TOPIC:

Brace yourselves... I bought a used Tamiya on eBay ... and I'm quite pleased with it!

I took a bit of a punt on this one - for 50 GBP (+ postage), and judging by the photographs I wasn't really expecting too much - but it arrived very quickly, had been well packed, and was actually better than described.

It's also apparent that it's a one owner from new car (it has the previous owners name on the underside of the bonnet in paint that matches the wheels), and hasn't been fiddled with/tarted up at all - whereas so many eBay "finds" seem to be a car someone's bought dirt cheap, swapped out the good bits and/or kludged it to barely working condition


Faults... there are quite a few: body is missing everything apart from the VW badge, one mirror & the rear body mount, tyres are bald/perished, wheels have been indifferently painted, bearings are shot, gearbox makes a nasty screeching noise (probably the motor), wiring looks pretty rough, but to be honest the worst things are that one of the front damper shafts is bent, and the TX antenna is missing a section - it tells you something when fairly trivial things are the worst problems...

On the plus side, the radio box is unbroken and has one camlock, plus the remains of two more, gearbox covers are in good condition, rear cage is intact ... I've paid more for less in the past.

Overall I'd say it has been very well used - but not abused.

I'm hoping can get this to the state of "Sunday Best" driver without spending too much extra money at all - bearings, motor, vintage wheels & part worn tyres, repro decals, primer, paint & bumper will all come from my "spares" boxes, the missing nose, plates, sunroof, driver, wipers & lights will all come from one of the re-re body kits I bought just because they were "a bargain" ... I know I had to already pay for them, but it's not _right now_ - which makes the £14 for a damper bag (for one shaft), £7 for damper bushings (because they always rot), £11 for a set of camlocks & £8 (!)for the camlock springs seem a little more palatable ... the rubber seal & radio switch boot can wait... possibly until Satan starts going to work on a snowplough

Looks like it's in extraordinary good condition for a Jonny project...

if you mean with the damper bushing the rubber ones you can get these together with the switchcover for a decent price at

jr-rc(jason)

Jonny wrote:

Brace yourselves... I bought a used Tamiya on eBay ... and I'm quite pleased with it!

He he, finally

Anyway, for GPB50, this looks to be a bargain.
It seem to be a Mk.1, which some collectors will give their right arm for....
Take care restoring it, I am in no doubt it will be great!

-Lars

awesome find post some pics when you have finished restoring it

waterbok wrote:

if you mean with the damper bushing the rubber ones you can get these together with the switchcover for a decent price at jr-rc(jason)

Thanks

larbut wrote:

...It seem to be a Mk.1, which some collectors will give their right arm for....

I suspected as much ... using this on TamiyaClub.com as a checklist:

Skinny front arms: yes
Double bearing space on rear arms: yes
Screws for front spring retainers: yes
Slotted (or "T-type") front body post: yes
Tight spring guide on servo saver & Front body post forward position: no
mechanism box without holes: yes
gearbox - open rear cage lower mount, extra lugs in mechanism box recess, two holes for rollover hoop mount, no reinforcing ribs around pinion hole: yes
smaller gearbox cover: can't really tell, but I guess yes
Black bumper: missing, so can't tell.

... so it's 7/9ths or 8/9ths (depending on whether it had a black bumper or not) mk 1, whereas my other Scorcher I think is only 1/9th

Stripped the body - that must be the worst shell I've done so far in terms of time - I think the paint layers went something like 2 brushed coats of white enamel over 2 brushed coats of blue enamel over sprayed metallic blue ... still, at least I didn't find any more damage (or repairs) - just the crack on the bonnet where they all break anyway..

After 90 minutes:




... three and a half hours:




... six hours ...




... eight hours & I'm calling it done:

This resto should be a walk in the park for you JR looking forward to the end result

tamiya wrote:

This resto should be a walk in the park for you JR looking forward to the end result

I don't know about that ... Scorchers have a deceptively difficult paint scheme to get right, and masking/multiple colour paintjobs are not my forte - I have to resort to line tape over the finished paintwork to get a good edge.

I'm in for this restoration... Subscribed