This is why I can’t have nice things...

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Ahhh better now.

Had a bit of a bow in the deck. Now flat again and no “tweak”. The nose is slightly skewed but I’m not stressed that much - will clamp it to even out



Sorted into metal parts (the compartment box), screws and plastics.

Diffs are in mint condition and everything else is just dried out lubricant stopping everything else.

Will have to soak in Orange Agent to break it down and then scrub like crazy.

Fuel tank is no longer gummy on the inside

Motor freed right up through day of soaking in WD40.

So now I need screws, bearings, driveshaft and balls and some time to assemble.

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Mixed day of activity. Got a call from Ultimate Action Hobbies down in Victoria, sorry but we actually don’t have those 7.8mm balls, but we think later generation Inferno ones may work for you. The later ones are flanged on one end so in principle will work. So they’re sending those instead as Kyosho has discontinued the 92846 round 7.8mm balls I need.

That call then triggered an order direct from Japan for the right balls, plus some other bits.

Before I spent more money I went out to the garage and started the cleaning process of the TR15 parts.



All the plastics soak in organic degreaser (Orange Agent) then get scrubbed. They’re lightly dried and now in a sealed container coated with plastic treatment.

Metal parts get the same initial was process then end up in a WD40 bath to break down lingering grease. I use a bit of steel wool to break up the corrosion on the black oxide finish.



I’ll do the same for the screws, but only after I bin the chewed out ones. They’re just going to be spares as this is getting all new stainless hardware.

I then switched attention to the motor.

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The Kyosho GS motors all use a one way bearing that’s completely unique their type, they’re had to find and horrendously expensive - we are talking about AUD60 delivered in most cases.

My two GS11R’s bearings were OK thankfully, one recovering after a soaking in solvent and WD40 and the other being “like new”.

The gummed up GS15R from the TR15 though delivered my first outright failed unit. Although I could try to clean it up I decided to test a theory.



Theory was that the bearing was a very common HF0612 one-way pressed into the special Kyosho sleeve. I used some spacers I had from a 1:1 project and a nut driver as a drift in the bench vice as a ghetto press. After a pretty big “crack” it pressed straight out.

Time to order a few plain HF0612 one-ways (they’re about $2-3 each) .



Very happy with this outcome and scavenged the one-way and a few other bits from one of the GS11R’s to get the now ungummed GS15R assembled.

Finally uploaded the video of the GS15R running after being cleaned up.



Still needs tuning and I’d guess a few decent runs to be tip-top but it’s at least ready to go as part of the build!

It's time!



The diffs go into their housings, complete with new bearings and the nice new hex-head stainless screws.





It’s always nice doing this with all new screws and cleaned up plastics. The design seems very robust as well with everything held firmly.



Spur gear (no center differential) and brake built out.

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It’s not an especially exciting build to document - make two of most bits and screw to the chassis plate



Front suspension was time consuming, but went together well. I used the Readyset upper arms as I forgot to order some 6.8mm balls which would allow me to use the correct TR15 uppers. I will swap over in the future.



Everything moves nice and easily, but with no slop. Huge change to the stiff and seized state the suspension was in when I got it.

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6 screws later and there’s an engine, fuel tank and it’s starting to look very close to complete!





I’m really happy with how it’s gone together so far. Having only needed to replace screws, 1 ball and 1 driveshaft and 1 plastic part has made this a budget restoration. It’s been more work than anything else but I’m ok with that

It’s not quite finished yet but so so close, radio gear, servos, linkages, wing and wheels.

Looking like brand new Aaron

So freaking impressive, can't wait to see more Aaron!

It’s no longer that clean - drives nice, is quite fast on dirt and grass - I think I need to tweak the damper settings on it a bit and there’s some issues with the idle speed of the motor. Have to drop it a bit but then it stalls too easy, have it running nice and then it melts the clutch.

Can’t win

We have a neighbor that built a buggy and one day it came zipping down the street! I launched a quad and flew around until I noticed two people standing in a driveway watching me...it was them!

She looks great Aaron! Any footage of it rippin' around?

