Friday, July 31, 2015

Associated RC12iS monoshock suspension front end

I am a very very happy guy.

And I love the vintage RC car collecting community. 

I have only been doing this collecting thing for a year or so and yet I have already met some really really good guys. You know who you are. There are always bad apples. Selfish dollar grabbing sorts that only does something if it benefits them. And then there are the guys that are truly passionate and become good friends. 

Well, as was mentioned in my last post I have been hunting high and low for an Associated 12i with monoshock front end as I used to run one when I was a youngster in the 80s. And I happened to mention this to a collector who I had gotten to know from Hong Kong and had purchased a number of gorgeous cars from previously. He immediately knew of another friend of his that apparently had one for sale. 

I was soon contacted by the gentleman with the 12i monoshock car for sale and before I knew it he was sending me pictures of a gorgeous example of my most favourite 1/12 pan car, and letting me know that he had some spare parts that he could pass me to bring the car to a much closer level of perfection.

These are the pictures of the car that he sent me. I had asked that he just put the new parts on the car, and while he was at it he decided to throw some vintage Schumacher quick release hubs on the car as well. What a champ.






What is it that interests me so much about this car? Well, it was the last 1/12 that I had purchased and run during my youth and I really loved the advanced design of the monoshock front end. It was like nothing else available at the time.

Whilst it honestly didn't seem to perform any better than the older spring set up it was a brilliant piece of design that was so far ahead of the game to me. This lack of advantage from the more complex design meant that this car did not last long in its design before the 12L replaced it with a much more conventional front end. To me though this is the most desirable of the 12i variants though all mean a lot to me given I ran all the versions. I now need to find the first version of the 12i and I will be complete.

Update: the car has arrived and I could not be happier. Needs a couple changes to make it perfect including the graphite stiffener, mounting the ride height adjuster, changing the radio plate screws and if lucky finding a new radio plate as this one has an epoxy repair to a hole that was drilled most likely for a roll over antenna. But this is a real memory blast for me.










Monday, July 27, 2015

Associated RC10 MIP 4-10 Legend


In the beginning it was the buggies that drew me radio control cars.

The ability to run these cars in the back yard was the main draw card. Indeed I had no aspirations of becoming a competitive buggy racer even though I loved to read about the latest and greatest buggies to be churned out of the various factories in Japan and the U.S. As a result of this, when I learned that Associated were releasing a buggy that would compete against the SRBs of Tamiya and the Scorpion of Kyosho for top honours, I was immediately captivated. This video made by Associated when the car came out is so 80s but really brings back memories. I can't believe I was growing up during this time. The music was so so bad...








I remember saving long and hard to get the basic model kit, and gradually purchasing the various bits and pieces to make the ultimate RC10. This included a KO electronic speed control (can't remember what model it was but it was a little gold case esc) and the Futaba 3pg radio system. I also coughed up the money for a D and D Graphite chassis plate. The actual wait for the arrival of the kit was mind blowingly long. The need to order through a hobby shop and wait for them to accumulate enough orders to save on shipping and all the other business stuff meant a lead time of over three months if I remember right. 

Thank god for the Internet. 

And no wonder why hobby shops have now disappeared.

But I digress.

The amazing thing is that of all my childhood toys and possessions, that very RC10 is still today in my possession. And more ridiculous is the fact that I barely ran that buggy more than 5 times. The condition is absolutely stunning still to this day. That model resides in my parents home and I will one day have to ship it over to me, at which time I will photograph it and post it up here. The RC10 as a result has always been one of my all time favourite model cars. When I began collecting vintage RC cars I decided that the RC10 would form a part of the collection as well as picking up a few additional models to accompany it. I will gradually show a few of the models that I have acquired over time but this particular example is quite possibly the holy grail of all RC10s given the 4wd conversion that it sports and the excellent condition that it is in. Sadly it is missing the belt tensioner but other than that it is a fine example.

The particular model in my collection was spotted on eBay as a Buy It Now auction (I love these as it gives one the option of just biting the bullet and knowing they will get the item). Interestingly at the time it appeared there was one other Legend up for auction. The other example was built on a gold plate chassis whilst the one I was interested was based off a Team Car with the black chassis (perfect as I did not have a Team Car in my collection).


I was pretty happy with the buy it now price as the gold chassis auction (admittedly had a radio and the belt tensioner) that ran around the same time went for far more than the radio that it came with was worth to me.

When the car arrived it was as described. A wonderful condition car that had clearly barely been used. It also came with an excellent condition box of the Team Car as well as a perfect condition MIP box that the original Legend conversion kit was held in. What really strikes me is the wonderful paint job on the body shell. It truly feels period correct and the Color combination is just so purposeful to me.







One of the favourites in my RC10 collection currently that stands alongside my original RC10 as to me one of the more valuable RC10s I currently have (my original RC10 will always be the top given money can never replace the history I have behind that plus the fact I barely used it).














Sunday, July 26, 2015

Associated RC12i 1/12 Electric Car

Probably the first serious radio control car I ever purchased was an Associated RC12i. At the time, the car had just replaced the RC12e as the weapon of choice for on road 1/12 racers in Perth Australia. I can't remember for the life of me how I stumbled upon this supplier of this car at the time in Perth, Strombecker Raceway but that was a big favourite joint of mine.

