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Hi everyone, just getting back into the old RC hobby after 20 years away. i discovered my old Thunder Dragon in my parents shed a few weeks back & it triggered many great memories. i bought it back in about 1989 with my first weeks wages from my first job. it was thrashed to badword. i decided i would resurrect my old thunder dragon. sadly it was beyond repair so i got myself on ebay & ended up with 3.

I got a thunder dragon with a super dragon shell. the car is Immaculate, not a single mark on it.

A thunder Dragon, pretty good condition with a few new bits required.

And a Thundershot, again needed some parts but good all round.

There doesnt seem to be a whole lot of interest or love for the thunder dragon chassis but it does hold a lot of great memories & nostalgia for me.

Just wanted to say hi & ive been enjoying the rebuilds threads.

Hi, and welcome to TamiyaBase!
The Thunder-chassis is actually quite well performing, for it's age. I don't understand why it's not more popular.
I like your collection, and I guess the last picture is your childhood Thunder Dragon? That's what I would call thrashed!

-Lars

Welcome on board

Nice cars! Well, three of them

Welcome, Gripper107.
It surely shows you had a lot of fun with your first car.

BTW: That Super Dragon shell is rare, so be nice to it

Yeah that last photo is my first thunder dragon i'm ashamed to say. i stripped it down & cleaned everything up & surprisingly there was some good bits on it which i used on my ebay buys. the motor is shot though, it squeals like a pig when i run it.

I dont know much about the super dragon at all, i didnt like it at first but its started to grow on me, the shell is on an immaculate thunder dragon chassis so i dont think i'll ever run it outside.

Do you know of any other body shells that would fit on the thunder dragon? ive seen the fire dragon which looks ok-ish, but i'd really like to have a beetle shell on it, you think thats do-able?

One could probably easily not like that Super Dragon shell but I kinda do.
I saw it was an option for the Hornet as well.
The Terra Scorcher would also fit I think. Cool shell.
I'd have to look into the Beetle body to say anything sensible about that...

Yey someone else in the UK!
There's 2 sides to collecting Tamiya stuff (Or anything else for that matter) - (1) Collecting to resell for profit, ie cash value or (2) Cos you like the item or it has some memory/emotional value to you personally.
I don't like the Thundershot (Had one, though it was terrible) but if you do, then go for it I say, buy as many as you can find, no, buy them all! You've made a better choice than the rest of us cos being unpopular it'll always be cheaper & more in abundance than the rest of the crap we keep chasing & paying through the nose for!
Also a lesson to be heeded here - unpopular stuff will be what's worth something tomorrow - everyone collects Hiluxs & SRBs so they'll always be about, & the more restored ones there are, the less they'll be worth. Anything that has poor value now will be disregarded (Best I can do for a polite way to say binned) & become rare & valuble later

Oh, & Beetle-shelled-'shot - why not... All that's stopping that happening is what you're capable of, or how much effort you're willing to put in, or who you can blag to do the work for you. Without looking I'll say it's just down to how/what you come up with in the way of body mounting posts, but it's worth checking the wheelbase & width of the chassis to make sure it'll actually physically fit, perhaps someone else near you has got one you can plonk on the chassis to look/see?

Everyone else is gonna roll their eyes now, but check out what cheapy bodies Kamtec have got, & have a look in my gallery at the "Holiday Scorcher", which is their Sand Scorcher repro body on a Holiday Buggy chassis

Just had a quick measure - although I haven't got the Holiday Scorcher any more to measure the Beetle body, I CAN tell you that the Tamiya Sand Scorcher chassis the body is moulded to fit has a wheelbase of 253mm. How does that compare with the 'shot?

If the 'shot is longer, you might be better off with something like the "Baja" version Kamtec do - it's got flatter, more open mudguards so wheelbase doesn't have to be so critical to look right (If that makes sense).

Another option (That might get me shot) might be the lexan Beetle body for the HSP Bug Crusher - they're cheap & I think smaller than the Scorcher, so they sit more like a monster truck, with the wheels outboard of the chassis, so wheelbase & width wouldn't come into it. The body is 170mm wide x 270mm wheel centres & the arches are cut out flat(ish) - I reckon it'd do 240-290 wheel centres before it looked really odd