Marui Hunter - My first buggy... Found one to restore :-) - and a Galaxy RS too :)

[silvertriple]

Hello everyone,

It is my first thread beside my introduction in this forum.
It had stars on the box, it came from Japan, but it was not a Tamiya. I believe the rear conception was slightly inspired from Tamiya's Holiday Buggy, while the front suspension looked like taken from a Formula one of that period... The Marui Hunter was my first buggy. I had a very good memory of it, it was faster than many in my neighbourhood, and it finally died because I was an ignorent teenager: the oilless bearigns damaged the chassis and under gearbox cover, and the differential ate the idle gear... And at that time, it was almost impossible to find parts. Not sure what happened to the chassis, but it may have finished in the bin at some point when my parents did some cleaning in my stuff after I left the parental home...

When I came back in R/C, around the end of last year early this year, I put alerts on all the site I know where to find a r/c car, and after a few months, I found one to restore at an acceptable price.
It's arrived two weeks ago, and since then, I already found quite a few parts... and a broken chassis...

Here is the pictures

First chassis, in perfect state, but lot of missing parts, but quite a good work of cleaning to do...







Second chassis, with some parts, but broken shock towers



I did more analysis yesterday on the broken chassis and parts incoming with it. Both gear box covers have some unexpected holes. And the idle gear is slightly worn (more than what I initially expected): one tooth is damaged on the motor side, while the differential slide show some traces of wear. It can be used, but won't last forever. Unfortunately it seems to become the unfindable part.

I'm expecting some parts to arrive within the next days, and I believe the most difficult part will be the idle gear. I already start to search for alternatives in Tamiya parts range (idle gear is 20T-48T and the mod is 0.6) and even in other type of areas (identified some Ricoh copier part as 20T-50T, but not sure about the mod of the part)...

I will report on my progress in this thread, and if you got ideas I did not thought about, i'm definitely going to look at them...

Thanks for reading!

A+
Marc, from France

[silvertriple]

Hello,

Operations started today...

My work area was free as my previous build is finished. I also needed to free a room on the shelve in my home office for that one. I removed the first chassis of Marui Hunter I received late last month from the shelve where it was, and got it moved to the work area.


I unbuilt it, and did a detail inspection. Most of the screws look like brand new. A few of them are showing little signs of corrosion. Beside the fact it was probably stored in a cave, with a lot of dust and requires cleaning, it is in very good state. Threads are in perfect condition. The parts which seem to be the most wear are the front axles. I took one single picture at the end of the unbuilt. I hope to take another one with the cleaned parts, replaced parts and additional parts (the one missing on this pictures) before starting to rebuild.


Next steps will be probably next weekend, unless I find time to start it earlier: cleaning process. The first difficulty will be likely to remove the remains of the MSC structure which was pasted on the chassis with strong adhesive.

A+
Marc

[Dadio]

Shapeways list the 20x48 tooth gear for the Hunter , little expensive but can be found .
https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace?type=product&q=marui+hunter

[silvertriple]

Shapeways list the 20x48 tooth gear for the Hunter , little expensive but can be found .
https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace?type=product&q=marui+hunter

Yes! Iv'e ordered two (version with ball bearing buckets) and received, it is nicely finished : it seems comparable to the original part. I'm a bit skeptical on the reliability, as it is definitely the weakest point of the Hunter/Galaxy chassis... The others being the oilless bearings which tends to eat the underside gearbox cover (and therefore may damage the idle gear), and the shock towers which tends to break even when the car is sitting on a shelve... Front may need reinforcement if those elements are solved first...

By the way, the RIcoh part turned to be in smaller mod than what I expected, which means it is not an option.

This is the start of my project. I got 2 other chassis (black but in good shape or near to be) and lot of the missing parts in the meantime. Next weeks will be interesting...

[Dadio]

I think if I were planning to run one I'd change the rear to use two shocks to preserve the chassis .

[silvertriple]

I think if I were planning to run one I'd change the rear to use two shocks to preserve the chassis .

I intend to do some reinforcement. At minima, I would put a link between the two shock towers to help the forces partition. Eventually, that link would be also tied with the rear gear box cover (again to help the forces partitions). When I had my original hunter, it jumped a lot, with reception on hard surfaces. The shock towers did not broke, but the underside gear box cover started to be loose and that killed both the underside gear box cover and the idle gear (and while you were able to find the idle gear in parts, the underside gearbox cover was not detailed).: ultimately, based on my own experience, I believe a link between the two shock towers would be enough to reinforce them. But with the possibilities opened by the 3D printing, I may look forward to add that link in a gearbox cover tailored made... And for the broken chassis, I may consider join both shock towers and gear box cover (the holes used to fix the gear box cover are going thru the chassis, and also used to fix the underside cover : that would make to support the forces for a repaired chassis).

[silvertriple]

New day, new problem... Well, only the start of it, as I would be only able to sense how much it is a problem once I will have opened all the NIB parts (and there is still some on the way). It is about screws, nuts, spacers and washers



First they are all of a specific color (basically not what you would find on a Tamiya kit). Surprisingly the instruction manual mentions Philips screw driver - if it is really the case, that might be easier.
Second, while I know where to search for the washers, screws and nut in M2 and M3 (that is easy, although it might be difficult for the color), I'm not sur where to find the tapping screws: I can easily find tapping screws for wood, but is it the same as the one designed for plastic or ABS?

