WANTED: Maverick DesertWolf Centre Diff

[TrueBlue]

Well, at least you got a refund... but now you're missing the tool required to remove the remaining wheel.

Was cheap, but functional with a load of attachments. Nice. I had a Parkside soldering iron, was also quite cheap. Lasted a long time though, did a lot of soldering with it until it eventually stopped working. Started making crackling noises then just died.

Maybe use the refund to put towards another rotary tool. Seems like it's the only way to actually remove the wheel nut successfully with the least amount of hassle.

And yeah, that glue is on there, lol. I'd say putting the wheels in boiling water can often help loosen up the glue, but er... the wheels kinda need to be off the car!

[wintersdawn]

I think I will need to get another, either from Lidl, or another make as they are so handy and as you say, I need one to sort out the final rounded DW wheel nut, although I am leaning towards leaving it, as it was such a pita to remove the other one and may only do it if I'm forced to lol.

Yes, I must be realistic about re-using the DW wheels by putting new tyres on, it may not be possible to remove the old tyres good enough and, as you say, I would need to be able to remove that last wheel.

[wintersdawn]

Had the HPI decals come from Wheelspin, got four sheets as they were only £1.19 each. Some of the decals are bigger than I was expecting, which is good.

Just need the PS-1 White paint and then I have everything to do the new TW body shell.

[wintersdawn]

Done much RC related stuff this week?

[TrueBlue]

That's a lot of decals! And a lot of white... shame there isn't at least one or two orange decals, given that's HPIs colour.

Well, a little... last week I finished painting 3 body shells... a Tamiya Subaru Impreza, HPI Bullet Nitro and a Traxxas Rustler shell. Yesterday, I was finally able to get the Tamiya Mustang SVT decals from Tonys Tamiya Parts, after I got an email to say they were in limited stock. I bought them quick as ****, lol. I went pack to the decals and saw they had sold out... I possibly bought the ONLY decal set they received from Tamiya Japan! Pricey though at £26... but I might try to re-sell the shell afterwards. I also need to get some metallic blue paint, white and black. I already have some white and black though, thankfully.

So this week will be the refurb of the Tamiya Mustang shell. I hope to make a YouTube series out of it. I doubt it'll be very interesting, but I sometimes like documenting things like that.

[wintersdawn]

Yes, would have been nice to have some HPI orange decals.  I got them for my blue/black body shell but seem to be unobtainium now.

Glad you finished painting the 3 body shells and the decals finally came from ttp for the Tamiya Mustang SVT.  Cool if you got the last decal set available.

What is involved in the refurb of the Tamiya Mustang shell?  Cool if you do a series to document, a bit like me documenting my deliveries and sometimes progress photo's.

[TrueBlue]

What's involved?

Well, I've just bought some cans of PS-16 Metallic Blue and some masking tape in order to start the refurb. First I'll cut out the new stickers and then remove the old ones. Give the shell a clean, then mask the whole of the outside so I can paint the inside metallic blue. I'll also paint the spoiler and mirrors. There's some body work to repair, which hopefully will go well, but there's also some I can't repair, which kinda puts me off from keeping the shell.

Once it's painted, I can put the new decals on. And after that, should be job done. Hardest and longest part will probably be trying to mask the whole outside of the shell to make sure no overspray occurs.

[wintersdawn]

Sounds like you've got it all planned out, hope goes well.

There's nothing stopping me from cutting out the clear TW shell but I've been putting it off until feel motivated.

[TrueBlue]

Not sure if I want to make a YouTube series about this now... if I di that, it means having to wait between shots, and I don't want to wait, lol. So... might get on and start with the things I can do now. There isn't mush to show on video anyway, so... not sure.

[wintersdawn]

I can imagine that you would like to get on with it, once I get motivated I would too.

[TrueBlue]

Lol, true enough. Been working on it for the last day or so.

Sanded down the edges, removed any flaking paint, removed the old decals, cut out the new decals... just waiting for the paint and masking tape to arrive today, and I can get on with the actual refurb!

[wintersdawn]

Sounds like you're making good progress, well done.

[wintersdawn]

Just ordered some spare front axle's for the DW in case when I remove the other wheel nut I damage the threads.

I did damage the axle threads a bit when I removed the first wheel nut but was still able to screw the new wheel nut on.  It started off a bit tight but I did it up a bit and than unscrewed it and it became easier, I assume it cleared the threads where there was damage or re-threaded them.

I feel a bit better tackling the removal of the other front wheel nut now I'll have some spare axles but still need to make sure I don't damage the wheel in the process.  It won't be for a while anyway until I get another rotary tool.  Next time, I will remove the wheel (by removing the hub/steering linkage) at the start so I can hold the wheel separately which should make it easier.  I will try the pliers again with the wheel removed as I might have better leverage, would be great if it would unscrew that way, saving so much hassle and possible damage by doing it with the rotary tool. 

