Re-anodizing Traxxas Blue Shocks

[jkelm24]

I'm going to be re-anodizing a couple sets of Traxxas blue shock bodies and caps for my TRX1 and N Hawk. I'm trying to determine if they should be 'type II' soft anodized or 'type III' hard anodized. Also trying to determine if they'll need to be bright dipped to get the proper OEM-style finish.

Anyone have any experience and/or feedback?

Thanks!

[jwscab]

Bright dip would be good. Type Ii anodizing, not hard anodized.

[jkelm24]

Will bright dip make them ultra-bling, or will it make them look box stock. I'm hoping for a box stock look and afraid of getting something too flat or too bling.

[jwscab]

Bright dip should make them close to factory. Removing the old anodizing dulls them a bit.

Are they all blue or do you have any that are more teal? Not sure if it's early or later nitro hawk but I have three more teal colored shocks and always keep a lookout for a 4th to complete the set.

[jkelm24]

Mine are all early gen blue. Although I do have a NIP pair of teal 'electric blue' caps that may or may not be helpful to you. Send me a PM if they could help.

I think the teal 'electric blue' was introduced later, around the time they started introducing the black nylon... Maybe '95 ish...

Here are some pics of my early gen (faded) blue, teal 'electric blue' caps, and modern dark blue caps. Maybe hard to tell in the pictures with the lighting, but there's a clear difference.

Hopefully the anodizing shop has a blue tint closer to the original.

[jwscab]

Interesting. That teal doesn't look too far off. The three I have show a definite green hue to them. I'll dig them out and take some pics to show the difference. I have seen pics of a nitro hawk in white this shade of teal.

[GoMachV]

Are you using Advanced Precision in Troutdale? If so… this is their blue

I wasn’t all that happy with it to be honest, it was dull and blotchy. That said, I didn’t prep it other than having them do a caustic acid dip to remove the old ano.

[jkelm24]

Yes, I had planned on using Advanced Precision. Thanks for the feedback!!! That blue also looks darker than I had hoped.

Maybe I'll give Electro-Chem or Apex a call. Apex appears to be a larger industrial shop and might not cater to my small project. But, we'll see...

[GoMachV]

Advanced precision really did killer purple, champagne, and red, and pretty decent black. The other colors I tried were just so-so.

[RCveteran]

I've done a little reanodizing of RC10 tubs and other small bits with local anodizer. The finish varies a lot based on prep. Just take it to them with no prep kind of a dull. A little fine sanding finishing working up to say 2000 grit its better but all small scratches can be seen, just keep in mind. Start with basically new part and finish comes out glossy and everything in between.

Also places where servo tape was are very hard to get rid of in final finish and I have stripped, cleaned and sanded and thought 1000% clean and upon close inspection little finish issue after ano. Just depends on how picky you are.

I actually don't mind anodize something scratched. Hides the scratches and refreshes nicely nut not perfect.

My local place does all big projects mostly. Place is like 1/2 a football field of large dunking tanks and they are very busy with huge parts lots and such for HVAC and other companies. My stuff is an inconvenience for them. They have a minimum dunk fee of $125 and for me though the good thing is I am small. I can drop off a mound of parts and chassis and it is tiny to them and just being thrown in, so it's never been more than $125 no matter how much I bring. Maybe I am a charity case.

In any given week they will be doing about every color happening at some point and my stuff just gets thrown in. So long as I can wait a few days whether purple, gold, red etc no matter. That said for my size lot I take the color it is, if you want to get very picky and tweak shades that is a different price point I do not go to. Several local car hobbyist people do to get that exact exact shade they are looking for.

I find their standard gold is damn near to the varying shades of RC10, same with the purple and blue we are used to here. Close enough and given when we look at this vintage stuff we see varying shades, who cares, the originals were not all the exact same shade depending on day, time and supplier that did anodizing.