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ThunderDragonCy

Hotshot 2 Not Blockhead

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Ordered the monoshock mounts from Fibre Lyte today. Now that I have been through the rest of the build I'm pretty sure I don't need any other carbon bits at the moment.

1558572203_Hotshot2FrontMonoshock.thumb.JPG.1f157e9a6671968af8c32729205ff45e.JPG

The purple bits are the carbon extensions. The grey bits are dummy bits of the hotshot arms and gearcase attachment. Even though the Boomerang has the screwpin holding these on, I'm not that happy about so little thread engagement in the original arms, and the screwpins don't reach all the way through as it is. They'll be too long for 48.5mm suspension shafts. After some thought I decided to go for 3mm thick carbon so it matches the depth of the original Hotshot shock boss, so I can bolt through here to hold them firmly in place, and I will try some M3 x 50 bolts with nylock nuts on for the suspension pivots. 

Out of interest, has anyone UK based converted their Boomerang to twin shock front end, and got parts B10 and B11 spare? Would you be willing to sell to me?  I would quite like the original parts as a back up plan, but I don't want/need to buy a whole Boomerang B parts tree. Would be waste as I would probably just recycle all the other bits. DM me if you do.

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Great build so far @ThunderDragonCy! We asked for a very special build of a HS2, and you delivered already now! :)

This will be a very cool machine, which adresses the weak spots of the original! Steering a is superb now, nearly no bump steer, and reorganization of the radio box is so nice. Top work, keen on the next steps!

Happy new year,

Matthias

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I suck so bad at painting! But, I tore the plaster off and got the driver done super basic so I could fit the cage. 

20230104_221326.thumb.jpg.1951d66a5b35d386989bc362f06882fb.jpg

The cage looks so amazing! It's the one thing that sets Hotshots apart from later models and I so excited to have got it installed! 

I cut out and sanded down the body too. It is unseasonably warm here right now (10-11degC) and I am working from home tomorrow so I should get a chance to paint the body in half decent conditions. Just straight black for body and wing. This one it pretty much box art. 

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Did the stickers last night.

Tamiya Hotshot 2

For once I was very grateful of someone else's mistake. There were three sets arrived when I only ordered one. It was only once I started cutting and stickering  realised one had the wrong orange (standard instead of the neon I ordered) and one of the neon sets had a bunch of printing errors. good job though, as this deceptively simple looking buggy is one of the hardest sticker jobs I have done! Those long flowing stripes have to line up with an old aerial hole in the body, angle just so down the side so they are long enough, whilst travelling across 4 different angled surfaces, sometimes two at once! The front stripes also took a bit too.

Still, I am sure you will agree the results were worth the effort. What a thing! I strayed from boxart a little as I felt the rather apologetic single sticker on top in front of the driver was a bit rubbish, so I replaced it with a row of sponsor decals. Love a good sponsor decal! Popped a bit Tamiya on the wing too, but not sure if that is staying. 

One more (hopefully final) Hotshot 2 subtlety is that it had its own body post! The top of the shell in front of the driver completely clears the Super Hotshot post. Had a look at the HS2 manual and it shows a completely dedicated steel extended post just for HS2. Tamiya were mad in the 80s. Anyway, I fixed it with a 6mm CVA spacers and a 10mm long screw

Tamiya Hotshot 2

Getting close now. Waiting on my servo to be re-plugged so I can install the electronics box, then figure out the front driveshafts (some DB01 rear universals popped up locally so I bagged them, but I think it will need some modifications) and then we are there. 

Really enjoyed this. 

 

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This is becoming a seriuosly über beautyful buggy. With the chrome JC wheels it will look ace. I have them on my TD (allthough in simple white)  and I love them. 

 

I think it looks good with the rear mounted shocks. If you run on gravel or dirt they take less of a beating back there than in front with hammering debries. 

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1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Did the stickers last night.

