RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

Made some good progress!
The body is painted.
I bought a NIP OTW-93 chassis, four new arms,upper chassis, servo mounts, a SWB belt, a Thorp hardened steel top gear, rear hubs and a favourite trick of mine-buying vintage Kyosho screw sets.
They used all the same hardware in all their models, so I picked a fat one.
I then visited the charming Marwan, bought a set of tires and a belt cover set.
Tamiya PS-31 Smoke works really well for clear spur covers and belt covers.

I had a look through some of my decal drawers and found some interesting Optima Mid decals-I think these were left over from the Mid Special I had a while ago.
One looks like it'll overlap onto the blue decal and one's skinnier.
I hope the decal sheet I bought arrives soon.
Pulled my Losi drawer out to check what's in there. Yep, all there. I'm a complete vintage decal whore.

I found some awesome Kyosho advertisments on the back of some vintage Australaian RC magazines, but no Turbo Mid, only a mention.


Here's the car after three coates of Parma Fasyellow backed with two coats of Faswhite.

I love New Zealand.
It can appear to be the smallest of countries, or it can appear to be the largest.
I was looking dismally at some 3D printed OT-98 battery holders, on eBay,when I thought I'd message my buddy who works for Kyosho NZ.
"Any chance you've got a decent pair of OT-98 battery holders"?
"I'll be around in 30 minutes".

Bingo! Traded a Lazer ZX rear transmission case for it.

Beautiful.

Alright, my decal sheet arrived!
Seems a guy needs an OG Mid decal sheet, and an extra 'Turbo' decal (which I have, luckily) to get a 'Turbo Optima Mid' decal that fits between the stripes in front of the windscreen.
I traded a bunch of parts for another Optima Mid, today.
I've always liked the origional Mid, they look so good!
It's stripped for a restoration, as soon as my Turbo Mid chassis arrives and I finish the Turbo Mid, I'll use the very nice chassis the Turbo is mocked up on and start the OG.
And I swore I'd never restore another Kyosho.

Please excuse the state of the wheels, they came with the OG Mid I got today and were used just to get it off the ground.
I think powder coating a set of alloy wheels white is the only way to get a perfect set of wheels, but I do have the tidiest set I have bubbling away in hydrogen peroxide, anyway.

I enjoy this thread. What motor are you using? Better be a lemans!

TheDiamondOne wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:31 am I enjoy this thread. What motor are you using? Better be a lemans!

Thanks!
I'm looking for a 240ST Le Mans. I have one in my Turbo Ultima, but I think it's staying there.

Marwan's amazing tires arrived, it's all mocked up, ready for the new chassis, arms and the rest of the plethora of parts I've bought to arrive.

Well, the SE is done!
Just waiting on some decals.
Here it is...(please excuse the gold shocks in the 1st photo and the double posting?)

I bought some alloy wheels. but a set of factory wheels came up. so I had to buy those, too, of course.
I'll probably run the factory rims.
I installed a KO servo and Tekin electronics, with a Revolution motor.

That's one of every SWB Mid I've restored, now.
I'll shoot some photos of all 3 when the decals arrive.

Here are the other two.
The Turbo is probably my favourite. It's just a sweetheart.
It was so well cared for, the chassis only has a few tiny scratches on it.
All in needed was a dismantle and a gentle clean, the new body finished it off nicely.

Those are some awesome Mids. Well done sir!!

The alloy wheels look very nice. They appear to have been polished (or plated?), did they arrive that way?

XLR8 wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 6:58 pm Those are some awesome Mids. Well done sir!!

The alloy wheels look very nice. They appear to have been polished (or plated?), did they arrive that way?

Thanks!
The wheels didn't come polished, but it only took a minute with some Autosol to shine them up.
I bought a set of stock rims, now I can't decide which to use.

Some fresh photos.
It baffled me why the White Mid's decals didn't sit straight, I wasn't having that!
After some sectioning they're much better.
The platinum shocks on the SE are brand new, factory filled with oil and not an air bubble in sight, just perfect!
Expensive and a real mission to find.
Big thanks to Chris at Optima Heaven! I wouldn't have been able to do this project without him.
Nicest guy, ever.

Might build some LWB Mids, next.
Or just finish up painting the last few bodies in my Losi collection.

Just waiting for decals for the SE!