krispy378

Recently acquired a vintage Tamiya RM5 Porsche 956 and Team Associated RC12L. Decades ago my father and I had these cars, he had the RC12L and I had the Porsche 956. i remember both cars were incredibly fast on smooth pavement. Dad ran the Corvette GTP body on the RC12L. He used a Futaba Magnum Junior radio and a futaba speed control, the aluminum cased esc, I think it was the mc108? My Porsche had the variable resistor mechanical speed control, which actually worked pretty good. I am currently restoring both cars and they are in decent shape and a very good starting point. They both are very original with the RS540SD Black Endurance and Team Asociated 05 motors, MSC and Novak "4" ESCs. I even kept the Associated style connectors. (I would like to get new Associated connectors and rewire.) I have some pics to post and will continue to update. Thanks for looking, have fun with RC! The soldering iron has been hot lately...

krispy378

krispy378

In progress more to come. Sorry about blurry pic. I have more pics of disassembly will post soon. This has been a good time...

krispy378

Some disassembly pics of the cars. Also, got a new Protoform body for the RC12L.

krispy378

My son and i went to our local track today, Marshalls Hobbies in Beech Lake, PA... He drove his Tamiya TL01 touring car and I drove the RC12L. Everything worked great! The car was very stable and responsive. It could use a slight chassis tweaking, but otherwise did well. It was quite fast, maybe not demon fast, but plenty to get into trouble with if not paying attention. It is stock geared, original Associated 05 rebuildable motor running through that Novak NESC4 esc and a Dynamite 6cell 2000mah saddle pack. Im sure this pack is well past its prime and could use several charge/discharge cycles through it, let alone be upgraded to a new battery. Actually got a pretty long runtime and it was just about gonna "dump" by my guestimate. (Didn't want the car to take a crack into the wall, the old escs still let the car take off in the zombie trance when the battery dumps. No battery cut out for the motor to preserve proper radio function, ah...The good old days.) The front tires were shedding themselves, as expected, so new old stock donuts are on the way. Overall, a very satisfying vintage driving experience. Keep fiddling, driving and have fun!

krispy378

Almost forgot...The battery is NiCD and the charger is a vintage Protec 702 Super Charger, 6-7cell boost, discharge etc... The radio is a vintage Futaba Magnum Junior, the original squared looking one. This, at my age is like putting on an old pair shoes...In Ozzys words, "They fit."

krispy378

krispy378

krispy378

I can get the body a little bit lower on the chassis. I need to remout the receiver in a different location, or get a tiny 2.4ghz radio setup. But, i just cant do a modern radio in this thing, it would be like an out of place kinda deal. Vintage car, vintage electronics...

krispy378

Good time at the track

krispy378

The rear donuts came today, before the front ones of course, really wanted those fronts...Anyhow, got the new donuts mounted on the rear rims. All went well, but its a messy job no doubt. Lacquer thinner is just nasty. Wear gloves! Fresh air etc.. Time to get em trued up...

krispy378

The front tires came and got mounted. Rigged up a very crude way to get some kind of truing done. 1/4" steel plate, 50grit emery cloth contact cemented to the plate. Rod with washers and jam nuts as a shaft/holding assembly in the drill, micromemeter (LoL!) as a diameter gauge to stay reasonably honest. Actually worked better than expected. Some patience and a steady hand got it done. When i get up to the LHS i can get em trued on a real machine. For now its a 100% improvement... Actually kinda fun.

krispy378

Oops

krispy378

Ok, ran the RC12L at the track, with the new tires. Also soldered up some nicd 2500mah cells, wrapped in yellow no doubt. Upped the 13t pinion to a 14t. Repositioned the receiver and got the body down lower. The car ran fast and stuck like a magnet. I couldn't believe how good of an improvement it was. The car is pretty fast for sure, again by vintage standards. But really fun and a nice car to drive. The Porsche 956 on a 3/4 full battery was very fast. It was actually faster down the straight than the RC12L, but didn't handle as good. It was a little squirly and could use fresh tires, im sure thats half the handling battle. But it was an inspiring drive overall. But, i forgot the original battery was run down and after 2 laps, the mechanical speed control stayed on, car jumped a pylon and ran it self in small circles. Luckily nothing bad happened to the car, whew. ..Gotta say, the resistor msc is like taking a chance. But, on a fresh battery it performed perfectly. Esc, definitely with low voltage cutoff in the future. Will post pics soon. Got a new 956 body...

krispy378

RC12L with fresh yellow nicd's strapping tape as recommended in the associated manual, fresh 14ga wiring, and new standard tamiya connectors all around. Ideally i want to obtain the associated connectors, but this will do for the time being. Having an excellent time with this car and my son is too... Its so cool to see him interested in this stuff. Happy fiddling, tinkering and soldering...🏁😃

krispy378

Forgot to upload the pic, DOH!

D3MON

definitely following this. those things are really cool and look like alot of fun. glad you are able to do this with your son and he is showing interest!! definitely a great hobby to share and pass down.

krispy378

I think so...Thanks for the reply and it really is a great hobby to pass down. It takes some patience, skill and it is very good hand eye coordination. Good stuff for the kids these days. Way better than video games and tablets and the like. Especially when the weathers good...get outdoors!

krispy378

Got another body yesterday and painted it up. Need to do some details but it didnt come out awful in my mind. Do they make liquid mask in a spray can? Im tired of tape, lol. Its a protoform body, 1611. Did some metallic purple and white paint. Its getting there....but, .... The wheels are just grossing me out. Anybody know of a good set of original wheels for this?

krispy378

Finally, the Tamiya NewMan Joest Porsche 956 body arrived! Now im getting somewhere.

krispy378

This is nothing but a good time to me🏁😃

krispy378

Does anybody know of Rothmans Porsche 956 decals?

krispy378

Going to the track this weekend for sure!🏁

aesalazar

The pictures look great! I actually found my old RC12L in my attic the other day and am thinking about restoring it. The only problem is the tires - they are shot. They use the 2 hole pattern and have not had much luck in finding replacements. Do you know of any? Other replacement foam or new rim/tire combos?

Thanks!
Ernie

krispy378

Get that RC12L restored sir! I really do not know of replacements, i could use them myself. New wheels are what my RC12L needs. They are fully functional and undamaged but look kinda crummy imho. Ive been looking on ebay for associated, bolink, parma, etc.... Nothing. If i come up with something i will post a link. Good luck...post some pics too. Would like to see the car.