Hornet III
I don’t know where to begin with the Rising Fighter. For the longest time I thought the car was just stupid but how could that be? I has all the right ingredients to be the next Grasshopper or Hornet but for some reason when I saw the car I just felt like Tamiya was cheating us. The question was why I felt that way.
I saw Wood5tocks Super Hornet 2 build and realized that the car was basically a Super Hornet. I love that car so why on earth would I hate the RF? That makes no sense! I saw how nicely the build went but thought that the new trans the RF stole from the Mad Fighter was a good call and then I decided I would make the Rising Fighter into the car that Tamiya should have if they actually cared about it instead of castrating the Super Hornet shell from (I am clearly talking about removal of the front lights) and fixing the irritating and pointless stink bug stance.
I do not like new cars so I waited for a very well loved RF on ebay. Owned and bashed by a 10 year old who then got a Associated B6 to replace it (what an upgrade) and slapped on ebay with a BIN of $40 shipped. The car was hammered but that’s the kind of cars I like to start with. Gave it a bath and discovered that the front of the chassis was split badly. Fortunately snagged a ruined Super Hornet a few weeks earlier and used that chassis pan. The rims which were visually insulting my eyes were thrown into a proverbial bonfire and set ablaze while I did a ritualist “Dance of Good Taste”, hoping nothing so hideous would ever enter my home again. A new body set was acquired for a few bucks on ebay as the stock one was used but not horrible. Now that can be my runner should I choose to aggressively use this car. I actually like the box art on the RF quite a lot though I seldom do anything like the box as they are rarely to my liking. That is one area I think Tamiya nailed with the RF.
Step one was to make the car sit properly. I made a rear suspension mount that worked like the Super Hornet…err…excuse me let me rephrase that…worked like the Super Hornet was intended to work as in it actually works unlike the travesty glued to the back of the Super Hornet. Come on Tamiya! Anyway, the rear suspension geometry was set up correctly and then it was time to install the double wishbone front end I made. Then I realized I had no wheels for it, just a smoldering puddle of abs. I liked the Super Hornet wheels so I went with the front wheels from a Wild One and since the rears did not fit, I whipped up some that matched and fit the RF hex drive. Enter Shapeways and now we have 3D printed wheels.
I took the car for a drive and the first thing I heard was the slap! of the ever moving gear box in its sliders. No no no no. That is not ok. Like the Hornet and the CW01, I had to fix it. I made the weirdest looking bracket and now have a trans retainer for the RF. Now accelerating is silent.
With that it was time for the shell. I did not want a blue one so I looked at my black Hornet and I was staring my Project Super Hornet so I decided to do the 3 hornet colors from the Hornet commercial. Super Hornet would go silver and this one, now known as the Hornet III would go Red. I added the cowl slots on the body, rear louvers at the back of the cockpit and installed standoffs for the front lights that it needed to have installed again. The body was shot red and I drew up some logos for the car and had them custom made at the usual place. All stripes are the stock Tamiya Hornet sheet that were cut up and modified to fit. The decals were clear coated over with 3 coats of gloss. No color sanding because I could care less about minor imperfections.
The inaugural run was a 3 mile walk with my daughter. The car ran like a champ and like the Hornet, was a ball to drive. The electronics worked well also. The car has a vintage Airtronics receiver, vintage Airtronics ESC (stars with a C but I forgot what it is) and a vintage Airtronics servo. Still has Novak decals because why not. I also have a clear trans for it that will go in soon but I was not able to shine it up before I finished the car. Anyway, please welcome the Hornet III.
Do I feel cheated now that I own the Rising Fighter? No, I love it. I wish more people knew how cool this little car was. I think calling it what they did was a massive marketing mistake. This car, called the Hornet III, Super Duper Hornet, Grasshopper III or anything that sparks some nostalgia would have helped this car immensely. I went from not being able to tolerate the RF to clicking on everyone’s RF pictures and see what they are doing with what is likely Tamiya’s last car from the 1980’s.
If you liked those pictures, you should see these...
Tamiya Prototype-ish
Comments
kontemax
Nice!
Pintopower
Thank you! I know you and I have very distinct tastes so that means a lot from you.
MAD-BEE
Great idea! Nice job👍
Pintopower
Thank you it was a fun project.
taffer
Wow as slapped together as the stock rising fighter is, I still like it, almost like a trainee tamiya employee was let loose on it! What is great is how tamiya's are so adaptable!
With all your mods, I'm surprised tamiya doesn't release these kind of upgrades themselves!
Now when are you going to show your Striker upgrades!☺
Want to leave a comment?