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I have a racing buddy that is all the time wheelin/dealin and trading RC stuff. He tells me that he got a pretty good score at a local H.S., basically a box full of old stuff on consignment. He was most proud of the RC10 C.E. with a stealth he found in there. Asked me if I was interested in the rest of the "junk". So I take a look, not expecting much. A couple old chargers, some extra worn out wheels and tires, some old junk servos & receivers, and lurking at the bottom was this. A rusty but nice Kyosho Optima mid. The rust scared me for a minute but when I got it out, it looked like it had hardly been run. The chassis bottom is just a little oxidized, but not bad. Not a single scratch from use! All the plastic is unscathed. Gold shocks look great, and lo and behold, are still smooth and completely full of oil (gotta love Kyosho golds!)! No body, but that's OK. It would have probably been crap anyway sitting in the bottom of the box. Trying not to look too excited about the Optima, I asked him how much he wanted for it. $40 for everything in the box. Sold.

So this is my new project. I have some goodies left over from My Mid SE build that I will use on this buggy. Hopefully make a nice looking buggy when I'm done. BTW, not pictured were the white wheels and OE tires. I had just removed them a few days ago for cleanup. Peroxide did the trick on the wheels, they look practically new. Tires got the Wurth treatment after a little simple green bath. They look great too!

I will update this with additional pics as I go through it.

That should restore nicely!!

It looks brand new …

NICE SCORE!!!! That will look great !!!

Now that is the way to pick up new projects! Nice find Brandon. Mids are cool, I have one shelfer and a couple of projects in the works. Seeing that makes me want to go get started on one right now!

That's a nice find, Brandon! Probably the only project car I'd like to build more than a Turbo Optima is an Optima Mid. You're right about the Gold shocks...those may still work perfectly even after decades of sitting, still as smooth as butter.

Wow, awesome score! This should look fantastic with a little love. These are my kind of stories: picking up someone's perceived junk for nothing and restoring it to a treasure.

I was up in the air what I was going to do with the chassis. I have a T. Optima Mid SE chassis with a few stray marks on it that I could use. I like this option because it has all the screws on the bottom countersunk and flush.

But, askbob is doing a black anodizing run. I am going to send this raw aluminum chassis out as well as all the other aluminum bits on the car for a color change. I have not seen a black chassis Optima mid before... I will be countersinking all the holes prior to sending it out as well.

i see a fully kitted out mid build in your future brandon, $40.00

The black chassis idea sounds ace. Love the optimas!