Hello everybody

I'm new to this forum stuff so please be gentle. I'm not new to RC's but I'm not an expert in any way, especially the electronics. I own a traxxas rustler and recently purchased a wheely king for my son's birthday. Yesterday my Father-in-law went in his closet and dug out an old RC that he said he bought in the 80's and told me I could have it. After a quick internet search, I found out that it was a Tamiya Monster Beetle. I would like to get it working and maybe do some upgrades and would like some input.

I hooked up my son's wheely king battery pack and was able to manualy move the speed control and everything seems to function. Unfortunately, after installing new batteries in the controller I wasn't able to get anything out of it. There is a little meter next to wheel that will not budge, not sure if it is for the level of batteries in the controller or the pack on the beetle. Also, the antenna is missing on the controller but I'm not sure if that would make it not operate the beetle at all.

I would like to know if I should attempt to keep the original setup or, maybe, try to upgrade to an esc and new transmitter, receiver, servo. I'm not really wanting to spend a whole lot of money, maybe $100 - $150 or so. I've tried emailing a few RC sales sites but only one emailed back with actual suggested products, everywhere else suggested I check RC forums, so here I am.

I appreciate any feedback

Thanks

Great find. but I wouldn't modify it in any way. I would rebuild it with a thorough cleaning, and stick it on the shelf. Clean versions are getting harder and harder to find, and they wont be around forever. This is a classic!

Clean it up and sell it to fund your other vehicles. Really not worth the time you would spend trying to find parts for that if you broke anything while using it. You may be surprised what someone would pay for that.

Thats a great find! Old tamiya kits in good condition are pretty rare. i would just completely rebuild it and turn it into a shelf queen. don't change anything, at all. Cool find. Besides, its a free rc!

Thank you for all the great advice, I truly appreciate it. After doing some more research and reading all your great posts, I think it would probably would be best to clean it up and shelf it. Besides, this will be a great addition to the few hundred hot wheels I have hanging on my son's walls that we've been collecting since he was born. I'll be sure to post some pics when it's all cleaned up and displayed.

Thanks again, everyone.

Pics sound great! have fun with the tear down/rebuild.