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

Hi guys...

After recently nigh on fully refurbishing my old Traxxas Bandit in preparation for racing it. It occurred to me that part of me kinda just wants to put it back on display where it had been for the last 3 years or so after becoming a dad.

It also occurred to me that on the shelf it aged quite badly. It looked great, but the shocks needed rebuilding, and bearings changing.

Which brings me to your awesome shelfers (unlike my Bandit). Do you keep the shocks topped up with oil, and move them round to keep the tops nicely lubricated too? God forbid, do you ever run them on super clean surfaces?

Just curious about how you treat your miniature trailer queens and if you consider it important that even though they aren't meant to run, they could run straight off the shelf if you wanted to.

All my shocks are kept free of oil- keeping them from leaking on new parts. But I don't run the shelf cars

There's no rules really, to what makes a shelfer (although some may disagree) as long as it's generally nice condition and you enjoy looking at it mate!

All of mine, including the one that have never been run, are ready to go at a moment's notice except for maybe a receiver. I enjoy static model cars too, but I have always thought that an RC car should be capable of moving under its own power even if it never (or rarely) does. Yeah, it's extra maintenance, but I like taking things apart and putting them back together. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

I share that viewpoint markbt73, not that I have any RC cars on a shelf or many RC cars for that matter... But if I did I'd like to be able to keep them in running order. But as you say, there's a time issue, so the reality may be that I couldn't do it.

And sheriff, absolutely I fully appreciate that people can do as they wish with their RC cars... Or real cars for that matter! I have no issue at all with trailer queens, some of the coolest hot rods I've seen wouldn't even be drivable on everyday real roads anyhow.

I have a few shelfers but no rules about how I do it.
I have two of my old race cars that have had almost nothing done to them since they were last raced, so they are a little dirty and the dampers leak.
I have one shelfer built from a kit and I hope to have it ready to go even though it won't be run ever.
My other shelfers are run occasionally but I change the bodies and wheels over for runner parts before I use them.

Right now my only shelfer needs a rx and new saddle pack batteries to run. Its my ltx40 I don't have to worry about the shocks since it doesn't have any. So it just sits.I do need to find a new body for it though snce I accidently cracked the front picking it up one time.