My Srb Projects

[VagabondStarJXF]

nice restaurations, keep up the good work.

Thanks. Just waiting on more parts... as usual!

What are the differences between a mk1 and mk2 srb?

There's lots to mention. There's differences to the gearbox, front arms, servo saver (and its placement on the chassis), the gear covers, the motor covers and the rear arms. There was a thread or a showroom post that compared the 2. Let me see if I can find it.

edit:

Linky

[VagabondStarJXF]

It must be Christmas or something.

At last I'd managed to find my spare TEU101BK last night! Now I have an ESC to use in my Scorcher. I was cheesed off that I'd have to buy another ESC before I could make it run because, for the life of me, I couldn't remember where I'd put it. I'm getting ever closer to having my Scorcher done... Hold on. Me getting one of my hobby projects finished? Completely finished? That'd be a first!

Anyways, here's a full update for anyone who wants to know...

Scorcher Project:

Needs body parts (mirrors, lights, etc.) and the body shells need stripping, repairing, preparing and repainting. Same for the drivers. Electronics need fitting and testing and I think the hump battery needs cycling to get it back to a better usable state (I'm not sure on this one though). Everything else is done and ready to roll. I was thinking of getting a CRP tower brace but that can wait, I guess. I don't know how essential a tower brace can be for a runner. If I can find the time and resources I'm going to modify the Blitzer shell, firstly to have the curved wheel arches that others have done to theirs, then do other little mods to make it look a little different from the norm. Then I'll try and save some more money to go and get some re-re bodies to do up as runners when they're released.

Rough Rider Project:

I managed to get a cleaner, undamaged original gear cover to match the nice original motor cover on the other side of the gearbox. I've also got an original rear cage to replace the Buggy Champ one I'm currently using on it. I want a vintage MSC for the Rough Rider and a couple of servos and that's the Rough Rider's internals sorted. I think it'd be great to get another original radio box to replace the battered one that's in there but it's ok for now. The original body shell needs stripping and repairing to the driver mount before being repainted. The driver could do with stripping and repainting too. The roof needs new bars which I'm thinking of making out of some 4mm aluminum rod I've got laying about and I've got a couple of vintage lights that I think I can repair. I've got a few Buggy Champ shells to do up as runners so the vintage lights will stay on the vintage body. Other than that I think I'd just need to cycle the other hump battery.

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've got a Q concerning my 7.2v hump packs. I've just found one of them just buzzes and won't charge. I'll need to crack it open to check the wiring and, as a last resort, to change the cells. Does anyone know how to do that without destroying the case?

[VagabondStarJXF]

Wow, has it really been over 6 months since I did anything with my SRB projects?

Well... It's been a while mainly because all I need to work on is the body shells so the chassis' have been sitting nicely on a shelf, waiting patiently for me to pull my finger out and do something with the aforementioned shells. That and the ORV projects I decided to do in the meantime!

Anyways, I thought I'd start stripping the paint off of my red shell...

Yesterday I started the process using some Kleen Off heavy duty caustic oven cleaner. It foams nicely...

I left it for a couple of hours but nothing significant happened so I sprayed more and repeated every couple of hours until I decided to leave it until this morning when I was going to start on my Rough Rider shells...

It didn't look like much had happened so I decided to give the thing a quick brush in some warm soapy water and, to my surprise, it really had started stripping the shell!

To be honest I was a little disappointed. That spray really did do something but the foam disippated too quickly for it to have the effect I was hoping for. One thing that I found out, though, was that there was more than the 2 or 3 coats of paint on it that I thought there was. At the moment I'm counting 4 or 5. The bottom seems to be black, then blue, then black again (which might just be more of the original base coat), then yellow, then the red which was on top. This being the case I'd decided to go a little further and get caustic soda crystals, mix up a batch and dunk the lot in it. I left it for a couple of hours and...

I can't believe it! Most of the paint on the sides just fell off! You can just about see the original shell under the water line. I pulled it out and flipped it over to let the roof 'get some' overnight. I've had a quick check on the other parts too. The busted nose cone that came with this shell is stripping nicely and I've got the original headlights and lenses on there to be salvaged. The 'good' nose cone has stripped only on the back side like the front just doesn't seem to want to budge. The glass, although warped a bit (previous owner damage), appears to be intact with no cracks and the smoke paint is coming off nicely aswell.

I've just chucked in all of the broken Rough Rider shell I had so I'm hoping that that will clean up nicely too so that I can repair and restore it. I could just use a Buggy Champ shell, I know, but I want to see if I can actually restore this thing. If I can then I'm going to try restoring the white Scorcher shell then another broken shell I've got for another project (I'll reveal details later depending on how things work out).

