Hotshot restoration project.....

[Mankku]

Just picked up a Hotshot from a friend of mine, (got it for free) and Im planning on getting it to run again (its taken apart.....). At least the propeller shaft and joints are worn out, noticed that one of the bevel gears in the rear diff. are missing teeth and the chassis has some broken fastening ears. Othervise it is all "ballbeard" and it has the "aftermarket" shocks (one/wheel). Probably got some screws and small parts missing too since it was taken apart like 15 years ago (when the propeller joints wore out) It also has the RX-540SD motor in it.

 

Any ideas and reflections on how I should restore it and what to take in consideration. Mayby an ESC, new batterys and so on?? Weak parts, improvements??

 

Thanks, Mag

[civilguy]

I recently got my Hotshot running after 15 years or so of storage.  If you plan to run it my first suggestion would to be pick up used parts as often as you can- they may have some wear but it will save you lots of money.  I've picked up a-arms, gearboxes and other misc. parts at a fraction of new.  (New rear a-arms or gearbox trees usually exceed $50usd on eBay.)  Second, find a front upper a-arm stabilizer that bridges the a-arms across the front of the gearbox-- those really save on wear of the entire front end.  (CRP made them.)  The gear sets are usually pretty easy to find as they are the same on a couple other models (Hotshot II, Supershot, Bigwig I believe).  I also run alloy uprights on the front end (vintage 1987) as the control arm for the steering linkage likes to break, but I've only seen one other set on eBay and it was listed at $99.  FYI you can pick up a pair of 50648 on eBay and they will work- not original, but running vintage on a Hotshot is a losing battle.

You mentioned broken ears on the chassis- I have one mint chassis without broken ears (and it sits in my parts box!!).  Mount the rear gearbox using the lower mounting hole and CA glue the top on (with the top bolt in place through the broken ear).  Once you have the roll cage and all the rest assembled, it will usually hold pretty well.  If you need to take it apart, you can usually get an hobby blade in there to remove the already broken ear-- who cares if you snap it off again! []

I run a vintage Futaba MC8 ESC with 6 cell 3500 NiMH packs- mostly 24turn vintage motors from Kyosho and Trinity. I would suggest switching to an ESC, only because I have a bag full of smoked original MSCs from racing 20 years ago.  I'm not sure how to get cooling into the chassis as my ESC is mounted where the driver used to sit with a period Parma body covering the lot.

Also if you need a manual, ModelBuild.co.uk has several manuals in pdf format here: http://www.modelbuild.co.uk/manuals.html

Best of luck to you!  (And if you wanted to restore this to a shelf queen-- disregard everything I said!!!)

 

[HunterZero]

Please no talking about your 'ballbeard' on here, this is a family forum. []

The suspension arms and front gearbox are weak points on this car. I second the above suggestion on trying to obtain a couple of wrecks for serviceable parts if you intend to run it, as new C/F/G/R parts are heart-attack inducingly expensive.

There is a guy on eBay selling complete A/B/C/D screw sets for the Hot Shot. Most of the screws on that car are standard and are shared with other cars, so they're not hard to obtain.

The metal diff gears are the same as those in the Frog, and they're readily available now the Frog has been re-released. Original prop joints/shafts are available on eBay fairly cheaply.

The Super Shot underguard is probably a good idea as well.

- James

[Mankku]

Thanks

Do you mean an other sort of stabilizer for the front? The original one seems to be in good shape, the "dogbones" are maybe a little worn but those I probably get from from a hobbyshop of some other make.

Do know what kind of oil I should use in the shocks? Two of them are all empty.

You have a chassis for spare? If I dont find an other one closer, would you sell it to me? The broken ears are all missing and there has been some "fixing" done with aluminium and screws.....! Found one on eBay for a Supershot and it should fit, I´ll see what I´ll do.

Do you think a ESC would overheat in the servo-box? Any idea how many turns the motor has?

