Kyosho fan from sunny Florida

[Kyoshojoe]

Hello,

figure ill put up a post in here and divulge a litltle about myself.
Im 41 years old and have worked near everyday of my life since 15, unfortunately We don't get to hibernate during the winter in florida. Ive labored on things ranging from hydraulic manifold production, to Limosuine manufacturing, to Insane car stereo customization, to tuner mods, to classic car restoration, to CAD drafting to finnally where I am working presently as a maintenance worker at a secure mental health facility. Not glorious or posh but I love what I do and My wife and 4 step-kids have awesome insurance. I have had hobbies ranging from model rocketry, scale modeling, Vintage RC restoration, RC fabrication, Tree-house construction, computer tinkering, etc. I have a garage packed with tools and my hobby stuff, (thats wife language for parts and supplies). I got my first car 28 years ago which was a Kyosho Ultima Mk1. I built and ran it, Couple of times into an imovable object, which prompted me to tin snip, sand, drill and saw a piece of aluminum into a new top deck. That car went through soo much and saw so many conversions like a 1930s coupe oval conversion, or a monster truck so I can roll over my best friends rc10 ankleram, or foam tire street racer. good times that eventually led into 1/1 customs, girls like cars they can ride inside better and the servo operated hidden stash spot really impressed the competition judges. I have currently rekindled my love affair with kyosho and amassed quite a fleet of rc cars. In order to help fund my obsession i an avid ebay lurker and buyer/seller. I have restored and sold several Optimas and mids. I curently have in my fleet: unrestored I have parts for at least 4 full Optimas and 5 Mids, one slingshot give or take. As complete cars or roller I have an optima belt drive with a newbright abs dune buggy body, front end weakness solved. fully polished and restored optima mid se roller, one ultima Mk1 90% new built with custom aluminum body roller, 3 vintage lazer zx rollers, 80% of a maxxum roller, ultima rb5 and sc rtr, lazer zx-5sp with gen 1 front supension, lazer zx-5fs near fully hopped up on aluminum, traxxas rustler with 3055 jc subculter shoes making it a monster stadium truck, traxxas bandit with a mccalister duece coupe body, axial wraith crawler, a custom kyosho lazer sct 4x4, 2 vintage jetsream 800 boats and a hydrojet 750. I do a lot of customizing and if i need a part i make it. I say it straight and I dont candy-coat it. I think that respect is earned and not given freely. That being said it I try to be polite and honest.

[Coelacanth]

Welcome to the forum Joe, from another Kyosho fan--but from well north of the border. Back in the day, I did the same thing to my Optima you did to your Ultima, mainly trying to make an onroad car out of it. Sounds like you have plenty of leftover parts to play around with, like I did (but nowhere near as much as you). Looking forward to seeing some pictures of your fleet.

[Kyoshojoe]

I am honored to meet you. I consider your creations to be works of art and im sure have inspired more than a few, me included. I share your love of aluminum and rc jewlery and like you im more of a builder than racer. to put it simply me and imovable objects have quite the attraction. Im kinda like Q and my stepkids get to be 00 agents. I look forward to many discussions and hope to share as much about what ive learned as possible so as to give back a little of what Ive learned from here.

[Coelacanth]

It's a pleasure to meet you too...thanks for the comments! I'm just a guy who modded things to "do my own thing" back in the day, but didn't do a particularly good job of it. As a 45-year-old, I'm just better able to turn my visions into reality than I could when I was in my 20's. I've always loved aluminum, especially when polished, and anodizing too...and with all the aluminum parts of the Optima (and Kyosho cars of that era in general), it just seemed to me the perfect platform to do something really creative--as long as it was functional too. I'm flattered if I've inspired anyone!

[SONYtec]

Welcome!!!

[RichieRich]

Yay! Another Kyosho fan! Though, I think So Cal is sunnier.