Cut & shut childhood racer - my trashed Scorpion

[deangaffney]

The OT-30's on the 80's aluminium rims that I inherited back in 1988. Spent a bit of time polishing them and have got some round head hex bolts in the post.

[deangaffney]

See above for the OT30's.

They will fit

[deangaffney]

So here's the cleaned up frame awaiting some sort of shock solution on the back (possible Assault donor coming) and for me to finish patching up the very tired tub which is almost in two pieces but should suffice as this is to be a runner. Note the taller Beetle roll bar.

[deangaffney]

Treated myself to a donor car to solve the problem of shocks and tires. Shocks seem good, sadly one of the tyres has a flat spot though. The front bumper is a bonus too as neither of my other chassis have one. Does anyone think there is a market for the two piece shell? I'll be making other parts available if anyone is interested.

[shodog]

Your scorpion is coming along very nicely and parts from your assault will definitely help out. Keep us posted how it goes

[deangaffney]

So yeah I well chuffed with the rolling Assault chassis as it included a lovely tight diff, straight chassis rails, slightly beefier castor locks at the front and all the ball joints are of a larger size than the Scorpions. The real trailing arms are of a slightly different, tougher looking casting too and the plain bearings and cups have seen little action.
However these are my original chassis rails I inherited in 1988 and they need some attention.
I don't own a vice so will try my hand with some gentle hammer blows (using wood blocks) and possibly some g-clamp action (not to be confused with G Funk Era, that was Warren G and Nate Dawg).

[GoMachV]

Yup those are a little tweaked!

Btw, damn you for getting "regulators....mount up" stuck in my head hahaha!

[deangaffney]

Yup those are a little tweaked!

Btw, damn you for getting "regulators....mount up" stuck in my head hahaha!

I have to inject a little humour into everything I do not to mention a musical 'earworm' or two from the 90's.

[deangaffney]

Working with wood blocks and G clamps to straighten the bars. Great care was taken as the bars have been drilled in the past and at least one of them is weakened. I have the Assault rails as spare of course which is nice to know.

This will do I think as they're bound to get bend again as I intend to run this buggy for fun.

Next up, fitting the Assault shocks to the rear and checking to see if my ancient AS1 servos are up to the job of steering the thing. At least one of them was rather twitchy.

[ron]

Hi, I am glad you like the resistors and clamps, I had no idea at first what those clamps were for, until I looked closely at the scorpion manual. Man, no matter how beat up a kyosho circuit 1000 series circuit is, it still looks new when cleaned up

I like the assault you have there, thats some cool wing mounts, for me anything vintage like the wing mounts and the vintage alloy wheels are priceless in my book. I cherish these things a lot. These buggies have so much character that you spend hours and hours on them and loads of dollars.

With the ladder chassis, I put them side by side to compare first if they are in line (no bends etc) and than compare the holes, do they match up. I take care of the bends by holding in a vise and pulling the bar or hitting it with a hammer to straighten it.

I guess RC10 tires will fit the 1.55" rims too.

I have gone with GEARHEAD's 1.55" slot wheels - old school design, just love it. Check them out. I did a bit of machining on mine and when I get the courage I will split it into 2 halves so that it will be exactly like the kyosho 2 piece wheels. For the front I have gotten a phoenix wheel, 1.9" I think.

[deangaffney]

Hi Ronit, nice to hear from you. Your lathe work is always a treat, thanks for sharing.
Been fitting bits you sold me last year but that Assault chassic has been the biggest bonus, the shocks, wheels and tyres alone were worth the price I paid. Put into the that the diff, unwork cups and dogbones, dead straight rails and I'll be able to keep the Beetle (formerly my childhood Scorpion) going for years. Next stage is trimming the original Kyosho shell I bought from a guy in the UK. Been out this morning and bought a brand new scalpel to make sure I do a decent job of it.

[deangaffney]

Only one of the original trailing arms from this car (which I've owned since 1988) has survived but I now swapped both them out for these very slightly beefier ones as fitted to the Assault. Notice the additional metal lip on the inside which hides the bearing.


Back in the day the car was fitting with ball races on outside of the arm and plain bearings on the inside. I have not fitted a pair of flanged bearings to each arm.


Note the interesting screw and brass collar for the shock to attach to. This was fitted when I got the car in '88. See no need to change.


In the photo below you can see the grub screws use in the suspension mounts, these were present back in '88 though are not original You will also notice that the gearbox is missing the front mount, again it was like that when I got it. Unclear whether it was cut or snapped.

[deangaffney]

So here she is with Beetle body mounts and now the Beetle shell is in the house she has shed her Scorpion skin for the last time. most recently I swapped out the lower front shock mounts with a pair from the Assault rear arms. The may notice the holes cut in the other side of the tub for a switch, again like that when I got her. There is a newer tub available on eBay but she's a runner not a shelf queen slo I'll save the dough for paint. Paint is expensive. Very expensive.
The steering arm is a NIP item from Jim Sourbeck on eBaym he currentl has over 500 items for sale on there! The central body mount was from Ronit who has posted above. The wheels and tires are straight off the Assault though not bothered to swap out front shocks yet, wheel see how she performs first. So whilst I'm getting a painting setup together I'll be putting radio gear together, all second hand of course, going to be Acoms. Oh, yeah I really need a bumper too, don't care what it looks like so long as it fits. Should think about making one really.


Here you can see the original Scorpion I bought last year which I rebuilt and now runs though needs the diff out of the Assault and the rear shocks are hopeless really. You'll notice it has not rims as those are stripped ready for painting. IN the foreground is what remains of the Assault which as I say is my best buy yet in terms of parts.

[ron]

It's a pleasure to see your work and the detailed pics you have, I can see you really appricate detail. Wow the assault was a great score! You have so much great parts there, like you Said, the shocks ( man, they are the thicker type and with aluminum collars). Yes, I have a pair of those beefer trailing arms. But I have the earlier arms fitted to my ride, I like the look. Man I just dig the kyosho beetle body. It has no front fenders and the rear ones are small, looks sooo scale like with those rear thick tires and the thin ones at the front, just love it.

Recently I got a crp axle for the kyosho, I will post pics later. Hey open up the top lid of the assault gearbox, see if you got a thorp ball diff in there

[deangaffney]

So having inherited half decent Beetle rims from the Assault I decided to paint the scabby ones featured in the first photo in this thread. Process is primer, black, silver, laquer. Half way there though this photo is terrible. The other rims came with a Falcon I bought in about 1990 but that's another thread.

Here they are before Christmas just after I cut the old MRC tyres off.