Super Hotshot Near-stock Build

[Mad Ax 11158]

By now anyone who is interested will have seen my Hotshot custom chassis build, which I'm planning to race at Revival in just under 6 weeks time, however as there could potentially be issues with legality, plus the risk of breakage, or it being a total flop on track, and also me wanting a wet car because the custom chassis isn't enclosed, I decided to build this Supershot that I've had lying around NIB since Revival 2019.

This won't be a full ground-up build thread since I can't be bothered to take worse versions of pictures you've all already seen.  Instead this focusses on the highlights, such as, the box build with the new Etronix servo and Photon brushless combo, plus my old Turnigy GT5 radio that had only just been fixed with a new steering potentiometer at this time.

This is what the box looks like inside:

[Mad Ax 11158]

One month and one day later, the bulk of the build would be complete, however getting electrics into these old chassis isn't always fun.

The standard wires were way too long, so I shortened and tucked them.

I had to drop the chassis box, and had this happen - this is the front right screw that goes down into the chassis box.  The exact same thing happened on my Hotshot build from 15 years ago.  Looks like too much heat builds up when screwing into the chassis and it melts the plastic onto the thread, making it hard to get off.

Anyway, here's what the electrics look like withinside the box:

Assembled and ready to go, sort of:

[Mad Ax 11158]

I'll briefly pause from the build to talk about the Photon SBS power system: it's rubbish.  I've been looking around for a readily available, cheap, good brushless system, and have decided there aren't any.  There are cheap, good brushless systems, like Turnigy, but they aren't exactly available right now - stock it thin and sporadic.  There are cheap and available brushless systems, like Gool RC or Etronix, but they aren't good.  And there are good and available (sort of) brushless systems by Hobbywing, but they are a step up in price - most Hobbywing stuff seems to have skyrocketed in price over the last year or so (the 4S-compatible 1:8 system that I put in my LMT-1 a year ago has been discontinued and the closest system with a similar spec is over twice the price).

So, why is it rubbish?

Well, a lot like the Gool RC system, it seems to have been made by someone who once saw an RC car being driven on a Youtube video and thought "hey, I know how to program an ESC!"  For example, getting reverse isn't done by pulling on the brake, releasing, and then pulling back again.  No, it's on a delay.  So if you pull back the lever, it will wait a while before reversing.  And, most frustratingly, it does exactly the same before going forwards.  TBH that's mostly it - it's better than the Gool RC system, which just plain makes it up as it goes along, but it adds a level of frustration to driving around a tight area that might come back to bite me if I have to reverse out of danger on track.

If the basic-spec Hobbywing brushless ESC comes back in stock when I've got some spare cash, I'll pull the Etronix out and throw one of those in.

[Mad Ax 11158]

There's not much more to report on the build, other than some unphotographed shock mods.  The standard shocks are build with rubber O-rings and a flange nut on the shaft, restricting downward travel.  That might have been a good idea back in the mid-80s when tracks were bumpy but didn't have many ramps, but it's not so good for a modern astro track.  To save the lower arms from race-ending breakages if I land a jump wrong, I've removed the nut and o-ring from the front shocks and replaced the rears entirely with some Tamiya CVAs.  I had real trouble stiffening the rears up to what felt like a satisfactory level - in the end I had to put in the single hole piston and 900 weight oil just to get them to feel like they were doing anything at all.  I added some stiffer oil up front also, as the shocks didn't feel like they were doing much.

[Mad Ax 11158]

And now for the best bit - paint!  This car will be debuted alongside my custom chassis Hotshot, which is painted in my old silver and black colours.  I wanted this one to match, but didn't want to be boring and do exactly the same scheme, so I classed this one up with some Tamiya metalic gold.

My wife told me off for not taking pictures in the sunlight, so I did the classy thing and took a photo on the bins.

[Mad Ax 11158]

I'm also not a fan of the use-a-screwdriver-to-change-the-battery affair, so I used a machine screw from underneath and a thumbscrew for battery release

And finally, with my 2023 race livery installed.  My race number for Iconic is 30, so I decided to incorporate it into the design with an all new Garage 30 livery designed in Inkscape and printed on laser vinyl.

I think this guy has seen the videos of what happened last time I race a Hotshot...

