Project...I don't even know what to call this thing....Hor-cha-hop?

[Pintopower 1456]

Ok I am super excited about this one. I am working on a V3 of my “Project SuperFly” Hornet and then saw this on ebay a few weeks ago. I was looking under Tamiya Hornet when this came up. From the image I thought it was a Super Champ with a Grasshopper shell. Closer inspection made me question what the heck I was looking at. The minute I figured out what I was seeing I placed a bid. I needed this car. Someone went nuts upgrading the car, not unlike the work I did to super fly 1.0 and 2.0. Since I am working on something similar, and the fact that I want a Super Champ but can’t stand the SRB chassis, this was perfect for me.

The ebay auction said that this was an estate sale find. I really wanted to know the back story of the car but I guess that will be impossible. I won the car for $77 USD which for me is great since a car like this is priceless to me.

Take a look:

Check out how that trans was upgraded:

In case you forgot how the trans is supposed to look:

Ingenuity. Love it.

Dirty?

Belly of the….well…beast. You are what you are:

Here is the front end. Now that is what I call merging two cars together.

What are these:

Steering linkage

I am totally keeping this linkage:

What MSC is this from? I just love all the little mods.

This is my first Acoms unit. Not popular in the US.

Taken apart. This thing needs a bath desperately.

Opening the trans I found many goodies. Stripped counter gear, many kinds of mixed lube and

bushings. Seriously? Bushings? You do all this work and have bushings in the trans!?

Here is the trans all clean with full bearings:

I have since installed a Race Prep stock motor since the closed end bell version is too long it fit with the frog shocks. Ill post that soon.

Clean Chassis:

Cleaned and reassembled front end:

The car has been completely reassembled and lubed up with modern (1990’s) electronics. I took this for a spin and I cannot express just how well this car runs. I was expecting it to be a mess but I have to say that it is great. Ill post a video and images when I can take some.

So what is the plan?

I will tell you. The plan is to make some new rear arms with different rear shock mounts so that I can either have shorter arms (10mm shorter) as the rear track is very wide or to make rear rims whose offset will make up for the width. It will retain the swing arms as they work so well back there. The rear of the car will get a cage similar to the SRB or Striker with faux exhaust and maybe a Ford 2.3 hanging out back. The body will be a Super Champ. The front end will get a new subframe that fits and will incorporate a bumper. I need new front SRB uprights as I want the aux lamps back there. It will have front and rear lights. This will be a big project but will lay the groundwork for Super Fly 3.0. I am excited to finish what the original builder started!

[Snappy1 966]

Awesome find, It looks like it has been driven to badword, and then made the return trip, I would love to know how many packs that car has had through it, amazing.....

Regarding the name, it def needs chop in there somewhere lol

[markbt73 5316]

Yes! See, kids, that's how we used to do it.

And hey, bearings were something like three or four bucks each when that was built. You had to economize where you could.

[Nitomor 2122]

Fantastic, what a find! Delighted that you will continue to develop, the original owner wherever he may be would be delighted it has gone to someone who can truly appreciate and respect his handiwork.

Some inspiring mods there.

Great stuff.

[Gruntfuggly 562]

I bought something very similar to this a few years ago - lots of hand made parts mixed with SRB and others - but mine was more of a bizarre crawler type thing with a sort of mid section twisty part. I wonder if there is somebody out there responsible for several of these franken-chassis?

BWT - those look like nylon front arms - if they're in one piece they might a few quid, along with the coilovers...

[Mad Ax 9329]

Wow, what a piece of work that is somebody went to a lot of effort to keep that thing running against all odds.

The groundwork is all there for rebuilding it piece by piece and doing a proper job of it. Or just keep it as is and enjoy having a piece of unknown history

[Pintopower 1456]

Awesome find, It looks like it has been driven to badword, and then made the return trip, I would love to know how many packs that car has had through it, amazing.....

Regarding the name, it def needs chop in there somewhere lol

I cant even imagine how many packs have gone through this car but it is battered. I love that.

'Hardcore'net'... Or 'No more'net'.

Dorvack.

Done. Done. We have a winner! Hardcor'net!

Yes! See, kids, that's how we used to do it.

And hey, bearings were something like three or four bucks each when that was built. You had to economize where you could.

Hmmm, i almost replied disagreeing with you but I do know that they were $2.00 per 5x11 in 1992 when I bought them for my pumpkin so maybe you are right...though the rest of the care did have bearings. I would have at least pulled them from the front hubs.

Fantastic, what a find! Delighted that you will continue to develop, the original owner wherever he may be would be delighted it has gone to someone who can truly appreciate and respect his handiwork.

Some inspiring mods there.

Great stuff.

Thanks, when I saw the car on eBay i knew it needed to come to me.

I bought something very similar to this a few years ago - lots of hand made parts mixed with SRB and others - but mine was more of a bizarre crawler type thing with a sort of mid section twisty part. I wonder if there is somebody out there responsible for several of these franken-chassis?

