OptimaFan's Vintage Car Collection (with vids of runners)

[OptimaFan]

Inspired by guys like Daniel Rowland, and other vintage car fans I met here and elsewhere, and having discovered the extra options the internet gives compared to 25 years ago, when I was running my first cars, I started rebuilding classic RC buggies. At first it was more like getting at least one Optima Mid, as that was my first competition grade car ever, and I remember how impressed I was with it back in the days. But one car just isn't enough, right? So "a couple more" followed over the last year or so. Instead of spreading these over various topics, I think it will be better to just group all together in a single topic.


I've divided this topic into several parts, here's an index:

Posting 1: 2WD cars:
- Kyosho Triumph
- Team Losi JRX2
- Team Associated RC10

Posting 2: Kyosho Optima and Optima Mid:
- Turbo Optima
- Optima Mid

Posting 3: Kyosho Optima Mid and Mid Custom
- Optima Mid Custom Special
- Optima Mid Custom ZX-R (Lazer/Optima hybrid)

Posting 4: Kyosho ???
- Optima Mid (RaceCraft shell)
-



Kyosho Triumph:

I will start with my latest rebuild/refresh, a Kyosho Triumph. As a few of my other cars, it was bought for parts, in this case the golden shocks. But upon closer look, the car impressed me, it had been well cared for, so I opted for a good clean, partial rebuild (front steering and suspension) and a repro body to replace the somewhat battered stock body. It looked like this:






And now it looks like this:














I think it's a "slight" improvement, don't you?

Fully ready to run at the moment, 6 cell 3000 mAh NiMh, Hobby King 45A brushed ESC and same brand receiver, Futaba servo (S3003 I believe) and Trinity "Joel Johnson" motor. Top speed around 35 km/h, car is currently geared for short tracks, so it accelerates like a rocket, considering the mere NiMh battery.



Team Losi JRX2:

Another 2WD car I had the pleasure of restoring, is this Losi JRX2, which is also present in a different topic here, but is part of the cars I currently have.

Before:




and after:








No electronics present at the moment, except a motor. Body and wing are reproductions from Team BlueGroove.



Team Associated RC10 (runner)

One of the most iconic RC buggies is certainly the RC10. I didn't have any past with this car, like with the Optima Mid, but gradually the RC10 started to grow on me. So when the opportunity presented itself to get a runner with some spares, I gave in.

This car came with gold pan chassis, but I replaced that with a black one, to preserve that golden for later. Motor is a Brushed Conrad GZ2000, ESC the X-Car 45A from Hobby King, Conrad 6 cell NiMh pack, and a small but strong digital servo. The first pic does show a different battery pack, but this old and somewhat tired pack was quickly replaced, as it didn't have enough punch, and caused the ESC to go into LVC right at the start of running.













And here's a short vid of it running: http://vimeo.com/110085792

[OptimaFan]

My old Turbo Optima already made an appearance in the general picture topic, but it certainly belongs here as well. This is how it looked when I got it:




And with fresh Schumacher tires, some updated electronics and partial refurbishing, including a fresh painted repro classic Optima shell, it looks like this:










Motor is a Technigold, ESC the Hobby King 45A I use a lot for my vintage runners, as it's cheap, reliable, and has very smooth throttle control, also in the low throttle range. Servo is a HCT5010, receiver from HK as well (small and has programmable failsave, so no cars running off if control is lost) and power comes from a 2S stickpack LiPo. It still has the original chain, which took quite some effort to get a couple of malformed chain links, causing the drive to run with "hiccups", back into shape. Luckily I was rewarded with a light and smooth running transmission after that.



And this is the car that started my love for Kyosho stuff. Bought as a "vanilla" Optima Mid, it made a profound impression due to the high quality materials used, smoothness of the transmission, ball bearings everywhere, and great looks. After years of driving, it was in need of some spare parts. Also I wanted to reduce slop in the steering, and make the car lighter here and there. Amoung the upgrade parts are alu ball raced C-hubs, ball raced bell cranks, and alu turnbuckles. Also new A-arms were fitted. But after that, I started losing interest in RC, plus I thought the car was now too nice to risk scratching the new and upgraded parts, so it was mothballed. But even without it's stock wing (was damaged during a crash) I think it looks great:






Btw, it was not my intention to only use the orange band of the stickers that should go in the sides. I just had so much trouble applying the large stickers, and using only one smaller part was the best solution at that moment.

