silvertriple 3557 Posted May 1, 2022 I had Hunter and Galaxy drivers sitting unpainted on my desk for a while (a long while)... Got recently some goodies from @optimaforever for the Galaxies, and I needed to showcase them. No way I can do this without proper driver figure and wings. The wings were tackled a few weeks ago. That was not the case of the driver. I got to the task at the same moment as the Samurai driver... One is an original and the two others are repro in resin (molded from original). For the molded ones, I used some black filament to replace the missing wheel... The Hunter was quick to finish : I juts had to glue the driver in (double face tape). But for the Galaxies, I knew it would take more time : to put the driver in place, you have a bunch of screws to remove from the roll cage. I did procrastinate a bit. And I wanted to do something for the wings: something to help maintain them in case of roll over (there should be a reason why none of the Galaxy I got has a wing). Fusion360 was again my friend. This is very simple. There is two parts, one goes on the roll cage and has a support preventing the wing to fold, to close to the screws, and the other one replace the washer and is designed to enter in the wing recess to lock it properly. I printed some, in red, because I like the red, and it will be nice on the Galaxy, but slightly less on the Galaxy RS (although there is already some red on the wing). But that's it. But before this, I needed to put the Galaxy Shock Stay Reinforcement Bar (GSSRB) from Optima House on the Galaxies. This is a part he made to complete his Hunter gearcover, specifically designed for the Galaxy, and it is versatile enough to work with the non broken Galaxy chassis alone and with a Hunter gearcover for broken chassis. And it is nice, with a Galaxy fine print on the bar in plain center :-) After tackling the red, and while my son was finishing to put his Super(hot)Shot together, I tackled the blue... and then it was time for some family pictures. It's missing a variant at this stage (the Hunter with V1 chassis), but at least I have 3 complete cars on this picture (if we don't count the electronics as the Galaxy RS is missing both a RX and an MSC/Servo or a ESC... Still have a lot of things to do with the other cars you saw arriving in this thread, but that will be for later :-) 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yogi-bear 2321 Posted May 2, 2022 these are looking stunning, fantastic work! All we need now is a video of these in action on the black Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted May 8, 2022 On 5/2/2022 at 2:53 AM, yogi-bear said: these are looking stunning, fantastic work! All we need now is a video of these in action on the black I'll do at some point In the meantime : Today, while still awaiting one single part to finish my Samurai n°1, I decided to tackle the Galaxy RS my son will use for vintage events... For memory, that's the one which came in a field box, with a missing roll cage and broken shock towers. My son has already a driver for this car. It is based on resin printed stl based on a Marui Ninja or Shogun driver. I just paint the face of this one, my son made the rest... Normally, I'm not the one doing the build of this car. He should be building the car for himself. But first I need to tear it off, clean the parts and repair the chassis (or make proper patching). I did tear the machine down to parts early this afternoon... There is some very good surprises, and some that are quite bad. First, as per the general state of the underside, it does look like the car was not used much offroad... Second, opening the gearbox shows a idle gear and a differential close of being new (just like the red Galaxy, actually). I finished to tear everything down to parts quite quick (40 minutes - when you know the car by heart without having to think, it goes faster, you do it in the inverted sequence from the build). Most of the screws are close of being new. I believe from the analysis that the kid (or his father) building the car initially made a mistake mounting a front shock at the rear, and that probably led to the left broken shock tower (because the shock had no axial movement in the suspension arm), and the right followed, because the screw was torqued to much. Most of the parts, beside the chassis, are in very good state... For the chassis, it is another story. Marui manual as available in french stores mentioned Philips screwdrivers. But it was not Philips screws. It was JIS screws. That make a lot of difference in the way you feel the torque when working out the screw. As a result, many users were applying too much torque. And the result is catastrophic... Front bottom arms axles were just kept in position by the bumper Beside the shocks towers torqued too much, there was also broken mounts for the rear bumper. Last, one of the screw seats of the gearbox under cover is damaged. To the point you can distinguish a crack on the chassis. Normally, this is not much issue, as the chassis will be taken in sandwich between parts that will be holding it together, but I think I will have to do something at least for the screw seat... Not too bad, finally. I will have to print some parts to help holding the rear bumper and gearbox cover together (this car will use the OptimaHouse gearbox cover and will be a runner for my son). First I will take care of the cleaning (basically, this is now). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RustyHunter 42 Posted May 22, 2022 You've got quite the collection of Marui, and you've done an excellent job restoring them! I was wondering if you could give me a few rough dimensions of the Hunter for a project I have in mind. I'd like to know the wheel to wheel width of the car, as well as approximate dimensions of the front and rear suspension arms. Thanks in advance for your help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted May 22, 2022 6 minutes ago, RustyHunter said: You've got quite the collection of Marui, and you've done an excellent job restoring them! I was wondering if you could give me a few rough dimensions of the Hunter for a project I have in mind. I'd like to know the wheel to wheel width of the car, as well as approximate dimensions of the front and rear suspension arms. Thanks in advance for your help! Wheelbase is about 245mm Front width 210mm (170 wheel to wheel) Rear width 235mm (145 wheel to