In any case, I should have a much better view once the first chassis will be mounted. I should have all the required screws to mount at least one Chassis. But I got two black additional chassis and not much screws with those. It will become more difficult to rebuild the second one (missing some tapping screws in 4x12 and likely some in 3)... And for the third one, let's be clear, most of the tapping screws will be missing, a few spacers and probably some M2 and M3 screws, washers and nut (and a damper that I still need to source). What may save me is that all the NIB parts are coming with the required screws, nut, spacers and washers, saving me quite a few elements to search/source.

My approach :

• Shelf chassis will be genuine Marui screws

• Runner: I don't really care of the colors, I'll do with what I find.

• Third one: let's check the state of the parts first after the cleaning. I may miss some spacers and other elements. but color screws is not that critical for this one as well

Key questions: is tapping screw a generic term for something else more precise in the screw specialists terms? Is a tapping screw for wood ok for plastic application (I believe it may not), but what should I look into for the specification? Any good option for Sourcing (Europe)?

Thanks

[Dadio]

The black chassis , are they for the Galaxy ?

[silvertriple]

The black chassis , are they for the Galaxy ?

Yes, the black chassis are initially Galaxy's one. They are the same as the Hunter V2, but black instead of grey.

NB: Hunter V1 don't have holes for the roll cage stay of the Galaxy, as well the shock towers are rounded. My original Hunter was a V1. I got a V2 (grey) and 2 Galaxy chassis (Black). But will mount them as Hunters.

[Dadio]

If you fancy a Galaxy as well
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274799828098

[Coelacanth]

Key questions: is tapping screw a generic term for something else more precise in the screw specialists terms? Is a tapping screw for wood ok for plastic application...?

I'll provide a simple answer. Self-tapping screws typically have coarser threads that are meant to bite into whatever material you're threading them into. Like our PM Justin Trudeau, they have no nuts. Usually plastic or wood screws are self-tapping screws. They also are usually pointed at the tip. Machine screws typically have finer threads and they're meant to thread into a nut...though, machine screws can thread into plastic pretty well, too, if the holes are just tight enough...but they're meant to have a nut installed.

[silvertriple]

If you fancy a Galaxy as well
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274799828098

Thanks. It is already in my watch list . I've been in contact with this guy already. Didn't know had all these additional parts when we discussed, I would have probably taken the whole lot (my two black chassis were from him - the thing is it is apparently quite difficult to find complete ones, and he did not got as many of the superstructures part as the chassis). That being said, he had in total 6 Galaxy chassis in various states, and his target was to build 2 Galaxy: one Galaxy and one Galaxy RS for his shelve. He is missing the red right rear galaxy roll cage stay to finish his Red Galaxy and he is searching for it since months...

On my side, I'm more into Hunter than into Galaxys. That being said, i also like some roll cage buggy, but my absolute dreams on the roll cage side are the Turbo Scorpion, Javelin and the Samurai (I'll search one later, because my recent purchases exhausted my budget for this year), but this is another story and for the Javelin and Turbo Scorpion, it is another corner of this forum.

[silvertriple]

Key questions: is tapping screw a generic term for something else more precise in the screw specialists terms? Is a tapping screw for wood ok for plastic application...?

I'll provide a simple answer. Self-tapping screws typically have coarser threads that are meant to bite into whatever material you're threading them into. Like our PM Justin Trudeau, they have no nuts. Usually plastic or wood screws are self-tapping screws. They also are usually pointed at the tip. Machine screws typically have finer threads and they're meant to thread into a nut...though, machine screws can thread into plastic pretty well, too, if the holes are just tight enough...but they're meant to have a nut installed.

Well, I'm not sure at all the profile of the screw is exactly the same depending of the intended material to be used in, and that's my incertainty. On the machine thread , meaning the screws going (into) nuts, there is nothing crazy, it is easy to find, they are all metrics . That's more about the tapping screw I have an issue with: I can't find a single site where i can see similar threaded screws...

I took few pics for reference with a 3x12 and 4x12 tapping screws




The step seems to be about 1mm for both. I may need to check about reference data to verify first if it is a standard thread of not... I'll have to find out

[Dadio]

All the self tapping screws on the Samurai at 3mm , no 4mm at all but it's quite common to replace a stripped out 3mm with a 4mm so it might be a repair if you find any .

[silvertriple]

All the self tapping screws on the Samurai at 3mm , no 4mm at all but it's quite common to replace a stripped out 3mm with a 4mm so it might be a repair if you find any .

Found a website in France call bricovis, with tapping screws for Plastic with Philips head. Not exactly the same color as the original screws, but it should do it. I've order whatever was required to build one Hunter and will make decision after receiving those. Only things maybe missing after this may be the spacer for one of the front arms, but I know where to find longer spacer, so worst case scenario, I'll get long one and will cut them.

Good progress on parts sourcing. I have good hope to build 3 chassis, even though I may have to complete two of them with 3D printed parts (roll bar, rear bumper, optionally radio box cover). For the missing driver, a Tamiya Fox/Bigwig driver should make it.

Next difficult will be body shells, I know TBG was doing some, but they are away right now. Will have to wait they are reopening the ebay shop.