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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 9 months ago #67113

I bought the Super Hornet somewhere in the mid-90s.  Couple of mates also had R/C's and we made use of some local building sites on w'ends, and anywhere else we could find.  At one point, mine did a reverse swan dive (a 180 'handbrake' gone wrong) off a 2m embankment, landing on its roof.  Hence the damaged body.

Apart from the upgraded motor, the car was kept standard.  Some minor tweaks included partially stretching the front springs, so they behaved more like a progressive rate spring.  The front tended to bottom-out (mostly as I was too lazy to keep rebuilding the shocks), so this helped keep the nose out of the dirt.  The small springs that supported the body where the gearbox assembly attached, were really just bad.  After replacing them a few times i gave up and shoved some plastic in there, which created a solid rear setup.  Didn't do much for the handling though.

Eventually the novelty wore off, and the car was packed away.

Fast forward to 2021, and i decided to dig out the Super Hornet for the kids to use.  It was not looking healthy.  The tyres were rotten, and fairly worn out.  The body is banged up, but still ok to use.  And I only have one usable rear wheel.  But surprisingly the batteries still hold a charge.  Ok, so let’s replace what's needed and get it running.



I started with replacing wheels and tyres.  Some searching led me to a couple of posts here about which wheel/tyre combos will work, and some good advice about swapping to hex wheels.  So as most know the rear is easy, but the front a bit harder.  I got some hex adapters, but they are too wide on the front.  I then found the Traxxas TRX-4 Sport rims (in the photos), and got 1.9" for the front and 2.2" rears.  What caught my eye was the hole on the outside that normally holds the wheel nut, which looked like it could hold a bearing.  When they arrived, a quick check and the 1.9" was 11mm whilst the 2.2" is 12mm, and both use a 12mm hex on the inside.


At some point sentimentality took over, and was heading down the resto path.  So much so, that I am considering buying a couple of cheap bangers for the kids to use, and keeping the Super Hornet for me.

I ordered a bunch of bearings from Plaig Bearings for the wheels and gearbox.  And whilst on the spending spree, plenty of M3/M4/M5 304,316 S/S screws, nuts, bolts, nylocks, washers, etc, from Classic Fasteners.

For 1.9" a 5x11x4 bearing fits perfectly snug in the outside, and I'm planning to use a 5x12x4 bearing in the hex hole.  The 2.2" will use a 12mm hex and the outside holds a 5x12x4 bearing couple of 6x12 washers.


Now, side note.  Trying to figure out sizes and stuff, and place an order, with kids and their distractions, isn't very efficient, and I ended up with more wheels than planned.  Add some 2.2" HSP 06008 and 06024 wheels, plus some brand I've never heard of (they were cheaper than cheap and came with monster truck size tyres).

On to tyres.  Finding 2.2" buggy tyres, easy.  For now I've gone with some HSP 06009 and 060025.  For the 1.9" it is either road cars or stadium trucks.  Road tyre profiles are too low and truck tyres to tall.  I then found the Tamiya Rally Block (50476) tyres, but could not find the size anywhere.  Searching through the database here, they appeared to be 1.9" so ordered them.  Gamble paid off, and they fit nicely on the TRX-4 wheels.



Again, maintaining the spending spree, I've also ended up with some Tamiya and Traxxis off road buggy tyres.  Plus Hornet and Hotshot wheels (more on these later).
Wheels and tyres sorted, I started stripping down the car.
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Last edit: by Ducksnuts.

58124 Super Hornet 2 years 9 months ago #67115

Next was the gearbox.
I used why too much grease back then.  Much cleaning later, and then some more cleaning, then the realisation I could be here forever, the gearbox was ready for reassembly.  I had some inox grease, but apparently PTFE isn't the best thing for plastic.  So decided to stick with Tamiya products and ordered some gear lube.

I replaced the plastic bearings with new 5x11x4 and the 5x8x2.5
Applied some lube, sparingly, and closed up the case.  Fitted the motor, and hooked up a power supply for a test run.


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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 9 months ago #67119

Nice resto. Not fan of the wheeles but with original should be better. And your body looks very nice. That's rare... You could easily find repro decals from mciracing.
happy to see a sh on the road again.
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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 9 months ago #67130

Luckily i didn't use all of the decals, so still have most of the original sheet left. Apart from scuff marks, the main damage is to the front bars on the cabin. One is completely snapped off (I have an idea on how to replace it) and the other has snapped where it joins the body.

Knowing how weak the HS wheels are, I wanted something that was much stronger and these are fairly beefy. I plan to repair the original wheels, so that they can be used for "display" on the car.
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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 9 months ago #67131

You could maybe glue the arms to repair the body
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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 9 months ago #67132

The original piece that broke off is long gone.  So I'm actually going to use a scrap piece from one of the parts trees. It's got the perfect angle, but just slightly smaller diameter. Will have pics on the w'end.
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Last edit: by Ducksnuts.

58124 Super Hornet 2 years 8 months ago #67513

School holidays, and being thrown back into lockdown, has meant the wife and child are at home and my personal time has gone out the door.  Throw in the flu, plus spending time on my 'full size' car, and progress on the SH has been slow.

But it also allowed some parts to arrive;
* Rear springs (9805170) - The SH used to bottom out a lot and I always found the OEM springs a bit soft.  So these will be a nice upgrade.
* Power HD 3001HB 4.4 kg Servo - Originally to replace the steering servo.  However the speed controller servo also needs replacing, so this will actually now be used elsewhere (stay tuned).  Instead I decided to stay with original Futaba servos, so have order a couple of S3003 replacements.  And have since found you can get replacement bodies, which is all i really need. Ah well, next time!
* TLR Shock Oil - Self explanatory.
* Assorted shock parts - Mostly just to replace some older bits.  But, I still need a replacement rear lower spring mount.  These have the smaller front mounts.  Arrgghhh
* HSP springs/shocks - These will be used when running the car, mostly to preserve the OEM shocks (yes I know I also bought upgraded springs for the OEM shocks).  The 70mm front's are a bit stiff, which should be ok for running on the road.  I'll need something softer for off-road tho.

Progress so far...
* All the shocks have been cleaned and put back together with fresh oil.  Only part missing is a single rear lower spring mount.
* Removed all of the electronics.  I can now give it all a good clean up and start on the body repairs.
* I'm now getting an itch and looking out for some other 'vintage' kits to get my hands on.  Though like everything else, I fear the "covid tax" has hit the second-hand RC market.

(Excuse the image quality.  Night time and potato phone)






 
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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 8 months ago #67518

the wheels u should of used the tamiya wild one wheels for it or the grasshopper 2 wheels would of fit too
any way did u get it going yet thanks
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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 8 months ago #67528

Yep the car runs.  Am just giving it a refresh and replacing worn parts.

Have already picked up a set of Grasshopper 2 wheels.  They are smaller than the original Super Hornet's.
Hadn't seen the Wild One wheels, thanks for the tip.  They would be some nice rep's to run on.  I plan to repair the original orange wheels as a 'display' set, with some fresh tyres.

For now the Traxxis wheels (and some HSP's) are for running the car.  Gotta say the look of the Traxxis wheels is growing on me, gives it a bit of a tougher stance.  Might even get a second set of 1.9" for the rear to balance it out a bit.

 
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58124 Super Hornet 2 years 7 months ago #67671

Quick update (sorry no pics).... After +20yrs car had it's first run tonight. A quick rap across the lounge room. I'd forgotten how twitchy the controls were, or my reflexes aren't what they used to be. Anyway, car and couch both survived.

Aiming to get the body fixed up this week and grab some photos on the w'end.
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