[Mad Ax 11158]

Obligatory over-exposed bin shot

[RC_FunLand 172]

What an absolute beauty of a buggy.

 

Favorite part is the stickering design and paint job.

 

How did you manage to make such a professional-looking design in Inkscape? I could only dream...

[droidy 91]

Very shiny and iconic livery!

What are your thoughts about Super Hotshot vs Hotshot? Lots of reviews about the Super's extra weight and it looks a bit ungainly (but still looks great here) in comparison, but isn't it exactly a Hotshot with all of the hop ups of the time already in the box?

[Mad Ax 11158]

4 hours ago, RC_FunLand said:

How did you manage to make such a professional-looking design in Inkscape? I could only dream...

Thanks  all my experience in inkscape and graphic design in general is just from hours of trying, I'm not formally trained in graphic design.  The bulk of the work is done with fonts, I go on the free font websites and hunt around until I find something that works.  Actually I'd put an hour into this design already before realising the font would never work, it was too low and wide, so I had to go back and start again with a new font.  The rest of it is just about learning the little tricks (like converting a font to a path, so it can be modified, e.g. the whitespace cutout on the 30 so the word GARAGE has somewhere to sit so that the left and right versions of the image occupy the same overall width on the body.

There's no substitute for seat time - there's not much you can't do in Inkscape and there's a whole internet full of information explaining how to do it, I admit I still get hugely frustrated when I can't get a really simple thing to work, and sometimes I go against all my instincts when I can't get things to align using the proper tools and just draw it in by hand, but there's no great and terrible secret to it - just sit down and get playing.

Hint: have the body and a little plastic ruler close at hand so you can work out what's going to fit where and mock up a simple version before you spend ages designing the finished article - I'm often surprised by how something that looks great on screen is completely lost when stuck on the body.

47 minutes ago, droidy said:

What are your thoughts about Super Hotshot vs Hotshot? Lots of reviews about the Super's extra weight and it looks a bit ungainly (but still looks great here) in comparison, but isn't it exactly a Hotshot with all of the hop ups of the time already in the box?

To be honest, the only differences I can see are:

• HP suspension kit
• plastic undertray
• no front sway bar
• minor changes to body and roof

It's also possible the front uprights are different and the chassis has the removable radio cover so you can pretend to be able to adjust your electrics without stripping it down - my Hotshot is a re-re which had the later front uprights and the removable radio cover, I think the OG Hotshot didn't have that but I don't know about the OG Supershot.

I haven't driven the Super Hotshot in anger yet, just tested it around the yard a couple of times.  The HP shocks are as smooth as you can expect for a plastic body, they must have been game changers when it was first released.  Not so good on modern tracks because they won't allow the chassis to fully bottom out off bigger jumps, but as above, remove the o-ring and flange nut and you've got a bit more travel.  According to my pit buddy, they run well on astro with some thicker oil (it does feel a bit underdamped as standard, although shock setup is not my forte).

I really can't see it's that much heavier?  The Hotshot isn't exactly light with all that plastic in the gearboxes and chassis box.  4 large shocks compared to 2 small ones isn't going to change it that much?  The plastic undertray weighs next to nothing.

I'm really excited to find out how it drives alongside my custom-chassis hotshot later this year, fingers crossed for good weather so they both get a solid run.

[Saito2 8297]

24 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

It's also possible the front uprights are different and the chassis has the removable radio cover so you can pretend to be able to adjust your electrics without stripping it down - my Hotshot is a re-re which had the later front uprights and the removable radio cover, I think the OG Hotshot didn't have that but I don't know about the OG Supershot.

The access hatch in the top of the chassis originally appeared first in the the Hotshot 2, not the original Hotshot nor Supershot. When the re-releases appeared, they all got it. 

29 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

• HP suspension kit
• plastic undertray
• no front sway bar
• minor changes to body and roof

The Supershot also received spiked tires (on gold rims of course) over the Hotshot's oval block tires, a Technipower motor, and most importantly, full bearings which were punishingly expensive at the time.

30 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

Not so good on modern tracks because they won't allow the chassis to fully bottom out off bigger jumps,

The CVA version 2 dampers included in kits like the re-re Monster Beetle, have a shorter body (but same overall length) because Tamiya eliminated the shaft guides. These, installed in the front, will allow the front end to bottom out.