Kyosho Ultima - the Black Beauty

I always liked the first generation Ultima, because the Mirahamm Hobby Laser was designed after it. And now, as I managed to get my hands on one of these, I am totally blown away. This car is so nice and sleek, so pure and original, so, I just can't describe it.

I bought it on ebay for a very nice BIN-prize. In the auction it said hardly used, good condition, with steering servo and motor. When it arrived this morning I found a nearly brand new Kyosho Le Mans 480 T motor mounted in the car, what a nice surprise as I expected the usual high power silver can. The servo was in working condition, only the cable had to be changed, because it had some old plug, that I do not use. I installed LRP F1 Digital ESC and Futaba clone receiver, set up my transmitter and off it went.

Although the car drives sweet, I had to change some things. First I had to exchange the tires, because they were foams, which are not suitable for outdoor running. And I may change the shocks too, because I know that the Ultima had red shocks in stock condition, but this one has silver shocks with light green (front) and blue (rear) plastic parts, that are set up way too hard. They look like the ones on my Ultima RB, only different size and color scheme.
- Update: The shocks are Duratrax shocks, thanx for the info, stride. I have to leave them on the car, because I just realised that I do have 4 red shocks, but only 2 red shock collars for them. I will try to build some replacement for them, but this will take some time.

For now I fitted ARP Street Hawgs tires, which look good on this car. The former owner used black tape on the sides of the chassis either to keep dirt out or to make it look better. I would say he succeeded in both, it looks really good and it will keep some dirt out. The body was painted plain black and only some small decals are applied, but I think this looks just right (this was done by the previous owner, I would have used royal blue). The only thing that is not so good is the driver, which is also completely black, will be some hard work to get him colored better.


Update: I installed gold shocks and needed to change the tires, because the ARP rims broke on the rear, they are not suitable for offroad running. I mounted Carson All Terrain tires as a substitute, but will go for some newer Kyosho Ultima tires in the future. Driver is painted, esc changed to LRP AI Micro Reverse and 14 T torque limiting clutch installed (see link at the bottom for pictures).