BWT - those look like nylon front arms - if they're in one piece they might a few quid, along with the coilovers...

These custom builds are great. I wish I knew the back story. The arms are in good shape. Wouldn't mind some stock ones. Maybe ill need to locate some but I do love the coil overs.

Wow, what a piece of work that is somebody went to a lot of effort to keep that thing running against all odds.

The groundwork is all there for rebuilding it piece by piece and doing a proper job of it. Or just keep it as is and enjoy having a piece of unknown history

I totally agree. Someone wasnt going to let their SRB or die so they kept it running with what ever they could find. I am going to keep as much of the parts used and abused but I need to sort the rear end. That works but just barely. A lot of the geometry is off.

[emory70 153]

Keeping the safety wire shock mount hardware?

[Pintopower 1456]

Keeping the safety wire shock mount hardware?

Haha. that's the best part!

[Pintopower 1456]

Well I have modeled the SRB rear arm and mocked it up in the model. Next is the universal and then the stub axle. Once all that is in I can make something up that should be able to merge everything in a nice tidy way.

More madness to come. Maybe I should have just bought a super champ?

[emory70 153]

In the spirit of the original build, shouldn't your toolbox be limited to hammers and whiskey?

[Wooders28 4723]

Interesting build!

The MSC looks like a period correct (mid 80's?) one you would find in a holiday buggy.

Same date for the receiver,I remember the Acoms long lead,it was the first one I bought,paying £65 (over £200 ($300) in today's money)!

You can convert them to BEC,using diodes to drop it down to 6v,just means you have to chase it when the battery dies,as the servos pack up before the motor does.

As markbt73 said,bearings where expensive back then.My recent loft find RRC mag of 1988 post,has the hornet bearing set listed as £14,(£45 or $70 today's money),meaning only really race cars got the bearing upgrade.

Good luck with the build,a real insight into builds of yesteryear.

[tilstad1 33]

Really cool. Will there now be a conversion kit coming out for the rest if us? Lol

The rear end especially took som ingenuity to work out, it probably is a huge weight benefit over the srb aswell.

Womder if anyone ever tried making a trailing arm system like shown on the grasshopper box art. Ive ready concluded one can make half shafts from a cut down hornet gearbix, with the right combination of bearings and drive cups. Just needs a unique trailing arm system true to the boxart.

What do you say, Alberto, up to the challenge?

How is the weight and balance of it on this thing though?

[Terz1 745]

Womder if anyone ever tried making a trailing arm system like shown on the grasshopper box art. Ive ready concluded one can make half shafts from a cut down hornet gearbix, with the right combination of bearings and drive cups. Just needs a unique trailing arm system true to the boxart.

What do you say, Alberto, up to the challenge?

I'd love to see this.

[Pintopower 1456]

In the spirit of the original build, shouldn't your toolbox be limited to hammers and whiskey?

Hahaha, good point.

Interesting build!

The MSC looks like a period correct (mid 80's?) one you would find in a holiday buggy.

Same date for the receiver,I remember the Acoms long lead,it was the first one I bought,paying £65 (over £200 ($300) in today's money)!

You can convert them to BEC,using diodes to drop it down to 6v,just means you have to chase it when the battery dies,as the servos pack up before the motor does.

As markbt73 said,bearings where expensive back then.My recent loft find RRC mag of 1988 post,has the hornet bearing set listed as £14,(£45 or $70 today's money),meaning only really race cars got the bearing upgrade.

Good luck with the build,a real insight into builds of yesteryear.

Yes I too recall the price of bearings and am glad that is no longer the case. I will not be using an MSC any longer. MSC's and I do not get along.

Really cool. Will there now be a conversion kit coming out for the rest if us? Lol

The rear end especially took som ingenuity to work out, it probably is a huge weight benefit over the srb aswell.

Womder if anyone ever tried making a trailing arm system like shown on the grasshopper box art. Ive ready concluded one can make half shafts from a cut down hornet gearbix, with the right combination of bearings and drive cups. Just needs a unique trailing arm system true to the boxart.

What do you say, Alberto, up to the challenge?

How is the weight and balance of it on this thing though?

The kit could be made availble but i suspect you wont want it. The geometry of the rear end coupled with the swing arm means it does not have much ground clearance. As for the rear end, you are not far off. This is my prototype build for my SuperFly 3.0 which will have a genuine double wishbone rear end with the transmission tucked up 10 mm higher. This will transform the car. That is the next major project. SuperFly 3.0 has to be ready for the Vintage Nationals.

Oh and the weight distribution is as good as a sand scorcher. I have to say that it performs amazing.

I'd love to see this.

Ill show something better.

