TOPIC:

Hmm, I like that idea.

58336 - The Hornet
So I wanted another buggy that I could happily use as a basic runner, and picked up The Hornet a few months ago, or was it last year.  Finally got round to starting it.  Not much really to detail,  this will just be a fairly standard build as don't plan on spending much on upgrades (so no, i'm not getting that aluminium chassis).  So far only change is swapping to ball bearings.  At a later stage I may swap out the front friction shocks for oil shocks.  Will get more pics later as it progresses.

 

Finished up the Hornet.  No build pics.  Also got the paint done, and started on the decals.  Not a fan of loooong decals, that are in multiple pieces.

Painting didn't quite go as planned.  The Anodised Aluminium (PS48 from memory) was a bit weird.  Either i didn't shake it enough, or warm the can enough, or both, but it came out very 'wet' and a lot of solvent at first.  This ran everywhere, and even dissolved some of the black paint.  On the upside, it actually looks like some weathering around the edges where the black has 'faded' and the silver showing through.

Also took some inspiration from a couple of the cars in AusAndy's vintage RC video, where the rear spoiler was left unpainted and just decals applied.
 
 
 
 

The unpainted wings are an old racers trick, Because the cars crash the wings of course take a battering and the paint can quickly crack and chip. So to keep them looking realitively nice they left them unpainted  

That makes perfect sense!

As the 'Grasshopper' style gearboxes are prone to scraping, I decided to add an XtraSpeed bash-plate to The Hornet.
 

A bit of finagling and grinding is required to get a solid fit.  And as most of the impact force is now concentrated on a couple of spots and one bolt, am also going to add some rubber between the plate and gearbox to spread the load.
 
 

Whilst i had the rear apart, also gave the gearbox swing arm attachment thingies a much needed clean.  The springs have turned out to be a bit soft, so am rummaging around at what other ones i have.