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Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 1:42 pm
by vintage AE
I decided to rebuild my last remaining buggy from my parents old house. Out of 2 RC10s, a Kyosho Raider, and a Tamiya Hornet, the only thing that didn't survive my parents 15year RC attic storage is a Kyosho Hi-Rider Corvette.
This is what I had left of my old Hornet
I see this hodgpodge of stuff for auction not too long ago and figured I would like to have all of it
So now I got a whole bunch of plastic to clean up and pick out the least used parts, let the fun begin
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:19 pm
by kaiser
nice! i love these buggies, when rc starts to get boring i take mine out and it always puts a smile on my face.
i did a hornet (actually turned out to be an academy rock buster) resto last year.
i was hunting for the crp alloy front shock setup, couldn't find one. what i did find was even better though:
crp makes a front end upgrade for the old relic futaba fx 10, with a little trimming it fits on the hopper/hornet and clones and really wakes up the front end. no more massive camber issues, you can mount oil shocks to the new arms and you get a real spindle and carrier.
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:59 am
by vintage AE
kaiser wrote:crp makes a front end upgrade for the old relic futaba fx 10, with a little trimming it fits on the hopper/hornet and clones and really wakes up the front end. no more massive camber issues, you can mount oil shocks to the new arms and you get a real spindle and carrier.
I thought about doing this but I think I'll keep this one as close to stock as I can.
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:04 am
by vintage AE
I'm making some progress...got everything cleaned up and mostly put together
My plan was to dye my wheels yellow. Note to anyone who might do the same, DON'T use the normal hot water method, USE cold water

there's not one round hole to be seen.
I think I will be getting some repos from the LHS and try again with cold water

Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:12 am
by kaiser
the hot water and dye did that? wow.
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 2:40 pm
by delsami
my friend painted his wheels white and they look better than new.....unless your gonna run it of course.
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:36 pm
by vintage AE
made some progress today..got most of the mechanical speed control in and motor wired in.
once I get to a hobby shop, I will get my reproduction wheels, tires, front bumper and body. Then eventually find some vintage decals.
I even have the battery covers to both the radio and the buggy, that's surprising

Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:57 pm
by kaiser
lol, i need that radio battery door.
when i picked up my used hopper clone it came with a slightly older aristocraft/hitec radio, but it seems the batt doors are the same.
i couldn't bring myself to use the msc, so i upgraded to the newer tamiya teu101bk.
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:42 pm
by vintage AE
well, tried to dye a new set of reproduction wheels, this time using the lowest heat I could and leave it for a long time. After 2 hours no colour has taken on, so I turned the heat up a little. Now they sat in for another hour with the heat on about 1/4. I noticed that the inner holes of the outside pieces were starting to look funny. They of course didn't fit into the center piece anymore. I reamed out the hole so that the fit again and now I have this really cool set of pastel yellow wheels

I hear they sell for 5x as much as the new white ones, so if anyone wants to make Martha Stewart happy and buy these for their custom ride LMK.
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:02 pm
by slotcarrod
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:03 pm
by kaiser
put them on ebay, someone will pay good money for those.

Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:04 pm
by jwscab
those wheels, like alot of tamiya wheels....are ABS resin, and as you have found out, pretty much not dyeable.
if you wanna see some cool stuff, watch what acetone would do to them....

....BUT, don't expect to use them for ANYTHING except a nice 'lump' conversation peice.
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:00 pm
by vintage AE
jwscab wrote:those wheels, like alot of tamiya wheels....are ABS resin, and as you have found out, pretty much not dyeable.
if you wanna see some cool stuff, watch what acetone would do to them....

....BUT, don't expect to use them for ANYTHING except a nice 'lump' conversation peice.

Acetone, been there...nice soft, smooth, rounded STUFF in the end

...hey end the end you still get the used tire off

Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:57 am
by Mr. ED
Re: Vintage AE's Hornet Resto
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:58 pm
by vintage AE
got my wheels yellow finally. Nothing a can a spray paint cant handle
Got new rubber, bumper and body

Just waiting to find some vintage Hornet decals before I painted the body.