Kyosho Blizzard Restoration (part 5)

The temperatures are still cold here so the body has not been painted, but I am making progress to get closer to that stage with this update.  A number of little things have been completed.

First, I cut a rectangular section off of some 0.04 inch lexan sheet and made a mounting base for the IMX-1 dual ESC mixer circuit.  I used double-sided servo tape to mount the lexan piece to the servo frame rails.  Then I used another piece of servo tape to stick the IMX-1 to the lexan.  I routed the ESC radio wires through the foam battery holder and then hooked them into the mixer, and then plugged the mixer into the receiver.  The receiver was also servo taped to the metal plate mounted at the front of the chassis.

Next, I took an old piece of blue colored through-the-hole circuit board that I had lying around and drilled a hole for a mounting screw and soldered a 2x3 pin header with the two ESC switch wires using up the first four pins.  I also soldered a servo extension lead to the two remaining header pins in order to route power from the receiver to the header.  This power will be used to run the flashing light that will be mounted to the top of the body.  The header assembly was mounted to the servo rail using a pre-existing hole.

The 6 pin header acts as a connector so the body can be easily separated from the chassis.  I bought two 16 inch servo extension wire assemblies and super-glued the female ends together.  Then I used some heat shrink tubing and wrapped the connector assembly in order to make it look like one large 2x6 pin connector and provide some strain relief for the wire.

Now the ESC switches and power for the flashing light can be easily disconnected when the body is removed.  The extra holes in the blue circuit board are just in case I want to add a second connector for more lights in the future.

I used small pieces of heat shrink tubing to hold the two extension wires together so they aren't as messy.  I also drilled a 3mm hole in the chassis for the antenna mount and installed an aluminum Tamiya mount (3455035).  The original Blizzard was designed for the antenna to be mounted on the right rear corner of the chassis, however I felt that this was too close to the motors.  The electrical noise emitted by the motors could generate enough interference to cause control problems, so I moved the mount as far forward as I could while keeping it behind the main cab section.

On the body, I reamed holes for the muffler exhaust on the left side of the back of the cab and created two new switch mounting holes.  The vertical switch hole on the left, near the muffler holes, will be used for the flashing light circuit.  It will be somewhat hidden by the muffler and center crate/box molded into the body.  The two switch holes on the right will be for the two ESCs.  The top switch was pre-drilled by Kyosho, so I added a second hole under it.  I wanted to keep the ESC switches separate from each other in case I wanted to turn only one ESC on at a time or perform some other maintenance, otherwise a single DPST switch would have worked fine.  I reamed another larger hole on the right side behind the ESC switch holes for the antenna mount so it lined up with the chassis antenna mount hole.  The white powder on the body is plastic shavings left over from the drilling, filing and reaming of the holes.

The flashing light circuit as supplied from Kyosho in 1985 did not come with a protective case or good method for mounting, so I went through my parts drawers and found a black plastic case from an old relay assembly that I had long ago taken apart.  The size of the case was almost perfect, so with just a small amount of trimming inside the case and some sanding of the circuit board, I was able to slide the circuit board inside and cover it with a piece of scrap lexan which was then glued into place with CA.  I could make it waterproof by putting silicone sealant on the part where the wires come out, but I don't think it is necessary.  This case should provide some protection from water or snow and also make mounting the flash circuit assembly on the body a lot easier.

Finally, I ordered new tracks from Pistenking of Germany.  At approximately $110 shipped to the US, they were not cheap, but there is simply no place else to get replacement tracks for the original Blizzard. 

Each track is made out of 13 small pieces of track just like this one and held together with small screws.

The edges are beveled, unlike the original tracks.

Here is a shot of a single piece of the new track sitting on top of the original track.  The total width of the Pistenking track is exactly the same as the old track.  The "blades" of the new track might be slightly thicker than the original, but it is difficult to tell because they are flat on top rather than rounded like the originals.  The flexible "runners" in between each blade are exactly the same width as the original.  This means the total surface area of the track remains the same, thus keeping ground pressure the same as the original.  This is good news for staying on top of soft snow, whereas the newer BL01B tracks have thinner runners and aren't as good at keeping the Blizzard floating on top of powder.

These tracks are excellent quality and very flexible.  I have not mounted them on my Blizzard yet, but I predict that they will work great.  If you are in the market for replacement original Blizzard tracks for your own restoration, these are worth a look.  Please note that the site is in German, so you may need to use Google translate to help navigate the site.
I ordered via email and used Paypal for payment.  It took almost a week for Pistenking to reply to my request for an order, and then another week for the tracks to arrive here in the US.  Not bad at all.

