Marui Hunter - My first buggy... Found one to restore :-) - and a Galaxy RS too :)

[silvertriple]

I finally managed to un-clog my 3D printer. I did launch a PLA test print for few parts. Print will be approximatively 14 hours, so results will be tomorrow...

Results are expected tomorrow morning, and if everything goes as per expectations, I will have a rear tire easy solution for those cars with performant and easy to source tires (in different nature, as there is a few models which are available in Kyosho legendary series range matching the rear rims size).

[EvolutionRevolution]

Got more Glanzer delivered today in the afternoon while I was in meetings (why it is always happening this way?). Decided to launch another bath (full bath this time) for the two bodies and the driver figure.  Put the filtered glanzer and additional ones in the bin.

While doing this, I was thinking to the end of this exercise as the filtering was quite diffficult. Searched on thingiverse to find a funnel with integrated filtration to print, and launched the 3D print, and ordered tea infusion buckets (English men won't like it, but hey, I'm french, and I don't take much tea, and this will have a practical use).

Tip: For labs they make something called "filter paper", which are large A2 or A3 format sheets of special paper you can fold in half diagonally and then fit into a (large) funnel. They are excellent for filtering out dirt and other particles from fluids.

[HiTec]

Thats a great tip @EvolutionRevolution ! I would still suggest that even better and cheap option would be going to a shop that sells car paints and stuff for that. Those paint filters are super cheap and easy to use and you can order those in different microns. I use those lab filter papers in my daily job and they are some times pain in the ass.

Example:

https://www.nettivari.fi/starchem-maalisihti-125-micron

By the way @EvolutionRevolution How did your Ultima ST Evo project went? Updates stopped suddenly. That wast the project that greatly inspired me towards of making free stuff for Ultima ST:s.

[EvolutionRevolution]

By the way @ EvolutionRevolution How did your Ultima ST Evo project went? Updates stopped suddenly. That wast the project that greatly inspired me towards of making free stuff for Ultima ST:s.

All my projects will end up getting restarted at one point or another. The updates stopped suddenly because back in 2017 I got a new, nutcase upstairs neighbour that made living (well, sleeping...) in my then apartment a total nightmare for over a year. So in 2019 I got a new apartment, where the only upstairs neighbours I have are seagulls, and thankfully not a schizophrenic guy who does not take his meds and instead self-medicates with alcohol and weed, and who came home totally drunk/stoned at 3AM every. single. night. But well, I have way too much RC crap that got all boxed up to be able to move, and have just started sorting it out a bit...which results in new updates.

[silvertriple]

Something arrived today...


And yes, there is a Galaxy manual. Which fully confirms my assumptions on what was included in the Galaxy box...
And within the same mail, I also received a Marui-Amerang flyer dated from December 1985 (Amerang was the british importer for Marui at that time). Quite interesting, actually, with a funny mistake on the Hunter page, as it is described as a "four wheel drive system"

[silvertriple]

Marui Galaxy - Instruction manual










Marui Amerang Flyer - December 1985






You may note the wrong description on the Hunter page, which is mentioning rugged four wheel drive system

[silvertriple]

Until recently, I was taking the article from BlackHoleSun on rc4on (The complet story of Marui models | RC for Old Nuts (rc4on.com)) as the reference for the Marui cars release dates.
The Amerang flyer was indicating something different for the Samurai : the Samurai was likely introduced in December 1985 all over Europe.

It triggered some interrogations in my mind, and I went to do some research on those car release dates...
The Marui catalog of 1986 (you can find it on rc4on : 1986 Marui Catalogue RC Holy Grail| RC for Old Nuts (rc4on.com) ) was an eye opener for me.
On this catalogue, there is the Marui kit reference number. They are actually number with a specific sheme

• Hunter - Kit #3 - Reference MT59-RC3 - Release 1984

• Big Bear - Kit #4 - Reference MT59-RC4 - Release 1984

• Galaxy - Kit #5 - Reference MT60-RC5 - Release 1985

• Galaxy RS - Kit #06 - Reference MT60-RC6 Release 1985

• ... until the Samurai 4WD - Kit #10 - Reference MT60-RC10 Release 1985

I did an assumption about the kit reference scheme :
MTxx-RCyy
with :

• MT for Marui Tokyo

• xx for the year of release with 59 corresponding to 1984

• RC as the kit is in the RC series

• yy for the number of the kit in the RC series

I did two checks to confirm this assumption :

• Kit #1 and #2 Super Wheelie CJ-7 and Super Wheelie Land Cruiser were released in 1983 in their 6V versions, and had MT58 in there reference numbers

• Kit #11, Ninja 4WD was referenced MT61-RC11, indicating a release date in 1986

I did not found the reference of the kits for

• Marui Thunderbird Coors (kit#12). However, its JP instructions manual I found on the repository of manuals from dirt-burners.com indicates a date in August 1987

• Marui Shogun 4WD ( kit#13). However, the JP instructions manual found in the same repository indicates a date in December 1987.

Both kits should have been referenced MT62-RC12 and MT62-RC13.

