Striker restoration

[kontemax 1734]

Hi folks,

recently I bought a new "Striker" sticker sheet so I decided that the moment is arrived. So I did take out the car from the storage boxes to complete the restoring work.

With bad surprise I did see that the restoring work is not so good as I remembered and my quality standards are now increased up with the time.

The car is very far to perfection. One of the problems is the dust that is now fixed to the paint and should need the polish to go away. The top shell white is more yellow to the lower chassis.

Due the epoxy resin that covered all the top shell it has many damages. One of them is a sort of subsidence on the bonnet nose probably caused by some chemical reaction with ABS.

The other problem is the driver cockpit that is very very rough because I didn't be able to clean well the surface, specially between the arms. Another aspect is the protrusion near the right arm that I never liked (it is needed to get clearance for the MSC).

At the end there are a couple of rounded corners on the sides of the top shell. They are due the files and sandpaper I used to clean the body from the resin.

The lower chassis was broken in the front end near the damper tower. This is frequent and I already repaired it but not so well. Now the chassis nose goes slightly up and both parts now don't fit perfectly. I will break it again and I will make a new better surgery.

To finish the bad job I used gray rough primer that is not so advisable with white fine paint.

This was my first attempt to restore an ABS body and the car was in really terrible condition, all covered with a sort of hard epoxy resin, hard like steel. Sometimes I don't understand what happen in the people's brains.

Now all parts are new, added a "Sonic Fighter" higher front damper stay that allows four oil shocks all around. The wheels are my GH2 one and are mounted here just for the pictures. The car will have its own originals.

I found this car in the rubbish and I want make it a shelf queen. To be honest I also have a spare decal sheet and spare NIP top and lower shells but this is a challenge for me. It will needs many time imho.

Stay tuned.

Max

[kontemax 1734]

Ok, here the first step of the second restoring work on my Striker.

The car has been stripped down and very soon it will go under the brake fluid. The driver will be cut away from the body for a deeper restoring work.

The chassis and the body shell adapt better without damper mount and the other parts. It will be difficoult to understand why the assembled car changes the bend of the chassis.

Another error of the first restoring work: I used grey rough primer instead of white fine one. This means I must used a lot of white paint layers to cover the grey with the result that the paint work was not so good. First attempt with an hardbody chassis some year ago, sorry.

The broken chassis. The tipical failure of Hornet, Sonic fighter, Grasshopper and Striker chassis. I repaired the breakage with nonchalance, a little bit bored. Ok, now I will do better.

Under the cover body shell you can see some chemical action from the epoxy resin.

Details will follow, stay tuned.

Max

[TamiyaVancouver 5]

I'm one of the few who love the Striker. It was actually my first RC car. I recently built one using a Sonic Fighter front shock tower and oil shocks. I used some styrene to make an ESC mount in order to keep dirt out of the tb. I also used some small washers under the front body mount in order to get a bit of extra clearance in the front due to the servo and wiring in my car notallowing enough clearance. Now I just need some rear wheels from the original model. Currently running some Yeah Racing 2.2 wheels and tires. Looking forward to some more pics!

[mongoose1983 3357]

You're making that Striker look much better!

I'm happy these cars receive some love, too. Actually, I think they're pretty nice.

[kontemax 1734]

Ok, more progress on the Striker.
After several days under the brake fluid the top body cover is cleaned again.
Au contraire the lower chassis is yet in the bath because many parts are yet covered with the old paint.
You can see now the how bad where the conditions of the plastic parts.
I must admit, the first time I worked on this car I had been too much in hurry to finish it and didn't cure the job as I should do.
I have a NIP chassis and chassis cover somewhere (with another decal sheet) but, as I said, this is a challenge for me so I want restore these pieces.

Stay tuned.

Max

[mongoose1983 3357]

Oh, I believe you're going to make it look real good, Max!

[kontemax 1734]

Today the chassis is popped out from the brake fluid.

There is a lot of work yet to do. The TS paints are stronger than I expected so I'll finish the job with cutter blades and sand paper.

There are many cracks all around to be repaired but the worse part is the top body cover.

Driver is in a really sorry state so it needs a dramatical therapy.

Surgery is already done on the driver so now I'll wait for the transplant.

Driver has seen better days...

