mattos tamiya falcon

[Matt]

here she is boys. she arrived today. the first RC car i received was a tamiya falcon when i was 9 years of age. i found this one on ebay recently and it came with a bucket load of spares - probably half another falcon just in spare parts alone!

the car is in good condition but is set to be stripped down and rebuilt whilst receiving some matto-style detailing at the same time (anyone read my Tamiya Bullhead rebuild thread?).

pics of how she is i received her today....



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[James]

awesome... oldschool! that thing is probably older than some of the members of this site :) hehe

[remotebandit]

lol , well i was about 16 when it was out

[Matt]

this is what im aiming to have her look like when ive cleaned it up and put on the new/unused spares.

they look quite slick...



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[BAGES]

Hey Matto PM me if you need decals - may be able to sort it for ya.............also if u wanna strip the paint without hurting the plastic apparently nitro is the way to go.....:-)

[citrus]

i love the old style kits that have the 'driver' inside, you just don't see that these days anymore with the kits, i know you can get em for some cars but they should come standard.

I mean they put so much detail into the bodies it seems logical to make the inside realistic too, even if its just for the standing still appeal of the car.

[JD]

i like the rear wing design on that, it doesn;t look like it will snap off if you land on your head :)

[Matt]

nah no updates unfortunately. i rebuilt the car using all new spares that came with it. it turns out i had 95% of a car in spares, ive replaced everything except the gears inside the gearbox, the front arms and the 4 shocks. everything else is now new and unused.

i still do need a new body shell for it.

it doesnt have electrics, that will be a "work in progress", i will always keep an eye out for cheap second hand servos, receivers, etc.


edit: new tyres and rims are also needed

[Matt]

November 2005 update:

i have installed electrics! servos, receiver and manual speed control are in. servos and receiver supplied by Heap_O on this forum.

list of things needed: tamiya old type of servo horn, new tyres, new body shell. when i type it out like that it doesnt seem to far off from being all done!

attached is a pic of the wiring job i have done tonight...




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[Matt]

update!

i have found a servo horn, it was donated by Darren (Dazz 68) on this site and with his help The Falcon now has fully functional steering.

BIG NEWS! i also won an auction on ebay for a new unused clear (not painted) bodyshell! $80 + freight is a BARGAIN! the shell has been shipped from QLD and should be with me a few days before xmas.

here are some pics of the shell from the ebay auction.




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[Alex]

great stuff Matt! Old School Power!

[Jai]

thats SIK! how will you paint it? in the old school colours?

[Matt]

nah im not going to paint it. i will leave the shell clear. paint turns to crap over time, flakes, cracks, etc. stickers peel so i wont them on either.

[Bowling Ball]

Shells become brittle over time too. You might want to research on how to store it to combat this.

[remotebandit]

you can dip the whole car and body in a bath of carbonate just like they did to Han Solo in Star Wars , i hear that preserves stuff pretty well .

Only taking the piss Matt , i can appreciate the vintage gear as well .

[avablast]

What a cool old school buggy. My only gripe would be the wheels look like they were from a smaller scale buggy.

[BAGES]

Go the falc Matto !!!!!!

[Matt]

boys, a BIG update on this restoration project soon. the clear unpainted and uncut bodyshell has arrived and i have it with me now. pics and stuff to follow!

[M.J]

Matt

here's an idea throw in that fusion mofified u were racing on friday and run it in mod buggy

[Matt]

25th December update.

the bodyshell arrived, and ive began trimming it. i am in no rush at all to trim so i have roughly cut around the outside of where the line to trim is. there is plenty of time to cut it the best i can.

this is what i got in the box:



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[Matt]

very basic trimming done. new vs old




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[avablast]

Pretty neat i know u said u didnt wanna paint it but wat if u did a semi clear paint job on it like tamiya clear paints semi see thru would be pretty unique

[Matt]

April 2006 update

Q: What do you do on a public holiday when its raining outside.

A: the stuff youve been meaning to do for bloody ages!


Tamiya Falcon developments today: the bodyshell has been trimmed and fits the car.

All that is left is new rims and tyres. Here's how it looks as of now. pics:



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[Matt]

September 06:

Still need new rims and tyres. i have found them in overseas ebay auctions but im not too confident about buying from overseas sellers.

I am also looking for a battery with a tamiya plug on it, since this is a shelf queen the battery would need to be in very good condition, however it doesnt need to hold charge since its going to be a display item. If youve got a battery with a tamiya plug on it, send me a PM :)

the hunt for rims and tyres (in AUS) continues...

[Matt]

May 07.

