Tamiya Hornet unresponsive after 25 years - where to start

[Zebber]

Hi, 

My lad has started badgering me about RC cars. I pulled out my original Hornet, bought a new battery, inserted brand new transmitter and receiver batteries and ... Nothing. No twitching with power on switch at all. I manually moved the speed controller too, zilch. Any ideas on where to start please? Just ordered a voltmeter. 

Thanks,

[Stoat_Muldoon]

Sounds like your both your radio gear and your MSC have kicked the bucket. If its been sitting a long time its probably corrosion thats done it in, either by sitting with batteries in it or just moisture in the air.

 

tbh, Its probably not really worth the headache trying to get those electronics going and even if they do start working, I would reccomend replacing the old radio and MSC with modern 2.4ghz radio set and an ESC. Longer runtimes, fully proprtional throttle as well as no more second servo, receiver batteries, 4ft antennas, crystals, interference, resistor, switch grease, runaways etc.

 

A Hobbywing Quicrun 1060 speed controller (about £20 from Modelsport), a FlySky FS-GT3B transmitter and a FlySky FS-GR3E receiver (About £30 for both of those together on eBay) should be enough to get you going. With any luck one of the old servos and the motor will still work as those tend to be a lot more resilient.

 

Remove the motor, get some oil on its bushings and touch its wires to your battery to see if it runs nice and smooth (or at all). Worst case a new model Mabuchi RS540 motor is about £8 on eBay, and any old cheap servo will be enough to crank the steering on a Hornet.

 

If you're feeling brave I'd also suggest buying a Hornet ball bearing kit and replacing the plastic bushes in the transmission with them. You get a fair bit more runtime and a little more speed from the reduced friction

 

Hope that helps! Hornets are timeless cars, old and new.

 

 

 

[Zebber]

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive response. Pretty much tells me all I need to know in one go. Like the upgrade suggestions too as I like to fettle and get more performance. I could easily get sucked in and carried away! Off to look at various things right now, thanks again. Zebber

 

[Zebber]

Hi again, 

since you were so helpful. Just wondering if buying all the new radio gear (trans/receiver, ESC) would work for a car upgrade later i.e. could transfer across to another chassis or upgrade? 

for example, would it also work with brushless motor, Lipo etc or could I spend a little more now and be compatible later? or is it a bigger price jump? 

 

TBH, with all the bits I might need for the hornet (new tyres, bearings, new shell body, stickers, paint) it's getting close to just buying a new car and using the old for spares. In which case, perhaps something a little more modern but which I could try the new electronic gear in the old hornet for variety or for the boy (7yrs) to get used to it first.

So if new car, back garden grass doesn't cut very fine, so would need something with bigger ground clearance and fatter tyres. any ideas on that also please? 

thanks in advance, zebber