Vintage Ishipla Monster

[Jeece]

My dad still had a pair of RC buggies he bought in the mid-late 80s. We stopped used one of them a few years after for reasons I didn't remember. The second one isn't even completed yet, even the body is unpainted. I asked him if I could try to fix and make them running, after 25+ years in a closet.

Here it is, Tamiya Hornet/AYK hybrid, the Ishipla Monster:


And here's the reason we stored it, the MSC fried and is shorting out as soon as I plug the battery. I ordered an Hobbywing 1060 ESC instead.



Motor with unknown specs. Still turning strong, but there's a bearing complaining inside.


RX. I will have to craft an adapter for the new ESC until I decide to upgrade it also... in the meantime, I will be using this:



Gears with differential box:


Inside the diff box (before):


After:


I was able to actually charge one of the battery. How it will hold under use, I don't know though. The other one gets me a warning on the charger like there's a wiring problem...

The rear tires are very worn out, and the front ones begin to crack. They aren't standard by any mean, but luckily, it seems those are the exact same one used on the (then) Tamiya Hornet. And since this model has been re-issued recently, tires can be easily found cheap.

For now it's been entirely disassembled and cleaned up, diff is greased and I'm waiting for the ESC to arrive in order to wire everything.

[Jeece]

The mailman delivered the last missing part this morning, an Hobbywing 1060 ESC. Everything else was ready! Using temporary wiring and a makeshift adapter (ESC to old style RX) I got out to test it out in the driveway... I found out that even if one of the original batteries had enough voltage, it couldn't manage to provide the motor with enough amp to make it turn. I hit the LHS and bought a Venom NiMH 7.2 3000 mAh battery.

Now the Monster was alive! But wait a minute, it doesn't seem that fast. Hmmm. But it's going faster in reverse! Having no way to reverse channel 2 on either the controller or ESC, I just switched the motor wires and drive with inverted throttle controls: back = forward. I don't know if it would be worth it to flip the throttle stick, especially since there's some glitching happening. Sometimes the steering servo just goes briefly full blip on either side without any input, or the throttle misses a beat (or stop responding entirely). Those quirks only last a half second but are irritating.

I'm thinking to get a new receiver and link it to my 3PV, or more probably a cheap TX/RX combo (FlySky GT-3C or RadioLink RC4GS).

Once with this new hardware settled, I will hardwire everything more permanently. It will make a great beginner's RC for my soon to be 7 y.o. son. But eventually, a new faster motor could be installed to provide more fun.

Edit: Pics!
All cleaned up!



Temporary adapter for ESC / G-connector RX


ESC test fit. I may also consider putting it inside besides the RX and battery.

[evssv]

nice dude.........sweet condition for the age.....

[Jeece]

Yes it is in good enough shape. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been used for more than 2 summers back then... Once the MSC burned out, we kinda forgot about it and it gathered dust in a closet for the next couple of decades. The flaw saved it from further abuse (hey, I was young!) . Even though it was a value-priced (with the according quality) buggy, it still has "less than 2 years" worth of running (with not much maintenance). To me, it's worth it to spend a few bucks to get it up in shape and running again, for my son (and I )... It's far cheaper than a similar name-brand new RC, and with the amount I've spent so far, I think I'm about even with a "nice" WalMart RC.

We ran the car more extensively, on our pavement driveway and street, but after about 15 minutes, it began to hiccup... the motor was *hot* (couldn't touch it) and begining to smoke lightly. Maybe a bearing seizing, I will try and open it up to investigate further...

[evssv]

Originally Posted by Jeece

Yes it is in good enough shape. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been used for more than 2 summers back then... Once the MSC burned out, we kinda forgot about it and it gathered dust in a closet for the next couple of decades. The flaw saved it from further abuse (hey, I was young!) . Even though it was a value-priced (with the according quality) buggy, it still has "less than 2 years" worth of running (with not much maintenance). To me, it's worth it to spend a few bucks to get it up in shape and running again, for my son (and I )... It's far cheaper than a similar name-brand new RC, and with the amount I've spent so far, I think I'm about even with a "nice" WalMart RC.

We ran the car more extensively, on our pavement driveway and street, but after about 15 minutes, it began to hiccup... the motor was *hot* (couldn't touch it) and begining to smoke lightly. Maybe a bearing seizing, I will try and open it up to investigate further...

tbh dude..a cheap Tamiya silver can motor wont b that expensive and will def b a upgrade from that tiny 380 size motor.....

[Jeece]

Originally Posted by evssv

tbh dude..a cheap Tamiya silver can motor wont b that expensive and will def b a upgrade from that tiny 380 size motor.....

Hmm I don't *think* it's a 380. Then again I don't know much about motor sizes. The can is 2" long by about 1.5 in diameter. It is similar in size to my SCX10 II 540/550 Integy Lathe's motor casing (without the external brushes and connectors).

While removing the motor I noticed that the double-gear's shaft in the center of the transmission plate (the only part that I didn't remove in the ovehaul process!) became unscrewed and was askew, making the gears very hard to turn. I guess this put quite a strain on the motor. I've fixed the shaft and put on some grease on the gear's bushing since it wasn't turning that freely.