Tamiya Hotshot 2

For once I was very grateful of someone else's mistake. There were three sets arrived when I only ordered one. It was only once I started cutting a sticker ING I realised one had the wrong orange (standard instead of the neon I ordered) and one of the neon sets had a bunch of printing errors. good job though, as this deceptively simple looking buggy is one of the hardest sticker jobs I have done! Those long flowing stripes have to line up with an old aerial hole in the body, angle just so down the side so they are long enough, whilst travelling across 4 different angled surfaces, sometimes two at once! The front stripes also took a bit too.

Still, I am sure you will agree the results were worth the effort. What a thing! I strayed from boxart a little as I felt the rather apologetic single sticker on top in front of the driver was a bit rubbish, so I replaced it with a row of sponsor decals. Love a good sponsor decal! Popped a bit Tamiya on the wing too, but not sure if that is staying. 

One more (hopefully final) Hotshot 2 subtlety is that it had its own body post! The top of the shell in front of the driver completely clears the Super Hotshot post. Had a look at the HS2 manual and it shows a completely dedicated steel extended post just for HS2. Tamiya were mad in the 80s. Anyway, I fixed it with a 6mm CVA spacers and a 10mm long screw

Tamiya Hotshot 2

Getting close now. Waiting on my servo to be re-plugged so I can install the electronics box, then figure out the front driveshafts (some DB01 rear universals popped up locally so I bagged them, but I think it will need some modifications) and then we are there. 

Really enjoyed this. 

 

Straight up classic Tamiya! I love the squashed roof Hotshot look. A flash kid at school had a red one when I had my Falcon. I admit I was jealous. 

Your desk looks like mine. Is your floor the same too? Tidy up, man! 😜

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2 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

Straight up classic Tamiya! I love the squashed roof Hotshot look. A flash kid at school had a red one when I had my Falcon. I admit I was jealous. 

Your desk looks like mine. Is your floor the same too? Tidy up, man! 😜

Yeah, I agree. I think the high sides of the body give it the slightly "squashed" look, but the line of the roof runs into the wing perfectly. I think that's where the Blockhead version fails. The lines of the whole buggy have been lost. 

As for the desk, that's just sticker detritus. It's (surprisingly for me) tidy at the moment 😜

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Postie brought the flange head bolts for the steering

20230107_115829

Much wider heads to spread the load. Should still fit under the bumper. 

They only had 20mm long in stock, but 16mm would have been better. Used one 5x7x0.3 axle shim per side to take out the slop. 

Also decided that I didn't like the big Tamiya wing sticker, so went for more sponsor decals

20230107_115853

 

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The DB01 universal shafts arrived to fit to my TRF211 rear end, which freed up the double cardan joint version that has been in my TRF211 for a while. This meant I could test fit them to the front of the hotshot 2

Tamiya Hotshot 2

These are for pin drive wheels, so they have a very long axle which is 4.8mm between the bearing seat and the usual m4 wheel nut thread. That means standard hexes, wheels and the little triangle wheel adaptors here don't fit as they all have 4mm holes. 

I already had some hexes drilled out for fitting standard hex wheels to my TRF211, and a drilled out paid of wheels, so I test fitted using these. I put an 850 bushing on the axle before pushing through the knuckle and it sat well. I fitted the drilled hex and wheel and it was completely free spinning. In fact there was a bit of play. Deciding to go for it, I drilled out one of the kit plastic wheel adaptors and a wheel using a 4.8mm drill I happen to have in my drill set. This made them very snug on the axle, which I think is good. The wheel nut bottomed out before it hit the wheel, so another 850 bushing was added to the outside to make everything go together.

Tamiya Hotshot 2

 

It now tightened down well and was still free spinning, but still with a bit of play. I added a 5x7x0.3 shim to the inside next to the first 850 bush and it was bob on. 

I haven't dared drill the expensive alloy wheel adaptors I have yet, as I want to run this to see if it works in reality. But, the shafts are super smooth and don't bind at all. Lovely! 

Other thing I did was motor wiring. Took a bit of doing as I went I bit short on the blue then realised I hadn't fitted the battery retainers. That needed doing again once I did. Not neat, but functional. 

