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Well if the Cheetah was the car that started my affair with RC car racing the Astute is the reason I'm now a collection crazy nutter. About ten months ago I was cleaning out my loft and stumbled across a few empty car boxes and some old photos, one of which I have attached and is the only shot I have of my Astute from that time (it's not even a full car shot ). As much as I tried over the next couple of weeks I could not shake the need to own another Astute to replicate the one I once owned. Now here I am today having collected some 35 cars in the last nine months with finally an Astute that I can use to realise that need.

In 1989 my Uncle still owned the LHS and I was lucky enough to get one of the first Astutes into the UK. I raced it in standard form (with the exception of ball racers, front wheels and longitudinally relocated battery) it was very impressive for a Tamiya and I achieved reasonable regional success, however I was forever breaking the rear suspension. The Madcap was released a couple of months after the Astute and held the answer to the Astutes Achilles heel. With the inclusion of some of the Madcaps rear suspension components the Astute became a really competitive club/regional 2WD.

This is my project to revive the RC car that I remember with most fondness.

Looking forward to the restoration of your old mods.

Make sure to give us some details on the madcap parts you use please.(side by side pics maybe?)

Mr. ED wrote:Looking forward to the restoration of your old mods.

Make sure to give us some details on the madcap parts you use please.(side by side pics maybe?)

Will do Mr. ED but to be going on with here is an article covering the full Jamie Booth works conversion using Madcap parts. I don't think I used the arms just the hub carriers but to be honest I don't really remember I'm just going to have to try some stuff just like I had to back then .

I don't know if this has been posted here before but it's definitely the way to go if you want your Astute to perform well. To be honest this project might end up going this way as I'm seriously considering entering some vintage competitions with it, watch out Northy

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/article.asp?id=94

I tried reading the article but couldn't make nuch of it.
Never had either of those cars and without side by side pics ...

Anyway I was mainly looking for ideas.
Thanks

No problem Mr. ED, I will post some part comparison pictures for ya

I managed to clear down the work bench or dinning table as she likes to call it so here we go, I will try and make this as comprehensive as I can.

I'll start at the rear as this is where all the Astutes problems lie and it was the place I started with my original Astute in 1989.

The first picture shows almost all of the parts required to complete the conversion with exception of some diff spacers which I'm still trying to find (I hope I have some in the loft somewhere ) and a new body set that I'll source from Kamtec. I've opted to use Associated shocks as I intend to run / race this car, I remember using Kyosho Golds in the past but these (as we know) are very difficult to find as are Tamiya Hi Caps, I'm sure the RC10 ones will perform well.

This wont be a quick project, I will keep the thread updated as I go.

Hey Ferreti, nice project going on there, but your presentation is beginning to be too pro, raising the bar huh? Excellent

FERRETTI wrote:No problem Mr. ED, I will post some part comparison pictures for ya

A man of his word, I like that!
Keep them coming: It's nice to see how it comes together.

Hey Ferreti, here's an article especially scanned for you that could be worth reading if you plan to mod your Astute to death
Taken from "Radio Race Car" dated from February 1991

Asso_man! wrote:Hey Ferreti, here's an article especially scanned for you that could be worth reading if you plan to mod your Astute to death
Taken from "Radio Race Car" dated from February 1991

Thanks Asso_man! however I have that already, see previous post shown below

FERRETTI wrote:

Mr. ED wrote:Looking forward to the restoration of your old mods.

Make sure to give us some details on the madcap parts you use please.(side by side pics maybe?)

Will do Mr. ED but to be going on with here is an article covering the full Jamie Booth works conversion using Madcap parts. I don't think I used the arms just the hub carriers but to be honest I don't really remember I'm just going to have to try some stuff just like I had to back then .

I don't know if this has been posted here before but it's definitely the way to go if you want your Astute to perform well. To be honest this project might end up going this way as I'm seriously considering entering some vintage competitions with it, watch out Northy

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/article.asp?id=94

ooops, sorry, do you want me to delete it?

please leave it: your scan is much easier to read

Asso_man! wrote:ooops, sorry, do you want me to delete it?

No thanks, it's good info for others and as Mr. ED said it's a very clear and easy to read scan

Rear end all done next job is to relocate the battery using the Schumacher battery boxes and then onto the front.

Just the front left to do now, I've even been in the loft to find it a set of clothes This is as far as I went when I modified my 1989 car, the original front set up is quite strong so I never felt the need to change it, however for this project I will complete it to Worlds spec. I'm going to have to re think the shocks, these ones would be OK for the shelf but no good to run as they leak real bad. I think I'm going to get some teflon ones when Tower have them back in.

This project has brought back some crazy fond memories like no other car in my collection and for me that's what this collecting thing is really about, I cant wait to race it