Aristo-Craft Hitec Kangaroo

[Lowgear]

Finally!!

I bit the bullet (Took the easy way out.) and just won a NIB one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/330867835355

It was more than I wanted to pay but worth it in the long run. I'll sell all the Kangaroo stuff I have now which will offset the cost a good amount.

[59burst]

the price is good i think. and hitec is a korean company let me know if you need to find the parts for your kaangaroo. i remember a few shops still have the parts

[Bormac]

Jonathon I personaly think you got a steal. Not because the Kangaroo is an awesome car to own or anything like that, but rather the fact you've just knabbed a complete new in box kit for $122. Regardless of which kit it is I think any old obscure complete new kit is worth more than what you paid.

Either way I am really happy for you.

(shame this wasn't an Aussie export as the name is fitting)

[Lowgear]

the price is good i think. and hitec is a korean company let me know if you need to find the parts for your kaangaroo. i remember a few shops still have the parts

Yes that is true as it does say "Made in Korea" on it. Well after buying this NIB one I won't need Kangaroo specific parts any longer but who knows, maybe someday I'll come across their other two models I don't have and will need parts. If thats the case I'll keep you in mind. Thanks for the offer.

Paul I personaly think you got a steal. Not because the Kangaroo is an awesome car to own or anything like that, but rather the fact you've just knabbed a complete new in box kit for $122. Regardless of which kit it is I think any old obscure complete new kit is worth more than what you paid.

Either way I am really happy for you.

(shame this wasn't an Aussie export as the name is fitting)

After receiving it and experiencing that it really was new in the box I do feel that I got it for a steal. As I was typing this another thought popped into my mind. This is the first NIB vintage R/C I've ever gotten.

I fell in love with the Kangaroo for a number of different reasons:

It has a cool name (and logo) which I think is befitting for a buggy.

It's an obscure/rare/oddball model which is the type of R/C's I gravitate towards.

Part of the decals are 'Tie me Kangaroo down sport' which was a song by Rolf Harris.

It has a boxing kangaroo as it's mascot named Chad.

It has aluminum shocks.

It has an overall neat/quirky design.


I can't wait to put it on the shelf next to my Arist-Craft Dolphin. I'll also have to take pictures for the gallery once I apply the stickers.

[Bormac]

I still remember the article that was done in a local magazine back when it was new. I remember them really plugging the fact it came with an ESC. Ofcourse most other cars came with nothing or a MSC.

I really like the car for some crazy reason.

[chriswolfson]

Ah - that's who got that one! I was bidding on it as well. Saw that gem and really wanted it since my first ever car was also a Kangaroo. I can attest from back then that the transmission was complete junk. I have some stories about that thing and Aristocraft trying to make good on it back then. I think they sent me 3 or 4 complete cars to make good. Anyway, great purchase. I will have to continue to look for a Kangaroo...

[Lowgear]

Well at least you know it went to a good home, and gave someone closure.

Interesting note about the trans which makes me feel better knowing it wasn't just me! It also brings me to my next point. They must have made a revision to the design during production as the box has a label affixed to it proclaiming "Equipped with new gear module."



Picture from eBay listing:

[longboardnj]

any youtube vids of any of the hitec rcs running?

[Bormac]

Why do I like the look of this car? I'd like to see video footage too.

[hibernaculum]

Nice to see such enthusiasm about another unusual model.
Just wanted to mention that in a review printed in Australia in the 1980s, the author noted that an Aristo-Craft Kangaroo came "5th in the A main" final, of some NSW race or championship, prior to publishing. That's from memory, but even if I've got the detail slightly wrong, the point is the car did race in something and perform reasonably well! So, just an interesting factoid.

cheers,
H.

[Lowgear]

I like the oddball models due to the uniqueness and rarity that comes with them. That definitely is an interesting factoid for sure. I would have never guessed that it had any racing history whatsoever.

