A year in the life of a TC member

[Percymon]

This week marks my first year on TamiyaClub and guess what, you were all right, this place does empty your bank account !

I apologise for the long post, but I’ve been rather busy in the last twelve months as you’ll discover if you read on..

All this started off because I thought I’d get a Rising Storm for my then 8yr old son for Xmas. Not wanting to look a numpty in the build process I figured it was time to buy something used for myself. So over a period of a few weeks in November, working in secrecy, a Manta Ray arrived and was duly restored with a new shell. Hardly box art but I liked it and still do ..

Arrival..

Finished..

Having found that pretty easy going and quite relaxing, along came a Grasshopper 2 in December 2010. It was immediately stripped down, but a few issues were found, the worst being a split shell, and at that point it got put in a jiffy bag and forgotten about. It resurfaced eleven and a half months later to get rebuilt, shell repair and repaint. As it sits today..

Christmas came and went and the Rising Storm was built – son decided Cherry red was a bit girly, so a subtle change of colour scheme to Fastrax Rally Blue. In the summer the front shock tower cracked on a off centre front hot, so the front and rear towers got hopped up with GPM parts..

Time for another buggy, this time in the form of an original Hotshot from good old ebay. It cost £12 for a reason, but I enjoyed the experience of sourcing mainly re-re parts and getting it back to as new. Fitted with an EZrun 4300kv 9T brushless system, has been run once since completed outside the house and that’s it, consigned to the shelf cos it looks so pretty !! The fact it probably owes me £180 in parts and electrics also means it quite special !!!

Arrival..

Finshed..

This was followed by what should have been an easy project – a poor Fighter Buggy RX, which arrived again with broken shell, broken chassis and all sorts of other ailments. It got lots of new parts and then sat for 8 months, as an almost new chassis waiting for a bodyshell which arrived earlier this week so now it looks like this (driver figure to add).

With all that behind me, what next ? Ah yes, the Clod project; everyone should do one but beware the outflow of money. Thankfully (?) I managed to find a new Gmade Spider chassis and a set of RC4WD alloy beadlocks via the forum, so £170 later, a conversion was on the way. The £50 ebay buy went from this…

To this…

Complete with Traxxas EVX-2 ESC, twin Titan 550 motors and a RC4WD rear diff locker. Shocks courtesy of Traxxas and the Body a Proline Ford F-350 painted with Pactra paints using a skull / flames mask.

Next was probably the Blitzer Beetle and my first real attempt at a hard body – the chassis was barley used, near mint condition but the shell was smashed to bits. That got binned for a new shell that I also found broken, so third time lucky and with Gunmetal paint and some alternative Gumball decals it became…

Then for something different… the Gmade R1 rock racer buggy. This was built with minimal hop-ups (wheel wideners) and got a Hobbyking 3980kV brushless motor for speed – this proved too much, back flipping the whole car from a standing start, so the motor was swapped out for 450 sized Hobbyking outrunner, 3550kV which is perfect.

I can’t remember what came next, probably the Astute, which arrived with torn rear tyres and a broken rear hub (surprise surprise). Fitted the common Madcap wishbone and hub conversion and everything is rosey again. The original wheels were saved for the shelf and on went some Reely black disc wheels and tyres, very cheap from www.conrad.com. The chassis came with a 14x3 Reedy motor and vintage Futaba electrics – the motor is way too much for the electronics so this only gets short occasional use…

After that came a Vanquish chassis – virtually complete bar a broken front shock tower. This was cleaned and rebuilt, and is waiting on me spraying its new shell and fitting the decals. Vintage brushed power installed..

At this point I really struggle to know the sequence of models, but they contained..

TB-01 based Raybrig NSX – bought from ebay, but never run , borrowed some parts from it for other projects but intend getting it sorted once and for all..

TG10 – got this chassis for £7 from ebay, had no idea what it was but the aluminium and carbon plates intrigued me. Was very surprised when it arrived with a Lancia Integrale body, so it became a brushless TG10 conversion !..