Tamiya Hotshot 2

The other plug is inside the radio box. I always stagger cut my esc wires so there is no chance of the plugs touching and shorting. Seeing as it was wired up, I bound the receiver and fired it up. All ran smoothly so that's a promising start. 

One other interesting thing: The read stabilizer drop links touch the motor in 13t pinion position. 

Tamiya Hotshot 2

We will see if this is a issue in reality. It highly likely I won't use the rear bar long term, but if I do I will have to make a shorter one. 

Edit: DCJ in question is 42284 to fit the rear of the TRF201/501. The universal that will work is 54016

 

 

Edited by ThunderDragonCy
Part numbers
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Thanks to @Baddon I got some of the Boomerang B10/11 parts in the post as a stopgap until I get the carbon pieces from fibre lyte, so I could fit the front shock for the first time. I designed my parts around the 80mm yeah racing shock, but on the droop stops the boomerang parts are 85mm eye to eye. A slightly modified tamiya cva long eyelet saved the day, so here it is sitting on its wheels for the first time

Hotshot 2

Given how quick the boomerang parts got to me, I am a little bit worried that my servo - posted over a week ago to my club mate for plug install - hasn't arrived with him yet 😬

Nearly there though. Very happy with how this is shaping up. 

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Little update. My clubmate has finally got my servo and put the plug on it, and is posting it back. 

And my carbon monoshock parts arrived.

Tamiya Hotshot 2

Unlike the kit B10/11 these are designed for the 80mm shock I have, and to work from full droop to wheels 5mm above the chassis base. They are bolted in place using the original hotshot shock mount hole. The bottom screws in the pivots are place holders. I tried to get M3x55 screws, but they were quite expensive. Was cheaper to get the M05 to 58.5mm shafts (54615) so I ordered those and will space them out using cva spacers. 

Very close now! Should be up and running next weekend hopefully. 

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This is looking more and more good. Looking forward to read about the first driving Impressionen. Enjoy the last stages of the build. 

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Great job 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
 

That’s going to be turning some heads at the next Junkie meet 😉

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The M05 58mm shafts arrived, so I popped them in. 20230125_220705.thumb.jpg.41da6ddfc3695e481eb1e0a50660e34f.jpg

I used some spare black cva o rings to space them out at the front. I shimmer the fore/aft slop out whilst I was at it, but they are still quite loose in the holes on the gearcase, so the arms move a fair bit still. 

Also the rear diff seems tight when spinning one of the the wheels. Should be completely free right? It's an open diff. I think I need to get back in there for a look before running it. 

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31 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Also the rear diff seems tight when spinning one of the the wheels. Should be completely free right? It's an open diff. I think I need to get back in there for a look before running it. 

If only one wheel, its not the diff surely? I'd have thought there's something tight between diff and wheel. Maybe something at the hub like a mold line preloading bearings? 

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8 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

If only one wheel, its not the diff surely? I'd have thought there's something tight between diff and wheel. Maybe something at the hub like a mold line preloading bearings? 

Hmmmm. Will check both wheels. 

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Split the rear trans. 

20230126_081521.thumb.jpg.d5c22bbc7fe7aa2bd83c9655ca017738.jpg

Felt like the spur gear was rubbing on the metal bevel of the diff. I had assembled it wrong, with the planetary gears in the diff ring facing the other way. Didn't make a deal of difference flipping it (correctly assembled is shown above) but it's manual correct now. Still seemed very tight on the spur clearance so I put a 5mm x 0.3 shim behind the spur gear to lift it away a little. Hopefully it'll not be too tight on the bevel now! I reassembled and it is a bit better, but still not free like the front. All feels quite rough, but it does all spin so maybe it just needs to bed in? I will keep an eye on motor temps for the first few runs for sure. 

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Just a little update to say I finally have my fully plugged and operational servo back. I think I have everything I need to complete the build now, but I need to carefully drill new servo holes in the radio box and there is actually quite a bit of assembly to do once the servo is installed. I am forcing myself not to rush this! I am excited to get it done, but I don't think I will have time until Saturday to do it carefully, so I shall wait. Weather is unseasonably good here, so fingers crossed it holds and I can give the HS2 a maiden run on the grass at the park. 

