$8. Yard sale.

My first yard sale purchase.

I've been going to yard sales for almost 2 years looking for old RC stuff. I finally found something, this Hornet. It's complete & came with box, manuals, spare set of rear tires/rims and a few extra parts & screws etc. No radio. Front rims are chrome plated.

Body is badly painted and has some cracks. It seems a little mangled in the back where the wing mounts. Decals are a mess. I wish people would spend that extra 30 minutes to put decals on a little better, or simply not bother. Don't they know I might be buying that car from them in a few years!

It's a Hornet. Not much else to say about it. If I had a servo saver in the house, I would have had it running today. But I dont, so it's not.

Update June 1 2004 - I noticed some pretty serious damage around one of the front shock mounts. The chassis is cracked pretty badly, but it is still strong.

I got everything installed and took it for a ride in the street outside my house. Man, is this thing fun. Its quite fast, considering the stock silver can motor. Its stable at speed, corners well, with the usual understeer, but does those fun 180's if you want.

I drive it along with my son's P2K2 powered Stampede which was a little faster. It took a few hits, tore the rear wing off but otherwise survived. I also drove it alongside my Traxxas Cat. The Cat has a similar design to the Hornet, maybe 1 step more advanced with oil shocks all around and a better way to accomplish rear suspension articulation. The Cat also has a (pretty weak) 20T motor and it was a little faster than the Hornet, but not by much.

I see now that this car is very closely related to the Pumpkin/Lunchbox. The rear suspension seems to be missing those little damping springs and the car makes a loud 'clack' on acceleration. It might do well with a 3rd shock modification to take the impact out of it.

update June 5 2004 - I've driven this a few more time. It's really fast. I can't believe how fast this car is with a silvercan motor. I think it might be a bit faster than a little m-chassis, but easier to control. Not sure why. I guess it's the lightweight and simple rear drivetrain. It still has bushings all around. Can't wait to see how it will run with bearings.

If you don't have one...Get one!

Update Sept 1, 2004 - Bummer. The front shock tower finally tore off. My son was driving the Hornet and I had my Falcon, and we crashed. The front of the chassis is 1/2 torn off. I'm going to try to JBWeld it, and see how good that stuff really is.

Update Sept 20 2004 - Repaired the shock tower with JBWeld. The first time, I didn't make make the repair thick enough and it broke rather quickly. The second time, I built up the JB weld over a few days. The final repair is pretty thick now. The car survived a few good crashes with my JBWeld'd Falcon. I still can't believe how fast a stock hornet with silvercan is.