Vintage Hornet chassis?

[Saito2]

I was digging through a box of parts I got in a trade years ago and found the remains of a Hornet I didn't know I had. No body, battery cover, bumper or wheels but some things stuck out. The front uprights are black (aftermarket, non-Tamiya?) and held in place with kingpings that use e-clips, not the usual screw pins. The rear gear box has a small plastic tab protruding from the front of it, at the pivot. The reinforcement ribs on the axle tubes are shallower as well. Inside the gearbox I found black plastic bushings. Even the normally small bronze 850 counter gear bushing is black plastic. Also, there are no reinforcement ribs on the backside of the large side bevel gears. Since it has oil shocks along with the body mount hole in the front of the chassis, I assume its a Hornet and not an early Grasshopper. I've never seen black bushings before.

[mongoose1983]

There's black bushings in both original cars, the Hornet and Grasshoppers. None of them have oil shocks in front. One thing to check is the front area: if it does not say Tamiya, what you have there is one of the many clones that were sold in the mid 70's to early 90's. They're still very nice. Care to show a picture of your car?

[Crash Cramer]

I wonder if PintoPower would know what that is from the description, seems he has a couple of Hornet clones.

[racer1]

Sounds interesting but I think pictures are required here.

[Mokei Kagaku]

As you mention yourself Saito, very early Grasshoppers didn't have the hole for the Hornet body mount in the front of the tub before they got the same tub as the Hornet and if the dampers you mentioned are mounted in the rear and of the Hornet type, it's of course another indication of being a Hornet.

So it sounds like an early production Hornet to me. The black 850 plastic bushing was a feature of early Grasshoppers, Pajeros and Hornets. Even if lubricated well, it tended to melt (especially in combination with a 540), so later production got the 850 bronze bushing instead. That happened roughly one year after the release of the Grasshopper with all three. Black 1150 bushings was standard for Grasshopper, Pajero and Hornet, coming from the B-parts sprue, just like the 850 bushing. I don't remember anymore if original production models ever got the separate white or turquoise plastic bushings.

The black plastic bushings might even explain your black uprights. The black 1150 bushings have the inside "gliding" surface offset, and this caused even more wear on the front wheel axles than the later bushings did (and do). I remember well how many ran their Hornets and Grasshoppers until the wheel axles were so worn down that they had to buy new uprights when forced to replace the bushings with ball bearings because the wheels were wobbling like mad. So, if your uprights look like the original uprights, but are black, it could be the reinforced type released primarily for the F103. If so, the original kingpins could of course have been used, but replacing them with kingpins with e-clips ("Tamiya F-1 style") also wouldn't be unlikely. If the black original front axle bushings have been replaced with something else (white, turquoise, bronze, ball bearing), it would make the theory even more likely. If being black reinforced Tamiya uprights, they must have been replaced relatively "recently" though, as the black ones were released in 2009. (Tamiya # 54154).

The gearbox housing and bevel gears you mention are also clear indication of an early production Grasshopper or Hornet. The reinforcement ribs were added later as the axle tubes would snap off.

The safest indication whether your model started its life as a Hornet or Grasshopper (if it's a Tamiya!), is the little shaft in the center of the diff. Unlike the Grasshopper, that came with a smooth shaft (same as for the small bevel gears), the Hornet came with a stepped shaft and rear axles with smaller diameter holes for that shaft. These are parts that almost never wear out or get damaged, so will hardly have been replaced. 

 

[Saito2]

15 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Since it has oil shocks along with the body mount hole in the front of the chassis, I assume its a Hornet and not an early Grasshopper.

Sorry, what I meant by this statement was rear oil shocks and a body mount hole in the front of the chassis. The chassis has standard Hornet/Grasshopper springs up front. Sorry for any confusion. The buggy is indeed Tamiya. It has the Tamiya logo on the front of the chassis tub along with "made in Japan". The uprights must be aftermarket (or another brand) though, as they do not resemble Tamiya F103 uprights. The diff also has the stepped center shaft which seems to lock it down as an early Hornet. I'll try to post pics tomorrow if anyone still cares but I think we have an answer. Thanks for the wealth of info presented here.