How it all started *Updated 20/12*

[uzzi]

Chapter one

Like most of us here we all have that one car we wanted when we were younger...for me it was the Schumacher CAT. When I first laid eyes on one in a magazine I said to myself I had to get one....till I found out how expensive they were. Bugger! there was no way I could afford that car on a school boy budget. The original CAT got superseded pretty quickly despite picking up a world titles in its home country. It was a very advance car for its time and you really need to know how to set up a car to get one to perform well. As other cars came and gone, the overall look of the CAT never left me.

Fast forward this 20 odd years later I have no idea what made me start looking at old rc cars but it started an obsession to obtain a Schumacher CAT. Along the way I discovered this great site and found others just as enthusiastic (obsess?) as myself. I probably chose one of the hardest vintage rc car to look for (and one of the more expensive one!) and restore. It took me close to a year of searching before I found her on ebay with a BIN.
So this is her in her original glory....a CAT XLS

[uzzi]

Chapter two

The bad news

When I finally received the car I had very mixed emotions, one of the joys of finally owning a Schumacher CAT. A quick scan of the car showed a reasonably complete car albeit a bit rough around the age. Seems like the car was dunked in water and all the metal parts were either corroded or rusted. The transmission however was seized solid and I was worried the internals have melted or the belts buggered.

Motor plate and gearbox sides showing bad corrosion

Shocks were also badly corroded

Top diff plate was badly rusted

Not good!

What you cannot see is under the front bumper the undertray was nearly cracked across it was also damage around the screw holes

The steering assemble was also in need of a clean up


Just about all the screws were corroded and had to be replaced and the bearings were seized solid with rust.

[uzzi]

Chapter three

The good news

All the important parts were there and seem liked it was never run at all. What a relief it was for me when I pulled apart the gearboxes and found out it was only the bearings that were rusted causing the transmission seizure.

A clear and complete wing!

Internal bets were good!

Diff rings show no wear so I suspect the car was never run

Front bumper has no scuff marks w00t!

[uzzi]

Chapter Four

I am not going to bore you guys with the actual restoration details other than alot of polishing and waiting. Bear in mind that this is a two year in the making build and its still not there yet. You need a lot of patience rebuilding CATS due to the rarity of the parts. The restoration of this car was only possible due to the assistance of a few members here......so guys many thanks (You know who you are ).

This is her in present form currently missing the top belt cover but hopefully that would be sorted out with a repro soon.





I am not sure about the steering set up and the electronics yet but just put them in as they were just lying around. Anyone know anything about the Corally esc? I know they had a 8 minute one for 12 scales but this one is a 5 minute version....perhaps for their 1/10 pancars?


I still have not decide how to paint the car yet but will post them when its done. Cheers for looking

[jeroen206]

Great looking CATS you got your selff Uzzi.

I know how hard it is , to get the parts together for these cars.
But you did a great job.

[uzzi]

Thanks Jeroen...compared to me you have a Schumacher dealership I must admit it was your builds that inspired me to get them to where my cars are.

[Bormac]

I remember when I picked up all those nip Schumacher parts here in Australia a few years back. It was a massive haul but parts for the originalCAT were by far the least I got in all that lot. Still there sure was plenty of gold and little did I realise just what they were worth. Ofcourse this stuff sold at the blink of an eye and i wish i held on to some of it. Sadly everything prior to the Bosscat was sold off as I had little interest back then.

DOH!

Years later I bought up all the cars and spares I could get my hands on and sold a few cars but still have a real nice vintage racer in my collection. Today I look again and hope to build a shelfer to keep forever. Building these cars is no easy task as many will agree, it takes patience, patience and more patience. The end result is always well worth the wait though.

Great classis car you have there Mr Uzzi.

[DerbyDan]

Both your CATS are stunning - brilliant work!

For me, I guess I started out racing that little bit later & my schoolboy dream car was the Pro-Cat. Around here (with the factory so close) everyone had CATS or Cougars.... I wonder what happened to them all......

[CNA75]

Yet another very nice Cat in your collection. It really does look great! All you need now is a set of the NIP chrome rims.......did you mention something about patience....

[uzzi]

Chapter five

Thanks for the compliments guys

It would be nice to have a set of nip chrome rims but these black ones took so long to get already so its all good. That being said there were a pair of front chrome rims on ebay last week.

Mr Bormac: I was was watching that big Schumacher Auction too...you were very fortunate indeed. I had a suspicion at the time it belonged to a team driver due to the amount of gear there. If only I knew it had contained that special WC team issued Procat it would have been a different story

Anyway just a few pics of the paint scheme on the XLS. The wing has not be done yet.....waiting for some repro versions first

[CNA75]

Paint job looks great. How did you get that black carbon fibre effect around the sides and up the middle?

[uzzi]

I used carbon look vinyl decals for that.....underneath is actually black (same design) but it did not look that good in my opinion. If you really want to try painting the carbon look you can use those non slip mats as a template. Shoot some silver and then some black paint you can replicate the carbon look.

[uzzi]

Chapter six

Inspired by Jimbo's efforts....I decided to try my hand in replicating Masami's IFMAR worlds 87 Schumacher Cat. I started doing the paintwork before I receive the decals from Willy Chang which was a risk not knowing the actual dimensions of the decals. The the main body took about 2 days to complete and the wing took a further day to complete. Once the paint was laid on the main shell I started decalling at around midnight and was not finished till 4am in the morning. Spent most of the time cutting and looking up the correct placement of each decal.

For those interested in the paints used, Tamiya PS-5 Black, PS-7 Orange, PS-6 yellow and PS-1 White. The original yellow on Masami's car looked more of a mustard yellow than a custard yellow. I decide to use the normal yellow as opposed to the Camel yellow Tamiya offers (can't remember the PS-#) as I knew it would be brighter and if I need to go darker I could. The white was only used to back the yellow and Orange. Hope you guys like it any questions ask away.

[m_vice]

That is a beauty uzzi, I really like the blue body on it with the black wheels.

[uzzi]

Thanks Miguel