So tomorrow I'm going to see if anything more has happened then, hopefully, I can finally start getting a shell ready for painting. Now that the re-re body sets are widely available (and reasonably priced ) these original shells are definitely going to become shelfers. This means box art, methinks...

[SHY69]

Engine!

Amazing! Can I buy an engine kit like this anywhere?

[smegs]

Amazing! Can I buy an engine kit like this anywhere?

Yes, you could I saw it online but the engine kit cost around $250.00 US dollars. For that price I can buy another SRB.

[SHY69]

link please!!!

[smegs]

link please!!!

Im looking for the link but cant find it.

[SHY69]

Look harder!

[smegs]

Look harder!

lol

[smegs]

lol

it was made from a model company in arizona. I just cant find the link.

[SRB Bloke]

Look harder!

HI GUYS,

I thought I'd put you out of your misery, his name is John TC and ebay ID is Jeepcj81... but they ain't cheap, too rich for me...

[VagabondStarJXF]

I thought I'd put you out of your misery, his name is John TC and ebay ID is Jeepcj81... but they ain't cheap, too rich for me...

It's very expensive but oooh don't it just look lurrrrvlee!

I hate to admit it but my models will end up spending most of their lives on the shelf, despite being that I build everything to be run, so I figured that it's well worth looking nice.

Project update:

I'd given everything another fresh bath of caustic soda over night last night and here's the results...

The shell

Inside

Nose Cones

Glass

Light buckets

I really don't know what paint was used but the red on the good nose cone isn't budging. Also the red on the broken Rough Rider shell (which broke up even more in the solution) isn't shifting either, the glass cleaned up really well. There's only a couple of minor cracks where the wing mirrors fit, the lenses for the headlights are bit discoloured but I'm sure they'll be ok, and the shell has come up nicely but the paint on the inside doesn't want to come off. Not bad for my first attempt at stripping a shell, eh?

[dazaa]

Oh how I had forgotten the wonders of working on an srb. I really need to dig out the junk scorcher and finish it off soon!

[VagabondStarJXF]

Well... The inside of the 'Red' shell didn't strip any more so I guess I'm going to have to sand it down a little before priming. Funnily enough the other shell's insides stripped out nicely, even allowing the glue that was around the glass screw points to become detached.

'White Shell' on left, 'Red Shell' on right.

I guess I'm kinda disappointed because what I thought was the worse shell has ended up being the better shell but without complete front fenders (they were trimmed by one of the previous owners) and the shell that I thought was better has got too much damage to the support struts, both front and rear, and the quarter light window pillars appear to have been filed or sanded down aswell. I'm just not sure if I have the skills to repair everything on it. This being the case I might just cut off the complete front fenders and donate them to the front of the other, better shell. Not an ideal plan but still a plan nonetheless...

[SHY69]

HI GUYS,

I thought I'd put you out of your misery, his name is John TC and ebay ID is Jeepcj81... but they ain't cheap, too rich for me...

Thx mon!

Nothing for sale at the moment though...

[VagabondStarJXF]

So I was hoping to get another Scorcher shell to replace the one I'm not quite sure I can fix so I searched around, bid on and won an eBay auction. The description was minimal to say the most (literally 3 words "various SRB spares") and the pic was small but I couldn't see much damage so I wasn't overly worried.

Original auction pic

Yesterday I received 2 large boxes taped together. I couldn't open them until I got home from work. All day I waited patiently until I got home and so, thinking that the body shells would be in there, I opened the larger box first to find the bits from the other auction I won from the same seller. It looked like they'd just been chucked in there so I thought to myself this doesn't bode well before I turned everything over to open the smaller box. I almost cried. The Scorcher shell was so tightly wedged inside the Monster Beetle shell that it practically shattered.

There wasn't any pieces in the box so I can only assume that the damage to the right side pillar was there before hand but the rest of the damage looked fresh. I can't imagine what the seller was thinking by packing everything into a box so small. Maybe the seller was annoyed that the auction didn't end for more but still... I don't understand why people can't take a little care and pack things properly. Fortunately I can still salvage the parts, perhaps even repair them instead of cutting & splicing pieces together, so I'm not interested in returning them for a refund. I have, however, done something I would usually never consider doing. I've left negative feedback for the seller. I don't like leaving a -ve for private sellers, I'm usually much more forgiving because I know they're not a business, but this kind of packing is diabolical at best, malicious at worst, and fully deserving of wrath. You simply shouldn't do this to 'vintage' Tamiya shells.

