Radio Control Model Hobby

As some of you may know, another of my hobbies is radio control cars, trucks, boats, helicopters ect. If there is anyone else, besides buzz-saw and myself, that participates in this fun hobby, or are interested it trying it, please post in here. Below is my latest project. A restoration of a 1987 Tamiya monster truck. They came as the Clod buster, with a Chevy square body, or the bull head, which was a Semi Tractor. Both had this identical chassis. I'll get into the details on this particular build if there is sufficient interest as its kinda long winded with a backstory and buzz-saw already knows the details.

 

I used to be into RC cars. My first was a kyosho Icarus 2wd buggy. Then upgraded to a marui samurai 4wd buggy. Of I were ever to get into RC again, I'd probably go with gas powered vs battery electric powered ones. I like longer run time, but I have a feeling that technology has gotten a lot better in the last 30 years. I've been thinking about getting an rc boat.

 

Lol. I'm an enabler.

 

I have a Clod Buster. It hasn't seen the light of day for decades. It was fun to operate.

 

Well I’m all ears. LOL

 

No lack of Traxxas here. For an entry level out of the box ready to run truck they aren't bad. One thing for sure is they take a pounding. Most of them are nitro.

Time to dust it off.
There is one ( or was one) on craigslist. I think he was asking $700

 

Nothing wrong with Traxxas. I've had several. They usually take a beating with a smile.

 

So, the story of how I ended up with the bull head...

Harry, a mid 70's neighbor we grew up near, recently gave all of his deceased brothers rc stuff to me. He's held on to it for many years. One lightly used Taniya bullhead he had purchased new back in 1987, and one that he bought used from a guy that raced it. There was also a big New bright dodge ram and a vintage radioshack mini mod pulling tractor. More on those in the future. Anyway, the Tamiya bullheads came with a ton of spare parts, 6 different modified racing motors, a couple electronic speed controls, a vintage Futaba stick radio, that you can change the frequency crystals in, extra servos and the list goes on.

Harry's younger brother Arnold was a bit slow but could drive and work. Well one day he was on one of Harry's Farmall tractors doing something and they got in an argument. Harry ended up snatching him off the tractor and Arnold ended up braking his arm. He ultimately had to go to physical therapy and on his way he was hit by someone that blew through a red light. That accident put Arnold in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the chest down. Those RC trucks were is only enjoyment after. Harry has blamed himself all these years for that car accident because Arnold wouldn't have been at that intersection had he not broken his arm. It saddens me to know he carries that with him. Arnold passed away several years ago. Anyway, I want Harry to see one of these trucks run again and hopefully it will bring him some fond memories of watching Arnold run them.

 

The trucks themselves....

The lightly used unit still had the plastic bushings throughout both transaxles and hubs. The race rig had full ball bearings throughout but the chassis was broken, one of the suspension arms was broken plus broken body mounts and other assorted issues. The body is beat up. I cleaned and disassembled both completely, installed all the bearing in the minty trucks drivetrain, greased all the gears and reassembled. I tossed all the broken parts and bagged up the usable parts from the race truck. Thats where I am on the project as of now. I'll get s bunch of pics later of this truck and the other two I mentioned as well as take you on a walk down memory lane with past rc toys.

 

Imma try and drag you back in. Lol. Things have changed tremendously in the last 10-15 years in the RC world. Im still playing catch-up on all the new tech ect.

As a side note, Tamiya rereleased the clod buster a few years back and its still being produced, as far as I know, and parts are available.

 

Gotta run for now. I'll be back. Saw money is once again RC money. I've reached my zen place with saws. Once I bought 2 new identical saws, that Kevin has possession of to port as I type, I knew I was done buying new saws.

 

I believe I still have the plastic bearings, even though I did get the upgraded parts, which were never installed.

 

Here is all the bullhead "stuff". That bag of new chrome will go on the body once its cleaned up purdy. The body on the truck that is.

 

This is the New bright body. The chassis was so brittle from years of storage that it was crumbling every time I touched it. They are cheap Walmart type rc toys and many buy them just for the big detailed bodies to put on hobby grade rc vehicles. Its 27" long.

 

This is the radio shack puller. I'll look for a controller for one on ebay. Also toy grade but the radio shack RCs were way higher quality than the new bright. They were inline with Tyco and Nikko.

 

More later.

 

I had a Pepsi themed Clod Buster way back in the day. My dad had put it together before Christmas so I didn't get to participate in that. The paint and decals were mine though. IIRC I usually had troubles getting the steering servos synched. It was a blast in the snow.

I dipped a toe back into RC in the mid 2000's but quickly exited once it started to deeply impact my wallet. Bought one of the VXL Mini E Revos. 50mph is exciting. Impacts at 50mph are expensive. Had bought the full sized gasser also but peddled it on ebay before I ever removed it from original packaging. A couple of my buddies got in deep, one to the point of having a 1/2 acre track in his yard with a tower. I tilled up his grass for him to make it.

 

I had a big track here we used to race our gas 1/5th scales on. Its the reason I purchased my first 4x4 diesel tractor with a loader.