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Crashed

How to determine what SRB model do I have?

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Hi all, newbie here. After over 25 years since I last had my RC cars out, I have found a few boxes of bits and planning on getting one or two of them rebuilt. So was wondering if I could get some information.

When I was a kid I had 2 SRB's (plus a few other models) but due to many years of abuse I put them through, they ended up in a sorry state (one completely stripped down due to broken parts) before being stored away for many years. After 4 house moves and many years since I had them out, I have so far managed to find one chassis and half the parts of another, and one very rough body shell for a Rough Rider. But not currently enough to get a complete car running. I want to rebuild one of these, without breaking the bank as money is very limited.

I got both the SRB's 2nd hand, they did not come with boxes and were both missing a few bits. Both were never in the best of conditions when I got them, neither had the front bumpers or gearbox/engine cages so they have taken some big crashes over the years, they have been damaged lots and had some dodgy repairs done on them, as you do as a not very skillful kid.

First SRB
It came with a Rough Rider and Sand Scorcher body. The Sand Scorcher body was in a bad way and didn't last long, so I always said it was a Rough Rider. But I think this came the white wheels  (but i am currently missing a few boxes of bits so cannot confirm this) like the Sand  Scorcher,  with same Sand Scorcher front tyres, but remember it had the spiked/studded rear tyres that came on the Super Champ on the rear not the Sand Scorcher tyres. Strangely it came with the front springs missing but instead had coil springs fitted to the dampers.

Second SRB
This didn't have one of the SRB body shells, it came with some random Audi quattro shell which really didn't fit and was in a bad way.  This came with the Ranger/Brat style wheels and tyres, one set in white and one set in grey. But it didn't have the Ranger roll cage, think it had the Rough Rider/Sand Scorcher one, as I have two damaged of these in my box of bits. (this is the car I have most parts for)

So is there anyway of determining what model they should be?  Apart from body shells, the only real difference I can see is the different wheels, or am I missing something?

But as they were both 2nd hand, parts could have easily been changed before I got them, so might explain the differences with wheels and tyres, so apart from that is there any other way of determining, or should I just build it to whatever I like the best?

Any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Will try and post some pictures if I can work out how to do it, or is there a user guide for this on the forum?

Also I have an original Manta Ray that I intend to rebuild as this is in reasonable condition and one very battered Midnight Pumpkin, which I may eventually rebuild if I can afford it.

Cheers

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Hi, welcome to the club,

The best thing to do here, would be to build the best chassis you can with the parts you have. The grey wheels you mentioned, are the original Rough Rider rims, which would have has Sand Blaster radial tyres on. But the tyres were interchangable, so i wouldn't worry about them, and they are still available at a reasonable price.

The Ranger had the tallest front body mounting post, followed by the Sand Scorcher with the Rough rider having the shortest, so see what you have fitted on the chassis, and this will dictate which shell you can fit. Thigs like the rear cage were the same on all the SRB models, so thats no issue, and the same goes for the front bumper. The only difference being, the very early ones were black, the they went to grey, and now the re releases are black again.

The other parts you need, are available at reasonable price on places like ebay, and the trading forum on Tamiya Club. If you put out a wanted ad, i'm sure someone will have what you need. We are a helpful bunch.

Also, the Sand Scorcher and the Rough Rider have been re releasd by Tamiya, so most of the replacement parts you need are available new if you are not bothered about keeping it original.

Post a picture and show what you have.

J

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If it was a rough rider it would have come with grey wheels with what looks like on road tyres the sand scorcher had white wheels and paddle tyres on the back and slick type tyres on the front! Although many people opted to put spiked tyres from the super champ/hornet/frog on the rear of all the SRB'S including the ranger! Also the rough rider didn't have any body post extension at the front!. If I was you I would just rebuild to what you personally like!

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Hi and welcome to the club

I have owned 3 sand scorchers and as far as I know the chassis for the sand scorcher and rough rider are nearly identical apart from the body post is a lot shorter at the front. But there are variations in the chassis depending on whether it is a MK1 or MK2 chassis the MK1 has 2 bearings in the rear arms instead of just the one in the MK2 rear arms also the gear box casing is a slightly different Casting to the MK2 that is all I know about the differences in on the MK1-MK2 I am not an complete expert in this department.  The Tamiya Fighter buggy has an completely difrent chassis with no plastic radio compartment and an oil filled shock on the back. As for the wheels they could have been chopped and changed or the body mounts could have been changed from ford ranger to rough rider/sand scorcher. 

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Thanks for the replies. 

I am not really bothered about keeping it 100% original and happy to use the reproduction parts.

What concerns me is the cost of rebuilding and buying new/used parts. Don't want to spend a fortune when I could have just bought a new one or something else. Been pricing a few bits up already and it has got me worried. 

From what I have read about the differences, it appears I have a mixture of MK1 and MK2 parts, both gearboxes appear MK1 while both sets of rear swinging arms are MK2

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Anyway this is my pile of bits. Should have some more, as there are a few items missing, but know I had them. Have another set of wheels that i got off my first one and some more gearbox parts that aren't there.

20200407_142236.jpg

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The chassis on the right is an early version with tabbed gearbox for bumper , not solid cast and screws for front suspension springs on the uprights , and has ranger wheels . The chassis on the left appears to be a later edition with thicker front arms . Rough Rider body has no roof , easily got now through re-release Buggy Champ . Some Sand Scorcher parts in there too  . Most of it looks salvageable / useable

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The radio box has been cut out on one side to accept the later battery packs, but these are available used and cheap on ebay.

You are missing the gears and the plastic covers for the motor and the gear side, and the steering arms are missing.You have the steering damper, and i see the front body post mount that goes through the middle, so apprt from the afore mentioned rear cage, front bumper and steering arms, you almost have a complete chassis there.

Like Kev The Rev says, the other parts you are missing are available new from the Buggy Champ re release.

Dont panic about prices yet, strip, clean and rebuild what you have, and then build it in small steps.

J

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Crashed, nice project. If it were me, I would strip down and clean everything. You might want to invest in a small sonic cleaner. Wives and GFs love sonic cleaners as they can put their jewelry in them. I would then build a Rough Runner.

 

 

 

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Is that a ball diff sitting above the tire on the lower left?

  • Haha 1

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Biz73, no unfortunately not, it's just the standard direct drive gear.

Snakehands, like your build, that's very nice. I already have an ultrasonic bath, which I got for cleaning my motorbike carburetors but never used it yet. Do you just add water to them, or is there a specific solution to add for cleaning of RC parts?

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I put a bit of washing up liquid in hot water. Washing up liquid also acts as a replasticizer for old, brittle plastic parts. 
 

The other thing you might like to get is a set of bearings. 

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