Vintage Wild Dagger Restoration Project

[rally1998]

Hi All,

So as I mentioned in my Grasshopper thread, I have 2 others to put right also. This being one of them.

I got this as a kit one Christmas I believe when I was 12 or 13. I spent all Christmas day building it and also boxing day night (as we travelled back to where we originally come from to celebrate xmas time with the rest of the family) much to my mums disgust as I didn't bother with any other xmas presents, I just wanted to build my kit My dad liked it and if it wasn't for him, mum wanted me to leave the part finished kit at home, that upset me deeply, Luckily Dad was on my side (sadly passed away Feb 2013, I was only 24) so this has like the Grasshopper an massive emotional price tag associated with it.

This one more so as when we were away I finished the kit and I wanted to paint the shell, Dad took me all over the city to find somewhere that sold Tamiya Paint, I know it's not the right colour as it should be a metallic blue if you go off the box pictures etc but it's the right colour for me.

Here she is:

I upgraded the motors and added an ESC unit (at the time they were still not mainstream like they are today and especially one that controlled 2 motors) I don't know what it was but it ran very hot and wouldn't allow the motors to run at full speed, I put the biggest fuse I could find in and it still wasn't any faster than the stock motors with the mechanical controller.

So I cut a fuse up and soldered thick copper wire to each of the fuse blades and put it in the esc and to allow for better cooling, I cut this horrendous hole in the bed of the truck (my biggest regret with this truck)...alas it didn't help as I ran the thing for a few minutes and it ran like lightening, was mental fast, way too fast to be honest andd....the ESC caught fire

Sorry about the dirty look of the black there, I used baby wipes to get all the thick dust off it.

As you can see various bits missing, as I was fudging around with it, that ESC is from the Grasshopper controlling 1 motor, as I lent the other motor to a friend and never got it back..

I had 2 Team Orion Orbital 2 Mach-Mod, the hobby shop sold me a 15tx3 for the back and a 17tx3 for the front, said it'd behave more like a rearwheel drive...

I believe now though that was tosh as don't these need to be 0 timed or something? If somebody could teach me about that or atleast give me an insight, I'd be most grateful.

And this is how it's sitting really, as the back isn't screwed in at all.

I do have everything to put this back to complete stock bar the white resistor block, I'm just bummed about the hole in the body, I think I'm going to perhaps upgrade this to use 2 decent motors and an ESC so that I can use this..

What would you recommend? Could I fix the body or do I have to live with that hole now? As I cannot find a new shell for this anywhere, although I may just grab a generic shell to use to save the memory of this one?

[Tamiya1/10]

No expert in body work, but i would either go to my LHS or craftshop and buy a platic sheet to cover the hole or the entire bed and paint it from the outside. or use the clear plastic containers for fruit or salads to patch the opening and paint from the outside. Other TC lads here can give you more options or better repair ideals.

[XV Pilot]

With the popularity of scale offroaders these days, there are numerous 1/10 scale accessories such as jerry cans, toolkits, welders, etc that you could fill your loadbed with to hide the hole.

Or you could get a piece of vinyl and stick that over the whole loadbed to make it look like a tonneau cover.

Or you could go for a new shell. They are rare, but they come up on Ebay every so often.

I would go for an ESC rather than MSC, especially if you are wanting to run a pair of faster motors. Take the motor turn count, divide it by 2, and get an ESC that is rated for that number. Then it shouldn't catch fire again!

And yes, either both motors need to be zero timed, or the front one needs to be timed to the same degree as the back one, but in the opposite direction. I wouldn't recommend mismatched motors.

[waterbok]

Seidel still has the shell in stock but no decals, I would fix the hole as the others say with a nice cover or put a spare tire over it.

I run my WD with a 12T esc and stock silvercans. I recommend 2 steel pinions instead of the aluminiums.

Oil shocks are also a nice improvement and some sticky antiwear grease in the rear diff for better traction.

[rally1998]

Thanks guys,

I have a plan for the Shell, Hopefully It's going to look amazing

What would be a fairly cheap ESC and Motor setup that I could put into this that would be a bit faster than stock?

Cheers

Jamie

[waterbok]

trident ESC 12T might work and a set of torque tuned (not sure if they are 0 timing)

[rally1998]

trident ESC 12T might work and a set of torque tuned (not sure if they are 0 timing)

Thank You, how would I get one of these to control 2 motors? or would I need to have 2 of them somehow?