Pistenking website:  http://www.pistenking.com
 

Tamiya Vajra

The Vajra (58497) is a somewhat confusing release from Tamiya.  It arrived after the Avante 2011 (58489) and was generally looked at by most critics as a poor attempt to utilize the Avante chassis for the basis of a truck platform.  Priced higher than the Avante 2011, for both MSRP and street, it was viewed as a failed attempt by Tamiya to capture the short course crowd, if in fact that was what Tamiya hoped to achieve.  The use of plastic in many places where metal was found on the Avante kit further reinforced the viewpoint of a fragile chassis design, which was already a criticism of the Avante chassis.  While the Avante 2011 chassis was made stronger than the original through the use of machined parts and carbon fiber, it is still considered more fragile than other popular off-road chassis used in competition today.  Using the chassis for a truck with large wheels and tires seemed rather far-fetched.  Many critics also disliked the body styling which was based on the Super Levant. And then there is the name: Vajra. What?  The name does not roll off the tongue as easily as the Frog, Hornet, Avante or Bruiser.

To a degree, I agreed with most of the critical viewpoints.  The Vajra was certainly not on my wishlist of kits to buy, at least not when considering the exorbitant price that Tamiya was asking.  Still, the fact that it was based on the Avante chassis did have some intrigue.  It could be fun to bash around (lightly!) for some fun, if it was cheaper.  A lot cheaper.  

Enter rcmart.com.  Someone happened to mention on TamiyaClub that Dinball (rcmart.com) was having a sale on the Vajra. It was almost exactly half what Tower Hobbies wanted.  While it could be argued that even that price should not be considered "cheap", it was definitely more interesting at that price point.  Even with super coupons and free shipping, Tower could not come close to the Dinball price, even after adding on the shipping cost from Hong Kong.   At first I ignored the impulse to buy it, but over the next few days I kept going back to the site, adding the kit to my cart, computing shipping, going through the check out steps, and then bailing at the last second because I would start to have second thoughts.   Shipping was rather expensive, after all.  After the third time of doing this I finally relented by clicking on the Confirm Order button.

Three days later, I had it in hand.  EMS shipping is fast.

Ball diffs are included, but no torque splitter

No blister packs.  These stickers are the bonus item.

There are two large plastic bags full of parts.  One bag is placed under the front of the polycarbonate body, and the other bag is on the outside.  The wheels are under the rear of the body, with the tires on the outside.  The chassis plates, manual, and stock kit decals are on the bottom while the bonus decals are on the top, along with a large plastic parts tree and manual erratum regarding shock assembly.

Inner foams are already installed in the tires

These are the standard decals

Carbon fiber upper and lower plates (2mm thickness) plus antenna tube

GT Tuned motor is included, but no special label

Maybe I have a soft spot for unpopular kits.  After all, my first Tamiya was a Super Champ which many people dislike, and my most recent restoration was a Saint Dragon, also very low on the popularity scale, at least in the US.

Still, I predict this will be a very enjoyable build.  I have not yet built my Avante 2011, and in fact I may build this kit first.

Plazmost Polycarbonate RC Vehicle Stands

For many years now, French eBay seller "plazmost" has been manufacturing and selling high-end stands for a select few radio control chassis, including:

• HPI Baja 5B
• HPI Savage
• Kyosho Optima/Javelin/Salute series
• Tamiya Bruiser/Mountaineer
• Tamiya High-Lift series
• Tamiya SRB series (Sand Scorcher, Rough Rider, Buggy Champ, Super Champ)

If you are wondering why stands are necessary, the rubber tires on most RC vehicles can develop a flat spot over time and even start cracking, much like a 1:1 car, if they sit in one spot for long periods of time.  Shelf queens (models built for display only) are especially prone to this sort of deterioration.  The stand keeps the tires from touching the ground, so they stay round.

I bought Plazmost stands for my Mountaineer and Toyota High-Lift a few years ago and really liked the look and design.  The stands are CNC machined out of one-eighth inch (3.14mm) clear polycarbonate sheet, and some sections are shaped to conform to the underside of the chassis so the fit is secure.  Then Plazmost applies custom manufacturer-specific metallic decals to the sides to give the stands a professional appearance.  They aren't cheap, but they are strong and look fantastic.

More recently, I bought some custom-made Kyosho stands from another eBay seller that were made by Plazmost.  I wanted more of these, plus I wanted a bunch of the same design but with the Tamiya decal instead of Kyosho.   The point of these custom stands was to make them more generic in terms of the chassis it could hold, rather than designed to fit a specific chassis only.  The top of the stand that contacts the chassis is flat rather than shaped.  I also wanted a lot of them, so I was hoping to reduce the price of each stand by making them simpler in design.

So, I contacted Plazmost in January to see if he would make some custom stands for me.  We agreed on a design for the Tamiya stands and the final price for the complete order, and then he went to work (on a Sunday, no less!) and finished my order that day to be shipped early in the week.  About a week after that, they arrived in the mail.  Amazing speed and service!

Here is the result.  This picture only shows part of what I ordered.

