Haadkoe

Recently came across my childhood rc collection, consisting of a Tamiya Porsche 959 and Super Shot, plus a pair of Marui Big Bear, and a couple of boats. Unfortunately it seems someone stole my Bruiser, which kills me inside a little.

It's been years since I've been involved in the hobby, but I'd like to get involved again. Just not sure about how to best approach it all.

All of the cars are on their original motors, with old analog speed controllers, Tamiya connectors, and were last run on nicads. Pretty sure the nicads are all long gone, but still have an assortment of Analog FM transmitters and receivers plus a stack of presumably useless nicad chargers.

I kinda want to go through the cars and replace any damaged parts if I can manage to source replacements, but not sure how to best handle powering the cars. Would it make more sense to just buy some new nicad packs and just use the cars as they came out of the 80's, or would it make more sense to upgrade to a modern battery and connectors with a brushed esc?

I presume it would be unwise to consider swapping out motors, since the cars are on their originals, and ancillary parts availability like diff gears and whatnot might be a concern.

Just wondering what the consensus is. Restore em to original, keep them as shelf queens, and buy something new to hoon, or restomod em with modern electronics and bash?

Also, do parts from the rere Super Hotshot fit the Supershot? Transmissions/diff's etc?

RustyUs

If the ESCs, transmitters, and receivers are in working order, I'd just get some NiMh packs and go play . There are still brushed motors out there on the market to be had. As far as upgrading to brushless motors...there is mild to wild.

I can't say for sure about parts swapping between the Super Shot, and the Super Hotshot...just open up/download the manuals and check part numbers. My best guess is they use some of the same components. Super Shot shares some of the sames parts with the Boomerang, and the Wild One. Tamiya USA has a great parts finder.

Haadkoe

They're all on manual speed controllers. Pretty sure the MSC's in the 959 and Supershot still work fine, but MSC's in the Big Bear are both probably toast, so I guess I'll probably start shopping for at least a couple of brushed esc's.

Pretty sure the old FM transmitters and receivers still work, but would need new batteries. Not sure what everyone is using for TX batteries these days though. Not AA nicads, I'm guessing? Lol

Also pretty sure that the Super Shot just made grinding noises with minimal forward movement the last time I tried to use it, about 27 years ago, so I assume I'm going to need some gears in there somewhere. I'll see if I can make heads or tails of it using the parts finder.

I considered NiMh packs, but unsure if any of my current chargers will work with them. I have 2 of the old 15 minute dial timer style chargers for Nicads which I don't think can be used, but I also have 2 other chargers which I'll have to pull out and look at more closely. If I need a new charger though, should I even bother buying NiMh related stuff or just jump right to a 2c lipo and multi port balance charger?

RustyUs

Brushed ESC...HobbyWing Quicrun 1060 would be a great choice.

I was kinda thinking you were gonna say you had the dial timer chargers. If planning on doing any kind of fast charging, I'd definitely look into a peak charger. And if starting all over again, with buying batteries, maybe now is a good time to look at LiPo packs. A person just has to take a little more care when using LiPo batteries.

RustyUs

http://www.rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/
http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-lipo-batteries.html
http://www.mrpositive.co.nz/understa...ipo-batteries/

Big Alice

These guys have parts for a lot of the older cars, http://sabulatech.com/storefront/index.php

Haadkoe

Thanks a bunch!

I looked a bit more closely at the stuff today. Found a 30 year old 6 cell nicad pack in one of the cars, so tried throwing a quick charge at it. Surprisingly it held and I was able to get out and test.

The Porsche was almost as fast as I remember it, but it is missing one of the front dogbones so it was constantly wanting to do 180's. Fun, but hoping I can find a replacement shaft.

The Super Shot turned out to be a blast as well, but there is definitely an issue somewhere because it's only sending power to the rear wheels. Didn't hear any grinding like I had thought I had remembered, but will need to look into it further. Haven't gotten a chance to check the Tayima site yet to cross reference part numbers, but I did download the manual and it looks like there are a bunch of gears in there, so kinda intimidated to be honest. Not really sure where to begin.

Couldn't test either of the Big Bear as no speed controllers were installed. Going to need to fab up some chassis body mounts for them too

Also found a goldpan RC10 rolling chassis with trans, but no motor or servos installed. Brushless project car, perhaps?