Well running retro stuff gets real bad when things break.





Now admittedly the TR15 was not designed to just trees as a brake system, nor was it designed to fly. However it did the latter and the stopped about 30cm up a tree from close to full speed.

Result is a cracked end on the lower arm, and a bent mount for the track rod/steering servo saver etc

So not too bad. I got lucky finding spare arms locally for a mere $20, and the steering “bulkhead” set for $25 out of Queensland.

But that’s the Australian supply gone. So next set will cost about $75 per pack out of the USA!

Still fun though ?

Not only did the hot weather over summer stop me from flying it stopped me from doing more than just maintaining the RC Fleet.

However with autumn here and much cooler weather the garage is open.









I really shouldn’t be allowed near eBay on days ending with “y”.

Won this on the justification that it’d donate some parts to my Spider Mk2s however in reality it’s too nice to scrap.

On initial inspection (based on images only) it needed:
- Engine (GX12 is the standard with a very Spider like clutch setup)
- Engine Mount Plate
- Exhaust (obviously)
- All Brake and throttle linkages
- Radio gear and new servos
- Spur Gear
- Body mounts

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Starting out a weekend by going back through the Alpha 2 Manuals and diagrams getting familiar with the things like Screw counts and types, bearings etc.

While the hardware in this car is pretty good I’ve developed a bit of a like of the look of stainless hex fasteners.

As I’m a nerd I’ve got a spreadsheet that uses a pivot table to group the counts of screws per manual step into totals. I started doing this with my Spider rebuild and now have quite a few sheets.

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And we hit our first what the heck moment.

My chassis plate has zero countersunk screws, and mounts the motor directly to the chassis plate.

This could mean a couple of things;
- the chassis was stripped and reassembled with incorrect (yet still Kyosho) screws
- the chassis actually isn’t a Alpha 2 and instead is a chassis that looks just like an Alpha 2 but isn’t.

At the moment (based on not being able to find any manuals or diagrams for the original release Kyosho Alpha Readyset) that it’s actually one of those.

The fixed engine mounts and simpler screws would lend itself to being a higher Rally setup.

In the Alpha 2 & Alpha 3 manuals some setup diagrams show screw heads on the underside, indicating at least at some point that was a factory idea.

It’s not a later kit because everything Alpha based after the Alpha 2 had oil dampers.

It doesn’t really matter as I can either replace the chassis plate or countersink it or leave it and just use it.

Well that escalated quickly

It’s apart and a basic inventory of busted bits is now known.



It’s got all the plastics that match an early Alpha Readyset or ARR setup. There’s no witness marks around the forward exhaust mounts for example indicating it was never fitted with a long sports muffler like the Alpha 2.





The front suspension looks in good shape from the top and while stiff it’s not binding so there’s a good sign. The front bumper is odd, trimmed to give whee clearance and I believe the nose of the chassis plate has been tweaked up more than factory.





First major step has been to pull the servos and radio box assembly. This confirms no countersunk holes in the chassis, and the fasteners are still mostly 3x8 as per the manual. The fuel tank also mounts on the bottom and as I’ve had these leak before (2 tanks now) from the mount screws I’ll need to test this one. New tanks are available (Kyosho 92301) for about $20.

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There was a missing screw holding the steering posts, hopefully it’s not due to a destroyed thread. However the posts are metal so a helicoil could save the day there.





Rear suspension looks good, the spur gear is destroyed and there’s no brake disc. Unlike the front differential the rear seems smooth and intact.



Like most Kyosho cars the assembly is very modular, 8 screws (3x8 TP) attach the diff housing and the suspension to the chassis plate.

There was a wobble in one front wheel which is clearly due to a missing King Pin (Kyosho AE54) replaced with a tapping screw.





The front differential housing had a pair of loose screws and the various out-drives had a but too much play in their position leading to the diff being very clunky feeling. This probably led to the AG7 Pinion gear being destroyed. There was also a bent front suspension shaft on the same side as the missing king pin.

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The rear end came apart fine with only the AG5 Spur gear and the missing AG20 brake disk being confirmed (along with the AG22 lever).