[Terz1 745]

The kit could be made availble but i suspect you wont want it. The geometry of the rear end coupled with the swing arm means it does not have much ground clearance. As for the rear end, you are not far off. This is my prototype build for my SuperFly 3.0 which will have a genuine double wishbone rear end with the transmission tucked up 10 mm higher. This will transform the car. That is the next major project. SuperFly 3.0 has to be ready for the Vintage Nationals.

Oh and the weight distribution is as good as a sand scorcher. I have to say that it performs amazing.

Ill show something better.

Can't wait to see the double wishbone set up on superfly 3.0 . And this project 'unknown' is coming along great. Looking forward to seeing the rest.

[Pintopower 1456]

Well there is some good news. I was worried about how on earth to make this mess of parts that somehow was formed into a car to work together. After some mockups and mechanical simulations, we have success! I 3D printed a part to confirm my designs on how the car would actually work. To my amazement, it was perfect.

Ah how I never cease to amaze me

Lol

Anyway, this is a mocked up part made to use as little material as possible to reduce the price of the print.

The final design will incorporate a left and right version of this as well as a rear cage portion much like the SRB chassis. However unlike the SRB, this will be structural. It also need to have a central cage so the the Super Champ shell has something to mount to. Now that this is confirmed, I get to make it pretty and functional! Then I can send it out to shapeways for the main assembly print. Keep you posted.

[twisted 10]

a very interesting car

[beefmuffin 1156]

I wonder if you might want to try swapping the Hornet gearbox for a more narrow Fast Attack / Wild One gearbox, so that if anyone decides they want to try this themselves it won't involve sawing up the Hornet gearbox halves?

You could probably also use Frog CVDs instead of SRB Uni's... maybe even produce the entire rear arm assembly via 3D print. That would be a pretty viable option then, using all stock (mixed) components plus your custom parts.

[MadInventor 3884]

I fitted a hotshot gearbox to the rear of a hornet when I had one without too much bother. The suspension is all attached to the gearbox so not much modifications to do, I think thundershot rear gearboxes would also be a relatively easy option to fit.

[Nitomor 2122]

I'd love to see a picture of that MadInventor.

The metal roof with spoiler on the GH shell in the first post is very cool.

[MadInventor 3884]

No pictures sorry, it pre-dates when I joined TC, prior to which I hardly ever took pics of models. Basically I used grp plate bolted to the battery holder mount pivot on the gearbox, which then bolted to ally blocks I machined to fit in the standard chassis slots for the gearbox mounts, then used shortened track rods to attach a couple of the roll cage mounts on the gearbox to the shock absorber mounts on the chassis. I think I also used supershot shocks on it rather than the mono-shock, as it would have awkward trying to hold the anti roll bar firmly.

I'm toying with the idea of doing something similar with a Mad Bull I've got, but building my own gearbox and then using wishbones and uprights off the shelf from a model.

[Nitomor 2122]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, look forward to seeing it if you do mod the Mad Bull!

Cheers

Nito

[Pintopower 1456]

a very interesting car

Agreed

I wonder if you might want to try swapping the Hornet gearbox for a more narrow Fast Attack / Wild One gearbox, so that if anyone decides they want to try this themselves it won't involve sawing up the Hornet gearbox halves?

You could probably also use Frog CVDs instead of SRB Uni's... maybe even produce the entire rear arm assembly via 3D print. That would be a pretty viable option then, using all stock (mixed) components plus your custom parts.

The reason I don't want to swap it out for another trans will make more sense when Super Fly 3.0 is completed. This car is not only a neat build but also a test platform for a more insane design. I was planning on using frog bits too.

I fitted a hotshot gearbox to the rear of a hornet when I had one without too much bother. The suspension is all attached to the gearbox so not much modifications to do, I think thundershot rear gearboxes would also be a relatively easy option to fit.

Yeah I thought about a few options but the plan to keep the Hornet trans will make sense in my next project. Just to raid the parts bin it would have been neat to pull as many misc bits as possible.

I'd love to see a picture of that MadInventor.

The metal roof with spoiler on the GH shell in the first post is very cool.

Me too!

No pictures sorry, it pre-dates when I joined TC, prior to which I hardly ever took pics of models. Basically I used grp plate bolted to the battery holder mount pivot on the gearbox, which then bolted to ally blocks I machined to fit in the standard chassis slots for the gearbox mounts, then used shortened track rods to attach a couple of the roll cage mounts on the gearbox to the shock absorber mounts on the chassis. I think I also used supershot shocks on it rather than the mono-shock, as it would have awkward trying to hold the anti roll bar firmly.

I'm toying with the idea of doing something similar with a Mad Bull I've got, but building my own gearbox and then using wishbones and uprights off the shelf from a model.

Awe

[Pintopower 1456]

I know it has been a while but this project has been annoying me. Here is where we are with the rear end mock up. It is still basic but I am getting close.

I really hope to have this done and out to print this week. Ill post more as the design cleans up.