Tyco Mini Hopper revamp HELP!!!

[AnimalHippie]

Hey guys, was doing and install at a house and the home owner had a Tyco Mini Hopper sitting on the floor. She was going to throw it away. I offered to give her a couple bucks for it and she told me to take it.


I was wondering if anyone had upgraded one of these to hobby grade electronics? Or if someone might be able to at least help steer me in the right direction? I'm not finding a whole lot of info on these on Google. I know my kids would enjoy messing with it since they rather drive my 1/24 crawler over the two heavily modified 1/10 crawlers. Goofy kids! Any help is much appreciated! Thanks in advance!!!

[jebster]

I had one of those as the first rc car ever. My brother broke it before I had a chance to!

My next rc was a Sears Lobo, which I ran forever. Last year I picked up one on Ebay and upgraded it to hobby grade equipment. Jebster's 1980s Sears Lobo

Hope you do something with yours.

[HumboldtEF]

Very cool!

Ampro engineering has a ton of info on old vintage RC's. He also makes a number of upgrade parts for these older RC's though they're mostly Tamiya parts and chassis/suspension related.
Dont let the title fool you, its mostly a history lesson.

EDIT: oops thats a different RC actually, though it looks like it may share some stuff possibly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyUIh9zKx_0



I added some modern electronics to an old Tamiya Fox, I just used a bunch old RTR left overs. The only tricky part was finding space to fit my modern battery.

I'd also say keep it basic and expectations low. They're fun but in a funny kind of way, wonky handling, bouncy etc.

[AnimalHippie]

Originally Posted by jebster

I had one of those as the first rc car ever. My brother broke it before I had a chance to!

My next rc was a Sears Lobo, which I ran forever. Last year I picked up one on Ebay and upgraded it to hobby grade equipment. Jebster's 1980s Sears Lobo

Hope you do something with yours.

I had a few hand me down toy rc trucks as a kid. I only really remember a black nicco truck lol. I'm going to try a few things. See if I can get it going. I Put some batteries in it. No steering. Has fwd and rev when it wants to tho. I'll probably update this thread with what comes of it.

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Very cool!

Ampro engineering has a ton of info on old vintage RC's. He also makes a number of upgrade parts for these older RC's though they're mostly Tamiya parts and chassis/suspension related.
Dont let the title fool you, its mostly a history lesson.

EDIT: oops thats a different RC actually, though it looks like it may share some stuff possibly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyUIh9zKx_0



I added some modern electronics to an old Tamiya Fox, I just used a bunch old RTR left overs. The only tricky part was finding space to fit my modern battery.

I'd also say keep it basic and expectations low. They're fun but in a funny kind of way, wonky handling, bouncy etc.

Thanks for the info! I'll check that guy out. I have a micro ESC and a 1060. Think I'm going to try the micro on it first with a 2s on stock motor with a tactic Rx/tx and a micro servo rigged for steering. I have a couple 300mah 2s for my micro. I think it will all fit in there no problem. I think I have another small motor somewhere if it's too much for it. It probably will be. One guy said it has a 280 motor in it. I'll let you guys know what I find. I'll probably shoot a video of it since there's not much info around.


Thank you guys for all the info!

[JatoTheRipper]

Nice score! These are so cool. I never had one, but I did and still do have the slot car version.

[Gula]

I purchased this micro esc: https://www.ebay.com/itm/383449959921 and a bluebird micro servo to install on a 1/24 toygrade car. Installed a set of 18650s and a onboard pcb charging system that charges off of USB 2.0

[Shinchu]

Digital proportional steering would be a HUGE upgrade to these. That was my biggest complaint trying to pilot these in the 80s.
I had a full sized turbo hopper lile the one in ampro's video. It was fun but the steering was twitchy because it was either FULL LEFT or FULL RIGHT.
I would love to get another one someday and fix that steering. Maybe with better control it could manage a bit more speed too.