[wintersdawn]

Just went back on ebay to look for some new wheels and tyres for the DW, as thought it wouldn't hurt to have some spares and came across the ones below.  I took an original DW wheel off and the wheels below match.  The listing says they are for a HoBao Hyper 7 but so far doing a google search I haven't found them as fitted to this model.  If I could, and they are still available, we would have an alternative source of DW wheels.

They are quite worn but as they are so rare decided to send an offer.  The original price was £14 so offered £10 plus £3.10 postage and the offer was accepted.  Really excited by this find and believe they were made using the same mould as the DW wheels, even the manufacturing markings inside the wheel match.  

 

[TrueBlue]

Interesting. Yeah, I can 't seem to to find those either, under the HoBao Hyper 7.

Yeah, quite worn, lol. The tyres are particularly bad. Maybe you can remove them at some point and replace them with some new 1/8 scale tyres, assuming the glue isn't still holding on for dear life.

I did do an image search for HoBao 1/8 wheels to see if I could find anything, like a part number or the model they're usually attached to. But so far, I can't find anything. Can't find a single image of these wheels. Strange.

Would be nice to have an alternative source for some like-for-like wheels... if we can even find more and where they come from... other than HoBao.

 

[wintersdawn]

Been looking up ways to repair damaged RC tyres and one way is adhesive. I have some RC tyre adhesive already so may use that to seal up the cracks. I'll run the DW with them and see how they hold up. If they come apart I'll try to remove them and fit some new ones.

Yes, it is strange why we can't find a HoBao with those wheels. I extended my search to any HoBao RC model but still couldn't find anything.

[wintersdawn]

Just been looking again at Hobao RC's and still nothing with those wheels on.

Starting to wonder about the possibility that someone put Hobao tyres on Desertwolf wheels...

[wintersdawn]

Not much of a break-through but I think I've found the Hobao tyres:

MIBI do them separately and on 5 spoke wheels in green, red, white and yellow.

https://www.makeitbuildit.co.uk/products/hobao-angle-spike-1-8th-set-of-4-white

Modelsport have them in white:

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/ho-bao-1-8th-directional-spike-tyre-mounted-on-white-wheel-17831

[TrueBlue]

Hm, they do look like the tyres. Should fit on the DW wheels, assuming you can take the old ones off without too much trouble. 

I can't find the green, red or yellow versions on MIBI though. Would have definitely preferred black, or silver/grey. Shame really because I quite like the looks of those wheels.

And it's possible I guess, that someone put the HoBao tyres on the DW wheels. If you needed new tyres, that's pretty much something you'd do anyway, so it makes sense.

Tyre glue should seal the cracks nicely, but how long it'll last is another story. Especially under those speeds. Only way to know for sure is to give it a try!

[wintersdawn]

The wheels/tyres are being delivered today so will see how well the HoBao tyres fit, although I would like to get some 1/8th tyres that are closer in appearance to the original DW tyres.

That said, the HoBao tyres are pretty cheap, found an eBay seller doing them for £13.46 for two, delivered. If I went the HoBao tyres route, I could just change the old ones as they wear out, instead of having to get all four old tyres off if I change to different tyres.

Also, if I go for some different tyres, I'll have to make sure they'll fit the wheels and not sure how easy that is. Will do some research on removing glued tyres and will see later how well they're on the wheels.

[wintersdawn]

Had the wheels/tyres come earlier and decided to go with the replacement Hobao tyres, the same as are fitted, they look fine.

So far I have managed to remove one of the baldest tyres and it came away ok using a sharp knife and flat bladed screwdriver.

Will remove the other pretty bald tyre tomorrow but leave the other two for the time being as they're not too bad.

Will order 4 of the Hobao tyres as I'm sure I'll need to replace the other two tyres at some point. Below is the Ebay picture of the wear to each tyre.

  

[wintersdawn]

[wintersdawn]

[TrueBlue]

Wow, those are really worn, lol... must have seen a lot of run time! And the wheels definitely do resemble the originals, especially now they are on the Desertwolf. Maybe they really WERE original DW wheels with some different rubber on them. If that's the case, and they were never made by HoBao, then we still have no alternatives to the original wheels. 

But yeah, if you can peel off the rubber and put some new ones on, should look pretty good. Just wish we had those 5 spoke HoBao ones in black, instead of white.

[wintersdawn]

I believe they are DW wheels, here's a side by side. The only difference I can see are the indents in the centre on the DW wheel but might have been caused by the wheel nut.

Also removed the 2nd bald tyre so ready for the new HoBao tyres now.