TOPIC:

Hello,
I bought an old sand scorcher from Germany, when arrived I
found this engine.
It seems an unusual type.
What do you think?

Looks a little like a rebadged version of this ?

edit - "red endbell"

nice, those supposedly also fit in a Willy M38, but I believe there was something with the timing, not enough torque.

You monkey Waterbok, beat me to it...
Actually thinking about how I could possibly source one now, to go in my Willy, to go with his purple helmet... Hope you're proud of yourself Jonny, corrupting us all like that

Hi guys,

also found a very old motor in my spares department a Mabuchi RS540SH.
I think it originally came with my Marui Galaxy.
I used to run my Grasshopper with this motor and a 18T pinion and put on the big wheels of the Lunchbox, was really great fun (reminder; must do that again some time!)
Just tested it and still runs very smooth

Cheers, Bram



PS Phoned with my brother and it def came with the Marui, which i got in '87. The can is just plain black colour. The photo does look quite akward colour

BramMeijer wrote:

...

also found a very old motor in my spares department ...

I don't want to whizz on your chips, but think that motor may not be anything particularly special ... the sticker dates it from Tamiya's early re-re years (2005 on), silvercans labelled RS540SH were found on things like the Frog, Brat & Hornet re-releases.

The only odd thing about it is the colour ... My guess would be a surface blueing caused by oil & overheating

We did have an abortive attempt at identifying the various silvercan motors Tamiya used - link

Careful Jonny, the reference to age vs the sticker might not apply if it wasn't originally fitted to a Tamiya car - it could well be that Mabuchi always fitted that sticker to their motors, or to that particular type of motor, from a much earlier date, & Tamiya only started using them much later on.
For example, a big company like Tamiya would probably order a large batch of motors & use that until their parts bin ran empty before ordering more, & meanwhile, other smaller companies would be buying in whatever was current from Mabuchi, if that makes sense? ie, if the bought batch was big enough, there could be a new version available before Tamiya had finished using up their bought-in stock of older stuff.
We already know this sort of thing happens, or else you could pin down what motors were used on which kits of any given age. There's also the question of how long a kit has been sitting on a model shop shelf, in a store room, or in Tamiya's warehouse.

Throw another one in the pot - what if Tamiya were getting some kind of deal from Mabuchi, to buy up their old stock cheaper than a batch of their more current motors?

Well I take your point, but all things being equal, I'd be more inclined to believe that Bram' made an error than Tamiya/Mabuchi had a batch of motors hanging around for 15-20 years

Lol i make errors every day But the car and motor were bought in '87 by my brother which later on gave them too me.
I was driving my Grasshopper at the time

Cheers, Bram

I'd say that confirms it that the labelled motors existed before Tamiya started using them