[OptimaFan]

Here is my first Optima Mid rebuild, a Custom Special, bought as second hand runner. The chassis needed some work, mostly updated electronics, after a glitch during driving made the car run into the sidewalk, which almost cost me a steering knuckle. Also the old silver colored Custom Special body wasn't much of a sight to behold. As in that time I was absolutely convinced I couldn't get acceptable results when I would paint a body, I was happy when Dan offered me to sell a Custom Mid body and matching wing and undertray. And put together, it looked like this:








Another car, that I haven't presented here before, as far as I know, but one of the cars I am the most proud of. Encouraged by Daniel's "Lazer Mid" I decided to make a "hybrid" as well. Using the complete suspension of a Lazer ZX Sport, that I had lying for spares, including the steering bell cranks, combined with Optima Mid Custom chassis and transmission, hoping to combine the best of both buggies. For body a SWB Optima body was used, but trimmed longer, so it would fit the LWB chassis.






With wing painted in colors matching the body, and same for the decals:








And with wing with custom decals, printed by MCI Racing:






It's running a Corally 17 double motor, on 6 cell NiMh. HobbyKing 45A ESC and same brand receiver, servo is a HXT5010, basic servo. Body is from Marwan RC, wing is from Team BlueGroove. Strictly speaking it's an Optima Mid Custom ZX Sport, since it doesn't have the turnbuckles, but I do plan to add these in the future, and the ZX-R logo just looks better than "ZX Sport", I think.

[OptimaFan]

Optima Mid (runner)


I've posted some pics of this one before, when asking for why made the body shell. This is my main Optima Mid runner, just to relive the fond moments I had when driving the white Optima Mid from the 3rd posting. I came with shell painted as boxart, but with the windows painted white as well. Then I got this "graffity-style" RaceCraft shell, and "married" it to this Optima Mid. Also came with stock LeMans 240ST motor fitted, but even on 2S LiPo, it wasn't as zippy as I remembered my first Mid, and that was running NiCads back then. Mind you, those were top NiCads, Sanyo SCRC 1900, matched cells, probably better then average quality NiMh of today.





Anyway, I looked at the brushed motors I had lying around. I didn't want a too strong motor, like an 11 turns high rpm for instance, as this might seriously reduce lifespan of the gears, and may also need additional cooling, as the secluded motor position of the Mid doesn't allow for much airflow over the motor. My eyes fell on a GM Racing Purple Beast 15 turns. It seemed to run a fair bit faster than the LeMans 240ST, and has good airflow through the car. I dropped a tooth on the pinion, from 20T to 19T, and gave it a go. Now the car was more like it. More wheelspin if accelerating hard, and better top end. Previously it clocked in at about 37 km/h at most, now it was almost 44 km/h top speed.

For a better comparison, check the vids listed here below:

http://vimeo.com/110719347 (stock motor)

http://vimeo.com/110715841 (GM motor)


(Reserved for some more cars)

[j0pp3]

Very nice Turbo Optima. I really like the paint scheme.

[DanB4]

Very nice Henk and thanks for the kind comments

My Mid will be raced at the vintage revival event on the 27th July and I'll put the video on here shortly after.

Dan

[OptimaFan]

Originally Posted by j0pp3

Very nice Turbo Optima. I really like the paint scheme.

Thanks. Considering I have a love/hate relationship with painting, I was more than pleased to see it come together as I had in mind. I often browse the internet for ideas regarding painting, and often combine things into a single body. For instance the placement of part of the decals on the Turbo Optima comes from a car that was listed on eBay, but with my own twist here and there. And that car was a couple of shades of green and white, so totally different appearance.

Originally Posted by DanB4

Very nice Henk and thanks for the kind comments

My Mid will be raced at the vintage revival event on the 27th July and I'll put the video on here shortly after.

Dan

Hi Dan

All comments well deserved, you helped me out with some parts and painting, and advice when I was just starting with my first vintage rebuilds. So if my wife finds out about how much cars I have now, I can tell her it's your fault.

Looking forward to vids of your car running at that event. Will you post vids in that topic, so all is kept together?


Btw, added some pics of my Optima Mid Custom Special, the one that has that body, wing and undertray you sold to me.


Edit: made a more logical index, and added pictures of my first Kyosho.

[DanB4]

Your cars are looking great Henk

[OptimaFan]

Originally Posted by DanB4

Your cars are looking great Henk

Thanks! I've added a few vids of my main Mid runner to the 4th posting, hope you'll enjoy.

