TOPIC:

Thanks Stingray & Jonny for your input, I appreciate all the guidence I can get.

I recall most vividly during the 80's walking up the stairs in Beaties and seeing the Techigold motor in a display cabinet along with the Tamiya 8.4v racing pack. Both were 'state of the art' and much desirable upgrades at the time, but as Jonny points out, cost prohibitive.

I don't have any memory of anyone actually using or referring to them at the time; most of the power plants were Demon and Trinity Horsepower motors.

I would be a little concerned about damaging the Techigold and will probably decide to retire it to the parts box for a future restoration. But as of now, this Boomerang is going to be rebuilt (hopefully) and used for some light bashing.

I'm in the fanclub of that motor.

At least here in Norway, the reedy or other fast motors was even more expensive than the Technigold, and not lot of places that sold that stuff either.
Those days Kyosho motors were more common up here, and the 240 LeMans was the one to have.
But your battery would be drained in matter of minutes.

With the Thechnigold you got torque and speed, motors of same speed often had less torque than the Technigold, you got both run time and torque with RX motors.

In very early 90s I drove my mates BigWig with 8.4v battery and the included Technigold motor, for bashing around the garden and on the streets it was a very good setup for the day.
Also drove Monster Beetle and Striker, both with Technigold motors. The Striker was very fun with that motor and chasing cars up and down the streets on hard packed snow was really really good fun.
That is why Striker had so much inpact on me, got 3 now

Back to the Texhnigold motor.
I still use one of those in my Lunchbox, and with 2s it's really fun.
Have modified so it can wheelie for ages if the grounds are level and smooth ish.

After reading the spec, a Tamiya RZ motor should be a good replacement,
It has both more torque and rpm's.
Fun bit is that the RZ is 23t while the Technigold are 21t.

The technigold is not the best motor but like the 2CV or the beetle, it is iconic. Like the dangerous conrad motor.

Hi,

The Boomerang rebuild has been laboured recently for a couple of reasons. Mainly work commitments but also a host of little unwanted surprises upon inspection of the parts.

Damage to the drive gear wasn't immediately apparent when the gears were being cleaned. However, when I started to reassemble the rear gear box I noticed 3 of the teeth were damaged, so I ordered a new parts pack which arrived this morning. All the other original gears are in great condition but I'm going to replace them all.

There are a number of other small issues which are being addressed and I'm just waiting for a delivery of parts. But hopefully the project will be back on track early next week.

Caprinut, I remember those LeMans 240 motors well. I've had a look at a couple for sale, but they're really expensive. Lovely looking can though. Nearly as nice as the Demon lol.

Hope you're keeping well.

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on restoring plastic wheels to their original condition?

The wheels on my vintage Boomerang have been partially painted blue and I"m disinclined to use any chemical remover or wire wool until I've consulted the forum as I don't want to risk unnecessary damage to the plastic.

Thanks

Sam wrote:

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on restoring plastic wheels to their original condition?

The wheels on my vintage Boomerang have been partially painted blue and I"m disinclined to use any chemical remover or wire wool until I've consulted the forum as I don't want to risk unnecessary damage to the plastic.

Thanks

TBH, given the damage on the rim + the paint, and the cost/availability of re-release wheels, I'd go for new ... however, I would expect a strong caustic soda solution (use eye protection & gloves) to fetch it off. 2nd choice would be media blasting (not really practical unless you've already got the kit), or a polycarbonate safe graffitti remover (not to be confused with paint stripper). I wouldn't want to try that with abrasives at all.

Thank you Jonny, I sincerely appreciate the advice. I have a caustic soda solution in my cupboard, so I'll give that a go tonight.

This is my first ever build/restoration, so I'm using it to also try and learn about all the tips & tricks associated with restoring an old model car and getting some practical experience with parts that are easy & cheap to replace.

Once I've had my fun with this Boomerang (on the condition that it works after I've rebuilt it .. lol) I will definitely buy a new set wheels and retire it to the shelf.

Thanks again Jonny

Thank you Jonny

Sam, for the tiny lip of the wheels, you can sand them down as I did on my Falcon wheels.

I used old wheel axle and clamped it down and used a drill to speed up the sanding a bit.
When nearly there I used a hand file and sanded it flat.
Polished them as a last step, you may want to paint yours...