A quick wash of the deck with a degreaser brought it up nicely. The plastics need a good clean and soak in treatment as does the metal hardware.



It will not be going back together with these bushes. I already have new bearings left over from a bulk order when doing the Spider rebuilds.





I’m able to use a Spider motor plate to work out where the FD20 mounts on the CEN NX12 need to be, or most likely I’ll devise some way of using the Spider plate on the Alpha - this plate can’t be used correctly on a Spider due to the threads being chewed out for mounting to the Spider chassis.

An after some furious eBay and LHS hunting I now have coming:
- AG5 Spur Gear (actually a FA013-39T from a Fazer) - LHS in Sydney
- AE54 (92635) - LHS in Sydney
- AE40 - LHS in Sydney
- AE32 - LHS in Sydney
- AE31 - LHS in Sydney
- AG22 (eBay from Italy)
- AG7 - LHS in Adelaide

I'll use a spare Spider brake disc I have

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Next all the unique and special bits get separated, rinsed and dried. No surprises and the diffs are good thankfully. Not perfect but they’ll do for now


The screws also have been cleaned and sorted into their size groups (different to manual quantities). They’re mostly in good shape so I could rebuild with them just using the scraped up ones on the underside of the chassis again.



But who wants ugly screws anywhere? Not me so I’ve just ordered another bunch of stainless hex screws to get this back together.

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Ohh well that escalated quickly, looks like my spare GXR15 fits like a glove and the linkages can be made to work with the slide carb.

Win.

First batch of parts turned up from Sydney.



So I’m still stuck waiting for the brake lever and the front pinion gear/shaft before I can start assembly, but it does feel like I’ll be breaking stuff real soon now.

Clutch Bell now in transit too..

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Time to hide the credit card from myself I think.







I dug out the shredded spur gear to do a tooth count.



It’s (I should count properly) I think 41T versus the 39T replacement I have so quite possibly I’ll have to “find” the credit card to get a correct AG5 Spur Gear. No I’m not to run the two speed straight up in this.

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I thought today I would try and get a couple of little jobs done like cleaning the workbench and maybe getting the GXR15 running.


First step is to attach an exhaust. This is a spare from the ASP 12CX I run on one of my Spiders. I didn’t have the correct screws so I drilled and tapped it to take 3mm machine screws like the rest of my GXR15 bits. Using high-heat Loctite gasket maker was a great tip from my local shop, it never leaks.




It’s going to end up an odd exhaust placement depending on my body choice but I’m ok with that.



Hooked everything up and with a couple of priming pumps and pulls it started. I’d did some really quick and dirty tuning so that it idles and revs smoothly.

So in less than hour I’d achieved all I set out to do. Bit disappointing right?

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The sweet sounds of a spare GXR15 that is never started and had gotten as “spares” in a TR15 purchase. The motor was gummed up and didn’t have the flywheel, clutch or starter attached so I didn’t have much hope.

All I did back when I got it was give it a thorough clean externally and pump it full of WD40 until it turned over. Then sat it on the shelf occasionally turning it over by hand.

One piece - and critically the only piece - I’m missing before I can start reassembly is the brake lever.

The only indication of how it looks is in the assembly manual.


I don’t have a clear diagram showing it’s size and I’m fairly sure it’s got to be quite a heavy gauge wire. However I had a spare length of rod from making the throttle linkage so I figure it won’t hurt to have a go at making one.



It’s modelled off the lengths of the Spider brake rods and the proportions from the manual. There’s a bit of flex and quite obviously I’m going to have to swap it out but for now I may start getting the rest of the car together.

I did end up ordering the correct AG5 Spur Gear (coming from Italy) but I’m hoping there’s enough motor position adjustment in the chassis to run the 39T Spur with the 14T clutch bell.

I’ve got a currently unused Flysky GR3F and the necessary servos.

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There you go, I pulled out the rear diff casings and tested my brake lever and with a minor bit of trimming it’s installable and appears to be well enough located to work!





So I sat down and washed, degreased and then treated the plastics.



Reassembled the friction dampers