Nitroholic

Hmm...this year... I want to get properly stuck in with my resin 3D printer and the vac former to start making scale bodies and parts for my fleet of micro helicopters. That, and to finally take the guts of my last 1/5 petrol and build a half track. Or maybe find a good way to put the motor into a 1/8 Savage chassis. If I am really organised...I might even get around to making a shell for my 6WD 4WS brushless Hyper 7. And give it some proper tyres on the back to replace the bald ones on there now.

Going from cold to warm is the killer for condensation. But generally, I have never kept my RC stuff in the house, and never had an issue. If I bring stuff in, though, I always let it warm up for a bit before I power on.

My guess would be an Annsman Virus, judging by the green anodising and white springs, but hte chassis looks wrong. Not much left to go on tbh.

Get something small, light, cheap and less scary, and learn to fly an RC helicopter. Save this relic for when you are more confident and can enjoy it without ruining it. Something like that Kyosho was not the easiest of things to learn on, and if you found it a bit scary, then that would just make everything more tricky. A small coax heli is dead easy to fly, and won't cost a great deal. Then graduate to a single rotor FP heli, and then think about moving to something larger. These little helis are light, less prone to damage, and won't do mare than sting a little if you flew it right into yourself. So nothing to be scared of.

I am assuming it's V1, as it doesn't say V2 anywhere. But, like you say, it's an easy upgrade. I will keep an eye out when looking for spares.

2 new arrivals this festive season! First up, a little co-ax Blade Scout. Didn;t have one...and this turned up for less than £10, so I had to rehome it. Came with original box and packing, but the canopy was split quite badly along the underside. A replacement is on it's way. It's not really a regular flyer, but it fills out the collection. Second new arrival was an absolute bargain! Blade MCPx. New in box. Box had been opened by heli never flown. You can tell it hasn;t. Not a mark on the blades, canopy or tail, and the gears have no marks to indicate wear or use. No grubby marks or fluff anywhere. Came with DX4 TX and a couple of batteries. Have bound up the TX, charged a battery and run it up on hte deck, to make sure all the controls work as they should, and it's all good. Everything works. Even had the still packed TX batteries, though these wre unservicable and have been sent to the recycling. She's a little beauty. £50 paid. It was on E-Bay BIN, and I wasn;t going to wait and try and snag a lowball bid. I know a good deal when I see one, and if I didn;t jump, someone else would have. This one wasn't going to hang around.

Looks to me like an old Kyosho Nexus. I got given an old RC helicopter of similar vintage. Spares are going to be an issue if you intend to try and fly it. Nice for the collector, but not really worth much unless you got a pristine one with box and instructions etc. Certainly can be made flyable if you are prepared to invest the time and money.

best sound module I found for a 1/5 was a Zenoah 28cc 4-bolt with a dominator pipe.

Looks like a smallblock nitro motor. You can use 25% on it... but it doesn't need it. It will run just fine on lower nitro %. Also worth looking at the oil % in your chosen fuel as much as the nitro. The bulk of the fuel is made up of methanol, so too much oil leads to a smoky under-performing engine. But, it's more tolerant of a poor tune. By tolerant..I mean won't lean sieze and destroy itself. That motor would probably run just fine on 16% or 20%. I did find, though, that some motors run cooler on higher nitro contents. If you have 25%...try it.

The Hyper ST Pro is sold as a kit with no engine, so it could be fitted with any big block motor. The stock Hyper ST always used to come with the .28 MacStar engine.

You should have more room...as I shortened the distance between the rear end and the steering.

1) motor mount. This usually replaces one of hte centre diff mounts and holds the motor 2) battery tray. Variety of options here, battery straps will need to be added, and make sure it's fixed WELL to the chassis. You don;t want it to come loose in a roll. 3) ESC mount. Again, you want to be sure the ESC won't go for a ride without the rest of the car. 4) Receiver mount. Can be put in a number of places, but a proper box for the RX will keep it out of the muck and dust. A lot of folk put this on top of the centre diff. You can see what I did with mine on this car. ( note... extended chassis 6WD and 4WS is not compulsory. Some crazy folk convert their Hypers without even making an extra short driveshaft and a custom chassis plate. Crazy folk..) ESC mount is 3D printed, as were the battery box ends. 2 pieces of angled ally made up the sides. Receiver box is on top of the centre diff. Just make sure you have clearance to the shell here. Off the shelf parts are available too.

If you look at the Hyper ST pro, you see exactly what the upgrades should be. Chassis braces for more stability and chassis stiffness, front knuckles coz...they do break...and add the rear uprights if you break the stock ones. Unless you hammer it really hard, you probably won;t need the steering top mount...but if you want to go all the way, then do that too. If it has the stock wheels/tyres, I found them prone ot ballooning and took the tyres off to tape the foams. Most importnat thing to do is give it a good overhaul and service the diffs front and rear. Fill with good quality silicon diff oil. I went with 10k weight in the centre, 7k front and 3K rear. But that is very much personal taste. I found that gave it a slightly tail happy feel, with a more planted front end.

No laws .... but.... Parks and other council owned open spaces can prohibit all sorts of things, including RC cars. Any such bylaw restriction should be posted at the entrance. Mostly, though, it's down to common sense. If you run an unsilenced Dominator and rag it around next to people's houses/gardens, you may get noise complaints. The Police may get called, and you may be asked to stop. Sensible running and behaviour, not damaging stuff, and not running close to people/dogs etc. arte usually enough to avoid any issues.

From the damage, when you say it shattered a ring... it has done that by snagging it on the port edge. That's caused the damage to the head, and in turn the piston. Bits of the ring and casting are then getting stuck between the piston skirt and the bore scraping and gouging it. The ring gap is located by the peg in the ring groove ( all 2-strokes have this ) which is intended to make sure the ring gap isn't sitting over a port. The ring has to pass the exhaust port on the up and down strokes. The piston ring should not pass the inlet port assuming you have a piston-ported motor. I have never had issues with ring gaps on these motors as the tolerances are not that tight. Personally, I would cut my losses on the motor and look for a 4-bolt unit. You are going to need to tear it right down, clean out the cases, check the bearings and seals and the big end while it's apart. Then rebuild with a new top end again. Add up the cost of parts and gaskets etc. and then price up a new 4 bolt motor.