Oh, and I realized that all of my old transmitters are AM, not FM as I mentioned earlier. Also realized most of them are missing their battery holders. The ones I tested still worked though.

Probably going to hit up a well reviewed LHS tomorrow and check out some chargers, lipos, ESC's, ETC, and see if they can help me out with my drivetrain and missing parts issues. Wish me luck.

Haadkoe

Just got home from LHS and am kinda bummed.

Couldn't help me with the dogbone for the 959, which wasn't too much of a surprise.

Said the Super Shot may or may not be fixable, would need to take apart to find out the issue, but parts availability could be a major problem. Even if fixable, if I break it again, finding replacement parts could be impossible.

He confirmed the RC10 gold pan was an original release. Said I could get it going again if I wanted to, but suggested that I clean it up and sell it to a collector. Too rare to bash, trans won't handle modern motors, current motor I have for it has too few turns for an ESC or something along those lines.

Didn't even really discuss the Big Bear.

He said that if I really wanted to get back into RC I should get a modern platform, with parts support and availability and to pretty much forget Tamiya. Suggested the Traxxas brand, but I've been out of the loop for so long I have no idea of what's what when it comes to the current market offerings. All they had in stock was 2wd brushed Stampede RTR, so I ended up leaving with nothing but the 5 broken vintage cars I showed up with.

Now I'm sad and confused about how to best proceed.

DriveForFun

sounds like you should check out http://www.tamiyaclub.com/

As for forgetting Tamiya - yes, you do have to rely more on online orders, but i just put together a Plasma Edge 2, which is newer a 4wd buggy, and out of all my RC's i think it is still the most fun - i'm not even sure why, maybe it's because i built it myself, but it does handle great and is durable - and i'm running brushless lipo in it too.

I know alot of guys will say "forget Tamiya", especially a hobbyshob that doesn't carry them, but there is still plenty of fun to be had with 'em. I have Traxxas and Tamiya vehicles. One of my local hobbyshops only deals in "classic Tamiya" actually (as far as Tamiya stuff goes, i mean, they carry all types of other brands)

Big Alice

There's a set of 959 dogbones on ebay right now but you have to want them real bad. And they're in G.Britton. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-S0919...UAAOSwWxNYq0hZ

Haadkoe

Thanks, I'll check out tamiyaclub too.

I ended up opening up the Super Shot's case only to realize it's missing it's driveshaft connecting the front and rear gearboxes. Found one on ebay for $15. (Didn't notice shipping to canada was another $15 until after I ordered, do'h).

I found those 959 dogbones on ebay too, but over $60+ shipping for a set of 4, so gonna keep looking for the moment. Found another guy selling a pair, but he has his account set to away so I shot him an email. Here's hoping.

Ended up picking up a Hitec x2 charger, a pair of used Traxxas Xl5 ESC's, a 5000mah 2S Lipo, and a bunch of little odds and ends like connectors and whatnot locally too.

Installed one of the ESC into the Super Shot and the other is currently in my very first hobby grade RC, the Big Bear. Took them both out and bombed around the neighborhood earlier today. Good stuff.

Also picked up some replacement aftermarket body posts for the second Big Bear. That one has a stretched chassis to accommodate the '36 Ford lexan body that's on it, but the posts we had used years ago to build the thing had snapped. Still needs some tweaking, but very happy to see it in one piece again.

Now I'm trying to decide what newer vehicle to pick up, so I can avoid destroying the classics.

IndianaDave

I have to admit. If I came across an old Tamaya car or RC10, or even a Kyosho Optima (Always wanted one), I'd be tempted to rebuild it and upgrade the electronics and play with it. Fond memories.
Tamaya actually re-released a few kits a few years back. Looked pretty much identical to the vintage stuff. Gotta be parts available.

Haadkoe

Still waiting for parts to arrive for the Supershot and 959, but I found and ordered them, so very happy about that. I've played with them all, despite the missing parts, and had a ton of fun.

I don't want to run them into the ground though, so since the RC bug has bitten me hard once again I ended up picking up a used Team Associated Rival roller. Found a used Leopard 4074 2000kv motor and Mamba Monster 2 esc. Currently running it on 5s and having a ton of fun without worrying about parts availability.

Still though, the vintage vehicles bring back memories, so I'll continue to take them out and enjoy them from time to time.

Dumanyu