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joeling

Hotshot Restoration

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This restricted movement period in Malaysia has spawned quite a few builds. The latest of these is the restoration of my very first hobby grade RC - the Tamiya Hotshot. My parents bought this for me in 1986 as a reward for good primary school leaving exam. I was schooling in Singapore those days. Over the years, it has been frankenteined with some supershot parts. Had some You G bits added. Gradually, in my University years in Australia, I lost my way and neglected my RCs. For some reason though, I never got rid of any of them. The Hotshot, among a couple of others, survived the move from Singapore to Perth. Fast forward 34 years later, I have been through a couple of RC phases and now am back to mostly Tamiya stuff. With time on my hands, it is time (:-)) to work on this restoration. Conscouisly or uncounsiously, I have been collecting some bits and pieces over the last decade. I have also buuilt a few Hotshots / Super Hostshots some stick, others modified. So, I have some leftover stock bits as well.

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This was the state of the kit prior to restoration. It had a mechincal speed controller, Twister 2WD motor (not sure why I have this in a 4WD), Front You G mono shock (broken shock support on one side) and Super Hotshot rear dampers. For some reason, some time in the past, I have shaven off the wing mount. I have a bit of gold paint on the chassis as well. Not sure why.

 

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This is not the original radio set. This is for my Optima mid. I totally forgot until I opened up the kit to find Sanwa electrtonics.

 

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This Sanwa came with non standard servo leads. I do not have any spares for the mechanical speed contrtoller. I will instead use a vintage Futaba esc. Little do I know some drama to follow...

 

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So, out goes the Sanwa, to be replaced with the Tamiya receiver with correct crystal.

 

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I have this esc that will replace the mechanical unit

 

End of part 1

 

 

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Time to strip...

 

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For some inexplicable reason, the younger me took a soldering iron and brunt away some bits of plastic on the gear box housing. Will go for a replacement.

 

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Not much lubrication at all. Head scratching.

 

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Mostly stripped.

End of part 2

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A little TLC for the Twister

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Before

 

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After. Swapped out thhe 13T pinion for a 15T Robinsons pinion

 

The original intended Futba MC112B esc did not work out. There is too much play in the neutral zone. Had to push the stick to nearly 50% to get a response. This is despite following instruction fiddled with the trims pots.

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This one is no go too. Reversing channel required.

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In the end, Had to settle for a modern Tamiya esc.

 

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Swapped out the Sanwa servo for a Futaba old school style servo that is likely still in production. Thsi unit was bought a couple of years ago.

End of part 3.

 

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New gear box casings with original gears

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Had an issue wit the front gear box. The original 'C' clips allowed for too much play for the outdrives resulting in losing diff action. Had to open up and replace them with 'E' clips. Head scratching moment.

 

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Had to cannibalise the black cable tie and mesh from an unbuilt Super Hotshot kit

 

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Nearly there...

 

End of part 4.

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Done.

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Radio range is pathetic. control pots in the transmitter probably all worn out also. One for the shelf.

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Good job, love seeing old rigs getting new life

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26 minutes ago, mtbkym01 said:

Good job, love seeing old rigs getting new life

Thanks !

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arrgghhh, you can't leave it on the shelf after going through 3 speedos to get it working ;) Nice job, as it's an original though, shouldn't the net be held in with strands of copper wire rather than the black cable ties? Are they a new thing for the re-re's ?

 

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18 hours ago, MadInventor said:

arrgghhh, you can't leave it on the shelf after going through 3 speedos to get it working ;) Nice job, as it's an original though, shouldn't the net be held in with strands of copper wire rather than the black cable ties? Are they a new thing for the re-re's ?

 

Wow, did not realise that the original it had copper wires to tie the wire mesh together. I never did install the mesh back in the day as it was my first kit and I was just not skillful enough to manage. I remembered painting my body on the exterior in a horrible metallic green color that flaked off after a while. Probably not even a PS paint. Fond memories...

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Checking my Super Shot manual and by then it had changed to cable ties, but yes, pretty certain that the Hotshot had wire

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Nice resto. Don’t be too tough on your younger self! 

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On 5/1/2020 at 2:01 PM, MadInventor said:

arrgghhh, you can't leave it on the shelf after going through 3 speedos to get it working ;) Nice job, as it's an original though, shouldn't the net be held in with strands of copper wire rather than the black cable ties? Are they a new thing for the re-re's ?

 

Agreed! Get a cheap 2.4ghz set and run it ! @joeling

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9 hours ago, rwordenjr said:

Agreed! Get a cheap 2.4ghz set and run it ! @joeling

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I would rather run the re re in the background first. This was taken more than 10 years ago :o

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