I might get the propeller shaft and joints from the UK (Lightwatermodels) they promised to "look around"

 

Mag

[Mankku]

Hey I made that B word up just with a fast translation from Swedish[:$]

[civilguy]

Sorry- not a stabilizer bar, but an a-arm stabilizer.  It bridges the gap between the two top a-arms in front of the gearbox.  The slop in the top arms wear out the arms and the gearbox as well.  This one ended, but they do show up :  http://cgi.ebay.com/Tamiya-Hot-Shot-R-C-pa...1QQcmdZViewItem

Shock oil- I prefer to use Tamiya soft shock oil on my Hotshot.  You can use pretty much any brand/type- depends on what/where/how you run your buggy.  For me, I don't take lots of jumps or hard abuse, so that works for me.

I don't have a chassis to part with now-- I have one mint chassis, one on my runner and one other that has one broken ear for a backup.  The two others I have are probably in worse shape than yours (no ears and cracks).  Supershot chassis will definitely work.  (Also see the discussion in the other thread about Hotshot 2 chassis working as well.)

There were a couple 540SD motors- 23 turn Technipower / 27 turn Technituned / not sure if there are others.  Most vintage motors are 23+ turns.  I think the Technigold was 21, but that was 540VZ.  Not sure about the cooling on the ESC.  I run a TEU101-BK in my Wild Willy (enclosed chassis too) with no problem, but only use the stock 540 and 6 cell 1200 packs.  Newer batteries may really generate some heat.  Anyone else converted Hotshot to an internal ESC??

Good luck on the shaft/joints.  These turn up on eBay too- not too pricey as they are similar in several buggies.

I hope I got everything right and that this helps.  Good luck!

Jeff

 

[Rusty2903]

Well i have a Hotshot II with a newly fitted ESC and everything seems fine so far [y] I'm just running the standard 540 motor for the time being although i have a 14 x 3 motor which i'm thinking about, just don't want to start stripping gears and stuff lol. I'm npot too sure if the Hotsht II chassis will fit on the Hotshot, but if your worried about overheating the hotshot II has the hatch in the top. If my ESC gets too hot on a regular basis then i will cut some slits in the hatch to try and get cool air in.

Nice to see some people posting about the "shot" series [h]

Russ

[nigeninja]

If your going to use it as a runner it would be a good idea to dump the old multi piece drive shaft,and replace it with the one piece Boomerang drive shaft and propeller joints,its a lot more robust even if it don't look like it. 

[Mankku]

What does the Boomerang drive shaft/joints look like?

Mag

[Mankku]

Hey Civilguy, I have a Wild Willy 1 too that Im restoring also......

 

Mag

[civilguy]

Boomerang shaft is one-piece looped at the ends and the joints are v-shaped.  If you're looking to compare, download the Boomerang, Hotshot, etc. manuals here: http://www.modelbuild.co.uk/manuals.html

I have had good luck with the original style shaft although many people have recommended changing over.

As for Willy, mine is more of a beater than a runner!  He got dragged under a car about 30 feet back in 1986 and sat in a box until last fall.  I got it running for fun, but it is a mish-mash of parts from Willy, Grasshopper and lots (LOTS) of glue.  I looked at buying some replacement wheels, etc but they are rare and expensive in the US.  So mine is just for fun!  Best of luck with that and I'm sure there are WWI forums here too!

Jeff

[bakaguyjean]

If you are a paid up subscriber you can down load the manuals from Tamiyaclub.Just thought i might let you guys know as you dont have to go to a different web site.there are several different way to get there.

.http://www.tamiyaclub.com/car.asp?id=47

but here a link to the Hotshot page.If you look at the top you can see the tab for the manual.you can even see a list for cars that share the same chassis,and then get the manual for that car.

 I just thought i might let you know as you seem like some of you are new guys,and the information might help

ILove the Hot shot talk as im doing strange things to my Super sabre and im learning for this post.Thank you civilguy  for giving some good information.[]

[civilguy]

Thanks. I had seen that you get more from TC if you subscribe, but I'm still on the fence.  If my daughter and I get back into racing, our local track is mostly truck/truggy classes (Traxxas, etc) and it would be cheaper to run those.

I had tried just about every part made for the Hotshot at one point back in the 80s.  Meaning I PAID after they broke. [:'(]

It's fun to talk about something that I enjoyed so much in my youth though!

