My racing days Hotshot replica hopefully

[Dadio]

Way back in the day I had a Hotshot , it was pretty good to race at first but was soon eclipsed by other cars like the Optima and CAT , so my hotshot kind of started to develop in order to keep up , this first picture is something I'd forgotten I'd done till i found these picture , at this point I'd like to say that I'm sorry , really sorry about the pictures , they were taken in my bedroom with probably a fixed focus disposable camera by a 12 or 13 year old and unfortunately then stored in a damp shed where they further degraded but you can just make out some of the details , anyway this first one shows both the original mono shocks mounted to the rear and a pair of scorpion shocks up front .

Further along by miles but not in its final form these next shots show the Hotting Up A Hotshot chassis i made from plans in Model Cars magazine , for the lack of GRP I used copper plated PCB that was easier to find locally , it also shows a switch to Boomerang shocks all round and the major mod of fitting front arms to the rear including the knuckles with a track rod the the mono shock mount on the lower arm , this system was much like the PB Mini Mustang rear that was able to give the car roll induced rear steering , one of the problems i had with the car was that if you could get enough steering angle to corner well then the front shafts fell out so this system of rear steering was my solution and it worked well for me .





you can just make out the TMS alloy front knuckles in this one .

This one shows the rear steering with the suspension compressed one side



Later on i fitted a TMS GRP chassis that was some improvement in rigidity .
Now I've been meaning for a long time to build a replica of this car and now is the time ( before Dinglem puts the prices through the roof )
I have nothing yet to show as parts have literally just been ordered , I'm going to try and stay faithful to the original car that's sadly long since vanished , making changes only where i can do a better job these days with better tools and recourses , notably the fitting of front top arms at the rear meant cutting down the mounting on the gearbox to fit the narrower arm , this time I'll 3d print a top arm that fits both the gearbox and the pivot ball , otherwise i want my old car back !

[dinglem]

You must be well stoked to have all of these pictures of your old car!

Did you run standard diffs in yours? As i am also in the Hotshot groove I will look forward to seeing yours develop.

[coxbros1]

Cool thread....seriously! i ain't playin

[Dadio]

So far I have ordered
1 re re hotshot kit
2 complete front suspension arm set
3 front knuckle tree
4 metal pivot ball retainer plates
5 front shafts for rear
6 metal supershot rear suspension mount
7 front supershot shock mount
8 rear CVA shocks
And hopefully a chassis from Gomackv replicating the TMS chassis .

[Dadio]

I just wish they had been better cared for and were in focus , I ran standard diffs , I was on a budget and a most of the high end parts were mail order and my folks were not inclined to send cheques by post or use credit cards by phone so I was limited to parts I could literally lay my hands on or convince Mike the owner of Godalming model shop to get in for me , great guy by the way , whenever a new car came out he held one back and broke the kit for spare parts until he knew what parts to order as spares , my racing would have been even more limited without Mike at Godalming models .

[Dadio]

Goodies !

[coxbros1]

time to get started!

[Dadio]

Yup , just finished the gearbox's but the Southern Comfort is kicking in so best to stop

[Dadio]

Spent most of the day designing new rear arms , same geometry as the front arms I used originally but without having to cut up the gearbox arm mounts or weakening the arms , I got a prototype top arm printed , still needs 0.25mm off here 0.5mm off there but very minor stuff , I'll post pictures in the morning . I also designed and printed front lower shock mounts .
There's some odd stuff about the kit as well , I got two complete parts trees for the red suspension components , knuckles etc but there was also another parts tree with just a pair of slightly different front knuckles , bit annoying as I'd ordered a second red parts tree for parts for the rear suspension .

[Dadio]

Quick screen shot , top arm pretty much there , bottom arm is still very rudimentary.

Till i started drawing this up i never realized how much it shortens the wheelbase , completely unintentional but it must have helped with cornering as well .

[Dadio]

First pair of rear top arms printed , had to do a few minor measurement corrections after the first one printed , the bottom arm is now designed but I'm printing something for my sons partner so it will be done later if i have enough cf nylon left .

[Dadio]

These are a bit clearer that than my old photos of how it all looked , the geometry of the new rear arms is the same just adapted to fit the rear gearbox .



Full droop

Fully compressed

I'm genuinely interested to see how i feel about the handling these days , back then i was in love with the way it drove !

[coxbros1]

yup....gonna be cool!

[Dadio]

I just rediscovered something , I was just fitting up the wheels to the rear and found the steering arm and track rod end were fouling in the wheel rim , I had no memory of this problem so I started to think of ways to get some clearance , I thought of chamfering the inner rim on my lath as I had access to laths at school , then I thought I could print up some thicker triangular drive flanges to space the wheel out 2mm as I already have standard ones modelled from restoring the Mini Mustang that would be easy enough but I could never do that back as a teenager , finally I thought of using front wheels with rear tires on and that worked but I have no memory of doing it before but looking at the fuzzy pictures you can just make out the slightly rolled round edges of rear tires on front rims so that must have been what I did !

[Dadio]

More stuff , the rear shocks arrived but i ordered the wrong length so i did a mock up of the rear shock tower anyway , it pivots on a pair of 6mm flanged bearings and is angled 15 degrees back .
The front shocks are not staying but just to get it standing up , nor is the stock chassis but again i wanted to get things mounted up .
The rear triangle drive flanges are also new and 3mm thicker so i can use rear wheels not fronts with rear tires on and it gives just enough clearance .
I finally managed to lay my hands on a Demon motor , not the one i used to use but one a little (LOT) hotter and a Novak Super Rooster is on its way too , its too modern but its for a runner and i want reverse , what can i say ?