TA03RS – 911 GT1 Yet another ebay buy, from a forum member as it turned out. Came painted but not decaled and missing the wheels. New wheels n tyres were added but as you can see the decals still haven’t made it onto the shell !

A Nikko Subaru WRC car bought for £1 at a car boot sale. Got it home, cleaned it up, removed the taty decals and fitted a new Xal to the built in electronics board and it was sorted.

DB-01 Durga – an ex racer bought from ebay, and not much has happened to it. The shell has been stripped and is awaiting a repaint, that’s it !

KingBlackfoot rolling chassis came from TWINSET, to this I added a Sebden Racing prepainted lexan shell, some heavy duty oil dampers and a Tamiya TZ motor…

Falcon – yes another ebay buy, and yes it had all the usual broken parts at the front. I bought another part restored chassis on the forum and I’m determined to get it finished for Xmas this year. New shell waiting to be painted (gunmetal and mica red I think for almost box-art) and some CRP adjustable coilovers will go on.

On arrival..

Now..

TL-01 Stadium Raider – bought from ebay again with a pretty naff paint job, but a bit of tidying this week has seen it finally finished after several months in its box)..

Nissan King Cab – bought, arrived and has sat in store since – really should give this brute a run..

Team Asscoiated SC10 – picked it up new RTR as my local hobby shop was/is closing. Not even opened it up yet. Will probably be given to my son as I’m hogging 95% of the cars lol!

Madcap – I got this for free from a forum member, and I’m embarrassed to say I’ve not seen it yet. I got a good friend to collect it for me and I’ve not met up with him since due to work commitments and travelling. Looks in great condtion, and this will be run, restored and run again I’m sure.

Then the SRB phase started…

.. an Original Rough Rider … cleaned, restored and fitted with a lexan shell for running

.. followed by another Rough Rider… currently being rebuilt with direct steering and mildly modded brushed motor

.. then another SRB chassis and a bunch of spares arrived..

plus another big tin of SRB parts

..and from those i got this modded Blitzer shelled Baja racer – just waiting for leds to go in the headlights and the chrome sprue to arrive..

Those boxes of SRB bits means I’m building another SRB, this time with brushless power, ball diff, slipper etc etc etc

Earlier this month I bought, built and sold a Rising Fighter, which was the inspiration to finish the Grasshopper 2..

I also bought a TB-01 chassis from ebay, added mini CVAs, new wheels n tyres and a prepainted rally shell to produce this (now on its way to lupogitboy)

This week saw a Thunder Dragon arrive for £20 + £6 postage. Was duly stripped, cleaned and rebuilt (no broken parts). New Fastrax wheels installed, Sport Tuned added and runner body tidied up. Awaiting a new Thundershot shell, decals and correct wheels for when its on the shelf.

This arrived a week or so back..

And is currently in pieces, the plastic ones soaking in soapy water..

Now I THINK that is it, but I may have missed one or two !

Is this possibly the longest post on the forum ??

I also have another project arriving this week, but I’ll keep that for another thread.

[Leethal Driver]

Yep.

Reads familiar

[Wez-li]

Great thread, a lot of those were at deaths door, well done on all the restos

working in secrecy

Nothing's changed there

[MadInventor]

Do you have time to run anything in amongst all that rebuilding ????

[Percymon]

Do you have time to run anything in amongst all that rebuilding ????

If i'm being absolutley honest the last time i ran any of the cars was possbly 5 weeks ago when the first of the Rough Riders had a run out at the beach (a short one as it happens because the servo became detached - now sorted with deads man hands servo tape!). The building is the fun part for me - if i ran some of them and broke a part i'd be in tears lol

[Skottoman]

Wow... that's quite a productive year... I guess my bank account is hit every year with Tamiya purchases, but I don't think I can beat that year!

Nice..!

Cheers,

Skottoman

[Kevin_Mc]

that's an impressive collection after a year! There's some lovely examples there

[Gruntfuggly]

Nicely documented wallet battering!

