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So I was looking at my projects and thought to myself, "self, why haven't you built this Astute?"... So since I have a bit of time while I sort out some other projects I decided to do my clean up of my Astute..

I bought this earlier this year from a member here for a great deal.. I always liked the look of this car and since the price was right, I picked it up.. Here it is when I got it:



Broken down:



It was missing a few parts and was well used so I went to look for the parts and some great folks from here hooked me up.. I also picked up a new shell, wing and under tray.. I checked out the suspension and it was a bit sloppy so I decided to pick up a new set of bronze bushings for the suspension and since it had bushings in the wheels and hubs, I picked up some new bearings.. I also decided to go with stainless steel hex hardware to take over for the rusted screws that were on the car..

Here is the "box o'parts" when I opened it up :



So I washed up all the plastics and began assembly... I rebuilt the diff and here it sits for today:





I was very surprised on how thin the finish layer was on this chassis.. I thought about doing a layer of black paint or vinyl but said nope.. I want it to be as it is.. Tomorrow I will get the suspension built up and get on the shocks.. I still am polishing up the metal parts like the metal posts..

Shawn

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Sometimes residues can be very stubborn to remove, even with acetone and a cloth...but there's a way that involves much less effort. Put some acetone in a small container (margarine or yogurt containers work well), then rest your chassis plate on top of the container. Put this inside a large enough plastic or Ziploc bag and tie/zip it up. Leave it 24 hours and the acetone fumes will do all the work for you. Then you can wipe away the CA glue residue or double-sided tape remnants with almost no effort.

Thanks for the tips.. actually there isn't any residue left.. just the wear marks.. I'm going to leave it as is.. I like the "patina" of it being a used/loved car.. I was just surprised on how thin that finish layer is.. I like the fiber showing though.. just my observation.. I'll probably design a front support like the super astute part if I decide to run it a bit more than "parade" runs.. I am however going to swap out the rod ends as mine are chewed up.. I just need to get some Tamiya ends or ball studs and ends.. but that Iis a bit later after it gets built up.. I have the suspension on and am still have to polish up the metal parts.. I'll post up my progress later tonight..

Shawn

So I got it all finished building the roller.. I polished up the metal parts and cleaned up the shocks.. So here are the pictures:

Here are the metal parts.. All tarnished and dull and the dog bones were painted some weird orange color:



Here they are all polished up and the paint removed:



I assembled the suspension:






Here it is with the shocks and metal parts installed:







Here it is with the tires installed.. I used some Avante fronts that I had since I haven't found the front kit tires.. The rears are Tamiya Wide Spikes:

Here is the front view:



And last but not least here it is with the shell on unpainted:







For now the Mad cap wing and wing mount that came with the car is on there until I paint up my new one when I paint the shell.. Not going to go with a box art as I'm not into that.. So that is it so far.. I'll probably paint up the shell on Friday or over the weekend.. The electronics will be put in a bit later as I need another receiver or wait until I convert one of my vintage TX to 2.4G..

Shawn

That looks great! It's taken you two days to do what would have taken me two weeks...or two years... .

Thanks for the compliment.. I am pretty happy about this..

I got this on April 1 of this year.. Took me this long to rebuild it.. I also needed to find some small parts (counter gear, gear cover, tires, new suspension bushings and a body..).. Got some on here.. I had everything to do this but had a few other things to work on.. After I get this completed, I have my yoke to finish..

Shawn

looks great, you did much better than I did when I bought one. I looked at mine for a year or so. and like most Tamiya's they are so over engerinered I just through in the towel and sold mine off.

I love the Astute! Over-engineered or not they have a ton of character and look like nothing else. I had a really bad one I was trying to restore, then this one came along
It's virtually unused and I got it pretty cheap. I had a third but sold it.

RedScampi wrote:I love the Astute! Over-engineered or not they have a ton of character and look like nothing else. . I had a third but sold it.

Yea you sold one to me it looked like the red one it had a nice red body.

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Thanks guys.. I like the over engineered aspect of the astute.. comparing it to my jrx2 and rc10 it really shows the differences of buggies of the era (88-93.. kinda..).. either way it is a great looking buggy.. the body is so much more detailed than the jrx2 and rc10 and looks fast.. one of the things I appreciate about tamiya is the detail they put in their models..

I am wondering though... is it just me but does the front sway bar realli limit suspension travel this much? My front arms sit perfectly horizontal when I lift the buggy.. I can push down and get a bit more travel but it isn't much..

Shawn

bearrickster wrote:

RedScampi wrote:I love the Astute! Over-engineered or not they have a ton of character and look like nothing else. . I had a third but sold it.

Yea you sold one to me it looked like the red one it had a nice red body.

Hah hah! You got the red body but the car under the yellow one. I have a new body for the red car now.

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