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Absolutesoul

Boomerang vs Hotshot

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13 minutes ago, Absolutesoul said:

Is the Boomerang a good substitute for the Hotshot (rereleased versions)?

No substitute... Boomerang is BETTER than a Hotshot :P 

you'll agree after the 3rd time you need to access the radio box :rolleyes:

plus it's got twin rear shocks already; mono shock don't work too well either end tbh 

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The Boomerang without the cool Hotshot roll cage has a lower center of gravity and as WillyChang said, a better suspension and much easier access to the radio gear.  Although the Hotshot's  super cool longitudinal rear mono shock  did suck performance wise, it was tried on at least one F1 car that did rather well.   The re re Hotshot  aluminum center shaft with it's dogbone ends is better than Boomerang wire center shaft...but that's about it. 

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26 minutes ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

Totally agree with @WillyChang, Tamiya pretty much peaked with the Boomerang

The only one better is SuperSabre! B) Boomerang's prettier sister & didn't have a separate rear wing that easily got ripped off when landing upside down.

 

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8 minutes ago, WillyChang said:

The only one better is SuperSabre! B) Boomerang's prettier sister & didn't have a separate rear wing that easily got ripped off when landing upside down.

 

Except with the Boomerangs cat like handling its impossible to land upside down...

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How would the Super Hotshot compare to the Boomerang? I’m getting the the impression that the Boomerang is better than Hotshots for spares and ease of running regularly. 

Do they all use the same wheel mounts? So you only have the original wheel / tyre option or can other wheels be fitted?

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Yes, they use the same wheel mounts. With the addition of a simple hex adapter, you can run modern wheels and tires like the DF03's. Personally, I prefer the Super (Hot) Shot. Its my favorite of the series,

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The Hot Shot series of cars include the Hot Shot, Hot Shot II, Super Shot, Boomerang, Super Saber, and Big Wig. All share the same gear box, but vary in suspension design. All basically are the same speed since gearing is identical, and handling is pretty much consistent  across the models too. Comparing these models and suspensions to today's R/C's is like comparing the family sedan to a full on race car. That being said, having owned almost all of these models at one time, I would say the 4 shock models: Super Shot, and Big Wig handle the best overall, giving the final win to the Big Wig just because the rack and pinion type of steering is more refined than the Super Shot's bump steer and massive toe out when the suspension is fully compressed. Parma use to make a bump steer eliminator kit for the Hot Shot series that fixes the strange steering, but is not absolutely necessary (Ebay has the kit from time to time), Only the Boomerang and Big Wig do not need this kit due to different steering designs.

As far as spares (there all pretty equal) and ease of maintenance, the Boomerang, Super Saber, and Big Wig have open chassis that allow for easy maintenance, and access to electronics.  The Hot Shot cars have a closed chassis with a little aluminum access door in the top. While it keeps the electronics relatively clean, you must pay attention to where you mount the ESC and receiver just in case you need to re-program the ESC, or rebind the receiver. I have all my electronics close the little panel, but if anything fails, 1/4 of the car has to come apart to get into the tub chassis.

All the wheels are the same, mounted exactly the same. I have seen pictures of fellow modelers using hex wheel adapters and running modern 2.2 tires and wheels. This is something I never tried since I personally like the look of the older designed tires and wheels. If I had to choose between Super Shot, and Boomerang, I would probably go with a Boomerang just because the price is cheaper. But between a Big Wig and Boomerang, I would probably go with a Big Wig due to the cost being not that much more, and the kit supplying full bearings, and a much better motor. The choice is your's, really cannot go wrong with any of the mentioned kits.

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The Boomerang might be better but the Hotshot is infinitely cooler.

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2 hours ago, Wandy said:

The Boomerang might be better but the Hotshot is infinitely cooler.

I couldn't agree more.