[Percymon]

I knew i'd forgotton one - Duratrax EVX buggy - tough as nails, the one model that lives in the boot of the car. Gets used and abused, and shows no sign of breaking any parts anywhere - sods law its the one car i actually bought spares for !!

[KalEl63]

UM..... WOW.... have you had much time to do anything else?

Nice thread

[Wez-li]

What's next on the restore list?

Super Champ?

Avante?

Egress?

Top Force Evo?

959?

3-speed?

Proper wallet batterer's lol

[netsmithUK]

Great to hear these sort of stories are still happening after all these years. I think ebay now have Standing Order type system set up just for Tamiyaclub members so you can have all your wages paid directly to them every pay day. Saves a bit of time.

[Percymon]

What's next on the restore list?

Super Champ?

Avante?

Egress?

Top Force Evo?

959?

3-speed?

Proper wallet batterer's lol

You already know the answer, but over 12 months it might not look too dissimilar to that !!

[njmlondon]

Great post! I know exactly how you feel although I have not got the courage to document all of my cash-mismanagement! It is really nice to see so many good restoration projects

[Percymon]

Great to hear these sort of stories are still happening after all these years. I think ebay now have Standing Order type system set up just for Tamiyaclub members so you can have all your wages paid directly to them every pay day. Saves a bit of time.

Cheers Chris - whilst we all have a moan about eBay and its fees, i have a feeling that many old /used Tamiyas would be in the skip by now. The fact people can get a few quid for even battered examples, and there are mugs like me to buy them and improve them, means lots more cars live on. You might argue some of Tamiyas examples have no right to live on but thats another debate altogether !

[Singleseven]

Great thread, I really enjoyed reading it! I think you deserve an award for your dedication to restoring and preserving Tamiya RC cars

I think it's fair to say that this hobby has got you hooked.

[bromvw]

Great to hear these sort of stories are still happening after all these years. I think ebay now have Standing Order type system set up just for Tamiyaclub members so you can have all your wages paid directly to them every pay day. Saves a bit of time.

lmao i might as well set that standing order up myself . Somehow i think my Champ / funco will become a money pit

[Percymon]

lmao i might as well set that standing order up myself . Somehow i think my Champ / funco will become a money pit

It WILL

just keep away from another SRB or a Clod project for a while afterwards !!

[JeepnMike]

Sweet Jesus! Don't let your wife see this post!! LOL. This will SO put perspective on your rampant out of control spending with this hobby!!

Nice write-up and quite a nice collection there..

[Percymon]

Decided to sell the fighter buggy and the stadium raider.

The fighter buggy is 75% new now and I know it will barely get run if at all. Ordered a driver figure for it today so I can complete it, then will go in the classifieds here.

[matman]

Decided to sell the fighter buggy and the stadium raider.

The fighter buggy is 75% new now and I know it will barely get run if at all. Ordered a driver figure for it today so I can complete it, then will go in the classifieds here.

Do you have TC Main page ??.

&

The answer is YES you do . ( just looked )

Great collection you have there M8 .

[Percymon]

Well the Stadium Raider and the Citreon TB-01 have been sold, are with their new owners (as with the Rising Fighter).

Fighter Buggy RX will go to ebay this week unless someone wants to make me an offer (new chassis, shocks, body, driver, gearcases, front wheel n tyres, original rear wheels with Mardave spike tyres, original MSC, servos etc - will sell with or withour Acoms radio gear).

After ths sales you'd think i'd be slowing down, but no

Super Champ project arrived last week and a Associated RC10 T3 is on its way as a winter basher !

[bromvw]

Percy i'am reporting you to the inland revenue as you obviously have un declared income lol

[Percymon]

If only i was selling for a profit !

Tamiya NDF-01 Nitro Thunder on route now too - couldn't resist for £15

[Chilihook]

Great post and pictures! You've got quite a nice collection, and to think it came about in only a year!