Hirobo ZERDA

[Bormac]

Hi guys. Yesterday I took my Zerda down to the famous St Ives race trak along with a couple of other buggies for some fun.
Its great having one of these cars again and I like evrything about it. With a 19 turn Komodo Dragon bolted in and a 5000 lipo this thing is F A S T !!! The belt from the pinion to the spur slips far too much even fully adjusted so I will have to look at fixing this little problem.
Aside form too much toe out the car drives very nicely. Once i adjust this im sure it will be even better. Some time in the near future I would like to manufacture some tougher shock mounts as mine are bening quite easily.
Overall its a fun car to drive and looks definately period running around the track. Enjoy.




...and here are some other recent images of this car-

[RETRO R/C]

Looks good Jason - you better fit a gear cover over the rear end though mate - those pulleys will strip very quickly if you dont.

LOL - you can never have just a "normal" motor - always "going mach 5 with your tires on fire"!! LOLOL

I reviewed this car in January of 2004 for the magazine - I will see if I can dig up the text file it....that should help Mr Ed out.

Cheers

Darryn

[GJW]

where can i get one of those fluro drivers thats SO COOL SERIOUSLY WHERE?

[RETRO R/C]

where can i get one of those fluro drivers thats SO COOL SERIOUSLY WHERE?

R O T F L

I loved the way he was applied...total class man.

Cheers

Darryn

[dj_kilroy]

Hey guys,

Being a buddy of Bormacs, I'll have to give you a photo history of my zerda.
This is a replica of the car I ran in the 80's, featuring all the hop ups from my first one.
I recently got to race mine at the annual vintage meet in Sydney Australia. Me and a few others were lucky enough to stay at Bormac's house and live & breathe vintage RC for a weekend.
My Zerda's performance on the track was stunning giving me first place in 4wd 540.
I really like these cars and I think I have converted Bormac as well.

Enjoy the pics

Whats left of the original


The doner


The rebuild



Mid motor drive

On the line


Broken


If anyone has any parts for these cars could you send me a pm. I was racing at a club meet in Melbourne on the weekend and my car got ran into after finishing a race. Unfortunately I dont have a spare. I'm also after a bumper and a main drive belt.

Thanks for looking

[Mr. ED]

exactly the kind of pics I like to see! Only one thing better perhaps: a manual

I'd be seriously worried about the little teeth on this cars belt: without slipper, especially with jasons hot motor choice .

Where does the belt go? Does it lay double under the pack

[dj_kilroy]

Your right, both sides of the belt run under the battery. It's not the most efficent design, but at least it keeps
the dirt out.

[Stumpy]

where can i get one of those fluro drivers thats SO COOL SERIOUSLY WHERE?

Is this a private joke, or something we all should know about..?

Please do tell..

Mr. ED.. I had a look at my Zerda manual to see if it had a parts breakdown / car layout, but unfortunately it doesnt.. The manual is 20 pages, so a bit large to scan and post.. Is there anything in particular that you want to see..?

dj_kilroy.. Does Bormac know that your Zerda has Schumacher parts on it??

[Mr. ED]

Nothing specific, maybe drivetrain.
Pretty much just day-dreaming: seen how scarse parts 'd be, it would be a waiste on me

[Stumpy]

Ok, this is a cross section of the car showing how the belt runs..

I always forund that the belts were tight in these cars, especially when running 540.. What I did with mine was after fitting the RPM gear drive system (as seen on dj_kilroy's car), I drilled out the centre of the 16 tooth motor pully to 4mm, and fitted that on the mainshaft instead of the original 18 tooth pully.. I then compensated for the lower overall gear ratio by going up 1 or 2 teeth on the motor pinion ..

[Mr. ED]

I was pretty confused matching the pics with the drawing till i realised dj made himself a mid-motor conversion; impressive.
Thankyou all for the many pics!!!
Anybody got one of their later cars for pics? Alien invader etc???

[terry.sc]

Invader manual, a mid motor version of the Zerda (from the usual source)
http://www.retromodelisme.com/manuels_pages/146/invader-si-sr-hirobo.html

[RETRO R/C]

Funny that you mention the invader Terry - I am just finishing off building an Invader from a NIB kit for the magazine. Once I have run it - I am going to look at turning my Zerda into a mid mount with the Invader parts- looks quite easy. The advantage of the mid mount motor is high in the Zerda - makes a huge difference in the handling.

I will try and scan that article on the Zerda today or tomorrow if interested.

Cheers

Darryn

[Mr. ED]

....

I will try and scan that article on the Zerda today or tomorrow if interested.

Cheers

Darryn

Ofcourse!
Any chance you could send me a copy of the magazine with the invader article?
If I like the magazine I may sign up Do they run vintage articles regularly?

Terry, thanks for the link, been looking through a couple more already.
Somehow I didn't find these when I last visited their site.

[RETRO R/C]

I have been writing for R/C CAR magazine for nearly 5 years now. Every month I write a review on a classic. I have only missed one month in that time.

I dont have spare paper copies of the magazine unfortunately (especially the Invader) as it is a two part issue - I havent finished the second one yet! .

Will try to get it done this weekend.

Cheers

Darryn