Hotshot 2 Not Blockhead

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Couple of great shots from a mate at the track 

 

 

[ruebiracer 1181]

Beautiful pics from the machine in action!  We know you will further improve it!

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

First step in hopefully improving the car. Thicker from anti roll bar, made much tighter to the uprights so it should work more effectively. 

2mm piano wire meant ditching the touring car fittings for the vintage end off my thunder dragon rear bar. Dropinks are off the A Parts tree

This should help stop the grip rolling and make the front end a bit less pointy. 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Whilst I had the bumper off I noticed the steering cross piece had marks from catching the pivot shafts on the arms. I flipped it to see if there was still clearance to the cross bar when it was further forward, and there was, so that was a little improvement. 

I refitted the new front bumper. I thought about trimming it to sit inside the wheels, but it would cut across the Tamiya stamped out of it which would look rubbish. I will give the big bumper another go. I much prefer the wide bumper look. I feel it balances out the shape of the buggy, and they look a bit naked with a little narrow thing.

 

There is a mid width aluminium bumper on ebay, but I am not sure I like the look. It would certainly need painting black. Have half a mind to model up something that I can get 3D printed in the flexible TPU plastic I can get. Would be expensive, but that aluminium bumper is £20, and a parts trees are a tenner a pop, so if it was £30 for a 3D print bumper or less it would probably be worth doing. 

Finally I rebuilt the rear shocks. They already had two o-rings inside to bring the length to 96mm which had the arms on their droop stops. I added two more o-rings to each side so they are now 92mm. I also put 300cst oil in replacing 400cst. The buggy was quite jiggly at the track, but the springs are pretty soft. Despite using the 4 hole pistons, the holes are very small compared to tamiya shocks. This should have the dual benefit of reducing steering and improving rear grip. Won't improve grip roll, but hopefully the lower ride height will do that. 

With a shorty lipo installed and dropped onto the worktop the ride height is now pretty even. No idea what it actually is, but even front to rear is a good start. 

 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Ran on grass today

Buggy is definitely better balanced with the lower rear ride height and stiffer front bar. No grip rolls or anything like that. Was interesting to run with the TD4. Even on its lowest setting the TD4 runs a little higher and suspension is much more fluid. The Hotshot 2 was a little bouncy at the rear over the rough grass. Problem is a little more ride height rear and it grip rolls, and I can't raise it at the front as well. Tempted to try a new different shock tower at the rear. Design something that will have narrower mounting and be able to go back to a longer shock, like the good setup I have on the Thunder Dragon and Ultra G. 

Looking forward to getting it on track though. Should be great on the astro. 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Getting some 3d printed parts for work I piggybacked a couple of things for the Hotshot 2. First is a shock tower. I wasn't completely happy with the low ride height and if does just seem too stiff at the back. I did a shock tower that is slightly taller and narrower than shock, more like the geometry I like on my Thunder Dragon and Ultra G. This would soften the suspension initially, allow for more sag, and also let me rebuild the shocks to fill 100mm length. 

When taking the springs off, even though the softest in the box they felt stiff. I compared them to the CVA springs I had spare and they are about twice as stiff! So, I figured I would put the soft springs on as well and see how it goes. It certainly has way more droop. Ride height is still a little lower than the front so they might be too soft, but now I know the CVA rear springs fit I can tune a bit more from other spares from the DF03 spring set. 

Other thing is front bumper. Using the soft, flexible material I have used successfully on my FF01, I did a bumper that is similar shape to the kit, but narrower than the front wheels instead of wider.

I think big, wide bumpers look great and really balance the look of buggies. Hence why I didn't just buy one of those little aftermarket metal ones after I broke the kit one the other week. 

 

[BuggyDad 5904]

7 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Other thing is front bumper. Using the soft, flexible material I have used successfully on my FF01, I did a bumper that is similar shape to the kit, but narrower than the front wheels instead of wider.

I think big, wide bumpers look great and really balance the look of buggies. Hence why I didn't just buy one of those little aftermarket metal ones after I broke the kit one the other week. 

 

What material did you use for the bumper? Not TPU? 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

7 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

What material did you use for the bumper? Not TPU? 

Yes TPU. Couldn't remember the name last night. 

[kontemax 1780]

On 3/12/2023 at 5:54 PM, ThunderDragonCy said:

Hi, please where did you find these chrome plated wheels?
Thanks

Max

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

9 hours ago, kontemax said:

Hi, please where did you find these chrome plated wheels?
Thanks

Max

Hi Max. They are JC Racing Products 2.2" replicas

https://www.jcracingproducts.co.uk/tamiya/wild-one-1

[kontemax 1780]

On 5/13/2023 at 9:03 AM, ThunderDragonCy said:

Hi Max. They are JC Racing Products 2.2" replicas

https://www.jcracingproducts.co.uk/tamiya/wild-one-1

Thanks!

