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Hi,

Now I continue with a ZERDA, who have received a small preparation to be a hard racer (modification from the age):
-The motor pass to the mid, with hand made alloy plate and alloy support gear (hm).
-A upper deck set (3), to upgrade stiffness (homemade / hm).
-A new support for the cell, who can move forward to backward the pack (hm).
-A new rear shock tower (hm).
-The shocks received new shaft and piston for a better leading, and an O ring glued in the cap for a better oil tightness.
-The steering servo is fix on the deck and not on the chassis, and I can close the 2 originals carter holes.
-Short wheelbase with trhe rear arms return and shock in the front.

Now the pics:















To be continued....

From a 85' french magazin:

Wow! I have never heard of these before but I really like the look of them. Were these sold mainly in Europe?

Your custom work on the upper deck is really nice. That's a great-lookin' car. It seems that full-cage cars are pretty rare, from the Javelin to the Galaxy to your Hirobo. I wonder why that is?

The car when I received:

rare compared to an rc10! but not really rare you just have to look in the correct places

How cool is that? A Zerda was my first 4WD buggy back in the days. As far as I remember the German national championship 1985 was won by a mid motor Zerda. I converted mine to the mid motor setup, too. A few years later it ended up with the rear end chopped off and a Grasshopper gearbox fitted to the rear, not the best idea from my current point of view.

GJW wrote:rare compared to an rc10! but not really rare you just have to look in the correct places

But, that's the thing. There must've been a ton of Marui Galaxy/Galaxy RS's sold, but they're few and far between, on this forum or otherwise. The Hunter was only about $20 less BITD, yet you seem to see a lot more of those...and how many Javelins were sold for every 10 Optimas? 1 out of 10? And just try to find a Hirobo Tomcat, which sold like hotcakes way back when.

How does the suspension and steering handle abuse from racing on these? Im worried to break something and not find parts.

Wjb wrote: ↑Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:11 am How does the suspension and steering handle abuse from racing on these? Im worried to break something and not find parts.

Mine has stood up quite well to abuse , I have broken 2 parts though , I broke one steering knuckle and one suspension mount off the front gearbox side , it's hard to say weather the parts were weakened by damage in the past or just broke from my use but I was very supprised the suspension mount broke off the gearbox as there was very little impact but it could have been cracked years ago . The later Alien Mid suspension and steering components are a direct swap and are stronger than those of the Zerda , other than them being black plastic not red they are thicker as well but the same geometry so if your planning on racing then swap out for the Alien mid parts and keep the red Zerda ones for Sunday best .

Thanks for the reply mate. I wonder how hard alien mid parts are to get? And i take it the zerda gearbox section on the front would be hard to find.

I've been looking for front gearbox sides for 6 months and finally found a pair of Alien Mid ones , not seen any Zerda ones probably because they were a weak spot , looking at the Alien ones they are a lot beefier around the suspension mounts , the Zerda rear gearbox sides are quite easy to find as they are the same as the Rockn'city ,Rockn'veyga and the truck version but the front is unique to the Zerda .

Cheers mate I'll keep running mine.

It looks stunning!! Very clean!!, i like 'strange' rare cars !!

Just a quick question:
What is your top plate made out of?
Fiberglass?!

And how did you cut it out? The edges look so clean that its almost a factory/upgrade part

FR4 material
Cut with Dremel and diamond disc