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The usual Thursday night mountain bike ride didn't happen for reasons so I decided to settle in and finish the Hotshot 2. 

I thought I had most of the build done, but finishing off took about 2 hours. A nice evenings worth. 

First off I drilled the radio box so I could bolt down the servo and get all the components in place. Very pleased with it 

Tamiya Hotshot 2

It took a bit of time to check clearances and eventually got it together. I routed the power switch wire under the steering turnbuckle and stuck it on top of the servo for ease of access, and fed the aerial out through the top of the tub to avoid the prop shaft. 

Tamiya Hotshot 2

One step I hadn't done was the cage nets. These aren't on the hotshot 2 I don't think, but in the Super Hotshot kit. I only found the net in the decal bag tonight, so that got done. Felt like proper modelling cutting it to the right shape and getting it into position. I really like the look

Tamiya Hotshot 2

Got the battery tray all fitted and tried to put the bumper on. Found it fouls the long m05 shafts I put in the front arms, so out came the dremmel to give the clearance

Tamiya Hotshot 2

With that done, the Super Hotshot undertray got installed and that was it done. 

Tamiya Hotshot 2 Tamiya Hotshot 2

Popped a battery in and gave it a gentle shakedown in the street. All ran straight and true, and seemed pretty decent. M05 steering feels smooth, but too early to say anything more. Steering throw / turning radius still seems quite bad, but maybe there are some tweaks that can be done for that. I am using a tamiya 51000 servo saver, but if I risk a solid arm I have one that is much longer so that might be the way. 

Tamiya Hotshot 2ish Tamiya Hotshot 2ish

 

Tamiya Hotshot 2ish

 

Tamiya Hotshot 2ish

 

Can't wait to get it on grass or astro and give it some proper driving.

I am so happy with how if came out looks wise too. Such aggressive lines, and all the red parts just as I wanted. Really obviously lacks rear camber and toe in to my eyes, so that 3d printed rear arm I had on the drawing board earlier on in this build might make a comeback. 

But that's pre-empting things. For now I am really pleased. It looks awesome and I now have a vintage style 4wd in the fleet.

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Every detail of this build is awesome, great job 😎

There is something hugely fun about driving these mid-80s 4WD buggies. I love my Bigwig and Boomerang (both re:res), whatever sins they have a very forgiveable because of the sheer joy of chucking them about on loose surfaces 

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Congrats with a top result. The looks and the technical solutions are top notch, as always. Cannot wait for the first driving impressions on proper ground. 

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First proper run! Got to the park late for a quick blast. Really happy! Is a nice speed without being silly, and has a nice balance. I grip rolled it a couple of times tuning hard going downhill, but managed to get on top of that by being a bit more careful. Steering seems nice, and turning radius is better than I thought too. Motor temps were fine too. 

20230211_171923

 

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Got some shaky cam too. 

 

I am going to make a thicker front anti roll bar in case the grip rolling is worse on astro at the track, and I will take some thinner oil for the rear shocks if I need to move the grip balance rearward. That's all theory for now though. 

Just seems really nice, which I am very pleased about. Goes as good as it looks! 

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Ran at the track! As expected, grip roll was much more of a thing today, although all three tracks had wildly different grip levels. It has a lot of front end grip, and was three wheeling around tight corners, and feeling a bit snatchy. I don't have any stiffer springs for the front, but changing from mini spikes to Mezzos off my Ultra Hornet really improved it. Kinda counter intuitive, but more rear grip made it less sensitive to steering so it grip rolled less. 

Flipped it several times, but seems fairly tough, although I found out why there are so many aftermarket bumpers out there.... 

20230304_145734

I got a driveable car eventually though, and there is definitely a good car in there. I think the rear ride height and droop was a bit much, so first step is shorten the rear shock a few mm and see how that goes. 

 

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