Beginner help

[BaileyX]

Hiya guys

I'm pretty new to the RC scene, and to be completely honest, I don't know anything about it

Anyway the other day my uncle gave me his old kit whilst clearing out his loft (i've added a pic below).



From an hour of googling the name i've come to the conclusion that I may have aquired a little gem. As I said above my expertise in this area is lacking but I thought you guys might be able to give me a bit of guidance

I'm not 100% sure if it actually works, everything looks in very good condition though. The batteries say they were purchased in 1988 from a chap in Sheffield, but are these still OK to use after 20-odd years? Also i'm not even sure what I should be connecting the PC2 charger up to (the crocodile clip end).

Any help even on the basics would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[DanB4]

Can't see the pic, try reposting?

[Moozo]

Very nice indeed, looks in very good condition aswell
as for the charger it connects to a 12v battery

P.s Welcome to the hobby

Mick

[DanB4]

See the pic of the Optima Mid now!

I want it!

My 1st proper car was a Turbo Mid, loved it.

[j0pp3]

I very nice gem indeed!

That is the first Optima model with mid motor. Kyosho made five more models in the series after that.

[DanB4]

For me, part of the magic of these vintage buggies is hearing about people who stumble across NIB kits in small shops in the middle of timbuktoo or get handed them from their family members like you have so thanks for sharing!

[alcyon]

Jeez, seems to be a lot of people with optima mids !

[DanB4]

Originally Posted by alcyon

Jeez, seems to be a lot of people with optima mids !

Wish I was one of them! Still searching for the elusive 'Turbo Optima Mid' shelfer or project....

[Naushad]

Nice kit there although difficult to say what exact condition is...

Better dump the batteries...get some fresh nimh packs. Cheap enough for what you are running.

Does the charger have red and black croc clips? If so black is negative terminal and red is positive. Again, maybe it's worth investing in a flexible charger capable of variable charging.

If you a brave enough to rebuild the car I would advise it. A good clean up and rebuild will ensure you get the best out of it and could make troubleshooting easier. You'd want to maintain this car carefully as its discontinued and certain spares can be tricky to source (although you do have a nice goody bag there!)

Have fun!

[BaileyX]

Cheers for the info guys. I did try charging and using both of the batteries and although the car did move (a lot faster than I thought :P) it was very intermittent. More so for the forward and back motion than the steering. The batteries maybe?

To be honest I'm half-tempted to flog it to someone who would appreciate it a lot more than I would and at the same time know what they're doing with it.

[DanB4]

Originally Posted by BaileyX

Cheers for the info guys. I did try charging and using both of the batteries and although the car did move (a lot faster than I thought :P) it was very intermittent. More so for the forward and back motion than the steering. The batteries maybe?

To be honest I'm half-tempted to flog it to someone who would appreciate it a lot more than I would and at the same time know what they're doing with it.

Just PM'd you

[Naushad]

Don't give up!!!

I'm sure it's something remediable!!

Originally Posted by BaileyX

Cheers for the info guys. I did try charging and using both of the batteries and although the car did move (a lot faster than I thought :P) it was very intermittent. More so for the forward and back motion than the steering. The batteries maybe?

To be honest I'm half-tempted to flog it to someone who would appreciate it a lot more than I would and at the same time know what they're doing with it.

[ralphee]

Its a shame so many "new" members that "find" a vintage car, or gear, sign up to a board purely to flog it, or see what its worth.
If was to hand one of my vintage cars to one of my nephews, and they joined a board to "flog it" id be pretty p****d TBH.

lee

[BaileyX]

Originally Posted by ralphee

Its a shame so many "new" members that "find" a vintage car, or gear, sign up to a board purely to flog it, or see what its worth.
If was to hand one of my vintage cars to one of my nephews, and they joined a board to "flog it" id be pretty p****d TBH.

lee

My intention was not to sell it, hence the reason for joining these forum and asking about how i'd even get it up and running. And my "find" as you so sarcastically put it has been in my uncles loft for I assume over 15 years, I didn't know anything about it until recently where the ultimatum of "you can have it or it's going in the bin" came up. I love gadgets and remote controlled cars/helis and all things like that, so my initial view was to mess around with it and have fun. However that is as far as my interest goes, since joining and googling around I have since found that this vintage car is probably better in someone hands who will actually have time to repair/fix it and more importantly genuinely appreciate it, because the truth is I don't think I would.

[Brewskie]

Fair enough mate, with even what he suggested about going to sell it, if u wanted to sell it it would of been on eBay, the fact u joined this site doesn't matter an shouldn't matter cos the fact is that even if u did want to sell it in the 1st place u've joined a real Rc club website to do it which is great in fact as u want it to go to the right home, how ever it turns out I'm sure it wil be for the best

[Miggers]

That old Optima is absolutely no good to you whatsoever.

The best thing you can do with it is donate,er,send it to me.......


You jammy devil,Mid Optimas were some of the finest race machinery
available BITD,well capable of dicing with the other finest 4WD machinery
of the time,the famous Schumacher CAT series.

I used to race a Mid Custom myself and loved it.
As the Massiv say,strip it,clean it up and give it a good servicing,
(you'll learn all about it that way)slip in some new batteries and
have a blast with it.
Once you've got the hang of it,buy your self some newer machinery.
It's not that the Optima can't be set up to race well,but spares are getting
rarer and more expensive all the time for 'em.

Above all,don't sell it,keep it and give it some stick every now and then,
you have a great piece of RC racing history there.

[DanB4]

Originally Posted by Miggers

That old Optima is absolutely no good to you whatsoever.

The best thing you can do with it is donate,er,send it to me.......


You jammy devil,Mid Optimas were some of the finest race machinery
available BITD,well capable of dicing with the other finest 4WD machinery
of the time,the famous Schumacher CAT series.

I used to race a Mid Custom myself and loved it.
As the Massiv say,strip it,clean it up and give it a good servicing,
(you'll learn all about it that way)slip in some new batteries and
have a blast with it.
Once you've got the hang of it,buy your self some newer machinery.
It's not that the Optima can't be set up to race well,but spares are getting
rarer and more expensive all the time for 'em.

Above all,don't sell it,keep it and give it some stick every now and then,
you have a great piece of RC racing history there.

Too late I'm afraid as he sold it......to me

Its soon to have a full strip down and restore, new chassis, new shell etc.

Dan

[j0pp3]

Originally Posted by DanB4

Too late I'm afraid as he sold it......to me

Its soon to have a full strip down and restore, new chassis, new shell etc.

Dan

Ahh, that's the one you told me about! Lucky bastard

[ralphee]

Originally Posted by BaileyX

My intention was not to sell it, hence the reason for joining these forum and asking about how i'd even get it up and running. And my "find" as you so sarcastically put it has been in my uncles loft for I assume over 15 years, I didn't know anything about it until recently where the ultimatum of "you can have it or it's going in the bin" came up. I love gadgets and remote controlled cars/helis and all things like that, so my initial view was to mess around with it and have fun. However that is as far as my interest goes, since joining and googling around I have since found that this vintage car is probably better in someone hands who will actually have time to repair/fix it and more importantly genuinely appreciate it, because the truth is I don't think I would.

My statement is validated, three posts, "finds" a vintage car, and makes a sale lol.
No offense to you Dan, you did the biz, but these people really crack me up lol.

lee

[DanB4]

Originally Posted by j0pp3

Ahh, that's the one you told me about! Lucky bastard

When it's finished I'll put up some pics in all it's box-art glory.....probably won't look as great as yours though j0pp3!