I'm not sure of the exact ratio, but something like it takes at least one million practicality points to top one coolness point. Something like that anyway. :)

 

It's like spending a week drawing graphs and pie-charts, filling out spreadsheets and quoting statistics, to try and prove that a brand new Ford Mondeo

is a better car than Mad Max's Ford Falcon XB Pursuit Special. But you only have to look at them to know you'll be wasting a week of your life.

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On 13 March 2018 at 6:42 PM, Jonathon Gillham said:

Except with the Boomerangs cat like handling its impossible to land upside down...

you've missed counting my impossibly reckless driving skills :ph34r: this one time (at band camp) I got it airborn into a barrel roll... 180deg and was heading back earthwards roof first... the hard metal antenna spiked into the ground and it stopped dead :lol:

 

53 minutes ago, Fuijo said:

I couldn't agree more.

I'm not sure of the exact ratio, but something like it takes at least one million practicality points to top one coolness point. Something like that anyway. :)

Hotshot is an icon, first 4WD buggy from Tamiya... back in, I dunno, 83? 84? In the schoolyard it was more drool worthy than a naked Elle Macpherson... it wasn't cheap either, so only the rich kiddies had them... and yeah, it could run rings around all the 2WDs. (Supershot was even more expensive; just a set of bearings cost more than a whole basic kit)

They enjoyed their glory for 12-18mths before Boomerang appeared :) 

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Yes! There should be a "this one time at band camp" thread about different nutty rc experiences. Nice choice of words @WillyChang

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11 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Hotshot is an icon, first 4WD buggy from Tamiya... back in, I dunno, 83? 84? In the schoolyard it was more drool worthy than a naked Elle Macpherson... it wasn't cheap either, so only the rich kiddies had them... and yeah, it could run rings around all the 2WDs. (Supershot was even more expensive; just a set of bearings cost more than a whole basic kit)

They enjoyed their glory for 12-18mths before Boomerang appeared :) 

April 1985 when the Hotshot arrived. The kit was roughly twice the price of the likes of the Hornet and Frog so, yeah, it was pricey.

It was mindboggling how expensive ballraces were back then. And Supershot kits were on another level in terms of unaffordability.

That rear shock system on the Hotshot remains, to this day, a work of art though. B)

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Bigwig is an even better substitute if you want a good runner. 

But I like HotShot better than Boomerang because of the mechanical novelty of it.  Monoshock doesn't work very well, but it's just cooler looking.  That reminds me how cool Frog's chassis used to look in my early teen years.  The shell of a pink frog?  Meh.  But the space frame chassis with horizontally mounted rear shocks... and where were the front springs?  I miss how Tamiya used to think outside the box like that.  Hotshot was definitely outside-the-box.  

 

 

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Its funny that there is so much wrong with the Hot Shot and yet its so dang cool. Probably my favorite of the series after the Super Shot. The front monoshock geometry is all wrong. The ingenious rear suspension is unfortunately self-defeating when both rear wheels compress simultaneously. Bump steer that's unreal. Miserable access to the radio gear in the original. All these quirks wrapped around intricate molded gearboxes with stout, trouble-free shaft driven mechanics. I'll take that any day over a fussy chain drive. Flawed from a functional perspective, but so perfectly Tamiya.

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Without a doubt the boomerang is much better easier to maintain and handling is in a different league:) back in the day of the original boomerang I raced one to it's death!........but the hotshot just looks soooo cool;)

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I like the hot shot just looks cool and who said the shocks dont work ...worked pretty good for a buggy with small tires on this killer rock I run all my RC's on it's real bad to run on for any RC!:o

 

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2 hours ago, Juggular said:

Running on that rocky patch is impressive!  

Thanks if you see my other videos I run some other new style RC's on this same spot and they also get tossed around it's a harsh spot to run on for sure that will test any RC's suspension. :D

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On ‎16‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 12:44 AM, Saito2 said:

Its funny that there is so much wrong with the Hot Shot and yet its so dang cool. Probably my favorite of the series after the Super Shot. The front monoshock geometry is all wrong. The ingenious rear suspension is unfortunately self-defeating when both rear wheels compress simultaneously. Bump steer that's unreal. Miserable access to the radio gear in the original. All these quirks wrapped around intricate molded gearboxes with stout, trouble-free shaft driven mechanics. I'll take that any day over a fussy chain drive. Flawed from a functional perspective, but so perfectly Tamiya.