As packaged from Plazmost, each piece is separated to prevent scratches during shipping from France

Clear pieces make it difficult to take a picture

Alternate surface and lighting

Unlike Plazmost's regular stands, it is possible for the vehicle to slip off the stand since it is flat where it supports the chassis, but on a level surface like a table or shelf these work just fine.  With some thin rubber or soft plastic trim mounted on the top edges it would be possible to make the stand more non-slip, too.

Assembled

Close-up of the Tamiya decal.  One star is silver, the other is gold, as is the name.

Close-up of the silver Kyosho decal

Kyosho stand with Turbo Ultima

Tamiya stand with Buggy Champ

Close-up shot of Tamiya stand with Buggy Champ

I know these pictures aren't great because they were taken indoors using a flash; the true colors do not come out very well.  But these stands definitely look a lot better than paint spray can lids!

Plazmost did a fabulous job making these custom stands.  Thanks Aki!

You can see the regular stands at his eBay store here:  Plazmost Store

He may decide to offer these custom stands as regular items at his eBay store in the future, or you can contact him through eBay messaging if you want some made.

Kyosho Pegasus Restoration (part 1)

The Kyosho Pegasus is a very low-end car that was designed to compete with the Tamiya Grasshopper and Hornet back in the 1980's.  It has friction shocks and suspension arms that pivot by the bending of plastic instead of a hinge pin design that is normally found on off-road vehicles.  You don't see a lot of them around today, probably because they got broken after heavy use.

I can remember looking at the Tower Hobbies catalogs when I was young, wishing that I could get the Pegasus, or maybe the Icarus, which was based on the same basic chassis.  I had no idea how the cars were designed or how well they performed back then.  I was simply intrigued by the overall look.  Before I got this example, I still had no idea how the chassis was built until I actually got my hands on it and looked at the manual.

Here are the three original auction pictures of the car:

The seller described it as assembled, but never run, and in outstanding condition.  As it turned out, nobody else bid so I won by default.  

Once I received the car, it was very clear that it had never been used.  All of the plastic parts were new and most of them still had the mold flashing on them.  Whoever put this together didn't trim anything.  Not only that, but almost all of the screws were only 80% screwed in to the parts.  Very odd.  It was like someone rushed to build it just enough to have a rolling chassis, but stopped once it was together and resembled a finished chassis. 

All was not perfect, however, as there were a few parts missing that I couldn't tell from the auction photos such as the steering servo mounts, steering tie rods and ball connectors, servo saver, and the lights that mount on the body.  The wing was missing, too, but I knew that before I bid.  The tires were in decent, but not perfect condition.  Due to the car sitting on a shelf for years, the rear tires developed flat spots.  The rubber was still pliable and not cracked however, so I was able to put some foam in the rear tires to help push the flat spots out.  Overall I was pleased with the purchase.

I took the car apart all the way down to the individual screws and parts, which was very easy to do because none of the screws were tight.  Since the parts were new, I did not have to clean them like I usually do when I get a chassis to restore.  After trimming the flashing from the plastic pieces using a hobby knife, I started the assembly using the manual as a guide.  All plastic bushings were replaced with ball bearings. The build was very easy, which was to be expected since this was a beginner's kit.  I had to skip steps that required the missing parts, but there wasn't a whole lot to it.

I managed to find a steering rod spare parts package rather quickly, but the steering servo mounts were more difficult to find.  Well, actually they were easy to find, but part of a much larger plastic parts tree that was priced higher than I wanted to pay.  I kept waiting and finally found a really trashed Pegasus chassis that was missing a lot of parts, but had the servo mounts I needed:

I bet this has a story to tell

It came with these loose parts, too:

I probably paid too much for it, but still less than the PI-3 parts tree that contains the steering mounts. I got some spare parts in the process, too, including gears, rear dogbones and drive cups that were still in useable condition.  The steering  joints in the above photo look like they are from a Kyosho Optima, so they have nothing to do with the Pegasus chassis.  I guess the seller just happened to have them stored with it.  The rear axles were garbage because they were so worn down from using bushings, and the arms were junk because they were ripped apart for who-knows-what-purpose.  But the servo mounts were there, and in perfect condition.  I cleaned them up and finished installing the steering servo.

Lastly, I picked up a reproduction wing from TeamBlueGroove on eBay since the original was missing.

I had one rather bad mishap during the assembly:

I broke a rear axle when it rolled off the workbench and fell onto the concrete floor of my basement.  It hit the floor just right and broke at the weakest point where the threads end and the smooth part of the shaft starts.  If it had hit the floor with the big cup part on the opposite end, it probably would have been perfectly fine.  After some choice words to myself, I had to start the search for some replacement axles.  Thankfully, I found some more brand new ones, and for not too much money.  Now I have spares, too, in case another one breaks.

I decided to keep the stock motor since I wanted to use a vintage Futaba MC112B electronic speed control that I had stored away.  I fitted the radio components and hooked everything up.  Using the Gelly Roll paint pen from Sakura, I painted the white lettering on the tires.  The chassis is now complete.

All that is left now is to paint and decal the body and wing once the weather warms up.