Hot Trick Optima 'Trinity Car'
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 8:49 am
OK, so I have lusted after this car since I was 13 years old.
In my very first RC car magazine purchase there was a review of the Chicago Model Trade Show, the mag being dated December 1986. In that review was a double page spread of pictures, and staring back out at me was an Optima (and an RC10) which appeared to be sat on the Trinity stand. In the article it described the car by simply stating 'this is how they race them in the States'.... For me, as a kid just starting out in RC this was something so exotic i didn't even really know what I was looking at.
I still have that very magazine, and still love that car.
Knowing what I know now, it is an Optima with a partial Hot Trick upgrade, and then to complicate things still further, it then has the additional Trinity upgrades to the Hot Trick upgrades, namely the upper and lower graphite chassis components.
It is literally an absolute looker.
I have seen full Hot Trick 'red' cars and as nice as they are in their own right, they are not this car. Furthermore, to buy a complete red car, or to hunt down the parts would prove to be an expensive and time consuming challenge. As such I have been patiently waiting for the right car to pop up, with the spattering of Hot Trick and Trinity items, but nothing more. Amazingly yesterday the right car appeared on my screen, having surfaced in Canada.
It has the requisite front and rear Hot Trick bulkheads, and no more, and also the super-rare Trinity lower graphite chassis. So.... almost there. What I am missing now are the red glassfibre Hot Trick front shock tower, and the Trinity upper chassis deck. From what I gather both of these can be fabricated, so they will not prevent my progress, and I have the main components for my project build. If, however, anybody has either kicking about then please please drop me a PM(!)
Looking more closely at the magazine car, I have noticed a few more details of interest. Firstly and most obviously, the rear of the Trinity chassis has been cut down. I am told this is to enable that chassis to accept the Hot Trick rear trailing arm optional extra.... I will be replicating this so will need to ensure I do not remove too much material so as not to prevent the trailing arms from fitting correctly should they be required in the future. Next up, I have also noticed that the red Hot Trick rear bulkhead has been cut down quite extensively around the motor mount area. A subtle detail but really does stand out once you notice it. The whole rear end looks a little more slick when compared to the squared off original Hot Trick look.
I have also already managed to get hold of a brand new unmarked rear motor guard so I will most likely be using that also.
My aim is to race this car in the vintage classes over in the UK when it is completed. With that in mind I picked up a Victor Beagle Optima Clone a while back, but what was interesting about it was that it had the Option House full belt drive conversion installed, as well as front and rear anti-roll bars. My plan therefore, is to switch these items over onto the Trinity replica car to hopefully enhance the performance a little.
Motor-wise, well i have been holding on to an early and extremely beautiful original Trinity motor for when this car eventually surfaced, complete with wonky but otherwise very tidy decal, and it will now be going off to my motor builder to receive the full treatment and i will be adding a hotter Trinity armature at the same time for good measure.
If ever there was a car crying out for a set of our home-turned alloys then this is surely it.
So..... who can help me out with the front shock tower and upper graphite deck? Oh, and those white Trinity decals for the chassis plates???
Final question - what body and paint scheme would you go for on this??
In my very first RC car magazine purchase there was a review of the Chicago Model Trade Show, the mag being dated December 1986. In that review was a double page spread of pictures, and staring back out at me was an Optima (and an RC10) which appeared to be sat on the Trinity stand. In the article it described the car by simply stating 'this is how they race them in the States'.... For me, as a kid just starting out in RC this was something so exotic i didn't even really know what I was looking at.
I still have that very magazine, and still love that car.
Knowing what I know now, it is an Optima with a partial Hot Trick upgrade, and then to complicate things still further, it then has the additional Trinity upgrades to the Hot Trick upgrades, namely the upper and lower graphite chassis components.
It is literally an absolute looker.
I have seen full Hot Trick 'red' cars and as nice as they are in their own right, they are not this car. Furthermore, to buy a complete red car, or to hunt down the parts would prove to be an expensive and time consuming challenge. As such I have been patiently waiting for the right car to pop up, with the spattering of Hot Trick and Trinity items, but nothing more. Amazingly yesterday the right car appeared on my screen, having surfaced in Canada.
It has the requisite front and rear Hot Trick bulkheads, and no more, and also the super-rare Trinity lower graphite chassis. So.... almost there. What I am missing now are the red glassfibre Hot Trick front shock tower, and the Trinity upper chassis deck. From what I gather both of these can be fabricated, so they will not prevent my progress, and I have the main components for my project build. If, however, anybody has either kicking about then please please drop me a PM(!)
Looking more closely at the magazine car, I have noticed a few more details of interest. Firstly and most obviously, the rear of the Trinity chassis has been cut down. I am told this is to enable that chassis to accept the Hot Trick rear trailing arm optional extra.... I will be replicating this so will need to ensure I do not remove too much material so as not to prevent the trailing arms from fitting correctly should they be required in the future. Next up, I have also noticed that the red Hot Trick rear bulkhead has been cut down quite extensively around the motor mount area. A subtle detail but really does stand out once you notice it. The whole rear end looks a little more slick when compared to the squared off original Hot Trick look.
I have also already managed to get hold of a brand new unmarked rear motor guard so I will most likely be using that also.
My aim is to race this car in the vintage classes over in the UK when it is completed. With that in mind I picked up a Victor Beagle Optima Clone a while back, but what was interesting about it was that it had the Option House full belt drive conversion installed, as well as front and rear anti-roll bars. My plan therefore, is to switch these items over onto the Trinity replica car to hopefully enhance the performance a little.
Motor-wise, well i have been holding on to an early and extremely beautiful original Trinity motor for when this car eventually surfaced, complete with wonky but otherwise very tidy decal, and it will now be going off to my motor builder to receive the full treatment and i will be adding a hotter Trinity armature at the same time for good measure.
If ever there was a car crying out for a set of our home-turned alloys then this is surely it.
So..... who can help me out with the front shock tower and upper graphite deck? Oh, and those white Trinity decals for the chassis plates???
Final question - what body and paint scheme would you go for on this??