Max
 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

First run with new shock tower and softer rear springs. Grass has got far too long, but there is a patch of dirt that was fun. Much more balanced, to the point of understeer. Certainly a lot more traction. Totally out of rear spring options now though. Need to buy a couple of sets of rears to get it properly dialled in. Might even need the rear anti roll bar again! 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Track day! First time I have run this in months, and first major run with softer rear end. It's so good! On the damp astro it was good, but lack of steering angle was an issue. I had a think and moved the balls on the knuckles to the shorter position and it's now spot on! 

The astro track track dried before lunch and I think this was running nicest out of all my cars. Jumps pretty well, balanced, fun. Really pleased. Only slight negative was it's quite slow on the long straight on the big track. I think I need to try increasing the pinion from the 13t I have in. Other than that, very nice, would recommend. 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

15t steel 32dp pinion from RW Racing arrived today, so that's installed. Whilst I had the buggy out I noticed/remembered I had bent the red aluminium turnbuckles on the steering links, so I've ordered some replacements in ti. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Limited running with this today. Was running really nicely, but very slow and every time it tapped a course marker the throttle died. I think the esc is a bad one, and yet another 1060 that's died. One thing I noticed yesterday is that I don't want super high speed anymore. Even my Thunder Dragon running 13.5 brushless was rarely on full throttle, whereas the 27t bumped timing stock racing motor in Ultra Hornet felt about spot on. I do wonder if the draggy old drivetrain on this is a bit hard work for brushed motors. I have a 17.5 brushless in the spares box from my touring car racing days which might be nice, but I don't have a esc for it and the classic issue of hotshot radio box being tiiiiiiight is tricky. Certainly a 10BL120 wouldn't fit. Any suggestions? A TBLE02S used to thermal in my Thunder Dragon on the 13.5 brushless. Is the TBLE04S any better? 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Big of tinkering this afternoon and it turns out the motor us dead. ESC is fine. Ran the core rc 21t in my FF01 no problem. Also out of interest I cut the supposedly dead 1060 off the 14x2 I had in the Ultra Hornet and that worked too. Tried both motors on the esc in the FF01 and both are dead! 

So, maybe time to stop buying cheap motors. Superstock maybe? Any other suggestions? 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Couldn't quite bring myself to stump up for a superstock, so last roll of the dive for brushed motors in this is a Team Powers Cup motor used in Iconic racing. I have 2 in my on road iconic racers. They seem good and they are not too expensive. They are approximately 17t, so I kept the 15t for this motor swap. 

After a lot of soldering this afternoon changing all my battery plug bullets to 5mm to stop them coming loose, I put some new wires on the new motor and reinstalled everything. All seems to work and it zipped along in the street on a storage charged battery. Hopefully this motor will last a bit longer than a two track meets and a bit of grass running. 

I am also wondering about replacing the wheels. The chrome silver has come off and cracked very easily leaving flouro plastic underneath. It's a bit disappointing. The Hotshot is also noticeably narrow of track. I think this might be one buggy where the large offset of the JC Racing Optima pepperpot wheels could be really handy. Maybe some white ones for the full old school look? 

 

[BuggyDad 5904]

19 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Couldn't quite bring myself to stump up for a superstock, so last roll of the dive for brushed motors in this is a Team Powers Cup motor used in Iconic racing. I have 2 in my on road iconic racers. They seem good and they are not too expensive. They are approximately 17t, so I kept the 15t for this motor swap. 

After a lot of soldering this afternoon changing all my battery plug bullets to 5mm to stop them coming loose, I put some new wires on the new motor and reinstalled everything. All seems to work and it zipped along in the street on a storage charged battery. Hopefully this motor will last a bit longer than a two track meets and a bit of grass running. 

I am also wondering about replacing the wheels. The chrome silver has come off and cracked very easily leaving flouro plastic underneath. It's a bit disappointing. The Hotshot is also noticeably narrow of track. I think this might be one buggy where the large offset of the JC Racing Optima pepperpot wheels could be really handy. Maybe some white ones for the full old school look? 

 

My chrome pepperpots started to do just the same thing, on their first little run, and will also be replaced by white ones for running. Bit of a shame - I guess such finishes aren't really meant for ragging around.

