BH HSII to HSII conversion information

[Cynan 520]

Hey.

For those that are interested in the differences between the Hotshot II and the Blockhead rere of the Hotshot II I thought I'd compile a list, which would be helpful for those that want to try and convert one to it's original form.

As a starting point there is an excellent article about the differences between the HS, SS, HSII and rere HS here: https://tamiyabase.com/articles/46-technical/176-distinguishing-the-hotshot-supershot-and-hotshot-ii

Now onto the HSII vs the BH HSII rere: -

• The original uses a one piece ball cup with integrated shaft, and was held in with C clips where as the reres all use a separate shaft and E clips. The E clips are thicker and to accomodate this the gear casings are slightly different.
• The original had a three piece thrust bearing, the rere has a singular thrust bearing.
• The original front gear box uses a brass numper stay. The rere uses aluminium.
• The original front numper does not have a recycling logo in the centre. The rere does.
• The original used plastic washers to hold the gear box together. The rere uses metal washers.
• The original used red parts, and not silver.
  • The rear uprights are different to the HS and SS. HS and SS parts are not interchangable. Super Sabre parts will fit howveer I heard someone say once that the Super Sabre red parts are a different shade of red. I've never had a Super Sabre so I cannot verify this.. but it's something that you may want to look out for.
  • The original wheel triangle mounts are different to the HS and SS. The HS & SHS rere parts in red will work, but they are different.
  • The original red shocks use brass inserts, the rere yellow shocks use ball colars and are of a newer CVA damper design.
• The original prop shart was of the coat hanger design with corresponding cups. The rere uses a more modern design.
• All the drive cups on the rere now have urethane bushings inserted. The original had nothing or you could fit your own o ring.
• The rere body has an extra cut out for the metal plate up top and dimples for the number plate screw holes.
• The original top chassis and roll cage is different.
• The original wheels were white, the reres are silver.
• The original battary retainer is more round, the rere is squarer in design.
• The original had an MSC, the rere comes with an ESC. Note the wire colours of the original MSC are different to the one supplied in other kits of that era.
• The rear shock tower and battery plate is the same.
• The original drive shafts were thinner. All the reres use beefed up versions.
• Reproduction decals in my experience all have issues and are not perfect and are not 100% accurate.
• The original came with a silver can motor, with a white or black plastic end bell. I've seen both.

The rest I believe is the same.

Now depending on how purist you want to be you either will or won't be able to convert one. To get a 100% original car it's going to take a lot of time hunting around and a lot of money and for some of the red parts the best chance you have is to buy a vintage car when wone comes up... sometimes even more than one in order to secure all the correct parts that are in good working order.

I'm hoping for a rere of the HSII in it's original form, but if they do release one I'm pretty certain we will still be missing the original gear cassngs, C clips, original drive shafts and dampers. Still we should gain the original body, semi-complete original decals, and barring the dampers, the rest of the red parts so that'll still be pretty good.

--Cynan

[Kpowell911 1207]

I think the fact the top chassis and cage are different (so new moulds?) means the chances of the ReRe regular HSII are slim =/

[Twinfan 764]

Aren't the ones from the re-re Hotshot the same as the Hotshot II and the top chassis and cage for the Blockhead were new?

[Cynan 520]

10 minutes ago, Twinfan said:

Aren't the ones from the re-re Hotshot the same as the Hotshot II and the top chassis and cage for the Blockhead were new?

Yep. You can use the top chassis and cage form the rere HS and SHS.

I believe @Kpowell911 means that a rere HSII will likely use the BH HSII top chassis.

[Kpowell911 1207]

17 minutes ago, Cynan said:

Yep. You can use the top chassis and cage form the rere HS and SHS.

I believe @Kpowell911 means that a rere HSII will likely use the BH HSII top chassis.

Thats if we get a ReRe HSII full stop. Tamiya may see this as suffice

[Twinfan 764]

1 hour ago, Cynan said:

Yep. You can use the top chassis and cage form the rere HS and SHS.

I believe @Kpowell911 means that a rere HSII will likely use the BH HSII top chassis.

Why would Tamiya do that though?  It's a simple swap to use the regular Hotshot parts instead, leaving the Blockhead parts unique to that model.  That's what I'd do.

There's no point doing a regular Hotshot II re-re with Blockhead parts.

[Kpowell911 1207]

3 hours ago, Twinfan said:

Why would Tamiya do that though?  It's a simple swap to use the regular Hotshot parts instead, leaving the Blockhead parts unique to that model.  That's what I'd do.

There's no point doing a regular Hotshot II re-re with Blockhead parts.

Unless theyve changed/modified the original mould for the BH?

[Twinfan 764]

31 minutes ago, Kpowell911 said:

Unless theyve changed/modified the original mould for the BH?

In which case there'd be no more Hotshot re-re, which would be crazy.  No way they've done that.