That's comparing to the cars that came after it though. Compare it to the race buggies that came before it. Probably the best offering was the super champ, which by comparison had:

1. No diff

2. Volkswagen Beetle inspired swing arm rear suspension with awful camber changes and no anti roll bars versus the hotshots F1 inspired double wishbone suspension all round with anti roll bars front and rear.

3. A motor that doesn't appear to be bolted to the gearbox, just held in by the end bell cover, versus the hotshots set plate system.

4. Monoshock rear suspension with no anti roll bar.

5. An open chassis that easily allows ingress of dirt and water (When there were no waterproof electronics available versus the hotshot radio tray that provided much better protection (And is not that slow to remove, 6 screws from the top, 2 body clips, and one bumper screw.

6. Heavy 3 piece wheels with bounce 'o' matic high profile tires versus the hotshot's lightweight on piece wheels with low profile tires (The hotshot introduced this design feature)

7. ABS body with a fragile roll cage versus the hotshot's polycarbonate shell and sturdy rollcage.

8. rear mounted motor versus hotshots mid mounted.

If I was feeling nasty I could be equally disparaging about the frog too :ph34r:

The hotshot was 'so cool' when it came out because it was a quantum leap in design from everything that had come before from tamiya. People knock the monoshock suspension, but roll the hotshot at high speed and it comes out in one piece thanks to the monoshock being relatively low on the front of the body and protected from impact at the back by the roll cage and the wing.

I trashed the front suspension towers on a supershot in a hard roll over, and likewise the rear tower on a boomerang. The fact that Tamiya went to produce another 4 cars based on the hotshot, which were really just minor refinements on the original design, and the thundershot series were a toughened evolution of it are a testament to the original design.

I think Tamiya got the hotshot absolutely right at the time, what people see as flaws now are looking back with very critical 20-20 hindsight and knowledge of the designs that came later. After all, Tamiya's latest 4wd buggies are still following the same recipe of shaft driven 4wd with a mid mounted motor, front and rear gear diffs, and double wishbone suspension all round with one piece wheels on low profile tires. The hotshot was the great grand daddy of them all. ;)

Not that I'm biased, but it was my 3rd Tamiya rc when I sold on my grasshopper and bought one new in 1985.........

 

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I think a fairer evolution comparison would be the Frog. The SRBs are firmly in the metal era (and to a degree, a "model in motion") The ORV (i.e. Frog) was a step to all-plastic. Stamped metal replaced the cast alloy found in the SRBs. The ORVs also had a fair amount of plastic, but I find its molding simpler and less complex than later offerings. The Hot Shot, on the other hand, is full-on, complex molded, plastic era. It really is a great leap forward. I personally love monoshock suspensions but I won't excuse the fact that the Hot Shot's front geometry is all wrong. Its a great buggy and the basis for many buggies to come, but some features do show "immaturity" of design.

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IMO, the Hotshot is just something you want...  It was an early Tamiya design and it's fairly complicated because of that...  I still think it's one of the best looking RC cars of all time and I'm thankful that Tamiya did a re-release of it (as I just finished building mine a few minutes ago).  Is with others, it was way too expensive when it was first released so I ended up with a Fox.

If you watch some of the videos out there of the Hotshot Gearbox classes, you'll see the BigWigs running away from everything else.  There is no doubt that Tamiya made performance and maintenance improvements with the subsequent releases, but there is just something about the Hotshot that is cool.  :D

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One thing that I don't get is why the Hotshot and Supershot are so expensive compared to thr Boomerang and Bigwig. This goes for the original and rereleases. Obviously things peaked with the Boomerang so that should have been the most expensive but was the cheapest, it doesn't make sense. Anyone got any ideas?

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The Hotshot and Supershot are better looking?  :)

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