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Lots of track running today, including outside on the big track. Switch of rear springs to some df03 spring set to stop it grip rolling, but otherwise it just ran really well. New motor is bob on. Speed was nice. More importantly, it looked great out there! Wheel paint being so scruffy and cracked is bothering me though. I think some white Optima Pepper pots would still look Hotshot enough and also widen the stance. 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Little pressie to my Hotshot2 because I think it's a keeper. It runs well, I like driving it and it looks awesome, which are the main qualifying criteria. 

However, as cool as those chrome silver JC Racing hotshot wheels looked when new, they crack and reveal flouro plastic very quickly. I am not normally that precious, but it was not cool. Nice wheels, but don't get the chrome silver finish. 

The Hotshot is also noticeably narrow. I love the JC optima pepper pot wheels, and I run them on two other buggies, but they are always a compromise on other tamiya because of the massive offset. How massive? Let's see here where it might be an advantage 

Stock hotshot width. Just over 230mm

With JC Optima wheels fitted to 5mm wide hexes 

Holy offset batman! 10mm per side! However in this case it just makes the buggy regulation 10th scale width.

 

Still kinda Hotshot-ish, and white so a) same as kit wheels and b) no paint to crack. Excited to run it at the track. It was occasionally grip rolling before. Should be really planted now. 

 

 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Final couple of bits I ordered directly from rc channel in Taiwan. Postage and tax very reasonable. Worth a look if you want any of their stuff. 

Anyway, everyone I know who regularly runs hotshots said to get a front trans brace, so I did! 

And whilst I was at it, I got some rc channel stainless shafts for the rear. Good thing too as the pivots were really sticky with slightly rusty screw pins.

 

Only the tops fitted unfortunately, as they must be designed for all the other variants which don't use the Super Hotshot shock mounts. The plates on these locate on the lower screw pin. I have kept them though, as I still have half an idea to go full hotshot 2 spec if the red offset rear knuckles become available with the rere. I already have the boomerang arms to fit the shocks on the front. Just need to figure out the shock mount, but that's for another time. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Few more rc channel bits, less successful this time.

Got the lipo battery holders as the kit ones are a little flimsy and make accessing the battery plugs a bit tricky.

Unfortunately they are sized for full size lipos and i use shorties. I cut the redundent wide fitting posts off the left side and that has put the removable stop in a good place. The right side is miles away, but looks nice.

At the rear I got the metal cage spacers as the wide kit one is already threaded and i want to remove the Supershot underguard to get a little more ground clearance eventually.

The tamiya soft df03 springs were about the right stiffness, but caught on the big bore shock bodies, so i got some core rc big bore springs about the same rate. I needed to change the end fittings and spring collars for tamiya ones to make it work, but quite happy to do that as the yeah racing ones are a bit sticky and aren't great.

Finally, FAIL !

Bought a nice thick stiff front arb mount, only to find its for the boomerang/super sabre and hole is too small for my home made sway bar. Doh! Anyone want them, drop me a dm.

Last little bit was some serrated wheel nuts as the nylocks had a tendency to loosen.

Got a trsck meet in 2 weeks. Excited to run this with the new wheels and other bits!

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Ran this today, and it was a bit out of sorts for a while. Traced it to the RC Channel front trans brace causing the arms to bind. Took it off and with a bit more preload on the new Core RC rear springs it was back to running nicely. Even ran on the outside track a fair bit. Lovely conditions until my front wheel fell off! Eventually running was stopped after that was fixed by a damper unscrewing. Was having one of those days!

Really liked the new wheels though. Still really enjoying this.

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Bit of post brekkie, pre-work tinkering. Removed and cleaned up the unscrewed shock. Sand everywhere! Seal had also swelled so that got replaced by a Tamiya red. Once cleaned up i put 400 oil in, increasing from 300 before. Hopefully this should be nice with the softer springs i am now running.

To even up the other side i drained the damper and the dirtiest oil i have ever seen came out. Oil all over the fitti gs too. That o ring was also swelled. Replaced with tamiya red and 400 oil. The top cva diaphragms are really had to put in because they are so shallow snd soft. Yeah racing rubber really is garbage. Need to see if there is a tamiya size top cva seal that will fit. Howdver, they are back together and smooth. I also removed the underguard and bolted the battery door closed.

I kinda like the underguard look, but it does take away quite a bit of ground clearance. Will see how i feel after the next track meet

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Ran at the track.

Was lovely conditions at the track, and the Hotshot 2 ran well. Was fun to drive, but did start to grip roll a bit. I turned the steering down a touch qnd it seemed to sort it. Was fun. Still not happy with offset shorty battery though. I think some cutting and drilling of the battery tabs on the tub is in order.

Also couldn't resist a "spot the difference" shot with Mark's beautiful, fresh built ReRe

Handsome pair, no?