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MockTurtle

terra scorcher restoration

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this was my first ever hobby grade rc, bought back in the philippines back in 1990 when i was 11 years old. brought it with me when my family moved to south africa a year later. on that flight all i owned were a suitcase of clothes and a tog bag stuffed with a couple of comic books and this rc - my most prized possession.

spare parts were basically unobtanium in the new town we ended up in. i had to make do with superglue, putty and hardware store fasteners. as time went on, parts broke and my one nicad battery died, the car became unfixable. i stuffed it in a box and life went on. 

so yeah recently went down the rabbit hole of youtube rc videos. ended buying a lunchbox. had a blast. discovered ebay/tamico, and realized i just *might* be able to get the scorcher running again. long story short - parts are on the way! still might have to order some goodies but i just have to start somewhere...

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how it looked like in storage. the TA03 corolla? that was bought back in 1999/2000 with one of my first paychecks... that's another project :-)

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popped open the gearbox/diffs. these haven't been opened since I put them together back in 1990...

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i think i remember i *borrowed* the metal bearings to fit in the TA03. hence the plastic ones on here. the terra scorcher came with all metal bearings.

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here's one of my putty repair jobs... hey i was 13 years old... gimme a break!

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taking stock of what's missing... front gearbox is complete, rear gearbox... i'm needing some parts, did manage to find and order on ebay/tamico though.

tires are bald, but in surprisingly good shape. rubber still soft and not cracked at all.

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the only bit i could find from the body. also still have the chassis cover with the driver figure. but i seem to have lost the original bodyshell :-(

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i do have an A parts tree though which i bought just for the A5. i think that's a spider egg sac there lol? I'll be using this when I re-assemble the gearbox.

got it from a hobby shop back in 2000 same time I bought the TA03 corolla.

lXF4PL7.jpg?1

the notorious A5. I only managed to get one (with the whole A parts tree above) when I moved to johannesburg. i think i'll be 3d printing replacements rather if i ever get the terra scorcher running.

uqQa08b.jpg

...that's it for now until parts arrive... in the mean time i did get myself a blitzer beetle :-) oh yes i'm deep in the rabbit hole!

 

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Very nice, I'm really praying Tamiya reres this one!

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16 hours ago, GTodd said:

Very nice, I'm really praying Tamiya reres this one!

so am i... even if its just for spares availability. but if that happens i can rest the original one on the shelf, and i'll have a rere to bash with...

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On 7/18/2019 at 8:14 PM, MockTurtle said:

so am i... even if its just for spares availability. but if that happens i can rest the original one on the shelf, and i'll have a rere to bash with...

I guess that as there's so much crossover with other kits that even if they don't rere the TerraScorcher it's not impossible to find the bits you need. I recently restored my brother's one, and it was pretty straightforward. You can also get a metal plate on eBay to fit in front of A5 which should help a whole lot when it comes to surviving crashes :-D

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Saan sa pinas? ;) I didn't realize back then that the terra scorcher and dirt thrasher bodyshells are the same :)

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On 7/31/2019 at 8:57 PM, aynar said:

Saan sa pinas? ;) I didn't realize back then that the terra scorcher and dirt thrasher bodyshells are the same :)

taguig sir. didn't even know there was such a thing called a dirt thrasher until you mentioned it...

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18 hours ago, MockTurtle said:

taguig sir. didn't even know there was such a thing called a dirt thrasher until you mentioned it...

Yep - df01 chassis with a terra scorcher shell (different wing)  :)

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okay a quick update. parts have started trickling in. one of the key bits for me was the missing propeller shaft. its the main reason i binned the model - as a kid i recall being so despondent i couldn't find a replacement. well i was really chuffed to find an ebay seller who had a few for sale... so i got two.

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was also missing a thrust bearing. the original part code was discontinued it seems, but my lhs advised that this one-piece is a direct replacement. here it is with the old three-piece bearing.

dVdnAYr.jpg

some bits arrived from tamico - a new chassis being the key item.

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noticed markings are a little bit different from the original one. notably the 'made in japan' seems to have been etched out of the new chassis? 

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okay so i have enough to rebuild the two gearboxes. disassembled and cleaned them out. 

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sorry i didn't manage to take more pics, but here they are now before i close them up. the new one piece thrust  bearing fit perfectly. also replaced all the 1150 bearings with new ones.

