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MikeLouieTKD

Another Thundershot rebuild.

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Hello all,

  Was browsing using Google and stumbled upon this site. So happy to see there is a forum dedicated to vintage Tamiya products.

  I got into the hobby of rc cars back when I was living in NJ. As a kid growing up I was always sick (combination of allergies, asthma and a kidney defect), so I would be out of school weeks to a month at a time. As I entered middle school in the mid-80s I found a hobby shop called Highway Hobbies in Ramsey, NJ. I remember walking into that store eyes so wide I thought they would pop out of my head.

  I think my mom let me buy one kit with a radio. She let me buy the Hornet. I remember setting aside a 3x3' card table in the middle of the basement and got to work. Not sure how long it took me, but being OCD I made sure everything was perfect. lol. I just ran the Hornet around my yard and street.

  I think it was a few months later I saved up for a Grasshopper. That didn't last long as I realized it was a novice kit :) Sold that and purchased a Boomerang. My 1st 4WD buggy. I owned that one for a year and raced with my cousins who purchased the Fox and my old Grasshopper. Eventually I sold the Boomerang to my cousin and purchased the Thundershot when it 1st came out, also purchased my 1st trigger style remote the Futaba Magnum Sport.

  By this time I started high school and loved science and cars, and I started looking for a way to compete. I found Zeppelin Hobbies which was a good 30 minutes drive from my house had weekend races. It was asphalt style with the PVC tubing "Dog-Bone" looking course. I remember weeks leading up the 1st event I purchased some plastic sheets to make a newer and lower bumper, new body to keep it aerodynamic and low to the ground, purchased some foam tires and stuck the wheels/tires in a drill chuck to shave them down, and disassembled the shocks to put rubber donuts on the shaft to lower the car and adding stiffer springs. I was so OCD that I ran the car full throttle in a parking lot to see what gearing I would need to make it to the end of the 5 minute race. With the gearing I had the car lasted 5:10 lol.

  Those few years in high school I won every race I attended and was noted by the announcer of my driving style of avoiding every car on course and never hitting walls.

  My last race I think was 1989 or 1990 when I became a senior. Put everything into a box and stored at my parents. Went through college, didn’t find it to my liking, got a job, my parents passed away in the late 90s and was given my box of Thundershot and parts. Got married and we got a house and opened the box to try to run it. And you can guess after about 5 minutes of running the whole front end hit the ground. Yup A5. Looked on eBay and found a parts car, removed the A5 to put onto my car. Tried again. Broken A5. lol.

  So I put everything back in the box and shelved it until this year when my boys showed interested in RC Cars. I purchased them some Xmod cars back when Radio Shack was going out of business. 3 cars for about $100 with remotes, etc.

  Once they started getting better at that speed we placed an order for a Tamiya Dual Ridge (my youngest who is 12), Plasma Edge (my teenager) and a Neo Scorcher (for me). It’s been over a month since we ordered because of this virus. My boys love engineering, technology, building and solving problems so hoping they will love building these models.

  I did find a place that sells the reinforcement plate for the A5 which arrived last week, which was great to get my Thundershot to run for longer than 5 minutes :)

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