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

So, I tend to go off on tangents and one of my latest has been a Tamiya Astute obsession. I already have a nearly pristine example that I picked up last summer but it's too nice to modify or run. I also have a basket case I bought a couple of years ago since it was cheap. My recent desire has been to build a Jamie Booth Works replica as a member suggested. My plan had been to use the basket case car as a starting point but after tearing it down I realized that too many of the components were too thrashed to make a decent car from. So I went looking for another car to use as the basis of the works build and I ended up buying the yellow car below from a BIN on ebay last Friday. Today during lunch I was surfing for Astute parts and I ran across what looked to me like the same car which was just sold in the UK in August. I compared pictures of the two auctions this afternoon and I'm 100 % sure this is the same car. Like I said, small world! Anyway, I hope to build said works replica from this car. It looks to be in decent shape and I'm excited to get going!

I'm a big Astute fan to, I have a new built Astute, a new built Super Astute and a new built RRC Jamie Both Works Replica. When you build your Booth replica are you following the RRC article or tring to get hold of actual works parts to create a true reproduction?

Here is a link to my works replica.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=66645&sid=18028

And this is my build thread
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2472

To tell you the truth...I'm going to follow your build thread,,,and use the RRC article to do this. Actually going out and getting true works parts would involve patience and dollars, two things that I don't have in ready quantities. I really admire the way your car came out and your excellent thread is what inspired me to do this. If I can actually stay on task and remember to take my medication for my RC ADD, I might actually get this done. Unfortunately for this project, I just got a Kyosho Triumph in the mail and it has consumed all my available attention span for the moment. For som reason, the worse shape the car is in, the more I feel the need to make it better. I just finished (more or less) restoring a Turbo Ultima that was in pretty good shape already, and it's been sitting there patiently waiting on me for two years! The Astute I grabbed for this project is actullay quite nice with only a couple of small issues. Due to the use of an undertay there's almost no rash on the chassis, same as my other car. A new body set will have this one looking sharp. Oh, there is the issue that one of the previous owners decided to use super glue on a lot of fasteners and was a bit sloppy in the application to boot. The tires are rotted from age, and one of the rear carriers is built from epoxy but that's ok since the replica doesn't use them anyway. Here's a couple more shots after I cleaned it up a bit and pulled the nasty stickers off the body. Sorry for the over exposure - gotta figure out how to get my lighting right. I'll try to get some better shots up soon.

Thank you for the kind words re my thread, it's nice to know it has enthused someone else about Astutes. You have a great starting point there, what is your ultimate intention, is it to shelf, run lightly or race the car once finished?

Well, I'd like to say that I'll be running this. If I do it'll be as you say...light. I have other cars in worse shape that I can take care of those urges with. I'm not a good enough driver to be able to notice the differences in car handling between models, much less set ups. I just love these cars for their uniqueness and engineering aspects. The most fun for me is making ugly cars beautiful.

It should be ok then but just a note of experience, the front bulk heads are very weak anything like a half decent knock will snap it where it joins the chassis so a Super Astute front bulk head brace is recommended.

Cool collections of Astutes guys.