The 12i that I first got was the version with the slots cut into the front of the chassis and the front solid arms being a direct carry over from the 12e. This was a first attempt by Associated at making front suspension for their 1/12 pan car. Crude but I guess it worked. At the time that I acquired the car I had zero experience in running a radio control car in any sort of competitive manner, let alone on an actual track rather than out in front of my drive way. I remember making one trip to a club race and rather than being hooked, I had no idea which direction I was going and how to navigate a course laid out with firemen hoses at night I a shopping centre car park. It was a disaster but was fun. But given I was still a school kid and needed my dad to drive me to the track, it was something I only managed to do once.

I distinctly remember soon after acquiring the car that Associated introduced the springs into the front suspension arms, this doing away with the slotted front section of the chassis. I immediately purchased the new front set up and the chassis plate required to accommodate the new front end. At around the same time I remember that the resistor speed controller was beginning to make way for a new phenomenon- the electronic speed control. But rather than the Novak models that were beginning to find ground in the U.S., we had a local Australian manufacturer, if memory serves me, called BC Electronics, who knocked up a big ass unit and sold it for the princely sum of AUD75. I think at the time I may have been using initially a JR stick radio and then swapped to a Sanwa stick radio that was metal cased and a shade of grey green. If I ever find one of those I will definitely buy it back again.

Sometime after this, Associated came out with the monoshock independent front end utilising an RC500 shock with a small spring. I remember that by the time I had saved the cash up for that unit, unfortunately all the kits had been old out at Strombecker. Luckily they had all the spares available, so at rather a lot more cost I ended up building the front end out of spare parts. I never actually ended up running the car with that front  end though, and the car went into storage. I am still hoping that the car may one day pop up in my parent house though I am pretty sure it was thrown out long ago.

The example of the 12i that I have is the mid production version utilising the springs in the uprights up front. Interestingly the chassis is already drilled for the monoshock kit as well indicating that this was a late production car or was at least built from some late production parts. It's in fact very similar to the spec of the car that I had used back in the day.




As can be seen from the above picture, this car features the later optional graphite central chassis stiffener as compared with the earlier cars that had the plastic stiffener. Just as I had upgraded my very own ride years before.

I remember gradually building up my car to this spec give that my original car was of the 12e front block spec. If I remember the last part I put on that car was the rear ride height adjuster set. Heavens knows why but this single mod was to me the coolest thing back then. It just looked so high tech to me!



I was really really happy with the unit I found on eBay as it was totally unmolested. I remember the
mods of choice used to be drilling out the rear pod upper plate and butchering the top radio plate, plus
dyeing all the nylon parts black. Heavens knows I spent hours doing that on my old cars. Thankfully this example was totally clean and looked like it had almost never been used. This has to be one of my most favourite models in my collection. I actually am amazed at how hard it is to find a 12i for sale, let alone one in good condition and even more that this example only cost me USD75 excluding shipping.

Looking under the chassi, one can see that this car was barely if even used at all.



My next purchase which I am patiently looking for now is the version with the monoshock front end. Not going to be easy, but this is a must have for me.

My Second Tamiya 58005 Tamiya Toyota Celica Turbo LB

As noted in my previous post, I absolutely love this particular model and had managed to get hold of a NIB kit. I did however also want a built version of this car if possible as I generally prefer to collect built models. To me seeing the actual cars rather than a box of parts is much more satisfying, so the decision was made to try and hunt down a built version. I was not expecting a perfect shelf queen for sure given how old these models were but I was hoping for one they only would need to be lightly restored.

As luck would have it, this auction popped up on eBay exactly around the time that I decided to shop for a built model.

Incredibly excited to see this car was owned by the sellers father. It was built and never run per the description  and put into cold storage. Based on the condition of the chassis I believe the description.

When the item arrived the chassis showed that it had most likely never been used and was almost certainly a display model more than being a runner. Or if used, it was barely run and most likely only indoors.


Love the way the original builder even put servo tape on the motor so that the speed control would not rub on  the case of the motor.





Tires show zero sign of use since being put on the car. 

Unfortunately the shell had not stood the test of time as well as I had hoped, and this was further exaggerated by the shipping that caused additional damage to this very fragile shell.


Sadly the shell broke in shipment as the above picture shows. Indeed it was not broken at the time the auction occured based on the auction pictures.


Luckily Tamiya has rereleased the shell, albeit in white plastic now rather than in the blue, and without the chrome wing. The shell was apparently made for a specific model exhibition/show in limited numbers and was only sold at the exhibition, hence the relative rarity of the shell. Luckily, through eBay this shell can still be found for around USD100. The fact the shell did not come with the chrome wing was not a big problem for me given that the chrome wing on the car I purchased was still in excellent condition. I also managed to find the alternate sticker set from another fantastic Japanese ebayer so that I could make the red and white liveried version of the car if desired.

Strangely I feel that I may not now replace the shell as the damaged shell truly shows the car and how it has stood the test of time over the years. The patina just seems to add to the history of this car that was sold to me by a seller whose father this car belonged to and it somehow feels wrong to scavenge and part out this model. I think I will place it into a custom made modern case to accentuate the history capsule that this car is.