[XV Pilot]

I wouldn't recommend the Trident. I had one give up the ghost on me on its first run, and I have read of several others having similar experences with it. Rather go for the RV12 (or RV12 Assault if you want to use LiPo) as they are only slightly more expensive but considerably more reliable.

As for controlling two motors, just wire the motors up in parallel, with the polarity reversed to the front motor, and connect them to the ESC.

It is also possible to run dual ESCs if you want, either via a Y-lead, or on two separate channels if you have a 4-channel radio. This is actually rather a good way of doing it if you have the radio for it, as it gives you the option to have an electronic dig setup, and to purposefully spin the wheels up in opposite directions to turn the truck on the spot.

As for motors, a pair of 27T or 25T motors would work with the 12T ESC. The Etronix Sport Tuned motors are very affordable, reasonable quality and easy to adjust the timing for the front motor. I use them in many of my vehicles and haven't had any failures yet.

[SteveU30]

Have a read of my thread as I did a lot of research about ESCs and motor timing to create my truck:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/69756-SteveU30%27s-Twin-Detonator-Experiment

[bromvw]

+1 to XV Pilots comments . The RV12 or RV12 Assault are a good choice for a Wild Dagger . I've had one fitted to mine for over a year now without any problems at all ( the Assault ) running on 2s lipo with motors ranging from silver cans , sport tuned and 35t crawler . It seems to be a very reliable ESC .

[rally1998]

Just picking up where I left off. 

Any Wild Dagger owners left here in the forums?

[Nobbi1977]

My old one is one eBay now, missing one gearbox 😢

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283813806006

 

To be honest I think they drive better as a WT-01.

I had a nip speed controller for these and it took me ages to sell it, no one wanted it. Maybe I should have held on for a little longer. 

[rally1998]

That's great @nobbi1977

Shame I am really just after a new body, I have everything I need for it to be running and driving. Hope you have success selling yours. Did you own that from new?

[Nobbi1977]

I got it from someone one here as a used body and a new kit. Ran it and played with it for a good while before selling it on. Looks like the guy who bought it had beaten it a bit and is now selling it again.

I am not sure I have ever seen a body set for sale so you might be better fixing yours up and then picking another body to run with. If you intend to run it.

[rally1998]

Need to learn to read posts properly, sorry I thought you were selling it. 

I've been looking quite a bit today at potentially trying to make a new body myself? Seen some good results with home made vacuum tables and plaster of paris. Are there any good threads on here you know of where people have done this?

[Nobbi1977]

 Not sure anyone has been successful enough to want to do it a second time

[wolfdogstinkus]

I think they are much better as a 6x6

This was 3 brushless motors but I would recommend 2. If you were running a 15T back in the day, you're going to want 4600kv brushless on 2s lipo. 

I had 3x 4000kv motors in this at one stage.

29MPH anywhere. Lol

[superted]

Hi mate

the Tamiya Sand shaker shares the same body.

i have a couple of wild daggers good fun little cars.

[rally1998]

19 hours ago, superted said:

Hi mate

the Tamiya Sand shaker shares the same body.

i have a couple of wild daggers good fun little cars.

Thanks for this. 

I was searching all day yesterday and happened on an old listing from Tonys Tamiya bits for a wild dagger shell, used the part number and it came up with 1 still for sale at Tamico in Germany for a Sand Shaker.  Thanks to seeing a thread elsewhere and yourself confirming it, I have now ordered it   woohoo! Well happy!

 

[superted]

Cool 

all good then mate, i built mine just got to put the stickers on now, im lucky i have the original decals but MCI do a nice set if you want original.

There is a new set on bay but about £85 i think.

i converted one of mine to rear wheel steer as well thats quite cool.

[rally1998]

That's cool. Do you have any pics of yours to post here? When you say you have built it, did you manage to buy a new old kit recently or you had this for a long time?

This one of mine I built from new, got it for xmas probably 1999 or 2000. When I would have been 11 or 12 years old. Sheesh such a long time ago now.

Really I guess this will be mostly kept on a shelf but I can use my original body to mess about in the garden with it and then put the new nice body on it on the shelf. I think I'll paint the new shell the recommended colours as my original shell, we couldn't find the original colour in stock anywhere so being impatient got a flat blue instead of the metallic.

 

[superted]

I am not very good with tech.

i will have to look on how to post pics.

was a new build i bought in a box just had no tyres... weird

its all done now apart from stickers which are still in the pack, body is boxart.

the other one is the 4 wheel steer i have put a subaru brat body on that just got to find a colour scheme to do.

[superted]

Here you go mate

 

 

[superted]

 

[superted]