Wanna we speak about the horrible steering wheel?

End of the news for today.

Max

[kontemax 1734]

Sanding, sanding, sanding...

[kontemax 1734]

Ok, this thread is more like a blog, no one posts here but I go on with this restoration.

Today I sanded and repaired the front end of the chassis and fixed the side gaps between the chassis and the top body cover.

Also repaired some minor broken parts with a new technique I never used before with solder iron.

New surgery for the driver. It has been separated from the base and cleaned all around, will also fix the right arm gap in the next days.

Stay tuned.

Max

Please note the steering wheel. Do you see some difference?

[Jesse James 13]

hey max, please keep posting your updates, im definately keeping an eye on your thread!!

[kontemax 1734]

Hi thank you for your kind words. Here's a very little update cause I'm very busy these days with my movie.

I had only time to add some materia to the driver right arm to fill the gap.

As you can see in the pictures this is the first stage, the job is very rough and the driver don't look so healthy...

As you can see I also opened the steering wheel.

Stay tuned

Max

[Champ85 611]

Yeah, give that right arm some skin, Max. I can see tendons and bone in there!

Also nice job with the steering wheel. Makes me wonder why Tamiya didn't design it that way from the beginning. Too complex for the mold?

[94eg! 836]

Pretty cool thread. It's bringing me back to my early days of restoration when I 1st pulled the Vanquish out of the closet in ~2000. Thanks!

[biggamehunter 127]

any updates max ?

[kontemax 1734]

I had been very busy last week on my movie shooting, now will work again on the Striker. Stay tuned and this will be on Youtube on 2014.

Max

[kontemax 1734]

Ok, it's time for some updates now. Today I worked on the top body cover that is the worse part of the car. The part was all covered with epoxy hard resin so when I cleaned it with files and sand paper many material has gone away. The part has become thinner and cracked in many points. So now I decided to use a (for me) new technique. I tried to solder the plastic instead of glue it. So I used the iron solder with a ABS sprue. This allowed me to add welded material. This is the first example, the nose. The nose of the bonnet had an invisible crack. I'm sure after you paint it the crack become visible.

As you can see I welded the crack. Then with the same technique I added more material.

The part will be sanded and the work is done.
Next step has been all the cracks, one in the middle of the bonnet, one in the right side. Welded and filled with new ABS material.

Crack on the bonnet filled. Identified another crack:

And welded again:

The next step is the side rounded corners. The idea is add new material again and then sand it where is too much.
Left side:

Right side:

Done.

Now come back to the chassis part. The chassis broke near the damper mount and a piece of the chassis has gone lost. With the welding technique I rebuilt the missing part. As you can see in the pictures I also added the missing material gone with files and sand paper during the first restoring session. This time the added material is glued and not welded.

In the next picture you can also see the material glued to match the top body cover.

At the end I start to work again on the bonnet and noticed that there were no more material and the plastic was too thin and ruined so I decided to entirely rebuilt the bonnet.
You can see it in the last picture, white and clean, ready to be sanded.

That's all for today. Stay tuned.

Max

[biggamehunter 127]

im getting all computer code instead of pictures max ?

[kontemax 1734]

Yes, sorry, the browser is making a mess, I try to fix it.

Max

EDIT: Fixed.

[biggamehunter 127]

ahhhhhhhhhhh i see it now LOL great thread max , hope you keep going with this

[kontemax 1734]

Ok, today the driver arm is done, no more bones and tendons out there.

Also the chassis is almost finished and the top body cover is 80% ready for paint. When finished will start with the fine primer.

Max

[IBIFTKH 1371]

The Striker isn't one of my favourites but that doesn't stop me enjoying what you're doing here. I can understand the challenge and love the way you're doing this. Lots of tips and methods that will get 'borrowed' in future - thanks!

[kontemax 1734]

Transplant #1

Next step is the driver.

Max

[biggamehunter 127]

its realy coming together now max ! hard to beleive it was the same shell now

[Champ85 611]

Ok, today the driver arm is done, no more bones and tendons out there.

[snip pics]

Also the chassis is almost finished and the top body cover is 80% ready for paint. When finished will start with the fine primer.

Max

Nice job with the skin grafts!

[kontemax 1734]

Not yet finished. Devil is into details.

Max