[TM Ru22311]

That is a great collection you have. Certainly gives me some inspiration to move forward on my projects (I'm not too fond of painting myself). However, I have to get to it so I can continue with new projects.
I currently have 4 buggy's that are pretty much finished (except electronics) but need painting and decals:
Turbo Optima
Optima Pro
Ultima
Turbo Ultima

I think I am going to go with box art for all of these as they will all be shelf queens. Any advice for painting would be very appreciated. I have never painted a rear wing before and I am wondering how you guys paint the sides of the wings?

[OptimaFan]

Thanks for the comments. Though my collection is still lacking some iconic cars, like the Schumacher and others, I am pretty happy with it.

Originally Posted by TM Ru22311

I think I am going to go with box art for all of these as they will all be shelf queens. Any advice for painting would be very appreciated. I have never painted a rear wing before and I am wondering how you guys paint the sides of the wings?

Painting those hollow sides is a challenge indeed. Important is that you clean the insides well with washing agent and preferably with a cleaning sponge, one with smooth on one side, and a rough side on the other. With the rough side you can score the surface a little, which helps the paint to stick. I then first spray the horizontal part on the wing. When that has dried enough, I spray some paint on a scrap piece of lexan, then use that as "painter's palette" and dip a thin brush in it. With the brush I paint the inside, taking care not to touch the walls with the wooden part of the brush, so I don't rub off the just applied paint. It's a bit tricky, but I manage to get a solid color fill of the hollow sides that way.

[Welshy40]

Firstly welcome to the club and yes you have found out how addictive it is. I will post all of mine including the one im currently working on in the next few months.

Cars look great but gather your still working on the triumph. Get the rear tower and wheels and it will be perfect. It was a pretty good car and did win if i recal the UK nationals in the hands of Jamie Booth.

[J77MYF]

That's a brilliant collection. I just hope some of mine turn out as good

[OptimaFan]

Originally Posted by Welshy40

Firstly welcome to the club and yes you have found out how addictive it is. I will post all of mine including the one im currently working on in the next few months.

Cars look great but gather your still working on the triumph. Get the rear tower and wheels and it will be perfect. It was a pretty good car and did win if i recal the UK nationals in the hands of Jamie Booth.

Looking forward to your topic.

As for the Triumph, I am not sure if I will make it fully stock again. At first I intended it to be my 2wd vintage runner, so having an original rear shock tower wasn't that important. It runs really nice, smooth, responsive. But another car has taken the place of being my main 2wd vintage runner, so maybe I will make it fully stock again. What doesn't help is that it is not that easy to find Triumph parts.

[TM Ru22311]

Thank you for the info. I don't want to mess those up.
I really just started in this hobby and already love it.
There are just so many great cars from that period.
I am mainly focused on the Optima series, but I would
really like to get a Triumph myself (and a Lazer) at some point.

Originally Posted by Optima4Ever

Thanks for the comments. Though my collection is still lacking some iconic cars, like the Schumacher and others, I am pretty happy with it.




Painting those hollow sides is a challenge indeed. Important is that you clean the insides well with washing agent and preferably with a cleaning sponge, one with smooth on one side, and a rough side on the other. With the rough side you can score the surface a little, which helps the paint to stick. I then first spray the horizontal part on the wing. When that has dried enough, I spray some paint on a scrap piece of lexan, then use that as "painter's palette" and dip a thin brush in it. With the brush I paint the inside, taking care not to touch the walls with the wooden part of the brush, so I don't rub off the just applied paint. It's a bit tricky, but I manage to get a solid color fill of the hollow sides that way.

[Welshy40]

Originally Posted by Optima4Ever

Looking forward to your topic.

As for the Triumph, I am not sure if I will make it fully stock again. At first I intended it to be my 2wd vintage runner, so having an original rear shock tower wasn't that important. It runs really nice, smooth, responsive. But another car has taken the place of being my main 2wd vintage runner, so maybe I will make it fully stock again. What doesn't help is that it is not that easy to find Triumph parts.

True, but they do appear. Chassis and towers maybe at fibrelyte, rear wheels you can use annsman mad rat (exact fit width etc) but unsure if annsman or team c did a front wheel like this so worth checking. Glad your not using as a runner as the belt may strip if using a fast motor and doubt youll want to do what i did to the lazer rear gearbox to stop that happening.

[OptimaFan]

Updated the first posting with some pics and a vid of my RC10 runner.