Enough of my rant. Here's the other shells up close:

The Monster Beetle shell is in 2 halves... neatly cut BTW.

The Ranger shell... not bad just minor damage to the rear and broken front fenders as far as I can tell.

I'm going to strip them all and see if they're workable, restoration/repair or as parts donors, then get working on them one way or another. I hope this doesn't become a really complicated thing to do. What am I letting myself in for?

Can anyone share some close up pics of the front of the ranger shell? I specifically need pics of the front sides without the grill attached, perhaps with a ruler next to it and under it to act as a guide for me. Thanks to any who can help me out with pics on this one.

[dazaa]

Nice find with those shells, shame they got damaged but anything can be repaired with duct tape and super glue right?

I'm off to find the junk rider and update the thread!

[chinaman SS]

...

I can't believe it! Most of the paint on the sides just fell off! ...

what ratio did you use to mix the caustic soda pellets with water?

how did you mend the cracks on the shell? super glue?

[VagabondStarJXF]

Stripping - Initially I mixed the stuff as directed on the bottle, 1 bottle to 10 litres of water, then added the shell before the solution cooled down completely. I didn't want to risk damaging the shell further but I'd read on another thread on here that it works better when warm. Since then I've increased the strength of the mix a bit to get rid of the harder stuff. I basically used 1.5 bottles to 10 litres of water on the stronger mix. At the moment I'm trying to strip the other shells with a standard 1-10 mix but most of the paint isn't shifting despite leaving everything to strip since just after my post last night. I'm going to give it until tomorrow before I make any further decisions about continuing to 'soak'.

Repairs - I haven't started repairing anything as yet but I do have a plan as to how I'm going to do everything. I've got a bottle of EMA Plastic Weld to use on the breaks. I was trying to build a spoiler/splitter thing and it holds styrene together really well (in my opinion) so it should do the job. Scrapes etc. will get an application of Revell Plasto or Tamiya Putty (when I get around to buying some) then sanded down suitably. Big holes or missing sections will be filled by styrene sheet (or bits cut from salvage body donor) cut into shape then plastic welded into place. Smaller gaps will be filled with Revell Plasto or Tamiya Putty.

[chinaman SS]

... I basically used 1.5 bottles to 10 litres of water on the stronger mix...

How much is there in terms of either weight or volume in one of your bottles? Mine came in a 500g bottle.

[VagabondStarJXF]

I used the 1kg bottles from B&Q. Kinda strong stuff even when diluted properly but not quite strong enough to shift the paint that's on the broken Scorcher shell, the broken Monster Beetle shell, the broken Rough Rider shell or the red Scorcher nose cone. I'm gonna need to find something else to strip those. Maybe I'll go the brake/hydraulic fluid route although my brother has strongly advised against it. He spends ages messing with his 1/1 and says that the brake fluid will strip the paint but also alter the styrene at a molecular level which would permanently make it more fragile, or something. I'm not likely to run these shells hard, if at all, so I'm not sure if that's going to be a bother to me. I don't, however, want to have to be extremely careful when using these shells. I don't want to be scared that they'll fall apart if I look at them wrong.

[VagabondStarJXF]

I'm pretty much finished building, painting (just gotta finish the roof) and decalling a Buggy Champ for my upcoming trip abroad... and it's official. I HATE the Buggy Champ decals. They're horrid. I hate them. I mean I REALLY hate them. They were so awkward to apply and really stuck fast without applying any pressure which only made them impossible to remove. Thank goodness I'd got them pretty much straight right from the start. They still went on badly though. I really wish I'd just painted the white parts instead because even though I put the side bits on straight (or as straight as I could muster) the rest seemed to go inwards so that the front looks squished. It's going to be a runner so it doesn't need to be perfect but it really didn't need to look this imperfect. Oh well. At least I've learned for next time. I should just paint the white parts and get some repro SRB decal sets.

Here's some pics of my shell.

[SP4CEACE]

When I did my Buggy Champ decals I used soapy water, the decals just slide around until you get em in place, then squeeze the water out.

By the way...I think your BC looks great.

[VagabondStarJXF]

When I did my Buggy Champ decals I used soapy water, the decals just slide around until you get em in place, then squeeze the water out.

I knew there was a technique I'd forgotten! As soon as I got about halfway through the decal sheet I just knew there was an easier way but I just persevered and powered on.

By the way...I think your BC looks great.

Thanks. Despite the decals it doesn't look particularly bad, does it? I think the shade of blue is a nice choice, even if I do say so myself.

Yours doesn't look too shabby either. Actually yours just puts mine to shame.