Jeff

[Mankku]

Jeff, one more Q about those a-arm stabilizers. Where do you mount them? Is it like a bar that connects between the upper 3x32mm screw pins, or? I mean I´m in the metal business and if I understood what they look like I could probably make them from aluminium. If you could attach a photo or picture. Maybe some model has these as stock?

Mag

[civilguy]

Yes- you have the right idea and

No- these were not standard on any buggies I know of.

If you look at the larger picture of the CRP part in the eBay listing I linked to above, it's probably better than anything I can post.  It mounts behind the screw pins-- the larger holes slide onto the approx 3-4mm deep round stub on the leading edge of the top a-arm where the screw pin threads are.  And those 'wings' sticking up in the picture slide on either side of the gearbox.  (Basically the part is shown upside down in the picture.)  Also in the CRP kit were thin plastic shims in case the mounting horns on the sides of the gearbox and/or a-arm were worn so badly that you needed to shim them to prevent play front-to-back. 

You could fabricate something- I had out of some thin aluminum way back, but it kept bending too much.  I finally bought a CRP kit.  If you could machine something that would be ideal.

Jeff

[civilguy]

Sorry- there are thin plastic washers that go behind the head of the screw pins to hold the brace/stabilizer in place.

I forgot to mention this (in my long-winded description).  The heads of the screw pins are the same diameter as the plastic bit and this whole thing would just pop right off if not for those washers!

Jeff

[Mankku]

Thanks, I think I got it.....!

 

Mag

[Mankku]

Nigeninja, are you sure the propeller shaft/joints from the Boomerang will fit the Hotshot? Or do they just look longer on eBay (the joints)

 

Mag

[terry.sc]

All club members, even free memberships, can download the manuals. Subscribers can download the pages at a higher resolution. Downloading the pdf is quicker though as due to an ebay scammer a couple of years ago who downloaded lots of manuals from here then sold them on ebay the manuals section was redesigned so it is very difficult to download lots of pages automatically.

The CRP A arm stabilizer goes across the top wishbone pivots and takes lots of play out of the front suspension. Here's one mounted on the front of my runner Hotshot.

As for restoration the gears themselves are usually pretty durable, I had a new set of gears that I eventually sold on as every Hotshot I have had has had great gears and I never needed them. I run a 16 turn motor in mine with no problems. The bevels are the same as used in the Frog, so they are now available from any LHS as well as ebay. Worst part tends to be the front suspension, the pivot balls wear out quickly and wears the sockets in the wishbones. Virtually impossible to find replacement pivot balls these days and there is a set of wishbones on ebay right now and they are wanting £30 for them.

The Supershot is just a Hotshot with the suspension upgrade fitted, so all parts are the same. The Hotshot II has a different chassis, but it is interchangeable with the original. Upgrading to an ESC should be no problem, the higher the specification of the ESC the cooler it will run. Don't bother with the Tamiya one, it is way too big to fit inside the chassis. An Mtroniks ESC or a Futaba MC230CR would fit in much easier - put the receiver in the bottom with the ESC on top of it. The RX-540SD as has been said is either a 27 or 23 turn, depending on which armature is in it. More commonly it is the 23 turn version.

The Hotshot propshaft was a known problem, they have been known to fall apart and once in pieces they are hard to keep in one piece. I have reinforced mine by brazing all the parts together. Tamiya replaced it with the coathanger style used on every other car in the range, it first appeared on the Boomerang so it is usually listed as the Boomerang propshaft.

There seems to be a lot more Hotshot spares around these days, as long as you are happy with used. My shelf queen Hotshot I restored a few years ago cost me over £120 to replace all the plastics with new parts, the new plastics are even rarer these days. Yet you can pick up used cars for a fraction of that now.

 

[civilguy]

Very nice runner Terry!  I notice you run the original dogbones.  I always had more problems with those coming apart than the shaft. My runner has the solid ones installed.  I actually found some "polybones" which have the yellow plastic- thus "poly" I guess- at the ends.  They seem to run pretty smoothly and have held up well so far.  I also managed to score several NIB pivot balls (I think I got 12).  Indeed hard to find.  I gave up on new front or rear a-arms as they either are asking too much or the eBay auctions go way to high for me.

