TOPIC:

Starting with my "shots":







I'll explain each cars history in separate posts, for those interested.

Tom

My Hotshot mk1





I got my first Hotshot short time after it's release, and it won me my first local Tamiya Cup in 1986. In that race I won a brand new Boomerang, and the Hotshot was sold not very long after, so this Hotshot is not my original one. Back then I had no idea of mk1 vs mk2, but I always wondered why my bumper looked different than many others, without investigating the matter further. I now know it was because I had a mk1. This becomes even clearer when I remembered trouble fitting the HP suspension kit. I had to use large washers under the front suspension arms to make the lower shock mounts fit. Of course I now know it was because of the car being a mk1. You can see me running my original Hotshot in this video from a local Tamiya Cup in 1986, posted earlier: vimeo.com/35087482

I have seen various discussions if the first batch of Hotshots included gold plated wheels. I can confirm that they did. I still have those wheels, you can see them on my Supershot presented later. I remember getting them with my Hotshot, but quickly bought some plain creamy ones, because I didn't want to trash the golden ones. I painted the creamy ones with silvery gray paint, and they were later used with my Boomerang in Tamiya Cup 1987, before being sold off with the Hotshot. Luckily I kept the golden ones

Well, as I said my original Hotshot was sold off (to make room for a Kyosho Optima Mid, I believe) so last year I started my quest to "recreate" my Hotshot. All parts are original issue, besides the rear wheels, the "resistor coolers" and some of the decals that are rere (I stll had most of the decals from my original Hotshot). You can probably see the rear wheels are a bit whiter than the front wheels. I have been able to source lots of NOS front wheels, but the rear ones seems rarer. I guess some of you remember my desperate cries for a propeller shaft and some dogbones (thanks Lars, by the way). Even the body is a NOS that I got for a very fair price. However.... unfortunately, not every part is mk1. The lower rear suspension arms are mk2, as I couldn't get hold of any mk1's. So if anybody..... just PM me! The same goes for some creamier original issue rear wheels.... The only hop-up is a black Parma brace for the front upper suspension arms.

I have equipped it with a Futaba MC112B ESC, so I dropped the resistors, and mounted dummies from the rere for looks. I have a standard white bell Mabuchi for power. The rest of the electronics remains to be mounted, but I believe it will be a Acoms ARA-227 receiver with a AS-1 servo.

Tom

My 7-shock Boomerang





I won my Boomerang as first prize in a local Tamiya Cup in 1986. I used the Boomerang to win the same local Tamiya Cup the next year, and gained a A-final spot in the national Tamiya Cup in 1987. You have probably seen the video from the nationals so I won't repeat that story. You can see my Boomerang at around 1:24 and also later in the A-final. I'm the guy to the far left on the index picture, with the red, white and blue jacket.



I have kept my Boomerang just as it was in that video, only recreating the wheels that was sold off with my Hotshot, as explained in my previous post.

The most striking thing with this Boomer is, of course, the seven shock absorbers. In addition to the original 3 Boomerang shocks, I added the HP suspension kit, with Kyosho gold shocks at the rear. I also used a Hotshot front sway bar and retainers. I removed the springs from the 3 original shocks, so only 4 of the 7 shocks had springs. Heavy as a brick, but handled surprisinlgy well. The only problem was the front body mount solution, that was less than adequate, something that spoiled my chances in the A-final, after holding a clear 3rd place for quite a while.

The tires are still the same Schumacher CAT tires used in the vid. It has a red CRP upper front suspension arm brace, and yellow CRP shock tension adjusters.

The powerhorse is a red endbell Black Motor Sprint, the ESC is a Futaba MC110CB, the receiver a Acoms ARA-227 (will be swapped with the Futaba FP-R102GS I used in 87) and the servo a standard Futaba FP-S128.

Tom

My Supershot





Nothing much to say really about this. I never had a Supershot back in the days, but always fancied one. This is built from scratch using original parts (no rere) sourced from all around the world. The body is NOS bought for an arm and a leg just months before the rere was announced. The decals are repros from screenprintdigital (they no longer makes Tamiya repros, unfortunately), as I just couldn't get myself to use the original sticker sheet that came with the body. The motor is a RX-540SD Technipower, and I believe I will mount one of my remaining Futaba MC112B ESC's, as I have a few of those. I do have an original MSC, and will probably add some wires to the resistors, for looks. It will probably have Acoms (or Futaba) receiver and servo. Like my Hotshot, this one has a black Parma upper front suspension arm brace, and like my Boomerang it has the yellow CRP shock tension adjusters. The gold wheels are the original ones I got with my mk1 Hotshot (see my Hotshot post for more details).

As you can see I need a new roof....

Tom

That's a bunch of great looking cars and beautiful pics.
Very nice work on the accompanying texts too.

Edou wrote:

That's a bunch of great looking cars and beautiful pics.
Very nice work on the accompanying texts too.

Thanks Edou.
At least the Hotshot and Supershot are very nice and clean. The Boomerang not so much, but that's the way I want it. Too many memories and history in that buggy that will be erased if I restored it.

Tom

It must have been an awesome feeling to win the car back then...
I can understand the sentiment very well.