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I race at a local backyard track on Tuesday nights, and one of the old guys there has this, and was trying to sell it. Nobody knew what it was (except me), and nobody really wanted it (except me)
So when I showed interest, and knew what it was, the guy was pretty surprised. When he then learned that I have a certain soft spot for vintage RC, at my young age, and heard that I was planning on heading down to the Vonats, he pretty much just gave it to me.
He never quite said "It's free", but he did let me take it home, and rejected all of the offers I gave him...
so we'll see how that goes, but I'm good friends with the guy, so I'm sure we'll work something out.

I just bought 2 pairs of A-arms on ebay, because they were on sale from the seller for only $4.50 a pair... Parts don't see too expensive, so I might stock up later. I would love to toss a torque-tuned in this and let it rip
Right now it's got a Twister motor.

It looks great! I can't wait to get it cleaned up.



Expect plenty more pics when I get it cleaned up and working.
I was originally thinking of running my FX:10 in the "Classic" class at the Vonats, but this might be my go-to buggy now.

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I was told they were Kyosho, but I won't know until I tear them apart and check the pistons/seals
They aren't leaking at ALL, even after all this time (still mostly full of oil), so I'm suspecting that they are actually Kyosho golds, which would be cool!

Not all Duratrax leaked, just like there are still a few Yugo on the road too lol!

I always liked the Duratrax, but not on a Tamiya. It's sacrilegious!

Well... I think I will be putting some TRF dampers on here... you know, just because I have them
My vision is to really "option" this out, make it look like a sweet racing buggy. Turnbuckles, maybe some custom aluminum, I'm seeing some CF in the future for the towers... I just think it would look amazing! Something like "One of a kind Thundershot TRF special"

You know what would look EXCELLENT as shock towers, and maybe a double-deck flat-plate chassis if I could swing it?...
Blue G10 fiberglass! And I have a place where I can get some, and a mini CNC that I can borrow from a friend... I keep getting more and more excited about this build! I also remember seeing somewhere that Tbone Racing makes custom bumpers?... That'd be cool, too!
The first line of business if I actually change anything, is to get rid of the HORRENDOUS progressive camber in the rear. As far as I can eyeball it, the stub axle stays perfectly parallel to the A-arm throughout the entire suspension stroke

The gold dampers will probably go on my Futaba...

I like your vision. Take an everyday mass-produced car and make it your own. Make it look how you want, not how the picture on the box suggests. Let your creative juices flow.

Just looking at the bottom spring keepers on the shocks, I'd say they were Kyosho. Of course somebody could have swapped them out.

Easiest way to tell without taking apart is to look for the bevel at the bottom of the shock. Kyoshos do not have a bevel

So... The fronts have a bevel
but the rears do not.
Looks like I got a mixed-set :p
It doesn't matter to me, either way. I'm going to use them on something that runs, because I love the look...
I just think it's sort of funny that I have both on the same vehicle...


And yes, I've always had ideas for making my cars my own. I love collecting vintage rides, but have almost no interest in making them look "stock", or keeping them on a shelf (it really all depends on the condition I get them in, though, because that like-new condition XX-4 is real hard to justify making a scratch on it when I have another perfectly good 4x4 Schumacher right next to it!)
A perfect example... http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad278/eriatakra/e494c6363556e6ced43c9e4410632a2a.jpg
http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad278/eriatakra/d57bdefddf9e2fb6c29a86f96bc23100.jpg
A Futaba FX:10, some random pancar front hinge pin plate, spare Futaba rear wing, and some body mounts makes a sweet off-road muscle car! It is so much fun to drive!

I feel like I might actually get a lot more work on this buggy done than many of m other ideas, since this is sort of right at the cusp of when I can actually do things I want to! I just graduated college a month or so ago, so even though I work a ton of hours, I still have more time and resources to devote to RC!
It will definitely be a project for August, though, I am too busy through July, I have things to do every single weekend!

I might try and draw up some shock tower bits, and buy some of that blue G10 to have my buddy cut them out for me.

I was also looking at how the gearboxes mount to the chassis... and it hit me...
TVP chassis.
Let that sink in a little.
Yeah, not anytime soon, but I could totally do something like that.

That chassis is surprisingly balanced... I raced a stock Fire Dragon (+bearings! and a few steering mods too to remove the slop) in our vintage class for a few races and it was shockingly balanced, very very easy to drive without pushing too hard, the perfect "initiation" car. I was surprised at how much potential it had. Then I sold it after the vintage class was canned, I should have kept it as a runner, really

The yellow CVA's are total crap though, so any shock hop-up helps here, obviously

The car is VERY robust, you will have a hard time breaking ANYTHING.

One of the thing that really helps is to replace the top plastic links + screws by a proper ballcup-ballstud setup, not as much to adjust camber as to allow a more mechanical movement (and remove slop).

A rear wing is also a good idea to stabilize the car in the air

Enjoy!

Paul

Thanks!
I am going camping next weekend, and my main goal is to tear this thing down tonight and tomorrow, and get it going.
My brother is coming camping with us, and he lives in another state, and is flying in on Sunday, so he can't bring any of his RC cars
I was thinking about providing him with a Striker, and we could have a good old-time bash!

I've got plenty of bearings (I think it might already have some, though, I haven't checked yet), and a brand new torque-tuned motor.
The only real work I will have is making the battery slot fit square packs.

Is that 4wd? If so, just wondering how the front gets power as there doesn't appear to be a drive shaft or a belt drive. Looks a lot like a Hot Shot, was this before or after that model? Or was it just related? Sorry, I don't know much about anything outside of RC10's. And even on those you guys are the masters! lol

Shaft drive. Later than the Hotshots. The full page ad that Tamiya ran touted that it beat Optimas, Radiants and RC10 4wd conversions in its first race. I'll have to locate that ad

Wow my mag is really in bad shape

Unlike that magazine, this car is in GREAT shape!
It looked pretty sad all dirty like that, but it cleaned up VERY nicely!

And yes, it is shaft-driven 4wd.
The shaft is basically a glorified paper clip that got straightened out.
Here are some pics:



It almost looks new!


Who doesn't love blatant overkill?

The ESC fits a little tight in there, so I might take the low-profile out of my Schumacher (it doesn't even really need it), and put it in this.

I still need to clean up the shocks, and find some wheel hexes to run modern wheels, but that can wait, it's 2am...
I am excited to get it driving!

I am going to need to figure SOMETHING out, because almost every hinge-pin brace thing is cracked in some way, even the ones on the gearbox housings... It looks like it'll hold together, unless I hit something really hard. I've run cars with hinge pin braces like this before (particularly my Falcon), and they've always been fine for the kind of driving I do.

I was also very motivated to make turnbuckle camber links... I have HUNDREDS of different ball-ends, of all different sizes, lengths, types, etc... but I searched for a good 30 minutes through all of my junk, and could not find a SINGLE turnbuckle shaft.
I did end up finding some in the screw bin, after I had already given up. They're from a TA-05, and might work, because they are pretty short.