haven’t even been used . Not only that, it did not come with any of the specialized hardware or self tapping screws. So just know if you’re going to swap out for new hardware on your astute, this kit is not going to get it done. 
 

Just need to go find a silver can motor, and mechanical speed control and the resistor and heat shield. I know those items are in a box somewhere in my shed. Bright red Mica paint ordered For the new body.

4FB40606-22E8-414F-A40F-1DC11B079DF2.jpeg

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...