TOPIC:

I like the Cheetah but the bodies look so breakable, How delicate are they?
I would be scared to run them incase I crashed it. I love the XR311 but I figure the body is similar and could break easy. 
 

Thanks Flo, the easiest thing to do would be to complete one maybe even two, but I’d like to try and complete all 4 if possible.
It will be a challenge.
I keep thinking back to Jonny’s Cheetah thread and I think he may have had the right idea, by going his own way.

jord001 wrote:

I like the Cheetah but the bodies look so breakable, How delicate are they?
I would be scared to run them incase I crashed it. I love the XR311 but I figure the body is similar and could break easy. 


Lee the body is basically a Tamiya model kit on an RC chassis. Those bodies have so many bits and so much detail. 
 

jord001 wrote:

I like the Cheetah but the bodies look so breakable, How delicate are they?
I would be scared to run them incase I crashed it. I love the XR311 but I figure the body is similar and could break easy. 


Lee the body is basically a Tamiya model kit on an RC chassis. Those bodies have so many bits and so much detail. 

 

Yep Lee the bodies look like cristal. I have now a 2000 rere and I am afraid to run it. But with a 2,4 radio set and a very soft run, it should be fun. I only miss the 2 side mirrors on mine. But when it will be possible for me to do a run with it .... 

Al, all spares are good to keep. I'm sure you'll be able to save one , two or more. All salvatiin is good for our addiction. 😛😁

I think the Cheetah suspension is more of a problem than the bodywork, not just the unobtainable torsion bars but the way the square holes in the suspension break at the edges & let the bars turn 90 degrees just when you think you've got the tension right - and it's not as of you can use the re-re XR311 parts instead  

That'll stop you ever running the thing, an incomplete body (which it will be by the end of a run ) is just ... incomplete.

My decision to make closed off, civilianised versions wasn't much of a choice, even after buying 5 I still only had enough of the external greeblies to make a somewhat complete one with no interior (the red one), and one that was completely trashed both in and out. I'm not sure I did the right thing with the second one, it might have been better to let the chassis go on it's own, the bodywork & paint was NOT a good advert even if it was many years ago.

Parts are even more rare & expensive now, I don't envy anyone trying to restore one to anything approaching original.

I like having a Cheetah on the shelf (along with the XR311) as examples of Tamiya's 1st offroad cars, but I don't think they've moved in getting on for 10 years now, so apparently not _that_ much

I think this is where Cheetah body shells go to die??
 

It’s time to take a pile of 7.5 Cheetah bodies and put a bit of focus into these.
I managed to source some graffiti remover last week, so let the paint stripping begin.

We’ll call this shell number 1.
 

Starting with the white shell in the line up above.
It’s not until you’ve removed the paint that you know what the real damage is on any restoration.
 
So above is after a couple of rounds of graffiti remover. It came off pretty well at this point I had one obvious break on the rear side where the roll bar meets the rear body.
So in the picture above I’ve glued it together with a 2 part expoxy glue and clamped it over night to hold it together.
 
Above it wasn’t until the paint was removed that I discovered a crack underneath the headlights as well as a bit missing from between the 2 headlights. Again I glued and clamped the crack.
Some filler and a lot of rubbing down will be needed to prep before painting.

 
And finally on the small lights, the red ones, I actually broke off a piece in the middle while stripping the paint. I’ve glued the broken piece back in. This seems to be a definite weak spot, the fact it came off in my fingers when I touched it was a bit of a shock though.

The roll bar has been snapped at some point and glued together. I don’t really like how it’s fixed, it’s not straight, but I’m leaving it for now. These bodies are very fragile and I want to make it as solid as possible first before I think about re breaking that piece to straighten it out.

Let’s call this shell number 2.
 
This is cycle 1 with graffiti remover, but to add an extra layer of confusion I tried a product called Clean Slate rmvr 3.0
first. 
Maybe more on this later.

Shell 2 after its second cycle of graffiti remover. This is proving to be a bit more stubborn, but I think that’s because the PO roughed the surface more and has got better adhesion. That’s just pure conjecture on my part as I obviously don’t know what brand of paint has been used.