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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18712
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Here we go. Turns out the ads I have are from 82/83
 Both ads the same, and here I've scanned one from Aug/Sept 1982...
www.rctoymemories.com - A nostalgia site about vintage and retro radio controlled cars & other toys, from Tamiya, Nikko, Kyosho, Radio Shack and many more.
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18714
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Intriguiging ... I've heard of MacGregor before, but I knew them as a small scale 1970's manufacturer of radio gear - I wonder how accurate that perception was  Interesting that they don't put the manufacturer's names in ... I see the 12X and Ranger 11 were made by Ishimasa, not sure about the Hilux and Sandskipper, but they all seem prtty good prices, M1 & Panther seem _very_ expensive. The size of the advert suggests these were fairly new items, certainly not being sold off cheap at the end of production. A price of 45 GBP for the Trial 12 compares poorly with the Tamiya Holiday & Sand Rover IMO, which I think would have been around 50 GBP at the time - but 5 GBP was a significant difference then, difficult to put into perspective now, but as a youngster buying it with your own money then, it could have been the difference between getting an RC car & not having one at all - or waiting several more months to afford it ... |
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18716
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Wow, that ad brings back some memories.
I'm guessing MacGregor were a distributor, like Ripmax. Maybe they did manufacture radio gear as well but also sold model kits and accessories as a "value added" product line. The Hilux and Sandskipper were (AFAIK) made by Kyosho. The M1 and Panther were (I think) larger scale (1:8th??) and IC powered, which might explain the price difference. The Ranger was 1:10th scale and IC powered by a small engine (0.11 I guess from the name). (Disclaimer: All of the above comes from 30 year old memories, so may not be reliable  )Edit: Looks like MacGregor are still going. |
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18717
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Hilux and Sandskipper are two-thirds of a nice early 80s series of dune buggies by Kyosho, that also include the VW Baja Bug (naturally
my favourite
, so plenty more at that link
)But yes, typically all the "obscure" asian brands had their brands further obscured by western magazines, for fear perhaps that customers would see the asian product as a bit cheap/poor? The same happened right around the world, really...I suspect the same thinking was behind Tamiya being half-branded as "MRC", Kyosho being "Cox" or "Graupner" and so on. Seemed everywhere had a importer ready to assume branding duties, over the actual brand, in an effort to be more appealing to the locals. So yeah, perhaps early 80s is where this Spital buggy was at. If I find any more ads though, I'll be sure to add them here... www.rctoymemories.com - A nostalgia site about vintage and retro radio controlled cars & other toys, from Tamiya, Nikko, Kyosho, Radio Shack and many more.
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18718
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M1 and Panther were made by
Sankyo
They look scarily similar to Andyaus' Texas Wild Baja (and were 1:8 scale and IC powered - my memory is not as bad as I thought )Maybe another re-branding exercise? |
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18726
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Had a go at the driver figure ... original is badly cracked, warped & melted, and as it's very thin lexan, there's really nothing I could do to recover it ...
However, the tricky bit (the driver) looked very much like the figure than was in some Mardave Meteors, so a repro one would be a good starting point... it's not a copy, it's a tribute 
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18745
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I remembered why I should stop using seaweed extract in my ultrasonic cleaner on anything apart from brass ... everything comes out nice and shiny (the correct BZP or cadmium passivated finish), but despite washing everything in clean water afterwards, give it a couple of days & everything turns black
 
At least it made all the fasteners clean enough to handle to make a shopping list ... 2 off #2 (2.2mm) 8mm Pan Head Self Tapping screw
2 off #4 (3mm) 6.5 Pan Head Self Tapping screw
27 off #4 (3mm) 12.7mm Pan Head Self Tapping screw
5 off #4 (3mm) 9.5mm Pan Head Self Tapping screw
2 off 2mm 10mm roll pin
2 off 3.2mm E-clip
2 off 5mm E-clip
4 off M2 6mm Pan head machine screw
4 off m2 full nut
2 off m2.5 18mm CSK machine screws
2 off m2.5 25mm Pan head machine screw
2 off m2.5 8mm Pan head machine screw
8 off m2.5 full nut
2 off m2.5 plain washer
6 off M3 10mm Pan head machine screw
4 off m3 12mm Pan head machine screw
2 off M3 20mm Pan head machine screw
2 off M3 36mm Pan head machine screw
4 off m3 3mm grub screw
1 off m3 65mm Pan head machine screw
11 off m3 6mm Pan head machine screw
29 off M3 full nut
8 off m3 plain washer
2 off M3 Shake proof washer
4 off M4 30mm hex head machine screw
12 off M4 full nut
8 off M4 lock nut
18 off M4 plain washer
4 off M5 plain washer |
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18772
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It's your choice of course
But I would still try to recover that original driver. Lexan can be re-glued with the right plastics glue, and once it was painted up, it would be nice to say the car was an all-original ultra rare Spital Trial 12.*H. * Disclaimer: Hibernaculum is an originality diehard. www.rctoymemories.com - A nostalgia site about vintage and retro radio controlled cars & other toys, from Tamiya, Nikko, Kyosho, Radio Shack and many more.
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Spital Trial 12 resto 11 years 1 month ago #18773
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It's not just that it's cracked, it's that it's crumbling & new cracks happen if I so much as fart in its general direction - I put that down to the white gloss used to paint it  It's also warped, melted in places & very badly cut out - it's really not recoverable to a decent standard IMO ... and I have recovered some pretty rough things in my time.
I noticed that ... in fact in your profile:
I can appreciate your ethos, but I don't necessarily share it (all the following is to explain the differences in our views, not to mock you, BTW). Some of my cars are nearly as they would have come out of the box, but I fit metal bearings as a matter of course (even if the car is going to stay on the shelf), I'll usually fit an ESC, and often 2.4ghz radio gear if I'm planning to run it, and I tend to use paint that's not quite boxart - off whites, metallic or pearlescent shades, etc. I'll happily use repro, hop-up, compatible or re-re parts, or make my own where possible and/or where the originals are not available, or not available at a price I'm happy with. I'll also repair/sand/polish parts, or use stainless fasteners for the same reasons. Obviously I need to work on that to make it a bit more succinct I don't think anyone should have a problem with the methods I tend towards, as long as I don't pass parts off as original, or sin by omitting to mention them. For example, if I ever come to sell this car, the description (assuming it all works out the way I'm anticipating) would be something like: Spital Trial 12, thought to be from 1982/83, fully rebuilt using stainless fasteners
throughout. Steel parts have been refinished with Bilt Hamber anti rust treatment,
original MSC has been completely rewired; charging jacks on chassis tub are
non-original & were fitted by a previous owner.
One of the reinforcing ribs on the inside of the chassis tub had been butchered by a
former owner & has been tidied up by me rather than repaired (see photos), battery
cover plate was made by me using FRP using a parts diagram found on the internet as a
guide.
Driver/cockpit is a home-made tribute to the original, using a repro Mardave Meteor
driver & styrene sheet.
Shell was damaged around the rear body mount & front left wheelarch, this has been
repaired & braced on the inside with fibreglass matting. Paint is automotive acrylic
Inca Yellow, decals are hand cut black vinyl.
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