RC-10 Classics are shipping!  Some people already have theirs, while I am still waiting for delivery of mine.  Meanwhile, I am still collecting parts for mine.

Recently I found two pair for Proline knobby front tires on Ebay.  Both new in package.  These take me back to when my Dad had his RC10 with front tires like this.  I always thought they looked super cool.  I'm going to try and run these and the stock rear tires at the track.  I'm sure they'll be terrible, but they'll look the part and that matters to me.

Once I had a shipping confirmation for my kit, I decided the bite the bullet and buy the carbon kit from RC Carbon Works.  I have decided that (for now) I will run the stock rear wing so I purchased their Gold Pan Carbon Fibre Kit (CW-25).  The kit includes front and rear shock towers, battery strap and transmission brace.

I also managed to score a free comm stick from another member on RC10 Talk.  Now I can keep my motor running in top condition.

I placed an order with Tower Hobbies yesterday morning and they arrived today.  Got to love that for $1.99 shipping!  Arriving today were the MIP CVD set, wide front arms and my set of Proline Dirt Hawgs.

The other night I ordered a set of wheels from JC Racing in the UK.  As far as I know, they are the only company that produces a 2.2 wheel set that fits the original RC-10 without modifications.  This allows the use of modern rubber.  Even with the shipping from the UK, the set of 4 wheels just $18.

For now, I plan to buy a set of Proline Dirt Hawgs to run on the JC Racing wheels (just like the picture, but my wheels will be white).  If I run the car at the track, I hope to use the stock wheels and tires.  My true hope is that Proline or JConcepts will come out with modern tires that will fit the old wheels.  

While browsing through Ebay a few weeks back, I came across this great looking Novak 410-M5 esc.  It looked immaculate, still having the original Tamiya battery connector and the original motor connector.  It took $38 to win the auction, saving me almost $30 over buying the Tekin G11.  I have no doubt the G11 is a better ESC, but in its day, the 410-M5 held its own nicely and will do a fine job for me now.

I've been thinking about batteries lately.  My initial thought has been to simply run my full sized 2s lipo packs.  I've never run a lipo back to back with a nihm pack to see what the difference in speed is, but I've read that difference is noticeable.  I've been thinking about running some 7 cell nihm packs instead.  The nimh packs will fit in with my brushed electronics and will mean I don't need to buy a lipo cutoff alarm.  Also, in the mid 80's running 7 cell packs was very popular and with my more modern Trinity P2K Pro stock motor, the car will be as fast as a modified car from that era.  The only real drawback is the added weight, but this is more about fun than building a serious race car.  I also don't have to worry about maintaining the packs like I do with my race lipos.

Cheap Battery Packs.com will custom build packs.  $26.25 for a pack built to my specs is a pretty good deal in my book.

The rear suspension area of the car will get similar treatment to the front.  Starting with the shock tower, I'll replace the standard fiberglass piece with one from RC Carbon Works (#CW-086).  The largest advantage of the new piece is that it has pre-drilled holes for the Associated B4 wing mounts (#9587).  Replacing the stock wing mount tubes is sacrilege to some, but lets face it, it isn't a very good design and I have no desire for my wing to fall out every time the car flips.

Moving to the rear a-arms, I'll replace the original parts with a set from RPM (#70542).  They are a more robust design and are moulded in black.  The rear rear threaded camber links will also be replaced  with the turnbuckle set mentioned in the previous post.

The original RC-10 used a dog bone setup to transmit power to the rear wheels.  As a kid I didn't know any better (and I'm pretty sure in 1987 there wasn't anything better) but as time has gone by, the advent of MIP CVD's has made life much easier.  No more dog bones popping out and a much smoother power delivery.  MIP still produces a kit for the RC-10 (#1007) and I'll add it to mine.

Rear end parts list

• RC Carbon Works rear shock tower w/ wing mounts #CW-086
• Associated B4 wing mount #9587
• RPM rear a-arms #70542
• MIP CVD kit #1007

CHASSIS/SUSPENSION

Now we get to the meat of the car.  This is where the time, research and money come in.  When I first learned of the release, I figured I would build the car and run it.  Box stock.  The more I've been reading, the more I've learned about "vintage racing".  It turns out that vintage off-road racing is starting to take off.  Quite a few people are racing original RC-10's and keeping up with modern cars.  There's a guy at my local track that does this.  The problem with vintage racing is that it takes a fair amount of money to get a RC-10 competitive and reliable enough to withstand a racing environment.  Modifying a  RC-10 also isn't as simple as walking into the hobby shop and asking for parts.  I have done countless Google searches and have quite a few threads "bookmarked" as well.

I'm a racer.  I can tell myself that I don't want to race this car, but it would be a lie.  While I don't plan on racing this car weekly (like my Tamiya TRF201), I do plan to bring it to the track and hopefully spark some interest in starting a vintage class.

On RC10Talk.com, a poster asked the question, "Who's going to be the first jerk to dye their white parts black?"  Apparently, white suspension parts is a big deal to the classic community.  I could care less myself.  In fact, I find black to be much nicer if only because it doesn't get stained from the dirt like the white used to.

Here's a picture of a box stock front end.  There is a lot that will need to be addressed here if I want to improve the handling of the car.  Original RC-10's had short a-arms and are much narrower than today's modern cars.  To widen the front of the car, I'm going to add a set of Associated wide front a-arms (#6206).  Since the arms are black, I'll dye the rest of the white parts pictured above black to match.

Quite a few people run a longer front shock on their "modern" RC-10's.  Associated claims that they've improved the stock shock on the re-release and I'm going to work with them for now.  The shock tower pictured is the stock, fiberglass unit.  To save a little weight and to continue with the "black scheme" I'm going to add a carbon fibre tower from RC Carbon Works.com (#CW-016)

The original RC-10 came with threaded rods for the tie-rods and steering linkages.  Thankfully, thirty years later we have adjustable turnbuckles.  Associated now sells a complete turnbuckle set with ball cups (#6259).  This will be a very welcome addition and will making camber and toe adjustments much easier.

The last item(s) that I'll replace on the front end will be the steering setup.  When I was a kid, everyone replaced their stock steering setup with a ball bearing unit from A&L.  After a Google search, I found that not only is A&L still around, but they still have the steering kits available (#1080).

Front end parts list

• Associated wide front arms #6206
• RC Carbon Works front shock tower #CW-016
• Associated tie rod set #6259
• A&L ball bearing steering kit (less bearings) #1080
• Lohas front bumper (from Ebay)