My graveyard of carcasses has arrived

[icanfixyourford]

After decades of absence from RC, I bought a group of RC10 pans and parts. Now bear in mind, I'm just a low level hobbyist, with minimal knowledge of the various mods, etc.. I do have solid (bordering on extensive) knowledge of all things mechanical, electrical, and electronic, relative to vehicles. With that said, I'm wide open to advice about which pan to start with. The gold pan has had the sides trimmed down, has extra holes, and the rear of the chassis and motor plate have been trimmed. I'm assuming some sort of lightweight mod, related to Jay Halsey? It's otherwise very clean, and I'm guessing was probably a carpet car. The 'measles' pan appears unmodified, but obviously has the anodizing sanded off. They're both A stamps. Plastics have been dyed purple Guess I'll just dye them black. Any red appears to be enamel paint, so I'll strip that with brake fluid. I'm only interested in building a runner with modern electronics, not a restored shelf queen. Which pan is less blasphemous to start with?

[JosephS]

My vote is to work on the stripped out one first. The cut down one looks pretty nice. You always figure out how to do things better after the first build.

[carloco8]

Nice haul! Looks like there are enough parts for two cars? If you want to lay all the parts in the bags out, we could see exactly what you have to work with/might be missing. I see a set of hard anodized shocks in there also. For a runner, both chassis look like good starting points, maybe the previous owner had the one stripped because it was going to be painted red to match the nose and motor plate.

[Frankentruck]

For the chassis with most of the anodizing missing, Easy Off oven cleaner and a scrub pad can take care of the rest of it if desired. Nasty fumes need good ventilation, wear good tough gloves, etc.

[icanfixyourford]

Yup, I've stripped enough coatings in my time. Probably bead blast it, epoxy primer, and gold color coat.

You think I should start with that one? I'm calling it Measles for now...

Is there any significant value to either pan, before I start? They're both A stamps, and I'm most likely going to do a fairly tame build.

The one with the factory anodizing is really clean, other than the extra holes and cut down sides. Does that take away any value? Value added? Neither?

[jwscab]

Nothing extra special with the clean chassis. You have a nicely modded chassis for a nice build though. If you plan to run it eventually, put some chassis tape on it to keep it clean.

[Frankentruck]

Extra holes and enlarged holes seem to significantly take away value from a chassis, unless it's really well done weight reduction holes. Sometimes a holey chassis can get a lot of interest. The part way cut down sides aren't a big value impact if done well. Right now there's so much new re release RC10 out there that even nice condition originals are dropping in price. I do think Measles is the one to start with. You could also just give it a quick buffing to see how if looks, with color splotches and all. It's not a shelf queen, but it can still get a little spit shining.

When a chassis has extra holes, if they're in spots that are actually of use that is always a good thing. The cut down chassis looks like someone tried to change the countersink on several holes, probably so they could try and make hardware store screws fit flush. That's a losing battle with aluminum this thin. It just results in bigger chassis holes.

[icanfixyourford]

Thanks Frankentruck. All the mods on the gold pan look really well done, not hackey at all. I didn't think either of these were really special, just wanted to make sure. I thought about leaving the 'patina' on Measles, but I like pretty builds However, I may reserve the pretty build for the other pan.

[juicedcoupe]

These two holes are for mounting the battery cup inline. A stamp cars had the battery mounted transverse. All of my A stamp cars have been modified for inline batteries.

[Frankentruck]

It's not a big deal, but this nose plate mount screw hole is the one I don't like.
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[Elkcycles]

Slap a custom cut chassis protector on there and it won't be visible. Alternately, use a drill press and a countersink to tidy the irregular chamfer.

As for measles, using a soak of Greased Lightning or aircraft grade Simple Green can remove the remaining anodizing.

[icanfixyourford]

It's not a big deal, but this nose plate mount screw hole is the one I don't like.
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I was looking at that tonight. Probably clean up countersink and make a bushing to resize the hole. I've got a lathe and I'm not afraid to use it!

[icanfixyourford]

These two holes are for mounting the battery cup inline. A stamp cars had the battery mounted transverse. All of my A stamp cars have been modified for inline batteries.

Screenshot_20250325_144835_Samsung Internet.jpg

I was looking at the two pans side by side tonight. You're correct, no extra holes, just some factory straight drilled were countersunk. I suspected it was for the battery mount. I held an old NiCad pack I still up to the pan, and the hole placement made sense.

[icanfixyourford]

These two holes are for mounting the battery cup inline. A stamp cars had the battery mounted transverse. All of my A stamp cars have been modified for inline batteries.

Screenshot_20250325_144835_Samsung Internet.jpg

I was looking at the two pans side by side tonight. You're correct, no extra holes, just some factory straight drilled were countersunk. I suspected it was for the battery mount. I held an old NiCad pack I still up to the pan, and the hole placement made sense.

[ZED32]

I countersunk the holes for the battery cup screws on my goldpan. Makes the belly almost completely flat with no screws sticking out.