I've tested the car for a while after puting everything back together, and the motor doesn't overheat like before. It still gets quite hot tough, barely unconfortable to the touch but after a good session of heavy driving.

[evssv]

Originally Posted by Jeece

Hmm I don't *think* it's a 380. Then again I don't know much about motor sizes. The can is 2" long by about 1.5 in diameter. It is similar in size to my SCX10 II 540/550 Integy Lathe's motor casing (without the external brushes and connectors).

While removing the motor I noticed that the double-gear's shaft in the center of the transmission plate (the only part that I didn't remove in the ovehaul process!) became unscrewed and was askew, making the gears very hard to turn. I guess this put quite a strain on the motor. I've fixed the shaft and put on some grease on the gear's bushing since it wasn't turning that freely.

I've tested the car for a while after puting everything back together, and the motor doesn't overheat like before. It still gets quite hot tough, barely unconfortable to the touch but after a good session of heavy driving.

yeah u may b right looking at it again.....but still a decnt brushed motor wont b much....and if u got a esc u can run a 2s lipo which will give it a lot more go.....

[Jeece]

I'm thinking of a new sub-20$ motor, but I don't want to go with something *too* much powerful. I'd prefer not putting too much strain on the plastic gears/diff, and I don't think it would be much fun to try and handle the car. Problem is, I don't have any specs about the stock motor so I don't really know what to order to get only a moderate performance upgrade. Thinking of something in the 17-21T range?

Sure thing is I will get a smaller motor pinion gear (currently have a 14T Tamiya "pitch") just in case the new motor is too fast.

[Robbob]

I love seeing the old vintage stuff, its really neat seeing what we use to have compared to what we have now.

Any 540 closed end bell motor would be fine but you're right about the gears. You start pushing big motors in there and those old nylon gears wont last long at all.

For some odd reason though those old cars always seemed faster in reverse lol. If you want to drive normal left stick then you can spin the radio thumb stick around. Im not totally sure but if I recall correctly on those old Attacks you could undo those 4 screws around the stick and spin it 180* .... just watch the wires inside.

But nice seeing the older rc's cleaned up even if they are primitive to todays standards.

[Jeece]

Originally Posted by Robbob

I love seeing the old vintage stuff, its really neat seeing what we use to have compared to what we have now.

Any 540 closed end bell motor would be fine but you're right about the gears. You start pushing big motors in there and those old nylon gears wont last long at all.

For some odd reason though those old cars always seemed faster in reverse lol. If you want to drive normal left stick then you can spin the radio thumb stick around. Im not totally sure but if I recall correctly on those old Attacks you could undo those 4 screws around the stick and spin it 180* .... just watch the wires inside.

But nice seeing the older rc's cleaned up even if they are primitive to todays standards.

Yup, I did the throttle stick rotation, was much easier than I first thought.

Primitive, sure. But still fun! And it makes maintenance super easy. I don't know if there's even 30 screws to undo in order to achieve a complete overhaul! The sad thing with old cars, especially rare ones, is the lack of spare parts though. I've seen a few NOS parts on Ebay, but not enough to build a new car from these.

I've bought cheap shocks from Ebay to replace the tired stock ones, I've received the pair I intented to put in the back but they're shorter than expected. But just the right length for the front. The shock body is almost too large (though it kinda fits), will be fine with spacers/washers... The springs are too stiff for serious bumps and jumps. But, I will keep them aside in case I ever succeed fitting regular buggy wheels with asphalt tires.

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Jeece

The sad thing with old cars, especially rare ones, is the lack of spare parts though. I've seen a few NOS parts on Ebay, but not enough to build a new car from these.

I'm not a Tamiya guy so I cant speak to how much is available but there is a guy making reworked and re-engineered parts for old Tamiya's called AmPro Engineering , he uses Shapeways to 3D print parts.

I really like seeing what he's up to even though like I said I'm not into Tamiya's that much, he has a youtube channel with tons of Tamiya upgrades and comparisons, history lessons, lots of info.

Also he really loves the Hornet and Grasshopper so there should be a fair amount of parts for them.

[Jeece]

Woah thanks for the links!

I have some basic experience with SolidWorks, so I could design wheel adapters. I will try and ask the local school which has a CNC machinist course, they sometimes accept this kind of small project for cheap as a training for their student.

[Jeece]

I've tried the car on multiple surfaces.

Asphalt is nice, grips pretty well but a lot of understeer when throttle is applied.
Loose sand, well, the car tends to sink and bottoms out if the ride gets bumpy.
Fine gravel is where it shines the most I think. Lots of wheelspin and oversteer if not careful with the throttle input, but I enjoy the feeling of being on my toes - makes a great challenge.

Haven't tried clay/packed dirt yet, but should also be fun.

So in my quest for new tires (would love to try on-roads, and have spares for off road), here's what the current wheels look like.

Front axles


Rear axles


Fitting 12mm hex wheels looks easy enough. Not much work in the front, but for the rear, I don't know what would be better...

• Drilling the axle and install a pin + hex nut
• Replicate the aluminum part but with an hex end instead of the pin.

I have the whole Winter to think this out.