RC10 CE Restoration

[klavy69]

I wasn't aware until now that Andy's is doing AE bodies as well. I had just been noticing the Renegades and thought that's all they were doing. Now I know.

Just recently seen a few go through his ebay page and his offerings on the FB pages. His price has gone up dramatically but honestly still a great price for what he does. I pick up a body from him for what I paid just to have bodies painted before for me so it cuts out the body cost and the shipping to a painter and back so hopefully he starts offering up some more. Now that his price has gone up they just don't fly off the pages anymore as soon as he posts them.

Todd

[emmARRpee]

I got the bearings in and rebuilt the transmission.

That first picture just shows the original bushings and appropriately sized bearings if anyone needs the info.

I meant to take more pictures but would have needed a third hand.

Everything is super smooth now.

I was able to reuse the felt gasket- it was intact in the area that it's protecting and should work for this time. I'll probably need a new one on the next rebuild or will just go without.

[emmARRpee]

I also grabbed an older Novak Explorer Sport off eBay. I think it's from 1995 so it's roughly the right era for a mid CE.

[emmARRpee]

One other thing is that I also got a new Reedy Wolfpack NiMH battery (#694). It does not seem to fit in the battery tray properly.

It's slightly longer and I would have to really force it in there which would deform the front tray. The positive and negative leads come right out of that same end which makes it even worse. It's all the way up against the rear bulkhead in these pictures.

It looks like I could modify one of the battery trays to make it fit properly but I wouldn't have thought that was necessary. The original batteries would have been NiCad and I'm curious if the NiMH packs are just slightly larger?

[bluewormx]

Great looking build.

As far as the battery pack goes an option is to remove the end caps. Then it will fit no problem, but then you have to be carefull not to short the battery out.

[jeepnut24]

I just got a new nimh pack and it was too long too. Not that long however. I was going to get another battery bracket and cut it to fit.

[ChisaiKuso]

One other thing is that I also got a new Reedy Wolfpack NiMH battery (#694). It does not seem to fit in the battery tray properly.

It's slightly longer and I would have to really force it in there which would deform the front tray. The positive and negative leads come right out of that same end which makes it even worse. It's all the way up against the rear bulkhead in these pictures.

It looks like I could modify one of the battery trays to make it fit properly but I wouldn't have thought that was necessary. The original batteries would have been NiCad and I'm curious if the NiMH packs are just slightly larger?

Back in the day almost everyone hacked up the battery cups for this very reason. Unfortunately this means that nice, original battery cups have become rather difficult to find. The vintage collector in me will therefore plead this of you: "Please do not destroy your original battery cups."

Buy some rerelease battery cups to modify instead. Keep the originals in case you ever desire to restore your RC10 back to original form. The world will be a better place with one less destroyed vintage battery cup in it.

Another option would be to find something like an old school Pure-Tech battery strap.

[radioactivity]

I have always used a high quality servo tape on my battery cups.
Clean both surfaces very well and use a full coverage on the tape. 3m VHB is supposed to be the best.
Others may not trust it but I do. No holes and no modifications.

Chuck

[jwscab]

I would say to also use the VHB tape and move the battery cup forward.

Yes, the NiMh are generally longer. Even then, the 6 cell NiCd would sometimes be tough to fit.

[emmARRpee]

Thanks for all the info.

I am going to keep the battery cups original and will use one of the methods described.

[XLR8]

"Please do not destroy your original battery cups."

Buy some rerelease battery cups to modify instead.

Excellent advice!
I'm needing to modify some RC10 Battery cups and bulkheads for the project I am working on so I just placed an order for the re-re parts directly from AE.
I will never again hack up or dye a vintage part. The world's supply of original parts is ever shrinking so I will try to preserve these and use alternatives when it's possible.

[emmARRpee]

My bumper arrived from shapeways:

[NomadRacer]

Nice! I have a couple of those in black.

[emmARRpee]

Made some more progress- this is my first time trimming a body and I used a hobby knife and limited patience.

I am going to grab a Dremel and clean it up more before painting.

[XLR8]

Looking good. Best advice I can give you is to clean up the edges, paint it, apply decals and it will look great. I've always obsessed far too much over an imperfect trim only to find that I really didn't notice the imperfections after the body was finished.
I'm probably confused (again) but I thought you were going with a Viper body.