Raider rebuild-She's finished, kind of!

[vwjuice]

I am now the rightful owner of the green raider that Vintage AE built. I can say or always loved the raider, but after owning a properly built one, it's a sweet car. It kyosho gold shocks a they do a great job making the car handle better. My only complaint is that with a mild mod motor the dogbones break easily. It's easily fixed if you get the steel dogbones from a raider pro, but the plastic ones break quickly. I think upgrading the dogbones, shocks, and switching to newer 2.2 wheel and tires is about all you really need to do for these to be fun. I am going to do a full custom buil with my second raider but the one Vintage AE built is pretty much perfect.

Sounds like you're onto a pretty good start with your build. I'll definitely be following it.

[isitafox]

Yeah dogbones are on the list as well. Wheels will probably be last before esc and a motor though hopefully by the time I've got the rolling chassis ready to go I'll be able to check out the for sale section on here and find a bargain!

[Jay Dub]

I bought out a lot of vintage Kyosho parts at a local hobby shop a few years ago. I have a ton of parts for the cars, including a Raider Pro yellow wheel set. All parts are NIP. I don't of course have every part, but many never the less. LMK if you are looking for anything specific. -Jeff

[isitafox]

I bought out a lot of vintage Kyosho parts at a local hobby shop a few years ago. I have a ton of parts for the cars, including a Raider Pro yellow wheel set. All parts are NIP. I don't of course have every part, but many never the less. LMK if you are looking for anything specific. -Jeff

Could you post a pic of the wheels as I'm not 100% sure what they look like, they could just go nicely with the colour scheme!

[Jay Dub]

They are 2 in. diameter btw. Here ya go:

[isitafox]

Currently (as in right this second) on the case of stripping the paint from the body. It's not in too bad a condition bar a few small cracks in the intricate corners and a small lump (could have been caused by a screw head) in the spoiler so I thought it best to strip back and see how well it looks after a respray before I buy a brand new body. Sprayed both with some Mr Muscle oven cleaner when I got to work about half 6 this morning and I've just scraped 95% off the spoiler and about 60% off the body. Given them both another coat so I'll leave them another couple of hours before I attempt the rest!
Will get some pics up as soon as I've cleaned and dried them both off.

[isitafox]

Pic, just a tiny bit still to come off. And my new screws, bolts and nuts have arrived.

[vintage AE]

Cool, another Raider build. vwjuice, you may have my Raider, but I have the memories of not only building it, but owning it back in the day. Look forward to watching this one progress.

[vwjuice]

Cool, another Raider build. vwjuice, you may have my Raider, but I have the memories of not only building it, but owning it back in the day. Look forward to watching this one progress.

That is quite true!!! I will get to enjoy it though. Which I have done a lot of.

[vintage AE]

So glad you continue to give it life. I've probably mentioned before, it deserves more than to just sit on a shelf and collect dust.

[vwjuice]

Oh it definitely gets used. It's fun to drive it at the track and pass other cars. The reactions once the body comes off is hysterical.

[isitafox]

Well I got the rest of the paint off the shell, whilst it looks far from perfect I'm sure it'll do great as a basher body once its been recoated.
The build is now on hold till I get a few parts like the wheels though I can track down some paint whilst I wait.

[Coelacanth]

Well I got the rest of the paint off the shell, whilst it looks far from perfect I'm sure it'll do great as a basher body once its been recoated.

isitafox, that previously painted body actually turned out very good. You might be surprised how nice it will look after repainting. Just scuff up the inside with Scotch-Brite or steel wool and wash, before repainting it. Check out how bad this Optima body looked after I removed some extremely stubborn Pactra paint from it, lots of milky hazing and scratches from my attempts to scrub off all the Pactra. Gahh...

But after repainting it, it turned out surprisingly good, for a basher body anyway.

[vwjuice]

I agree. That body came out really clean. Should look really good with a fresh coat of paint.

[Hcp22]

This might be of intrest…

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-Kyosho-5200-Dog-Bone-Diff-Kit-RAIDER-THORP-Mfg-/260969042738