The Official "What is it?" Thread

[Frankentruck]

Is this an XXXT ? From below, the chassis reminds me of an XXX buggy.

[Elkcycles]

Losi Strike or Desert Truck. XXXT based. LOSB0102.

[coxbros1]

Can somebody zoom in and tell what these chassis' are?...I know the front car is a DS

[Phin]

They're all Hyperdrives except for the 1/12 which is an early CRC Carpet Knife.

[LoneVulturus]

I need a bit of help on this one. What exactly am I looking at if it is a Bolink?

[klavy69]

There's a similar early bolink datsun road hugger on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/184617839905

[LoneVulturus]

Thank you! I just about fell over when I saw the price of the eBay example.

[klavy69]

Me too. Wish you could put laugh emojis on those things like on facebook. it's just one big fishing hole anymore...

[V12]

I need a bit of help on this one. What exactly am I looking at if it is a Bolink?

Basically it´s a Jerobee car. As several other early 1/12 scale cars.
The most important difference is the base plate which is bolted to the chassis. Base plate with front and rear bumper and battery plate for saddle pack. All of those parts made into one large plate.
This is typical for the Bolink.
Of course the Bolink tires and the Bolink labeled stock motor are typical as well. Along with the aluminium bodyposts replacing the Jerobee plastics.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

I wanted to see if I can narrow down these cars any. I did a little research but wasn't really getting anywhere. Thanks to Phin, I know the 2 1/10th cars are Hyperdrives and the 1/12 is a Carpet Knife. I was wondering if anyone can narrow them down any? Maybe a rough year on the 1/12 and model info on the 1/10. No big deal either way, but it would be nice to know. They don't need much work from the look of it. Thanks in advance!

[Frankentruck]

The 1/12 has a resemblance to some of the chassis in this listing:

It looks like RC10L front suspension was swapped onto it though.

[Phin]

I think the model of the two Hyperdrive cars was the 700 E.A.S.E. but that's mostly going by a picture from RCScrewz.com. The 700 and the SSE Pro 2 used that rear pod but the Pro 2 looked to have a fixed battery tray. Posts from Hobbytalk date the car from 2003 or 2004.

Here's a couple of pics grabbed from RCCA scans of the Carpet Knife. First is from August '95, and the 2nd from Jan '96 coverage of the '95 ROAR Nats. I don't know the history of CRC and Speedmerchant but SM eventually sold their own version of the car as the Roadkill 12. Both pics show the car using 12L aluminum bulkheads that CRC sourced/resold from GPM, but this was around the time AE intro'd the RC12LC/L3 with the redesigned rear pods....so CRC would also switch to using those within a year or two.

EDIT: Also those are Tecnacraft hubs on the Carpet Knife.

[V12]

I´m pretty sure the 1/12th scale is a Speedmerchant.
The early Carpet Knife and the Speedmerchant have the same roots. I did a lot of research on this maybe 10 years ago because it is a bit difficult story.
I have a Carpet Knife prototype car (one of three cars made) which I received from a former test driver.
I can´t go into details because that guy actually was a driver for Team Associated, and he was asked to test the car.
This car was created in 1993 and later resulted into the first generation Carpet Knife.

My prototype CRC car looks very similar to Speedmerchant cars for a reason. If you compare the chassis shape and some other areas of early CRC and Speedmerchant cars, you will find some differences.
They look similar but not same.

The '10L style" front end was very typical for Speed Merchant.
CRC Carpet Knife always came with the AE Dynamic Strut front end, including my prototype.
Currently I´m not sure if the Speedmerchant ever used the same AE front end for a production car, I think not. I think at some point they developed their own front end.
But I don´t have access to my 1/12 scale pics currently, so can´t confirm this.

[V12]

I don´t think CRC sold GPM bulkheads.
Most GPM aluminium stuff I have seen is not on par to Associated or CRC aluminium parts. Their bulkheads tweak quite easily which I never have experienced with AE or CRC bulkheads.

[Phin]

Again, I don't know the full details on the relationship between CRC and Speedmerchant but by all indications they started as one company/partnership but then split off. Here's another ad from '96 that groups CRC and Speedmerchant together under the CRC company name.

crcsm.jpg (76.66 KiB) Viewed 306 times

crcsm.jpg (76.66 KiB) Viewed 306 times

Early CRC header cards also mentioned the parts were for Speedmerchant cars: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265532086747

I sold a chassis and some pod plates a year or two ago and though you can't tell by the low rez pic I saved, both of the early header cards also said they were for SpeedMerchant cars.

Also according to the first ad pic, and this ad the Carpet Knife was initially sold as an upgrade kit for the 12L, LW, and LS so what suspension parts are on them is not a good ID point.