RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

My ultimate dream build has always been a big boy toys sprint car conversion. A couple examples found around here are stunning and I've wanted one for some time now. A couple years back I managed to find a collection which included nearly 3 well beaten and disheveled examples. I was able to combine the best parts from the 3 into a decent nearly complete car for myself. Unfortunately, parts for these seem to never pop up and when they do, they bring top dollar. Well, yesterday at the swap meet, I spotted the elusive aluminum caged "beauty" and worked out a trade to ensure it came home with me. It's quite a mess. It has an Andy's truck conversion on it with monster beetle wheels which were quickly removed. I don't know what the front shock tower is. It uses the nose plate from the buggy with support braces that have been added to go all the way up and attach to the front wing mounts. When placed side by side with my other BBT car, The cages are not the same. The side nerfs are not the same. Now I don't know what I have. I've heard there were different variations of the cars but getting any info online seems to be limited.

Bolt on nose is an RCRC Ascot. BBT were a flat chassis with nose built in. Both were almost identical from the noseplate area back. The cages, nerfs and tails were different, yours look correct. The down tubes on yours were added, and bolted to the wing mount on the top of the cage. Front tower is a JG truck tower.

So if I understand correctly, this one is the Ascot/RCRC conversion. I'm happy I got it, but now I have 2 different super cool unfinished, cars that are impossible to get parts for. Know anyone who still makes a body set for these?

Yes, that’s an Ascot. I don’t know exactly how or if they were related but the chassis was dead nuts the same past the noseplate

Hmm, that’s a good question. Andy has been selling some sprint bodies- it I’m not sure if they are his or just his paint. You have to reach them by email now. I can’t keep track of who all he has let down so if your one of them let me know and I’ll delete this lol.

[email protected]

The white flat chassis is for the first one that BBT released,

called the Desperado!

Here is a link to mine to give you some ideas, if you need them.

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=36342&hilit=dave%27s+bbt

Here is Sc8p's BBT Vindicator build,

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=34682&p=397216&hilit=bbt#p397216

And a BBT catalogue,

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=35001

Instruction sheet,

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=26119

Vindicator Instructions,

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=12325

Great info guys. I appreciate it. That car looks great dave. That does clear up a few things. I noticed your rear is a single tube though and mine is a double on the Desperado. Is this a variation on mine or the wrong rear end?

Looking at the instruction sheet for the Desperado, it looks to show a single bar and a dual bar rear bumper,

maybe the twin bar was available at the same time as an option, but not in the kit?

Thank you for the compliment for mine, I am really,really happy to have it!

I would think there are less than a handful, 2 maybe 3, BBT Desperados on RC10Talk.

You might find this interesting,

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=12699

From what I've seen in magazine/instruction scans...Advance Engineering, RCRC/Ascot and BBT seems to have all sold the same sprint car cages at the start. BBT first changed their cage design with the extra bracing on the nerf bars, and then shortly after also changed the fuel tank bars, and added different wing mounts on the Vindicator. The Desperado came after with the down tubes....around the same time Ascot changed their cage design on the Challenger (c. 1989). Advance kept selling the original design.

My guess is that Advance made the cages at the start, and they were resold by Ascot and BBT. It's possible Advance kept making all the cages after the changes, or it might've been that Ascot and BBT started making their own.

One of the difficult things for me is finding the right wheel and tire combo. I think aluminum slot mags look the best, but they're hard to come by. I've been thinking about the reproduction tecnacraft bbs style 10L wheels with the gold ano centers and then shaping a set of foams for them. The kyosho sideways wheel/tire combo is great for size but the white plastic wheels are not quite what I'm after.

GoMachV wrote: ↑Sun Dec 16, 2018 11:17 pm Yes, that’s an Ascot. I don’t know exactly how or if they were related but the chassis was dead nuts the same past the noseplate

Hmm, that’s a good question. Andy has been selling some sprint bodies- it I’m not sure if they are his or just his paint. You have to reach them by email now. I can’t keep track of who all he has let down so if your one of them let me know and I’ll delete this lol.

[email protected]

I contacted Andy and he confirmed that the sprint car body sets that he's selling are for the bbt conversion. I ordered 2 of them unpainted. Now I need to address the wheels and tires.