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Had this given to me a few years ago, so decided it was time to give it some life, by restoring/rebuilding it. It’s what some would refer to as a Mk 1, but Tamiya never really had a specific change in their kits, rather they just made rolling changes. I can highlight the tell tales parts that say this is an early vintage as I go. Anyway, here’s what I’m starting with

The buggy is all stripped down, and here are some tell tale signs that this is an early vintage kit (there are more, but these are easy to spot):
Firstly, the gearcase has tabs that the rear cage mounts to


The front upper and lower arms are “thinner” than the later ones


The front uprights use flat head screws instead of tabs as the spring retainers


The rear arms have a “space” for a bearing on the inside, despite not having a bearing in there (the manual doesn’t suggest to put one there either)


I did some research and asked some questions to learn this, so hopefully by passing this info on here, it may help others in the future to distinguish what parts they have.

I got to cleaning and started reassembly. The front cross members needed to be re manufactured as the originals were engraved with the originals owners name, address and phone number . The rear gearcase and mechanism box both had plenty of silicone sealer to “waterproof” it, which took a bit of work to clean up.





The mechanism box lid had a pretty bad section that was quite scuffed, needing wet sanding and polishing


This is the original motor, which is also an early vintage identifier, having just the 2 vent slots on the front rather than 4


I soldered on some new wires and connectors, and fitted the motor back into the gearcase

Decided I’d go for a set of aftermarket wheels, to go with a set of new tyres, to suit the look that I’ve got in my head


I also got the machinist box sanded and polished to a standard that suits a 40 year old buggy, and tidied up the original electronics.








Next is to re do the shocks, I won’t be filling them with oil though as it will just leak out, and this is just going to live on a shelf anyway

Very nice. Do I spy steel universals on it?

1300GT wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:00 am Very nice. Do I spy steel universals on it?

Yes, although I know nothing about them, are they significant in any way?

**edit - worked it out, they come from the Super Champ

Shocks restored and rebuilt, and fitted






The front bumper I have isn’t original (it’s from a re-re scorcher) so I’m debating actually using an aftermarket scale bumper, unless I manage to come across an original Matt Black vintage bumper

This SRB definitely fell into the right hands.
Beautiful job restoring it

Ordered the paint I need from my LHS yesterday, Spring weather is here is Oz, so it will be good for painting this hard body

That's looking really nice ! I keep thinking I need one but never have the funds when I see one for sale .

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 3:06 am That's looking really nice ! I keep thinking I need one but never have the funds when I see one for sale .

Yes... same heren. That car is a real icon!

Been a while since updates, but I finally got some body work done




Going for a real old school Baja look with this one. Just waiting on some number stickers from MCI so as I can finish stickering it up, but I’m pretty happy with this at this point

Wow that turned out great! The rough rider was my first car and it got abused to say the least

Wow, what a beautiful restoration!! Very nice indeed.
My first RC car was the Sand Scorcher -- a very early version (circa '79-'80 I think) and it had all the features described in your second post. I wish I had that car today.

That's got that really nice scale model look , love it !