Mabuchi MG 25T 'Buggy Special'

[dinglem]

Another MG rarity, and one I have been on the look-out for for a while now, having seen an early advert for them from July '83.

This one is a 25T 'Buggy Special' which somebody found in the back of an original Sand Scorcher - explaining the very well preserved label.

It will now get a bit of a once-over and probably get run in my own Sand Scorcher

[RC10resto]

Nice motor.
Hope they didn't charge you over the "maximum" price for it

[dinglem]

Well there were three motors in the auction all together (I was obviously only after the one), so for 30quid i guess that means it was still at the 10pound limit

I doubt I wil lever find another in such good condition so it was happy to pay whatever it took. It will sit very nicely with the red label Mabuchi and the Igarashi MG's I already have.

[Lonestar]

All these UK-special goodies are very good. Crazy how many RC stuff came from the Brits, really... and you guys have always been at the forefront of electric RC, why is that btw?

Anyways - back to the motor... is this any different to any other Mabuchi (except the sticker, I mean). Yes, it's a sealed can Is the winding specific?

Thanks,
Paul

[dinglem]

Mick came from a slot car tuning background, and I have MG adverts dating back to November '77 advertising RS540 and 05 tuning services.

I am not wholly versed on the accepted standard class 540 specifics from '83 but this is certainly a different spec to the other 27T 540 'Modified' motor I have posted up recently (that arrived this morning from Hong Kong in fact!) I am yet to see whether the Buggy Special is ballraced at either end yet. I know they used to pop off the endbells to rewind them etc... and then tape them back on again. You can see the other red label 27T 540 motor has at one time had tape securing the endbell. We have all seen the tiny screws they used to hold the Igarashi endbells in place after they had been removed for alterations.

My three early MG's are 25T and 27T for the Mabuchi 540's, and 26T for the Igarashi. The Igarashi has been rewound and ballraced, and the 27T 'CBB' spec red label MG has also been rewound and ballraced. I am assuming therefore that this 25T has also been rewound by Mick, although i await arrival of the motor itself to confirm whether it was ballraced - i am assuming not due to the 10pound price limit but will have to check. I have seen adverts for case-end ballraced MG 540's from 1983 so it might also be the case. The other option is he took advantage of the BRCA ruling for standard class motors, which i am told stated 'unopened, unmodified motors with a price limit of 10pounds' and sourced some lower wind spec 540's from the supplier which ticked all the boxes but out-performed the higher wind versions and still came in at 10pounds or lower.

[Lonestar]

Mick came from a slot car tuning background, and I have MG adverts dating back to November '77 advertising RS540 and 05 tuning services.

I am not wholly versed on the accepted standard class 540 specifics from '83 but this is certainly a different spec to the other 27T 540 'Modified' motor I have posted up recently (that arrived this morning from Hong Kong in fact!) I am yet to see whether the Buggy Special is ballraced at either end yet. I know they used to pop off the endbells to rewind them etc... and then tape them back on again. You can see the other red label 27T 540 motor has at one time had tape securing the endbell. We have all seen the tiny screws they used to hold the Igarashi endbells in place after they had been removed for alterations.

My three early MG's are 25T and 27T for the Mabuchi 540's, and 26T for the Igarashi. The Igarashi has been rewound and ballraced, and the 27T 'CBB' spec red label MG has also been rewound and ballraced. I am assuming therefore that this 25T has also been rewound by Mick, although i await arrival of the motor itself to confirm whether it was ballraced - i am assuming not due to the 10pound price limit but will have to check. I have seen adverts for case-end ballraced MG 540's from 1983 so it might also be the case. The other option is he took advantage of the BRCA ruling for standard class motors, which i am told stated 'unopened, unmodified motors with a price limit of 10pounds' and sourced some lower wind spec 540's from the supplier which ticked all the boxes but out-performed the higher wind versions and still came in at 10pounds or lower.

RRC March 83.jpg

Very interesting, thanks. I know we are talking 10 quids from 30 years ago, and I'd be curious to know whether Mick was able to make money on the equivalent of what is GBP30 today if he worked his magic (ballracing, rewinding etc...) back then!

Please let us know what the findings are. it's really cool you are looking into pre-US-rules-it-all motors

[threesheds]

Stripped down my GV Beagle recently and found the motor is a buggy special brown dot 27t according to the label, as the buggy is acquired I don't know if it's the original or an upgrade/mod.

[dinglem]

Do you have a photo of it per chance?

[dinglem]

Is it like this one?