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well still waiting on some parts, but its starting to look like it'll all come together. one thing - somehow after all this time with all the house moves i still managed to hold on to the original manual. its a bit tatty though...

hhSCfqo.jpg

hopefully next update i'll have the car running 

 

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Looking great 

I may start to strip mine down now I’ve seen your work

mine is pretty clean but not looked too far inside tbh

JJ

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Ok another update - been waiting for an important missing piece - the TBG shell. Yeah it took almost eight weeks due to our slow postal service. One week to arrive from Canada, and seven weeks for our local PO to sort out. Go figure.
So whilst waiting for the shell I've stripped, cleaned and re-assembled the suspension:

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And after almost thirty years, its first set of new boots!
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Compared to the old set - thought initially they were the wrong size, but they fit fine.
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Also tried my hand at painting tyre markings - turned out ok I think?
(I did clean & respray the wheels afterwards)
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Also got thundershot upgrade bits from pargustore - the all important A5 reinforcement, plus alu wheel adapters and a rear suspension mount.
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I learned that the rear suspension mount can be inverted so I did that to add a bit of rear toe-in.
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The alu mount meant I couldn't use screw pins, so stainless steel rods were procured. Would have changed the fronts to stainless as well but the new A5 reinforcement plate prevented that, so the screw pins had to stay:
LHbxtrv.jpg

Yes the A5 is already cracked! Will have to order a new one...
So this is how the chassis looked while waiting for the new shell.
I've mounted the old MSC, servo and resistor. They're just for show though, The plan is to fit in an ESC.

7Rb8gAt.jpg


Then it finally arrived!
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...shell cut and quick test fit
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I did get the MCI masks for the windows. They fit perfectly. I didn't use the mask for the rear window though - there was no such rear window  in the original manual? The masks were in vinyl so I could wash the body after applying it. Here it is after painting:

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I used metallic blue as that was the colour when I first got it (my dad had the shop paint the shell and finish the body). Masked the rear vent (for silver) and cut a hole for the resistor. Backed the metallic blue with light silver (unmasked for the vent). Then final coat was in black. 

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Also applied some gorilla tape to where my previous shell got badly scratched - hopefully this mitigates.

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With the MCI stickers applied - pretty straightforward. The MCI set is a bit thicker then the originals though.

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Its looking so pristine now I almost don't wanna run it! But not done yet... the next bit I've been kinda putting off - the chassis cover/driver figure. I'm no good at it! Here's the original.

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Why those colours? I was into model tanks and planes as a kid and those were the only colours I had: olive drab,... brown... black...

I did get a new cover + driver so I think I'll just paint up a new one.

Also realised the originals white wheels are hard to get, hence procured  an el cheapo set of buggy wheels for running. Bonus is it adds some ground clearance.

N5hjdjr.jpg

Actually haven't made my mind up what motor to install. Probably the torque tuned that came with the other kits.... or maybe a mild brushless.... or maybe it'll just sit on the shelf...

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Yummy (You’ve seen mine yeah)

id just give the driver a coat of matte black primer and start again :)

ive asked MCI to re-do the HiTech Tuned stickers to be more like the OEM

Keep an eye out for the white wheels 

what blue did you go for?

(and no - the instructions don’t show a rear window)

 

JJ

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I've enjoyed reading this post. All the original battlescars and repairs are all memories. I think you should use the original driver. I got my first Tamiya kit after 30yrs yesterday, I opened the tyres and even the smell brought back memories, my partner, she thought I was mad.

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On 10/23/2019 at 1:17 AM, MockTurtle said:

Also realised the originals white wheels are hard to get, hence procured  an el cheapo set of buggy wheels for running. Bonus is it adds some ground clearance.

N5hjdjr.jpg

Actually haven't made my mind up what motor to install. Probably the torque tuned that came with the other kits.... or maybe a mild brushless.... or maybe it'll just sit on the shelf...

Remember that increasing the diameter of the wheels effectively increases your final drive ratio, making your gearing taller and top speed higher. This is not an issue in itself, but may overgear your motor and make it heat up, especially since modern NiMh battery packs contain at least 150% more power than the old-school 1200mah SCR packs that were probably standard when this beast was new. If the new battery and wheel specs do cause the motor to get too hot, you may be able to use a different pinion to compensate, but I am not an expert on this series of cars so someone else here might be better placed to advise you what your options are in that regard.

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On 11/3/2019 at 4:46 PM, Problemchild said:

what blue did you go for?

metallic blue of course, just like my original one!

On 11/3/2019 at 6:38 PM, Oneball1971 said:

I've enjoyed reading this post. All the original battlescars and repairs are all memories. I think you should use the original driver. I got my first Tamiya kit after 30yrs yesterday, I opened the tyres and even the smell brought back memories, my partner, she thought I was mad.

thanks! i'm keeping the original driver/cover as is, its whats installed now. but i've also a new driver/cover i can experiment with.

On 11/10/2019 at 3:20 PM, Yalson said:

Remember that increasing the diameter of the wheels effectively increases your final drive ratio, making your gearing taller and top speed higher.

i've reverted back to the original wheels, its gonna stay brushed (torque tuned) with a hobbwing 1060 ESC. those bigger wheels are now on the neo scorcher.

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