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Kalameja

Vintage Hornet Revival Questions

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A little help from the pros please. I am rebuilding my 86 Hornet. Looking good so far. I purchased a Tamiya TBLE-02S ESC to replace the original MSC, as it was just beat up beyond repair. My original Futaba receiver(FP-R2GS) is in great shape so I was planning on using it for the rebuild. However, I have come across a problem  The connector from the new ESC to the receiver is totally different from the original. 1. Are these two components compatible? 2. Is there an adapter available? Source? 3. Or can I simple snip off the connectors and rewire?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

kal

Futaba Tamiya.jpg

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What you need is a Futaba plug adapter. For some reason they changed their plug style back in 1985 I think. The polarity is the same though, so you can change the whole cable with a newer adapter or older, depending of your choice. Also consider using a on-off switch with BEC circuit as the older receivers like that sweet Futaba FP-R2GS in the picture don't include that one. Check eBay, or maybe someone in here might help you with bits for that. Where are you located by the way?

 

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Hello & welcome!

Short answer = yes :P

RX signal to servo standard haven't changed so electrically there's no issue, just patch the 3 leads exactly (black -Ve, red +Ve, white signal)

Old style Futaba is "G plug" vs the modern "J plug".

Adaptors are available from many 3rd parties, either local hobbyshop or online/fleaBay theseadays if you're OK to wait.

futm4110%20futaba%206%20servo%20adapter%

 

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btw you didn't say what TX you've got to drive the R2GS RX with

i assume you've got the manual for TBLE02S, I believe in setup it tells you to set the throttle channel into reverse mode... not many old TXes did that BiTD

but recently I was mucking about with a TBLE02S and it reprogrammed fine (albeit with a latemodel radio) even without setting reverse mode, don't know why they insist

also some old TXes have a variably settable throttle midpoint or a switch between 70/30 & 50/50. Had some ESCs baulk at registering anything other than 50/50; in one case I even had to mechanically stopper the throttle lever from going fullthrow before the ESC would successfully program

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Thanks for the help!!!

G to J, got it. I found one on eBay. I figured that would be easiest. I did want to open up the ESC and rewire or splice into the Futaba. Even though I'm adding several modifications, I'd like to keep a few parts original. Now that I think of it, I might have even gotten this car sooner than '86. Could have been as early as '83 or '84. 

 

The TX, I assume is short for transmitter? Like my profile says, total Newbie. It's also a vintage Futaba.  FP-2L. Picture attached. It still has all the dirt from my original track. Yet to be cleaned up. I'll keep in mind your tips on throttle control. 

I kmow that there are few Grasshopper bits in the pic, old broken she'll and rear tires. Those were some parts I picked up a decade or so ago when I took it out for a spin way back then  it is however all Hornet.

Thanks again, Austrailia and Chile! How rad is that? 

I am in Atlanta, GA.  I'll update my profile as well.  

 

 

 

image.jpegimage.jpegimage.jpeg

 

 

 

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Welcome aboard Kalameja!

Even though I'm out on the West Coast, I grew up in Atlanta from 1979-1998. 

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NWarty. Thanks for the warm welcome. 

I actually just moved here from the West Coast. I called San Francisco home for the past 16 years.

Atlanta is great so far. 

 

 

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haha wasn't aware of your location earlier

no fear, we like Hornets & Coke downunder too ^_^

thankyou for your beverage :lol:

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On January 27, 2017 at 10:22 AM, mongoose1983 said:

What you need is a Futaba plug adapter. For some reason they changed their plug style back in 1985 I think. The polarity is the same though, so you can change the whole cable with a newer adapter or older, depending of your choice. Also consider using a on-off switch with BEC circuit as the older receivers like that sweet Futaba FP-R2GS in the picture don't include that one. Check eBay, or maybe someone in here might help you with bits for that. Where are you located by the way?