[longboardnj]

I like the oddball models due to the uniqueness and rarity that comes with them. That definitely is an interesting factoid for sure. I would have never guessed that it had any racing history whatsoever.

for the time i thought hitec made good rcs .i think they were the first hobby grade rc to have a esc or be set up for esc.. rc10s and tamiyas were being run with manual speed controlers. if you look at the drivetrain and even the rest of the rc it almost looks like hitec looked at the tamiya frog and said, what can we do to make this setup better for racing

[savagetitan]

I've got a new out of box, no box, Kangaroo. I got some NOS parts too. Looking at this thing it seems that all it would take to make it into the 4wd version known as the Dolphin, would be; a front diff, bearings, outdrives, dogbones, slotted wheel spindles, and a drive belt. I'm not sure because I haven't disassembled a complete buggy for no good reason, but it looks as if it uses a drive belt or chain. Can anyone confirm my ideas on this? I haven't seen this drive assembly but I can cobble together some stuff and get the front end together with NOS parts, so long as the front diff might maybe be the same as the rear gears are. Kangaroo parts are available haven't seen what might drive the front end though so I'm guessing. The front has a bulkhead with holes for outdrives and notches in the backside I assume for a belt or chain to pass thru, the frame has a channel running thru it presumably to guide the belt/chain from front to rear. Any help would be appreciated. Thx

[Lowgear]

Aristo-Craft had 4 models which all shared the majority of the same parts. The two models that were 4WD were chain driven. The front diff was unique to those models.

[peepsed]

I stumbled across this thread after searching for a manual for the Dolphin. I don't particularly need one but it would be nice since I'm restoring the one I bought back when I was a kid. I'm actually restoring a Tamiya Blackfoot as well, and doing a "resto mod" to a Radioshack truck which is surprisingly good quality for not being hobby grade.

Now... the gearbox. My oh my this gearbox. I read through Lowgear's posts and I feel his pain! I had the exact same problem. I probably spent 15 hours troubleshooting, and took it apart at least 50 times! In the end I got it to mesh perfectly. Here's my story. Feel free to skip to the solution.

I ordered a bunch of new parts including all new gears off eBay and plunked them in the gearbox thinking it would just work. It did not. The two gears pictured bound terribly every half turn or so.



They would mesh fine when only one half of the gearbox cover was in place, but not both. I decided to do some measurements and calculate the pitches and determine the center distance between the gears - that is, the distance at which they should mesh perfectly. I came up with 21.51mm (0.847"). I carefeully measured the half of the gearbox that supports both gears and found Aristocraft spaced them at 21.47mm (0.845") which is perfectly fine. Within measurement error.




But the smaller of the two gears is supported by the aluminum plate which runs between each half of the gearbox. This plate has room to move around but I measured a center distance of 21.1mm (0.831") which is 16 thousands off! Now to see if this was actually the problem, I took a piece of scrap aluminum and drilled two holes at 21.5 and two holes at 21.1mm and put the gears on. Sure enough they meshed fine at 21.5 but at 21.1 they bound periodically just as they did in the gearbox.




This is where I made the mistake of thinking I could file the gears down to mesh. I spent probably 2 hours hand filing all the teeth on one gear only to end up with a marginally better fit. What a waste of time and effort.


The soution:

During assembly, I noticed that if you took the aluminum center piece and pushed it up towards the motor mount (see image), the teeth would mesh a lot better but upon tightening the screws it would get worse. So I took the plate out and redrilled all the screw holes to 9/64ths and filed out both of those hexagonal holes to allow more wiggle room. Once you've done that, upon assembly you can push the aluminum plate upwards and tighten the screws down. This spaces out the two problematic gears and allows for a perfect mesh.




And one more thing to note, the differentials tend to bind really badly as well. I found I had to file down the backside of each of these gears which made a huge difference in how freely they spin.



You'll also notice that mine are cracked to hell and back like Lowgear described. Interestingly enough the front was fine.

Here's a couple beauty shots of my completed gearbox. I've used ball bearings throughout and will continue to do so for the front diff assembly and wheels. I remember this thing being particularly drag prone as a kid, compared to the Blackfoot. It seemed like it was working harder to do less. Not surprised given the complete lack of ballbearings and gearbox issues.




Actually, one more thing. In my second picture you can see a hole in the gearbox which allows you to access the set screw to change the pinion gear. Does anyone know if there's supposed to be some kind of cover for it?

Looking for parts!
-Two springs for the shock absorbers
-The intermediate gear from the gearbox (The larger of the two which bind)