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Torhaantje

It's a Cheetah, but not as we know it...

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Ah the Tamiya Cheetah……. :P

I must have been 12 or 13 years old when my father bought it for me. I was far too young to be able to build it ( no patience, nor good eye –hand coördination……). So I watched my father build it. He installed 27 mhz Acoms radio gear. In those days there were quit a few radio amateurs who operated on the same wavelength, so it was a recipe for interference and glitching, but still I loved it and couldn't be bothered less.

The steering was as sloppy as :blink:, but somehow I got used to it and loved the car for it, together with the torsionbar suspension: it looked so realistic!

I had one 6 v Tamiya nicad battery and an Acoms tricklecharger. So that meant charging the whole night and when I got back from school the next afternoon 15 minutes of precious runtime, which in my memory lasted a hour….I remember saving 4 months to be able to buy a new variable speed controller.......

One winter evening I took the Cheetah out for a spin: it had snowed all day and the street in front of our house had a perfect layer of flattened snow. I remember the Cheetah drifting through the corners, the suspension leaning over for a nice body roll. I felt like the king of the World!

The Cheetah was (ab) used as an offroader and I remember searching for a dogbone more than once after a run in the rough. The body at one time was blue :huh: and had sponor decals glued on it, which I cut from a racing magazine…:wacko:

The years went past and I forgot about the Cheetah. It was binned at some point in time……. :(

However the memory of that Cheetah somehow lingered on…….

A couple of years back I got the chance to buy an used one in good condition  and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

I want to restore it and run it with some modern upgrades: a RC Channel front and rear suspension kit with dampers and use modern radio gear.

The RC Channel kit is a labour of love: it looks fantastic and works also!!! Also the ride height is improved: see pics and furthermore the car looks far more realistic from the side IMO, without the plastic torsion bars hanging from under the car.

To make the front suspension uprights clear the body, I only had to remove the radiator ( parts B13 and B 17) which isn’t visable from the outside. I took  a re re XR311 chassis as a base and added original Cheetah radioplates because the are flat and allign therefore with the chassis and body.

I ran the updated chassis yesterday around the house  and: wow: it drives perfectly and the steering is actually working !!! :D

The build is still work in progress, but I thought I would like to share it with you already.

 

Best regards, Rick :)

 

IMG_6430.JPG

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Looks great! Also a very resonant story, as I had the XR311 back in the day for Xmas (c.1982), plus the 6v Tamiya pack with a quick charger, and AP227 MkII Acoms set. I also remember shelling out some pocket money and getting a 7.2v hump pack to get the thing to go faster, and remember vividly gouging out part of the inner floor to take the hump, using a sharp knife heated on the gas hob! Very crude but it worked. I have a NIB original XR311 to build again one of these days, and also have this same complete RC Channel suspension mod and dampers to add, so it's good to see your project!

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Great story and a great piece of kit. I love the simplicity of it.

I would love to get one at some point and paint it in something more ‘street’ style, maybe Blockhead decals or similar.

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 Very awesome. Reminds me of my two cheetahs I had along with a XR311 from a friend later. Loved the way it roll around the turns and the soft suspension setup. Like how u did ur updates. I think I will dust out my cheetahs and do some restoration work on them. I am glad there are others who are true enthusiasts and not just bashing around.  

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