 

Mongoose,

Isn't the BEC built I tot the ESC? My new Tble-02 ESC does have an on/off switch.  There is now no separate battery/power source for the receiver or servos. Power is just drawn from a single source, the 7.2v nimh or Nicad.  Isn't that what a BEC is? A circuit that allows for one power source? 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Kalameja said:

Mongoose,

Isn't the BEC built I tot the ESC? My new Tble-02 ESC does have an on/off switch.  There is now no separate battery/power source for the receiver or servos. Power is just drawn from a single source, the 7.2v nimh or Nicad.  Isn't that what a BEC is? A circuit that allows for one power source? 

Back when Futaba started using those "new" plugs (early to mid 80's), their receivers started using BEC (battery eliminator circuit) so you could hook up ESC devices with them. Right now I can not say if modern ESCs have BEC included so they can be used directly with the receivers Futaba made until 1982-83.

MY EXPERIENCE: All my cars run with original MSC (except for two), and most of them with older radios like yours. Now, to run them without using the external battery pack I have had to use special Tamiya on-off switches that include BEC because older Futaba receivers (like your FP-R2GS) can not take the whole 7,2 volts. That is why I said you should check that, so you don't fry your nice receiver.

I believe our good friend Mark @markbt73 mentioned interesting things about nowadays' ESC devices on your other Hornet thread. The ESCs I know did not include ESC. If you follow his directions you'll be good.

1 hour ago, markbt73 said:

You shouldn't need an adapter to plug the TBLE02 into a modern receiver. The whole industry has pretty well standardized on Futaba/JR style plugs (usually called "Futaba J plugs"), so things are much simpler than they were in the 80s in that regard. And the TBLE02 does have a built-in BEC regulator, so no worries there.

2.4ghz radios are definitely the way to go. One thing to keep in mind when you're shopping is that you have to use the same brand of receiver as the transmitter you have. You can't mix-and-match like you can with the old AM radio gear. So before you decide on a radio, check the prices of extra receivers if you want to use the same radio for more than one car. Futaba receivers can get pricey, and they keep changing their technology, so stuff isn't always backwards-compatible. Personally, I like Spektrum or Tactic brand radios, but everyone here will give you their own opinion. I like Tactic because their receivers have no external antenna, much nicer for scale builds without that gigantic whip sticking out of the car. The only one I would avoid is Traxxas; their menu/setup system is complex and fussy and you have to keep going back to the instruction manual for even the simplest things.

For the servo, you have a couple of different options. You could order an adapter that goes the other way (G-plug to J-plug) and plug your old servos right in, but new Futaba S3003 servos (modern equivalent of your old S28) are only like $10 each, if you wanted to upgrade to all-new electronics. Might be worth it just to eliminate all possibilities of old equipment causing glitching. Servos don't often cause a glitch, but it's not impossible.

Also, yeah, I do get notified. I am just not online all the time.

Enjoy your Hornet -pure bliss to run!

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Thanks again for being so helpful! I reall appreciate all the help, knowledge and suggestion.

 

 

 

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TBLE02S has BEC, measured it week before and it pumps out a clean 6.0V... albeit it's only good for 1.5A so I'm told.

The ESCs to watch out for are TEU101-104BK; these usually have a separate extra 2-wire connection with red JST plug to feed power to the RX. The volts coming out of this plug is same as volts of input battery.

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Hi everyone,

I'm another newbie, and I'm learning a lot from Kalameja and the rest of you. I have the same Futaba radio equipment in a vintage Frog: Rx FP-R2GS.

The trouble with my Frog is that the MSC is shot (resistor failed and melted wires years ago). I'd like to follow Kalameja's strategy and install a Tamiya TBLE-02S ESC to replace the MSC. 

I see that I need at least one Futaba J to G adapter, and I think I found one on the Internet.  However, my question is this:

  • WIll I need two Futaba J to G adapters--one for the BEC to Rx BATT and one for the ESC to CH2?  In other words, don't I need one to power the receiver and one to send power to the motor? (Photo attached.)

Thanks so much! I'm excited to give the Frog a try again. It was my late brother's, and I just inherited it. Thought it would be fun for me and my kids. (And I like to tinker.) I also have a vintage Hornet that runs.

Frog.jpg

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