Tamiya Egress – The Restoration of a Classic RC Car

Hey Everyone!

SHE’S FINISHED! Wahoooooooo!

Man, this has been THE single best RC build of my entire life and boy have I built a lot of cars. Such a fullfilling experience! This car has lived up to all my dreams and expectations from childhood, in fact, its surpassed them! Amazing. Ok, onto the last steps…

So, getting the wheels on, simple, as you’d expect. Next step was getting the electrics in…simple…and hard in equal measures. The servo went in like a dream, no issues there whatsoever. The Spektrum DX3 reciever also went in a like a dream. The Reventon S ESC however proved troublesome. Not in regards to fitting it, that it was easy, from the angle of setting it up. I’m a brushless noob, so found it a real pain in the ass. Its just SOOOOO complex compared to the old school stuff I know. After a quick call with the awesome Modelsport from whom I bought it, they talked me through the basics and we got it set up in minutes. Man, this thing has A LOT of different settings.

Next challenge, and boy was it a challenge, was getting the damn battery in! Its only a HPI 4500mah Nimh, but jeez, talk about a tight fit! Just like the old vintage model. The battery retainer (the bit that has a body pin holding it in) had to be modified heavily to make the battery stay in. The finished article is a little ugly on close inspection, but it stays in place, which is what counts. Word of warning. If you’re sticking in a chunky lipo, please be aware that it may not fit. Space is at a real premium here.

After all the electrics were in and I’d given it a quick test, I set to work on the body painting. With a handful of coats on, it was ready for the decals, my favourite bit!