Turbo Ultima rebuild

[XLR8]

I'll second the drywall mesh tape and shoe goo. If your paint is well adhered, the mesh/shoe goo composite is almost bullet proof. Thanks, too, for posting update photos. Because of one of your photos, I just discovered that I have a Kyosho trans brace and spacers in my stash, that I've been wondering about for months. Body looks good to me, too!

Your are most welcome - I'm happy to help.
Do you mean this

[XLR8]

Looks really great, don't sweat the minor imperfections, historically the cars were only perfect the second before the 1st race. After that the battle wounds began and add character. That's what I tell my wife about my own personal chassis too

Haha... Yes, you are very wise my friend. I keep reminding myself that this is meant to be a runner – it doesn’t need to be perfect. Thanks for the kind words.

[XLR8]

I’ve made some very good progress today.
Time to assemble the front suspension…

[XLR8]

The body is nearly finished - just need to fabricate a rear spoiler since that part was missing.

I've used the TU decal set from MCI. Most of the decals fit the body just fine but I think some of the logos are too large.
Notice how the “223” and “TURBO ULTIMA” completely dominate the side of the body and leave very little space for the other decals. Compare that image to the box art..

Anyway, before moveing ahead with the new shelfer body I got from Penguin, I think I will try to work with MCI to make a decal set that’s a better fit.

Scratch-made wing.
BITD, a fellow racer and all-around great guy, Tom Sagle, gave me several lengths of 3/8” diameter magnesium rod to make front axle beams for our pan cars. I’ve used some of that rod material here to make some wing buttons. Thanks Tom.

[GeneralZod]

I didn't see any hope for that old body but looks great now! Awesome job so far!

[XLR8]

I didn't see any hope for that old body but looks great now! Awesome job so far!

Thank you, sir.
I reckon I’ve invested more time into it than it’s actually worth – but It’s what I like to do.
Maybe someday I’ll be able to paint an RC body that looks this good

8351.jpg (17.33 KiB) Viewed 1639 times

8351.jpg (17.33 KiB) Viewed 1639 times

– but I doubt it.

Ya know, the more I look at the Turbo Ultima box art car, the more I believe the body on that car is different from the production version. I’m assuming the body that came with my car is original – it matches the one I got from Penguin – but it is different from the box art car. Maybe they’ve made a running change at some point after the car was released?

[matt1ptkn]

I'll second the drywall mesh tape and shoe goo. If your paint is well adhered, the mesh/shoe goo composite is almost bullet proof. Thanks, too, for posting update photos. Because of one of your photos, I just discovered that I have a Kyosho trans brace and spacers in my stash, that I've been wondering about for months. Body looks good to me, too!

Your are most welcome - I'm happy to help.
Do you mean this
trans brace.jpg

Yes, that is the part I have, minus the the squared rod on the back above the motor.
I agree that the body turned out very well, especially considering what you started with.

[RCveteran]

[/quote]


I reckon I’ve invested more time into it than it’s actually worth – but It’s what I like to do.

[/quote]

That's the definition of a hobby right there! It's worth can't be measured monetarily if you enjoy it. At least that is what I tell myself to sleep at night

[XLR8]

I’ve made some more progress.
Tonight we build steering, install top plate and primary drive.

It’s almost a roller.

I’ve decided to go a slightly different direction with this project. Since buying this car, I’ve been collecting Ultima parts to build another runner – something with a scratch-made main chassis plate similar to a Pro and with a more open top plate to accommodate a full size lipo mounted longitudinally (like my ’91 Stealth tribute car). This car will be used for display. I’ll post pics when it’s finished and start another thread for the runner.

[XLR8]

The car isn’t finished yet (I have a new reproduction wing to paint, those wheels need to be re-plated, and I want to replace the over-sized logos on the body) but this is as far as I will go with this project for now. I really want to move on to the runner build I mentioned last time.

And here are the wheels I’ve chosen for the runner. I think the triangular cutouts in the wheels complement the Turbo Ultima’s graphics and they're a little more interesting than typical modern disk wheels.

[Coelacanth]

I like those, Doug. Are they nylon? I'd consider buying a few sets of those and dye them; what wheels are they?

[XLR8]

I like those, Doug. Are they nylon? I'd consider buying a few sets of those and dye them; what wheels are they?

Thanks, I really like them too. I'm not sure about the material - they could be nylon. Anyway, they are Kyosho re-re Turbo Scorpion wheels. I have a couple extra sets and just figured I'd use one set on the Ultima runner build.

[coxbros1]

Nice build! looks great....fun to read too!

[keithrc]

That really looks the goods man, if I'm not mistaken, only these and the Turbo Optima Mid SE have those platinum shocks?


Keith

[XLR8]

Thanks!
I believe you're right about the Platinum shocks. Although, there were so many Kyosho models available bitd that I'm not familiar with - it's possible there could have been others that used those shocks.
I have three cars with Platinums and none of them are runners. They're a bit of an albatross; complex and tend to leak sometimes. They do look cool however - sorta like early big bores.