Late 1980s Vintage Tamiya HotShot II and Hornet (10th scale RC cars)

Right, decided I should try to get the Hot Shot running and then decide if I’m going to sell it.

Wish me luck!

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nostalgia thread – I had a Hotshot, my brother had a Hornet, both bought from Beatties…

Going well so far: pulled it to bits and coded myself a little servo tester with a spare Arduino. Both servos seems fine (Acoms AS-7 if anyone cares). Main motor also seems to tick over okay when I stick some volts through it.

Next up is to test the little voltage regulator is still ticking over okay. Getting weird voltage from it when hooked to the battery, but that could just be the battery!

What bits are you keeping and what are you planning on replacing?
The Tamiya mechanical speed controller uses quite a lot of juice and runs very hot (what with being a variable resistor). I would probably replace it with an electronic speed controller (ESC).
Also consider a new battery and quick charger. I got a 3000mAh Nimh for my Neo Fighter and it gives easily 20mins run time. That’s with a brushed motor.

Also, look to see if it has plastic bushes or bearings. Bearings are definitely worth upgrading to.

I’m keeping everything I possibly can. I really don’t want to create yet another money pit in my life 😀

Yeah, fair enough.
Tamiya ESC is only £15 though so not exactly money pit material.

http://www.fusionhobbies.com/product/45057-tamiya-tble-02s-brushed-brushless-esc

Although worth checking it’ll work with your other kit.
The bloke who runs that site is a colleague of mine and well clued up on Tamiya stuff.

The bloke who runs that site is a colleague of mine and well clued up on Tamiya stuff.

Would you mind asking him what a used 1987 Hot Shot II with original box and manual is worth these days?

And if I am better off trying to get it to run with replacement parts before selling it, or just flogging it non-running but with whatever parts it has on it.

Thanks.

I’m happy to tinker with it, but I don’t want to be the guy on Antiques Roadshow who’s had a go at restoring a Rembrandt in his shed with some leftover Dulux. 😆

Somewhere deep in a cupboard at my parent’s place is a Tamiya Bearhawk with a Schumacher Ultrastock motor. Runtimes back in 1990 topped out at about 3 minutes 🙁

I wonder if it’s worth retrieving for the child to smash up…

i’ll just leave this here 😀

Awesome. The steering on the Wild Willy looks a bit frantic! 😆