Still need tyres.

Tonight I won an auction for a good condition Tamiya Falcon manual. A whopping $7.50 !!



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[Matt]

July 2007

Purchased new tyres and rims from Ebay! See pic.
When they arrive I will take pics of the car with tyres + rims installed.

Still looking for a genuine Tamiya battery with Tamiya plug...




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[BAGES]

Great stuff Matt : )

Not far off being all sorted now !!

[Matt]

Urgh... Still meaning to get current up to date pics. The rear tyres + wheels are mounted and installed, looks GREAT.

Will have something up soon.

[Boony]

race it at the states :p

[revsinc]

and i can get one of my gold rc10 going too !!

[Matt]

Computer says no.

[Matt]

ok. here are some very average pics of how she looks as of October 2007, with new rear tyres and rims.

pic's were taken indoors, with no flash.




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[remotebandit]

sorry Matt but looking at those tyres i cant help remembering when i had my hornet when i was a kid and would get dad to buy me a set of tyres and after a days run they were down to virtually the rim ... lol

[Matt]

Better quality pics for October 2007




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[dingosrun]

ahhhhhh the days o the falcon those photos bought back some memories

[Boony]

wheres the 7 inch JC wing on the rr with the b4 fr wing on the fr :p

[Matt]

unpainted shells of this vintage are too rare, I beleive it adds value to have it unpainted (value to the collector). And, you can see my awesome wiring job of the manual speed controller and AM receiver.

[Matt]

ahh shit, with the site move over to the new server, all of the pics have been trashed. I will update this thread sometime in the near future.

[Matt]

June 2008:

Righto, looks like when we moved servers we lost some images in this thread. So, I will post up pics on how it looks today.

Items needed: New front rims and tyres.



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[remotebandit]

gees that almost looks like a falcon , pitty its a chinese copy Matt but im sure you will find an original 1 day

[Matt]

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[Matt]

If I paint it, then you wont be able to see my lovely wiring job inside...



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[Matt]

I really dont know how I would feel if Tamiya re-released The Falcon. It's a good question.

I guess having an original holds more value?

Take the Hotshot for example, the re-release is nice but not the same as the original. So, if I were looking for a Hotshot I would be more keen on the 80's version.

[remotebandit]

Jesus Matt , you got pussy following you everywhere .... but i think that cat likes the Falcon

[Matt]

gees that almost looks like a falcon , pitty its a chinese copy Matt but im sure you will find an original 1 day


You're a meat head. It's an original and don't you forget it!!!

[Matt]

Jesus Matt , you got pussy following you everywhere .... but i think that cat likes the Falcon


I think the cat was planning the location for his next turd which followed after the pic was taken.

[remotebandit]

hope he didnt eat the same hot stuff you did as well , damn that would be funny

[Boony]

looking good matty, how much would that be worth as it is, right now sitting in your house?

[Matt]

Haha, thats the funniest part. A similar looking/condition Falcon sold for $130 on ebay recently. I guess it really is for the historic value that we do it....

[bazz]

hey i have a theory about that , look at all the nib kits that have been for sale over the last few months. most coming from asia. remember the earthquake.... whereever it was. japan i think. i reckon alot of people have had to sell there collections. just a theory. what do you reckon?

[remotebandit]

so true king so true .

Matt , id say if you did advdertise it as a buy it now for $250 youd find it but yeah as you said its more for historic value , someone could offer me $600 for my Wild one and i wouldnt sell ( unless i seen a better condition 1 )

Hey King , you know when the prices always go up and god can strike me down with lightning if im not right but they always go back up in value when your ready to buy 1 , no bullshit .

Ive needed a front left hub for my bruiser for about a year and a half when i was doing the resto , theive ALWAYS gone for $10 - $15 max , the last 3 weeks ive bid up to $40 and still cant win 1 .

[remotebandit]

Good theory Bazz and a possibility but supply in those NIB kits is no where near demand so theres still plenty of people missing out

[Matt]

Theres just something rewarding about restoring an old 80's Tamiya kit, especially one that I owned back in the day. I'd love to do a Hotshot or Supershot next.

[remotebandit]

talking about cars from when you were a kid , that manual speed controler reminds me of thos days and do you remember when the battery would be close to empty youd be running up and down the road then all of a sudden ...... no control as the battery didnt have enough ower to pull the throttle servo back to turn off the speedy . Then when they released the first esc we were all in amazement that if it went out of range or the battery would die , the car would actually stop on the spot , we could never get our heads around how that worked back then .

Ahhhhh , many a gutter i used to tap