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

[silvertriple]

You saw that TBG closed their eBay store and has a website now, right? Just in case…. https://teambluegroove.com/products/marui-hunter-body-and-wing-vintage?_pos=11&_sid=16b6be2a0&_ss=r&variant=39874912092326

Yes, I saw that, but the Marui Hunter mould is under reparation. They expect to be able to provide bodyshells again for the Marui Hunter later this year...

[silvertriple]

Published my stl files for the shock towers reinforcement...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4924481

[silvertriple]

Another broken chassis with parts arrived today. I had a quick look:

• complete transmission in proper state at the exception of the motor pinion

• motor support

• front gearbox cover in proper state

• screws

• front suspension in perfect state

• front wheels with a bit of cleaning required, but tries are in good state

• steering rods and part of the servo saver is there

• front bumper is in good state

• the chassis itself is broken on the rear side. There was an adaptation of a two dampers with a metallic bridge, and it was fixed within the remains of the shock towers but the remains did not survived nothing remains there, the chassis is almost flat within this area. Almost all the tubes holding the threads are highly damaged.That being said, the part where the idle shaft goes is in perfect state. May need to think, because this chassis front looks in perfect state. Maybe something to do...

• rear axles seems longer than original ones. I suspect it is linked with the shocks which were added on the rear train, as they take much more room than the original links

• I have one additional Hunter wheels and what appears to be Super Hornet or GH2 wheels. The rim diameter is bigger than the Hunter/Galaxy ones, but the width is lower (I did not have hands on Wild One wheels yet, are they similar to those? If so, it may not fit - need to check further)

Anycase, I'm now sure I will have soon whatever needed to rebuild three chassis. For missing roll bars and rear bumpers, I'm getting those 3D printed...

Only remaining thing to be able to start the project is to wait for body shell availability from TBG. I could build one already, but I don't want to start until I'm able to take one single picture of the 3 sets of parts together (I may need to find a big table to do that by the way)...

[Coelacanth]

"Perfect state" and "good state" I can guess at the condition...but "proper state" is one I haven't heard before. How is a proper state relative to good and perfect states?

[silvertriple]

"Perfect state" and "good state" I can guess at the condition...but "proper state" is one I haven't heard before. How is a proper state relative to good and perfect states?

Well, let's say good state. It's not perfect, it just requires some cleaning. It will replace the one I had initially with the second chassis I got, which was "enhanced" with holes (presumed to be targeted to oil the gearbox) and damaged...

[silvertriple]

This morning, I found a new trick which may allow me to save on the most damage body shell...


Not sure where the idea came from, but I took my daughter's nails clear paint and just tried something on an aera of the body which should have been normally cut. It became clear again, and I did not even applied on both side. Paint would be on the other side, not sure I should apply this on the other side.


It seems it could work. I still need to try the both side, or only one side and check for possible reaction with the paint... But, that's interesting, and open as well possibilities for the areas of bodies marked with abrasion...

[nitrous36]

Thats cool. I hope it works. Will be following this. There is an old body I want to save. If it works I may try this.

[silvertriple]

Another try with my daughter's varnish.

I did clean the chassis and ABS parts, but a white shadow appeared on those which I tried first heavily (it is less the case on the non damaged ones, as I apply a shorter bath, but still some whit shadows are there). I decided to take the damaged parts for a try.

Before



After



My conclusion is that a clear coat should solve the white shadow. I'll get some TS-13 clear as it would work on ABS to do a very light coat on the parts which requires it...

[Dadio]

It's the acetone in the nail varnish , with ABS acetone it a solvent , it melts it , when 3d printing ABS we use acetone vapour to smooth the surface , look up vapour smoothing on youtube , you can also use it to fix cracks but be careful as you can literally dissolve the ABS if get it wrong .

[silvertriple]

It's the acetone in the nail varnish , with ABS acetone it a solvent , it melts it , when 3d printing ABS we use acetone vapour to smooth the surface , look up vapour smoothing on youtube , you can also use it to fix cracks but be careful as you can literally dissolve the ABS if get it wrong .

I had to try, as the idea came in. But I did this on parts going to the bin. The acetone may have participated in the result. I'll try with TS-13 to see if the result is similar. I don't like the nail varnish anyway, as it is too thick to be applied easily... And for the lexan, looking further, i'm thinking now about using combination of PS55 + TS13 on the external of the body....

[silvertriple]

Duplicated - removed

[silvertriple]

A bit of CAD tonight to prepare some chassis reinforcement, mainly where screws are mounted, are very often, ABS tubes are damaged


My idea to fix it is basically to print a complementary part that would fit around those pieces

For motor mount first


Then for rear bumper mounts


Lastly an part that goes around the front body mount support (I saw this broken on few chassis seen on pictures during my numerous searches)


More to go, once I'm able to dedicate some time to this:

• For under gear box cover mounts on right and left side (On one of the chassis, one tube is slightly damage. That let me suspect a potential risk, and I'd like to address it)...

• Another one, which is probably going to be the most complex one, to address the weak point around the steering rod holes in the front area of the chassis...

In short, there is still some work to come, and other parts as well going to Thingiverse once I'll be able to print and test fitting...

[silvertriple]

As we all know, the original tires became quite difficult to find. On the alternative tires side, identified and confirmed few possibilities for the rear that works:

• Tamiya Hornet and grasshopper rear tires should work.

• Kyosho Scorpion 2014 rear tire will work as well, with the probable requirement to glue them (did not tried yet with the inside cylinder, but I suspect this won't work, at least the tire has the proper diameter to go on the wheel). They are also closer to the Marui Hunter rear tire spirit in my opinion (I don't really care about the Good Year branding, specially for the runner car). 

There might be other alternatives, the rims diameter are about 4 cm for both front and rear.

For the front, I believe (and I still need to try out) that Tamiya Hornet/Grasshopper/Frog) front tire should work (rim diameter are close).

[silvertriple]

I printed the samples to check the measurements last night.

The central part is off for 2 reasons (I applied a symmetry to avoid printing supports, I should have applied 2 of them! And one of the tubes was slightly off from a millimeter). The body mount reinforcement is good, and the rear bumper side is also good in terms of measurement.

I got the central part corrected after my day of work and it is now printing (that was not very long to do).

I'm now thinking about the bumper fixation reinforcement. The measurements are good, but once in position on the chassis, they looks like something added with no purpose. This got me thinking and I started to add led lights holder and license plate as well I also remove some material on the lower to make it less bulky... Not sure it is still fitting the initial purpose...


I'm now thinking about adding some lines as there is on the gear box carters... and possibly adding something which would come on top of the bumper fixation. And this is the most difficult thing as this part needs to be positioned before the carters as it comes from the top, and the bumper has to come from the rear... I start to sense what designers are doing when they work to design our buggies... And the good thing in this? It is a lot of fun for my brain

[silvertriple]

First, let's see if we can find a way to better integrate this with the Marui Hunter gearbox covers...


Next is... going to be difficult