brianw

I have a Tamiya Blackfoot and an old Traxxas Hawk (maybe Hawk 2) that I'm getting out of my parents house today. I'm going to try to clean them up a bit and see if they still work or not. If I remember the Blackfoot is busted pretty good, but the Hawk should still run...

Anyway, is it worth to try to fix these two, or should I just start over?

Could either be converted to brushless? What's needed for a brushless conversion?

Thanks!

Duster_360

iTrader: (21)

Parts could be a prob with older rcs - if you break something, you might be out of luck. Might want to check and see if you can get any parts for yours before you decide to convert one.

All it takes to convert to brushless is a brushless esc and a brushless motor. Usually at the same time you would want to run lipo and that would require a lipo capable charger. You'll likely need a new charger anyway, but one of the rtr brushless rigs might be the way to go.

bobsavenger

iTrader: (17)

You might want to check ebay and see if you can get some parts. I've sold a bunch of vintage RC stuff on ebay and people are willing to pay pretty good for it. If you don't want to mess with it, sell it on ebay and get some newer stuff.

Good Luck.

KniteWulfe

iTrader: (2)

At least some parts for the blackfoot should still be available, but upgrading it to brushless might be really hard on the drivetrain. I wouldn't go brushless on something without full parts support not just because of drivetrain stress but also the added speed will make crashing and breaking it more likely.

I highly suggest starting over. I did what you are thinking about. I converted my 10 year old RS4 rally to brushless and just tore up the drivetrain and kept breaking parts and having to search forever for new ones. Now its sitting on a shelf even though I have all the parts to fix it, my mini revo does everything that car could do better and with more, cheaper parts available. You can probably find a fairly inexpensive modern vehicle to replace those and have much less down-time.

brianw

The Blackfoot went up on ebay tonight. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to sell the Hawk2...looking hard at the Rustler. Hard to beat a RTR kit for $170 although I'd be happier if it were a kit rather than RTR.

KniteWulfe

iTrader: (2)

I would spend the extra $ and go for a rustler VXL in that case. Brushless and lipo offer so much longer run-times and awesome power.

I totally know what you mean about wishing it was a kit though. It wasn't nearly as fun getting my mini revo in a box all built already. You might want to look at getting a kit and just a hobbywing ezrun (or turnigy) brushless motor/esc combo and some lipos (turnigy are best IMO) and charger from hobbyking. Its a cheapish intro to the newer technology. Once you try it you won't run brushed or NiMh again.

Then again if funds don't allow it you could always upgrade the brushed rustler later but then you miss out on the fun of building a kit.

Duster_360

iTrader: (21)

Traxxas has shown a lot of response to customer input lately, but no kits. I guess they are not getting enough requests from folks that would rather have a kit or at least the option. I never would've believed they would make a pro option type rtr roller so you didn't have to but their electronics, and the PE version of Slash, although not completly a 'pro' version, was a surprise.

Maybe if enough ask, we'll see kit versions? You can always do what I did - I built a Tmaxx from scratch using parts from eBay. Was a little expensive, but was a lot of fun and a def learning experience.

Good luck with your eBay listing!

tc3team

If they still work, i'd use them for a bit purely for practice and getting used to controlling a car again, whilst on the look out for something newer.

As said, getting any replacement parts could be an issue on older cars.

Good luck, enjoy

Cpt.America

iTrader: (52)

Fix those bad boys up... shine em, clean em... maybe even get them running, then I would put them on display as a vinage shelf queen. Then, (or at the same time) go get yourself something new to bash or race with, so you dont bust up a old gem.

UltegraSTI

iTrader: (20)

do not under any circumstances give the bfoot brushless, u will toast those old hex shafts so fast its not funny. it wasnt funny then, and it'd be worse now. odd how plastic hexes ran better than metal 1s (those CRP units). unless u have the privilege of a robinson/thorp setup ($$$$ and wouldnt wanna break it now) would i think of it.

R

brianw

Well I sold the Blackfoot on ebay for $50...not too bad in my opinion.

I've been doing some research on the Hawk2 and have found it was the predecessor to the Rustler so a lot of parts transfer over. I've got a new servo, radio, receiver, rustler vxl diff internals, stampede shocks, and a xl-5 esc mounted and almost ready to go.

I'm still waiting on the batteries and charger but once those show up I should be ready to see if it's going to work or not.

Wish me luck!