Stinger MKII Sort-of Freebie

[Stoat Muldoon 19]

Hello to everyone who frequents the Kyosho section here!

A while ago I was given a Kyosho Stinger MKII at my local club by the club's owner who had been given it by the cars owner no longer wanted it and couldn't be bothered to sell it. We could all take anything on the condition that we donated an amount of money to the club, which I did. (I did go back and give him £30, felt like I robbed the guy! ).

Try as I might, nobody anywhere seems to know anything about it . Posted on the URC forums, no-one there seemed to even know it existed.

Anyway, here's some pictures:

This is most of the stuff I got, some of it's out of the shot.

A close up of the chassis itself:

Some of the parts I got with it:

(Engine box is empty, by the way)

It came with everything; 4 sets of wheels and tires (1 set foams, one set pins and one set on-road), the original shocks new in their blister, an unpainted bodyshell, 2 spare glow plugs, an aftermarket bumper, some random decal sheets along with it's standard ones,alternative springs for the hop-up ones, some spare A-arms (ones on the car are different, hop-up or later version perhaps?) a tool thing for doing stuff, a fuel bottle (handy thing, that) manuals for everything, an unused starting cord and electric 12v starter, a clump of nicely preserved and usable fuel tubing and a Futaba Attack-R radio handset. Also had it's box and some of the internal packaging. (Long sentence there. But this is the internet, sentence structure is invalid )

And on top of that, it runs like a charm and is in brilliant condition. Not a mark on the chassis, practically polished.

And then there was this:

That's right, this Stinger is a touring car. I can't find any reference to this 'sedan conversion' as it calls itself, anywhere on the net. Absolutely nothing. All I get when I search for it is my own pictures in the URC forums.

Could anyone shed light on this? I'm genuinely intrigued.

Also, what exactly have I got here in terms of collectability or desirability? is the Stinger MKII something to keep hold of, or should I sell it?

Thanks for looking.

[Percymon 2185]

I can't help much other than to say the gold shocks and the silver wheels would net you £50+ on eBay - both sought after by optima mid owners.

[pizzachaude 130]

Oh dear what a splendid car! The stinger MK2 shares some of its parts with the Optima series. Not as collectable but still desirable, I know I'd want it, especially in that condition! The 4 original OT66 tires and the gold shocks are worth a small fortune. The white wheels that are on the car are from an Optima mid, and the tires are from the Ultima based scale series, I think the Kyosho sideways also had those. Never seen or heard of an on road version or conversion kit, but I'll bet that INTEGRA FAN could definately shed some light on this.

As for keeping it or selling it, I know I'd keep it, but I've always loved Kyosho more than Tamiya. If you're a Tamiya nut you could probably get a good amount of $$$ for it and get something else, all up to you.

[Daves956 157]

The body on the left in the last picture is the Mark II and there should be a wing with it that mounts like an RC10 using a wire. Have a look at the black plastic piece in front of the back shock mount for the small holes the wing mounts in. The silver wheels and tires are vintage mark II stingers. It looks like the manual and what I could see of the box are showing that body too. I'm pretty sure they originally had the zip pull starters but most of those have fallen apart from time.

They actually run pretty good with a descent balance but some of the linkages are pretty iffy.

Nice find though, especially with the hop ups and stuff

Mine's converted to electric

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=69639

[Stoat Muldoon 19]

I can't help much other than to say the gold shocks and the silver wheels would net you £50+ on eBay - both sought after by optima mid owners.

Hmm, good to know. Might sell the shocks if that is the case.

Oh dear what a splendid car! The stinger MK2 shares some of its parts with the Optima series. Not as collectable but still desirable, I know I'd want it, especially in that condition! The 4 original OT66 tires and the gold shocks are worth a small fortune. The white wheels that are on the car are from an Optima mid, and the tires are from the Ultima based scale series, I think the Kyosho sideways also had those. Never seen or heard of an on road version or conversion kit, but I'll bet that INTEGRA FAN could definately shed some light on this.

As for keeping it or selling it, I know I'd keep it, but I've always loved Kyosho more than Tamiya. If you're a Tamiya nut you could probably get a good amount of $$$ for it and get something else, all up to you.

Thanks.

I take it the OT66 tires are the pin ones, not the foam ones? There's also another set of silver rims and accompanying foams. I'll probably sell them, since one pair is NIP too and the other never used. Could fund another Tamiya Hilux part or two.

I'll have to contact this INTEGRA FAN, I'm intrigued by this 'Sedan Conversion'. The shell doesn't look familiar from any other Kyosho cars from back then, suggesting it's after-market. Although, in the sleeve of decal sheets (including bits of a Tamiya Ranger sheet, funny that since I have a Ranger ) I found a blue-tinged folded piece of paper with the title "BP29/Optima/Turbo Optima/Salute - Saloon Bodypost Mntg Kit", (No mention of the Stinger, and what the heck is a BP29? Searching for Optima sedan conversion etcetera got nothing either) and had the instructions for fitting the body posts. You had to do stuff like drill holes, pretty down and dirty back then it would seem. But most importantly, there's no logo or copyright information on this sheet, suggesting it could be Kyosho's product. The title also suggests the shell was bought separately from the post kit.

Ooh, I do love a good mystery.

The body on the left in the last picture is the Mark II and there should be a wing with it that mounts like an RC10 using a wire. Have a look at the black plastic piece in front of the back shock mount for the small holes the wing mounts in. The silver wheels and tires are vintage mark II stingers. It looks like the manual and what I could see of the box are showing that body too. I'm pretty sure they originally had the zip pull starters but most of those have fallen apart from time.

They actually run pretty good with a descent balance but some of the linkages are pretty iffy.

Nice find though, especially with the hop ups and stuff

Mine's converted to electric

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=69639

Yep, all the original buggy parts are there; Wing, body, decals, shocks tires. I see those holes too. The only stock part missing is the ripcord starter cog, which presumably not put on when the previous owner built it, seeing as he had a rotary starter. The Rip cord is completely unused, as if it was brand new. It's useless, but brand new nonetheless.

It runs awesomely, not too fast so it's difficult to break it but gets going pretty good. Run it three times since I got it, a pleasure to pootle about a field with. Surprisingly quite for a nitro too. Never jumped it, though, could'nt risk scaping that gorgeous chassis plate. I've never had trouble with the links, they feel pretty solid to me. But then again, I've hardly run it.

Nice Stinger too, interesting gearing setup.