wheel) front arms are about 60mm long, 50mm large rear arms are about 45mm long and 60mm large (but there spacers between the arm and the axles) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted July 6, 2022 While my son did not even built his Galaxy RS yet as the plan was slightly delayed by an onroad event, I must recognize I may have some sort of weakness. While some other are buying rc10s or Sand Scorchers, I could not help but buying another Marui Galaxy It's complete, and in very nice state. Few elements will require work, but new roll cage, tires, stickers (original sheet) and few additional parts (i'll have to do a full inventory to understand what is there, but there is clearly some additional parts)... I will have to see which one is going to be my Galaxy runner between the two I'm having now (yes, one of the two red will be a runner - in Belley, when the car was on the table, I was quite tempted to get it running, and I didn't because I did not have proper tires for that)... But I really need to stop looking at those Marui Hunter and Galaxy on sales group and ads :-) 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted August 13, 2022 Pursuing my target to model all tires from Marui range One additional set is done. And since I love to spread the Galaxy love as well, the other face is different The front tire should not be that expensive to print in MJF rubber like to do some test on the wall thickness and to adjust it to find the sweet spot... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted April 16, 2023 I launched a print of Hunter rear tire this morning, with a target shore of 55A. The resin is a different one that the one I used for the Samurai and Ninja tires... First it has less odor, and it seems more fluid... We'll see if it prints correctly in a few hours, finger cross... In the meantime, I've modeled the Hunter/Galaxy rims to be able to print some to go with the printed tires... Simple enough to model, definitely... And with the tires... I've also modeled the internal ring with the target to print it in TPU... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted April 16, 2023 And the first print of tire is done... Need to post process it next... Still a lot of work to do, and 3 other tires to print for the Hunter... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted April 16, 2023 Post processing was done. First a bath of IPA Alcoohol (not a fresh one), then remove the supports, then another bath with clean IPA; the two baths with agitation. Nex was drying with air compressor outside, inside, outside again... Then I let it dry alone for 30 minutes again... I only had an issue while drying with the air compressor : the tire escaped my hands and ran on the dirty ground of the garage : I made all I can to remove the traces, but there was still a bit of dirt at the end of the drying (the tire was still sticky when the problem appeared). For UV cure, it's precised on the the manufacturer website that once the tire is dry, it is better to put it in a jar of water (unless you can do this in notrogen) for the first few minutes of UV exposition. I put the tire in water and exposed for 5 minutes, then dry it again and 25 minutes UV without water... I also exposed the inside later on with a Led ribbon powered on USB... Here is the tire... You may see the traces resulting of the dirt escape of the tire... I can tell you the softness is really close to the one from the original tire... Aspect of the thread is really nice... I don't show the supported side, it's definitely not as good... And rims are ready... It may not do it for a shelf. But I'm looking forward to see how close/far they are from the original used on different grounds, specially considering it looks very very very close from the original tires in terms of shore... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted May 5, 2023 A Marui Hunter is a must have for this season's vintage events... And I do not want to use the first car I restore for this. As I want to be able to run the car without thinking about the risks of breaking a chassis... My solution for this is to use a broken chassis :-). I took the original chassis from the Galaxy when it arrived, with broken shock towers. I glued them back when it arrived, thinking that it would be good enough to build a Ga(laxy-Hu)nter with a Optima House combine gear cover / motor cover. There was a few parts requiring still a bit of cleaning, I did run my ultrasonic cleaner for that and then it was build time... I will just put pictures as the previous builds were already heavily documented in this thread... I did put my own gear set in the chassis, as the target is to use this car as a test car... I had to adapt the shaft so I can put the idle gear on bearings... While fixing the motor mount, one of the pilar broke... I suspected it could happened, and did not worried at all... I went to my laptop, got the stl I uploaded in the past in Thingiverse, put an ABS roll on the printer and just printed it, put it in place, a bit of acetone on the brokent surface of the broken pilar and it's good to go :-) Optima House shock towers, my led holders (the car will run with leds :-) ) The full black look is going to be nice Next steps tomorrow... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted May 6, 2023 My eyes opened early this morning. After the breakfast, I started right away the operations... First I installed ESC and rear leds (the front will be installed in the spotlights on the bodyshell so I planned for a plug near the roll bar... And this is the rear view... I then added the wheels, and worked on the bodyshell... I did test quickly the chassis setup, and it seems there is too much lateral play for the small bevel gears. It can run but there is some skip in the differential, and it's imperfect... I know exactly where the problems are and I will review the design accordingly, and I'll need to get another gearset done urgently... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted May 6, 2023 I did some masking in the afternoon... I like the results when there is multiple colors but it is always time consuming... Much more than the paint itself... And then I did the paint... This car maybe box art, at very few exceptions. Had to think about it, actually... After this I need to take care of the driver. I have some repro Samurai/Ninja/Shogun, and I really like them, but I could also use a Hunter driver more conform to the original, although it is resin molded... Time will tell 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted May 7, 2023 Today was a bit run time with my son in the morning and with my daughter in the afternoon. In between I spent some time to finish my Hunter... First it was about assembling the bodyshell and connect the leds... You may note the driver. I had that driver (printed from a scan I can't share) painted already, and thought it would go nicely with this car. For the led, it was mainly to solder the wires together and add a plug at the end... Then, there was the stickering time. The stickers are some reproduction home made by @yogi-bear, and I felt that was a duty to feature them on this Hunter, except the sizing which is a bit small, these are very nice quality and easy to work with... And some family picture with both Hunters... 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yogi-bear 2321 Posted May 7, 2023 That has come up great, a shame I got the sizing wrong though, but I worked out what I did. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted May 8, 2023 Leds are working fine and this detail makes a lot for me in terms of realism... But there was a missing detail... I spent a bit of time to try to get it right yesterday evenning This car will be nice... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted June 17, 2023 Last week-end the Marui Hunter run, and my daughter was there with her phone... She took the first lap, unfortunately... I ran it faster during the following laps... At least there is a video of it... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted July 19, 2023 After the Super Wheelie yesterday, today it is the Hunter who gain the new transmission with a metal idle gear... Same adjustment than for the Super Wheelie, it seems that this is on the right path... And should be the same on the Big Bear (which is basically the same as the Super Wheelie diff and gearbox wise). I did a quick run, there is no more cracking sound, and I can open full throttle with no fear. For the small story, the nylon idle gear was still in good state with some superficial wear for the smaller part of the gear... This is also good indication as the part of the gear in contact with the motor was not worn at all... So I'm now happy as I have a Hunter and a Super Wheelie able to run powerfull motors :-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted August 18, 2023 The ball bearings were a bit loose (8.3mm for a target of 8.05 mm) on the first printed SLM version. The designed was updated to 8.2mm. And while at it, I also included some holes to try reduce as much as possible the weight of this thing... I mounted it this morning, and it was a bit more complex than expected : On the small side, the fit is still a bit loose, but nothing to what it was before (before it was required to put a paper around the ball bearing), and when I say loose, it is actually fitting... On the bigger side, although the same measurement is on the design, it is tight. I had to improvise a press to get the ball bearing in... And since I increased a bit the clearance on the smaller gear, it is now perfect for runs... I have now a very proper transmission for my Hunters and Galaxy, and this lighter version will get uploaded to replace the V2 i made to cope with the minor improvement required... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted August 18, 2023 post was not supposed to be in the thread - reposting in the proper thread... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted September 3, 2023 My first attempts to print Hunter tires were unsuccessful. The resin looked nice at the end, but I never succeed to print a second rear tire, and the front looks to fragile to survive a run... While I had still some resin in the VAT of my printer following success with the Super Wheelie tires, I printed a rear and a front at the same time for the Hunter... And it worked like a charm... Soon my Hunter will run on printed tires as well... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted September 9, 2023 And here is the Hunter with the new set of wheels... I'm quite sure one looking in the details would say the rear side of the tires are not good, but this is to run the car, and I know from what I did with the Samurai and the Ninja it will work... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted January 14 There is no secret I love the Marui Hunter. Few months ago, I scored a cheap Hunter body in very nice state. Yesterday, I got it in hands as a friend leaving near by the seller got it for me... And somehow this acts as a trigger, as I intend to do the Hunter/Galaxy family in CAD, with the firm intention to work out the prototype model as well... Watch this space :-) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yogi-bear 2321 Posted January 14 9 hours ago, silvertriple said: There is no secret I love the Marui Hunter. Few months ago, I scored a cheap Hunter body in very nice state. Yesterday, I got it in hands as a friend leaving near by the seller got it for me... And somehow this acts as a trigger, as I intend to do the Hunter/Galaxy family in CAD, with the firm intention to work out the prototype model as well... Watch this space :-) I will be very keen to see the Hunter body in CAD . Did you managed to find any other info on the prototype or will you be going off just that one image you posted? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted January 14 I have few Hunter awaiting rebuild, I pulled a chassis and few parts to start this activity... When puting a car in CAD, each chassis has its own characteritics. Here the chassis include the gearbox definition, and it is quite long. I decided to work part by part and I tackle the center first. Next i focused at the rear, with the idea that the idle shaft position will define the differential position, which is by design on the bottom plan of the gearbox. And the main difficulty is that the chassis has a lot of angles here and there, very small but highly impacting when you are trying to measure them... And again the chassis is not symmetrical. This is where I am currently. The shock towers will be taken during next session, before taking care of the front end for which the complexity is high, because of the angles. In short it is a lot of fun... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