After getting back into this for a few months (and several dollars), I am still not sure where to go with this hobby.  I love my vintage Tamiyas, but I was always a racer/runner.  And this is going to be expensive!

At least now I am finding people interested in these old buggies and I know where to ask questions.  Thanks!

Jeff

[blasta999]

Hey Jeff,

 I have  been running my hotshot for a while with a couple of mates that have newer tamiyas and even though it was quite impressive (apart from being unable to dial out all the understeer) with a few mods. I decided that for bashing around with mates i'd buy a newer one, so a 2nd hand DF03 to the rescue. I would give the hotshot a really good clean after each run though so wear was kept to a minimum.

 

 BTW, an ESC is a great idea for these, just don't run 1 of the Tamiya BZ motors on the teu101 speedie, gets very hot very quick in the enclosed case! just bought a moped 10turn cheapie for it, smaller and can handle better motors, so hopefully it'll be half decent.

to be honest though, something just isn't the same when driving the DF03, the Hotshot and fox are much more fun. (except when the fox gets that first click,click,click of the gears needing some TLC again, but it does a 19t motor, so tempting fate i spose

 Rob.

[civilguy]

Rob- Glad to hear others still running the 'shot.

The ESC on mine (Futaba MC8B) is about 20 years old and almost the size of a pack of cigarettes- so putting it inside the chassis was out of the question.  It sits between the rollcage right where the drivers head should be- and has been that way forever.  I bought some 3500 6-cell packs this past year and the ESC still operates smoothly using vintage 20+ turn motors (Kyosho LeMans 240, 360, 480 and Trinity Monsters).  My daughter is running my Grasshopper with a stock 540, using the TEU101- much better response for her to learn on than the original 3 speed MSC.

I have tried running my friend's newer buggies (Traxxas, HPIs, even Tamiyas) and I have to agree that there's nothing that matches the fun factor of the older models.

Happy running!  Jeff

[terry.sc]

The reason the new ones don't seem as fun is that the new ones handle well. To cover an off road track quickly nothing can touch a modern buggy as they do just go where you point them, the old cars need a lot more work to get them round a track. Rob, as you've found a Dark Impact is by far the best buggy Tamiya have produced (ignoring the TRF501X) but yes it can be boring when it just goes where you point it.

After getting back into this for a few months (and several dollars), I am still not sure where to go with this hobby.  I love my vintage Tamiyas, but I was always a racer/runner.  And this is going to be expensive!

Not necessarily Jeff. Just about all of my collection in my showroom are classed as runners, which means I'm not fussed about how perfect they are so you can pick them up cheap. My Hotshot above even with all the upgrades still cost me less than putting a restored non runner together. As a racer you should also appreciate other makes, I have very few Tamiyas myself, my collection is mainly Kyosho and Schumacher. Old racers are very cheap on ebay as they aren't as collectable, I've picked up most of mine for less than £30 per car, built up a whole collection for less than the cost of a 3 speed.

[bakaguyjean]

 There alot of people still running thier Hotshots.Heres some links from here in Japan if you would like to see some creative ideas for the Hotshot.

http://rc-off.com/toukou/hot2.html

http://rc-off.com/toukou/hot8.html

http://rc-off.com/toukou/hot17.html

http://rc-off.com/toukou/hot20.html

These are all cars on http://rc-off.com/

I have driven with some of these guys, http://tuyosi.ath.cx/dekigoto/20060505/index.htm heres a link to the last meeting we had.

People still enjoy their older RC cars.

 I agree that Tamiya`s dont have to be expensive. I use modern parts when i can and dont run tires that are hard to find.so my running has been fairly cheap.And besides i remember when Traxxas was a bad word.[:$] 

[nigeninja]

Yep it will fit in with no problems I run it on my Hotshot,I got through about 3 of the old style shafts b4 seeing the light,well no I did'nt see the light it was Terry who told me to put the boomer one in.

I also run the hotshot 2 upper chassis just because its easier to get to the receiver and ESC,cos its got the inspection hole i the top.It was a mega pain to unscrew the chassis just to change crystals.

.