Turbo Optima mid SE

[radioactivity]

Long time no post...

Decided to stay closer to OEM and I am going to use the original black Kyosho springs.

And although I really like the lime green body I did have a second body...
This second body got a slightly smaller set of decals to try and help with the "see through" effect XLR8 suggested earlier in the thread.
I put the body on the car with the blue overspray film still on it and it really popped.

Time passed and I finally decided to shoot it translucent blue.
In the sunlight it is easy to see nearly all the internals.
I will say it was very hard to catch the translucency in pictures but I tried. Several pics also showed a false goldish tint on the wheels, not sure why.

Thanks to all for encouragement and kind words, I really appreciate it!

Chuck

[XLR8]

I was wondering about this one. It looks great Chuck. It appears that the hard work was worth the effort.
This beautiful buggy is a true one-of-a-kind work of art and the nicest Mid I've seen.

The build thread is amazing; packed full of information that will be useful for future generations.

Congratulations on a great build!!

[RogueIV]

Wow that looks fantastic! Great pictures too looks like official promo material

[Coelacanth]

That's a cool idea to paint it a transparent color!

[sundevil67]

Sorry to hijack the thread... most recent one on the same topic I could find ...

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for polishing the OEM chassis. I'm about to start a restoration & want to use as many of my original parts as possible to control costs, but every time I've tried to do something like this, it hasn't turned out very well.

Is there a product that anyone's used on this (other than picking something at random from googling "aluminum polish") that had a worthwhile result? I don't expect it to look new, but I'm hoping to get rid of some scratches & shine it up a bit.

[Coelacanth]

That will take some effort, it depends on how much work you want to put into it.

Some of those scratches look more like gouges, and you can't sand that out.

You'd start by wet-sanding perpendicular to the scratches starting with about 320 grit sandpaper until they're mostly gone. When you're as satisfied as you can get, you'd wet-sand the whole thing a uniform haze with 400-grit, then move on to 600, 800 and 1000-grit. Once you get to that point, you'll be able to polish the aluminum with polishing compound and a polishing disk or wheel. You'd get pretty nice results but it'll be an afternoon of elbow-grease.

You'll want to remove that adhesive first, of course. I probably wouldn't bother sanding the top of the chassis.

[RogueIV]

FWIW, I've owned 3 or 4 Mids and all of them were missing part OPM-9. You can see it here on page 13 of the manual.


OPM-9.JPG



I've never actually seen one but I think it's rubber. It's meant to seal the underside of the belt cover where the belt exits the rear gearbox - directly above the motor. This part never comes up on ebay so I think it's rare.
I've made a rather poor substitute by forming a piece of lexan but it really doesn't work very well.
I'd reckon this part would be a perfect candidate for 3d printing if anyone has access to one they could replicate.

It's rubber. I have it on my ReRe. I'll make an STL of it at some point soon. something I can test out this new resin I have on. I realize now that that post is quite old lol.

[radioactivity]

Sorry to hijack the thread... most recent one on the same topic I could find ...

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for polishing the OEM chassis. I'm about to start a restoration & want to use as many of my original parts as possible to control costs, but every time I've tried to do something like this, it hasn't turned out very well.

Is there a product that anyone's used on this (other than picking something at random from googling "aluminum polish") that had a worthwhile result? I don't expect it to look new, but I'm hoping to get rid of some scratches & shine it up a bit.

IMG_4550.JPG
IMG_4549.JPG

I think Coelacanth has covered the scratch removal the same as I would.
To get a really nice finish, before polishing, I would go up to 2000 and 3000 grit.
To take the finish up to a polish, I have been using McGuire's polish and cheap Amazon foam pads.
I use the McGuire's polish on almost everything I polish. Works great for me.

BTW, sanding through the layer of hard anodizing on the TOMSE chassis is not really easy.
You might consider carefully stripping the anodizing with a caustic solution. I plugged the threaded holes with putty.

Chuck

[sundevil67]

I really appreciate all of the advice here. After giving it a little more thought, I think my chance of coming out of this with a nice looking finished product are between slim and none. I think it'd be a better option to try and replace it. I was originally thinking that a direct replacement would be easy to find, what with all of the re-releasing of the Optima series cars... and there are a ton of 'em - aluminum, carbon fiber ... and I've even read that the newer ones would fit. Yet I still can't find a single example that matches the holes/size of the original. One of 'em has to work...

Sorry to hijack the thread... most recent one on the same topic I could find ...

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for polishing the OEM chassis. I'm about to start a restoration & want to use as many of my original parts as possible to control costs, but every time I've tried to do something like this, it hasn't turned out very well.

Is there a product that anyone's used on this (other than picking something at random from googling "aluminum polish") that had a worthwhile result? I don't expect it to look new, but I'm hoping to get rid of some scratches & shine it up a bit.

IMG_4550.JPG
IMG_4549.JPG

I think Coelacanth has covered the scratch removal the same as I would.
To get a really nice finish, before polishing, I would go up to 2000 and 3000 grit.
To take the finish up to a polish, I have been using McGuire's polish and cheap Amazon foam pads.
I use the McGuire's polish on almost everything I polish. Works great for me.

BTW, sanding through the layer of hard anodizing on the TOMSE chassis is not really easy.
You might consider carefully stripping the anodizing with a caustic solution. I plugged the threaded holes with putty.


Polish.JPG



Chuck

[mikea96]

Here ya go. https://www.ebay.com/itm/332377115404?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=K40z9_O1S1y&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=89eBq2rkRYK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[radioactivity]

Possibly another option could be...
If all you want is a shiny new anodized 6061 chassis and not concerned with getting a correct TOMSE Duralumin hard anodized chassis, for about $20 shipped,
https://www.ebay.com/itm/144638020296?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&google_free_listing_action=view_item&srsltid=AfmBOoppuH0arXf1mTSuaVc_63AnKlHCMwXuEVGq7oSyea7jITprdN7d9IA
There are approximately 6 additional holes in the new optima mid chassis, 4 of these holes are for the hold down brackets for the new style hard plastic lower belt cover.
Not sure what the additional holes are for.
The servo mount holes are in a fixed position.
These chassis also has mostly counter sunk screw holes.
It looks to me as though all other holes will line up. I do have both style chassis and took a quick comparison.

Chuck