My original CAT XL - freshly uncovered

[dinglem]

I should say right now, i didn't do this. I have a mate who is quite the artist, and he also did my Pro Radiant shell in a similar fashion earlier this year.

[jwscab]

I dig the open roof design. I may have to steal that on something.

[dinglem]

It has been a few months, so a quick update on the XL progress.

The shell has had a few stickers applied, in fact a fair few more than are shown on this picture, but i thought I would add this as a bit of a taster so you can see what I have been trying to do. I went for a multi-layered looks so opted to painstakingly trim the decals to appear behind the flowing paint blobs. It took a bit of trial and error, but it is actually quite effective. I have added more towards the rear now, but this shot shows the front end quite well.

Electrics-wise i have stuck with the Tekin Pro Tempfet which came with the car when I got it back. It is tiny and from 1988, so spot on for what i want. Same for the servo. It had a 'World Champ Model Special Edition' PS-87 KO FET servo in it so that will be going back in as well. When i took the servo out of the car initially, i noticed the gold FET sticker was missing. I set about finding a replacement and gave up trying to find one in the end so had a few made based on my originals in my other race cars. When i came to fit one, i noticed the little sunken box on the FET case appeared to have a dull finish... quick scrape revealed some black electrical tape and once I removed it the original gold sticker was revealed! Bit of a waste of a few weeks, but at least i have some spare stickers now i guess....

When i ran it I had a Futaba micro-receiver fitted.... the ones with the tethered connectors, mainly due to the lack of space. I have spent a while trying to source another one and seem to have, but i haven't managed to get it into my hands yet. The same guy has an original WASP Racing slipper clutch, which again I am waiting on.

I have a few nice packs of saddle-pack SCR's so one of those will be fitted to complete the look.

I have opted to send the whole pile of parts off to a CAT specialist over in the UK for a final check-over and rebuild. There are fairly specific stipulations in the UK vintage racing scene, and the CAT is probably the most hotly watched car in that circle. There were constant fairly subtle spec changes over the years and it is very easy to make an early car ineligible for the correct category by adding a later mod or update. I must admit i am not well-schooled on Schumacher cars as apart from this original XL i was 100% Kyosho and Yokomo from around '88 onwards. I have asked Iain Groom of Muzzoom Models over in the UK to put it back to the correct spec, whilst adding the various period mods i have collected. Once the slipper and receiver arrive it will all be going off to him.

[dinglem]

This was a very early XL when I originally bought it, so much so it came with the early grey bumper as per the SWB cars. When the CAT stamped black version came out i quickly followed the trend and swapped my original out, but now i want to go back to the early grey version for this build.

After a bit of digging....

[Marshky]

In one of the pictures there is a orange belt visible. Which company made this part? Is this a fine pitch belt as well? Would like to know some details about it.

[dinglem]

Wasp made the orange belts, and i think Buds too??? They are a direct replacement for the originals, and there are rear equivalents also. Quite tough to find today of course.

[dinglem]

Whilst Iain is starting the rebuild, this absolutely epic period shot of my XL popped out of the loft yesterday. This was the day i received it - can't beat an 80's Christmas morning scene, complete with gas fire, retro TV and dressing gown! You can just about make out the early rounded grey bumper and upright front shock mounts identifying this as a very very early XL model. I am literally over-the-moon at finding this old photo of my CAT

[Dadio]

Christmas morning you built that fast or did your dad build it so you got it completed ? your lucky you shared so much with him , I'd have been mad as hell if my dad built one of my cars but then he's ham handed and can't wire a plug safely , in the loft i have some pictures of my Hot Shot that I must dig out some time .

[dinglem]

Yeah, he was quite the engineer, in fact, he still is. I was just the driver. I don't think my cars would have been anywhere near as reliable had I tried building them! He was constantly tweaking and modifying them.

[dinglem]

Iain just posted up this exploded view of the components going into this build. I will add more Muzzoom pictures as and when the car starts to go together.

It is funny for me seeing all of these parts in one shot, having spent so long gathering some of them up for this build.

[dinglem]

Few parts have started to go on to the rare Brimod chassis...

[dinglem]

[dinglem]

The lower belt observation window has come out really well

[Coelacanth]

The lower belt observation window has come out really well

Screenshot_20200830-091200.png

That's a cool idea.

[dinglem]

Well.....