That is serving no purpose, it is just useless, but seems to be fact. I'm just doing some aRCheology

[silvertriple]

I went to a friend's place today to gather a Galaxy RS roll cage as my son would prefer a Galaxy instead of a Hunter...
I'll need to model the Galaxy specific parts (shock stays, super structure and roll cage stays)...


And the Galaxy roll cage came with something else

[EvolutionRevolution]

• xx for the year of release with 59 corresponding to 1984

According to this:

http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~watson/ref/mtsh.html

that is correct, for Showa 59 (Japanese year numbering according to emperor rule).

[Dadio]

The Samurai arrives ! Looking at the front suspension with wire wound found it you may need new ball cups , there are some on Thingiverse that work well even if the locating pin is a pain to print . Can't wait to see her up and running

[silvertriple]

• xx for the year of release with 59 corresponding to 1984

According to this:

http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~watson/ref/mtsh.html

that is correct, for Showa 59 (Japanese year numbering according to emperor rule).

Thanks for this. I did not search for the year numbering explanation in detail. That is a great find.

The Samurai arrives ! Looking at the front suspension with wire wound found it you may need new ball cups , there are some on Thingiverse that work well even if the locating pin is a pain to print . Can't wait to see her up and running

They are ok, I believe, but the owner who did that was probably used to have other cars with front knuckles separation willingness. That is a suggestion I got by some people when I posted the picture of my Super Hotshot with the front knuckle detached, and I know people doing this systematically whatever the car or the state...

On this one there is much more cleaning than the second one, and what is not visible on the picture is that the chassis is broken at the front...I will go for a proper unbuild to do a state of what I'll need exactly to get it back up and running in good state, and your chassis is already on the part list of this one. I'll create a Marui Samurai thread once I start the work on this one... And for the Thingiverse part, I already noticed that thru my active Marui part searches.

[silvertriple]

Wow, it's long time I've not posted in this thread... Still no way to get bodies for the Hunter(s).

Few days ago, a friend who gave me the Galaxy RS blue roll cage that came with the Samurai hinted me a link on ebay. The price was kind of ok, but I was not decided. I added the stuff in my follow list.

On the next day, I received an offer for what I was ready to pay for it and passed the order. The box arrived today.

The box itself is a case, with a handle and some stuff to close it. And inside, there is a car, with its radio.


Under the body shell (which may be a Parma body), there is a familiar chassis, with broken shock towers.



The roll cage is absent, and the chassis broken. Beside this it's complete, and even the tires are in pretty good shape, with no cracks.

I will combine this with the remaining black chassis and the roll cage, and it will be another complete Galaxy RS. The chassis itself will be repurposed as a Hunter chassis with @Optimafever 's gearcover.
Beside the shock towers, it is in pretty good shape, the transmission works flawlessly, and there is not much marks of usage under the chassis and the under gear cover... That looks promising.

[silvertriple]

Further inspection of the box shows some interesting details...

There is a receipt in the box: this Galaxy and the radio were bought as a kit on December 2nd 1987 in Rouen (FR) at the Mini-Train shop.

The box itself has been cut specifically for the car.


I found all those elements quite interesting bits of the car history...

[silvertriple]

Today, I received two boxes thru the mailman...

The first one was sent by my brother, and it included a lot of different stuff
[/img]

What you can see here are the remains of my RC history as a teenager

• Hunter motor and motor plate (that are the only parts left of my original Hunter)

• The remaining parts of the Kyosho Chevy 4x4 (Gearbox, front train parts (including axles and dog bones), shocks, chain)

• My Graupner C4 laser 2 (41MHz) TX/RX

• His Graupner Varioprop C4 (72MHz) TX/RX

• 2 servos

I also received a another box with 3 Marui Hunter / Galaxy drivers. For the small story, I found traces on an old forum of one guy having done a mould, and while it was no longer possible to register on this old forum, I found that someone using the same pseudo was on one of the forum I was registered on. I contacted him few months ago. The guy initially responded he don't know if he still have the mould and if he find it back, he'll recontact me. That was about 4-5 months ago. Last Tuesday the guy contacted me and told me he found the mould randomly and he thought about my message... And here is...


Will we see an end to this Marui Hunter/Galaxy/Galaxy RS project?

[silvertriple]

The other day, I was having a look at ebay, and saw a Hunter which looked to have a V1 chassis. My finger ripped and I clicked buy. It arrived today...



It doesn't have its radio, but it is the same receiver as my brother's one, and just the crystal is different. The tires are in pretty surprising shape and well conserved.It deesn't have its original roll bar, the rear bumper is broken, the rear triangle are mounted upside down, but the shock towers are intact...



And as it is a V1, the gear cover is marked with "Hunter" and the shock towers are rounded... My original Hunter was exactly like this one. The front suspension lower arms are without the galaxy shock attachement (again as it is a V1). It would not have been a V1, I would have not clicked buy... There is some work to do on it, but beside the rear bumper attachement broken, it will be a very nice Hunter at the end...