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Got this literally thrown in with a banana box of RC I bought off a local guy, was going to throw it out but noticed it had bearings and never tinkered with one before.
Stumbled across a locally produced bodyshell in a rc shop clearance bin for NZ$10 and though why not see what I could scrape up out of my parts bins for a bit of fun.

The chassis was pretty rough as looks like someone had tried to glue something to the front of the chassis, tried warming it to remove it but I think its stuck there.
The front steering kingpins were gone and replaced with some cut off machine screws, replaced them with M3 caps and nylocks as the grub screws were stripped.

so the gearbox internals were mint, fully ball raced, however the motor cap on the non drive side was missing.
Cut a replacement from a broken chassis plate i had with a hole saw with the pilot drill removed (very slowly) and retro fitted.
The shocks i had from ali express for my rocky project and decided i could make them fit. the axel mounts were off an Hot Bodies carrier arms , drilled to 1/8" from 3.0mm and fitted straight up to the factory holes.
Used stainless self tappers and machine screws throughout, and trying to find a 50mm aluminum spacer tube to span across the rear towers somewhere in my parts.

The previous owners had butchered the chassis and i the sheet of 1mm carbon i had was such a perfect fit i decided to use it as the radio tray, looks better and the self tapping screw goes into a plastic stem i cut down by 11mm to suit.
The other countersunk screw has an 11mm spacer and nips up to a recess near the battery tray release, you can see it on the bottom picture.
I got a few of these high speed mini servo from a guy here new and its 4kg high speed so plenty for the little hornet wheels.
Obviously the narrow fit wont suit the standard servo mounting holes, but I had a adaptor plate from a rock climb truck servo mount I used the alloy tags off, so in it goes. Will tape the servo in place.
Will tape the servo once i can find the 23T adaptor for the JR servo and the Tamiya servo saver.
Also need to fit ball ends to it to accommodate the steering linkages

Another rock climber will be providing the front 50mm shocks, mounted inverted with 3mm screws either side of the plastic molding once fitted.
Just hope I can find some more 3mm nylocks without having to purchase any more.
Also didn't like the radio switch position on the bottom of the chassis so cut some more scrap carbon and flush fitted a cover.
Just need to figure out wheels and tires now. And see what radio / motors i can scrape up, quite fun to do it as cheap as possible. may need to purchase a wing and paint/stickers though

This is turning into a neat little project! Side note: I love RC junk!

Awesome find/challenge. Wish I could even find some RC junk that people are not trying to charge more than new else I would love to do something similar

Small updates,
front shocks are from a 1:14 truck, oil filled, threaded the shafts a little more to fit inverted on the front, m3 screw under the mounting, ans a sway bar ball fitting threaded on top.
This allows us to use an oddball turnbuckle i had lying around from a tamiya set, helps to stiffen up the front end too.
Got given these rock crawler width adapters (i think 14mm wide x 12mm hex), allows us to run way more rims now too.

Almost finished now, still got to fit the electronics and find some tyres/rims.

Also found a 50mm x m3 spacer tube off a drone to tighten up the rear shocks

I've been watching a load of Ampro Engineering YouTube stuff lately on the grasshopper , he's done a ton of interesting stuff with them and just very well produced programs that are great to watch , wish I could do that kind of video production , tons of his designs on Shapeways , might exceed your 10$ price limit

yes ive seen his stuff, its great, shapeways is reasonably priced, but for some reason the shipping is astronomical?
I like his independent front suspension mods.just hard to justify $30USD to post a small plastic part that costs $10.
i have stuff shipped to NZ from Spain or Belgium for a third of that.

Little more progress today, did away with the mini servo, wasn't happy it could handle the load, so i replaced it with a S148 for the time being, did unearth an old Futaba S9102, Alerion servo, same speed and torque, but low profile.
May find its way in, also gave me the chance to use up the ugly blue servo mounts and shocks i had lying around.
The front shocks bound up on the plastic uprights on the suspension, so gave them a tickle on the Lathe, all good now.
Also fitted some 2.2" Ultima wheels i ordered, not 100% convinced on the scale yet, but they were free and spare in the drawer.
Its quite hard to find suitable 1.9 or 2" rims to suit.
Maybe ReRe Kyosho or Tamiya, i know that Schumacher still sell 1.9" tyres, marked as C.A.T on their website. Just cant get any ribs for the front.

Body fitted and awaiting paint, had to clearance the carbon radio plate for the shorty Lipo connections too.
Currently fitted a cheap 19 Turn double i was given, but im sure it will be far too powerful.

Well finally got the challenge finished off, Turns out the alerion servo was a good fit as the shorty Lipo sits close to it when fitted.
Sorted some of those 4mm 90 deg connectors and came out all right. Couple of foam spacers hold it firm.
You can also see the self tapping stainless cap screws i replaced the tamiya fasteners with.

Had to go back to the tamiya steering system, anything aftermarket fouled on the chassis, set up a left over lundsford tie rod for the front shock towers to stop them flexing, and there is still melted chassis where i couldn't scrape it clean from its previous life.

A few weeks ago i scored a tamiya touring car thrown in with a hot bodies 4wd i purchased, thought the LRP speed control was a good fit, and the price was right, i also had the old LRP receiver in my box from years back, its pretty rough condition, but zero cost so..
The aerial mount was anodized purple, so brush finished it back to alloy, Associated B4 aerial and cap. You can see the foam insulation i put around the battery terminal area on the carbon gear plate, wouldnt want them shorting in a crash.

Id love to say it was a pleasure to drive but hey, its a Hornet. While it may be responsible for getting heaps of people into the hobby, it still handles like a.....Hornet.
The rock climbing shocks on the front may be oil filled and pretty, but i think the stock springs were better. The Back is less bouncy with those shocks and 15wt oil, and 2.2"wide wheels but it still ties to overtake the front on every surface except grass.
So I'm forgetting a few things in my costings that i didn't have lying around, namely the battery connectors, , Lipo spacer foams and the decals/paint on order. Also the motor was far too powerful so i have since ordered a more mild wind.
But overall i used up loads of junk and had fun trying all sorts of spares to fit.

That's a great little car , you just have to love em for what they are , even my more extreme conversion does not make it a racer .