Advice for the hornet and a super hornet

[Jj3000]

Hi all,

Some 30ish odd years ago, my father had a hornet and a super hornet. The super hornet was "mine" to use and he had the hornet. We used to race and have fun with them in the neighborhood.

 

He recently was cleaning out the shed and called me asked if I wanted them, they haven't been touched in a very very long time. The super hornet holds great memories for me and I'd love to get it up and running again.

 

My question posed to you all is, how would you go about it? New chassis/suspension/upgrades? 

Replace everything back to stock? Clean the body, new decals etc?

Chassis has cracks etc in, tyres and wheels are mostly smashed/buckled...as a (roughly) 10 year old I beat the crap out of it! Im torn as I want to retain some of the nostalgic feeling of it, but would also love to make it a really good usable machine again. Now I have my own son, it would be special for us to use these together like my father and I did.

I haven't been into RC in many years. Can anyone recommend a path to take with all the servos/reciever etc to use? It has gear in there but no transmitters and very old out of date gear. Have others upgraded these to use lipos etc.with modern tech? From initial research, the grasshopper II re-release is the same as the super hornet bar the body?

Uploaded the rest of pics to a Google drive folder for interest. Cheers 🍻 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XI5WK_Ra92oO3nwub_UcHRpJ3yvhBopr

[Twinfan]

Personally, I would clean up your original and get it working as-is then retire it to a shelf - it looks like it's had a hard life!  Using it today will result in old brittle plastic being broken very, very quickly.

You could then buy a new RC, such as the new Hornet Evo that's coming in a month or so, to start a new journey with your son.  Hornet, Super Hornet and Hornet Evo through the generations sounds cool to me  

[Jj3000]

You know what, you make alot of sense. Through my rose coloured nostalgia glasses, I probably had a vision that isn't reasonable of these two cars and would be much better off continuing with a suggestion like yours.

 

I'm going to look into the hornet evo now. I agree with you, it sounds like a great idea to continue with!

 

Appreciate your input and advice 👍

[Twinfan]

No worries at all    I think you might be gutted if on the first run with your son the "old guy" got smashed into a wall/kerb/tree trunk and ripped the chassis - I know I would be!

The cheapest price for the Hornet Evo that I've seen in the UK so far is via Tony's Tamiya Parts:  https://ttpmodels.com/products/tamiya-58742-hornet-evo-assembly-kit-pre-order-nib

You'll need a new transmitter, receiver, battery and charger too plus a servo.  Lots of choice out there, for either stick or wheel transmitter systems, so it's worth looking around and seeing what suits your needs and budget  

[Jj3000]

Haha you're absolutely right.

 

Legend, thanks again. I'm based on the other side of the world in New Zealand but I see a couple shops here have them as a preorder so I'm going to get my order in then research some transmitters etc. it's been a while but I'm excited to get back into it...and you've suggested a much better solution than I had in my head!

[Twinfan]

Awesome, sounds like a mega plan    There are a few Kiwi members on here who may be able to help if you need any local advice  

[BuggyDad]

I'd do as others advise but, if your son is already at a suitable age to build and drive I would start by buying a new basic tamiya kit to build with him. I did this for my son's 8th birthday in 2021. We had a great time and it was my re-entry into the hobby (hence my user name). Then at your leisure I would consider what to do with your old one. Realistically it's probably of more nostalgic value than as a runner but the process of cleaning it up etc you might enjoy. And if you don't really intend to run it then maybe you don't need to spend on it either. 

As for choice of kit, well, the world's your lobster. Hornet Evo is a nice choice taking you full circle. DT-02 or DT-03 is another option in the realm of "entry level Tamiya" without the iconic appeal but probably drives better. There are lots of others too. 

[Kowalski86]

Modernizing either of those Hornets wouldn't be cheap, bearings, ESCs, new wheels/tires, and Tamiyas ABS plastic doesn’t age well. I've been there done that, and always walked away thinking "I should've bought a new kit instead!".

[MadAnt]

There are multiple paths you can take with these cars, I recommend the easiest path, which is buying the re-release cars (Substitute the Super Hornet), put the old cars on the shelf and make the new ones tributes, but that's entirely up to you. 

Really both cars are a total mess and are now pretty much parts cars if anything is worth saving. If you want to spend the time and make them fully functional, you can, but you will either end up replacing 95% of what you have,  or resort to do whatever to just make it work and it will still be junk. Trust me, I did the latter, but it was over time and with new and old junk. 

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/107202-my-old-grasshopper-revival/

[ThunderDragonCy]

The Super Hornet chassis is mostly Grasshopper2. If you want to tidy up cracked parts it's probably cheapest to pick one of those up as a kit. They have been rereleased twice, most recently as a Black Edition. Sell the gh2 body and wheels on ebay and you have pretty much everything you need to rebuild the old stager.

The original orange Super Hornet wheels are impossible to find. If they sell them on your side of the world JC Racing Products make modern, larger diameter 2.2" versions of the Wild One wheels in a new orange. That is what i used on my Super Hornet tribute. 

For a runner, m'colleagues suggestion of a Hornet Evo is an excellent plan IMO

[cstorckiii]

Or a Rising Fighter, which uses a slightly different gearbox and has an ABS, Super Hornet styled body with a separate wing.

[TurnipJF]

On 10/16/2024 at 6:01 PM, cstorckiii said:

Or a Rising Fighter, which uses a slightly different gearbox and has an ABS, Super Hornet styled body with a separate wing.

For a basic beginner buggy, the Rising Fighter is an excellent suggestion. The Hornet Evo is more advanced, more refined and also a lot more expensive, but the Rising Fighter is a simple, sturdy model that can absorb a lot of abuse from a rookie driver.