Broken but not Defeated,,,
With my Hot Shot tore apart and the receiver removed I took it and the transmitter back to where I bought them. "Frank's Hobby Shop" was at that time a really nice store. About half of the store was for model train enthusiasts and the other half had plastic model kits and R/C planes, cars and a few boats. As noted earlier they had engines and R/C radios on display in the case near the cash register. They also carried all the building supplies and accessories needed to complete a project. It was a well stocked store. I went in and laid my transmitter and receiver on the case. I spoke with "Tony" (he was the owners son) and told him what had happened with my car at the park. How it took off as soon as I switched it on and didn't respond to the transmitter at all. I told him it had worked fine in the few minutes I drove it around in my yard. He took this all in and then went and and got a battery pack and a couple of servos. He plugged in the servos and battery to the receiver and switched on the transmitter. He moved the wheel on the transmitter around and pulled on the throttle trigger. NOTHING! He fussed around for a few more minutes and then looked at me and said "I think it's the receiver". Well yeah, duh! I had figured that out myself! I asked since I had just bought it, could I get it replaced. He said that he would need to send it to Futaba for repair as it was under warranty. I asked how long that would take? He told me about 2 weeks, maybe longer. I asked why he couldn't just exchange it with one he had in stock. He said he didn't keep those receivers in stock and that he didn't even have a radio set on hand like I had bought that he take a receiver from. Looking in the case I saw that there were no pistol grip radios on display. He then said that if I didn't want to wait for him to send it to Futaba for repair I could take it to Futaba myself as they had a location about 45 minutes away. So that's what I decided to do. He gave me the address and I would go to Futaba and get my receiver fixed.
I think Futaba U.S.A. was in Torrance Ca. at that time which is just a little north of Orange Co. I do remember driving up the 405 freeway. I had put the receiver and transmitter along with the servos back into the Styrofoam they came in and slid that back into the Futaba box. Upon arrival at the facility I walked through the main doors and was dumb struck. There were radios, cars and boats in cases, there were planes hanging from the ceiling. They all looked fabulous. I was asked by someone if I needed any help. I held up the box and said something like "This doesn't work". I was directed to go down a long hall and enter the door at the end. Doing as told I got to the end of the hall and opened the door. That room had a long counter on one side and many guys waiting for their turn at that counter. It was chaos. There were guys holding radios. There were guys holding cars. There were employees behind the counter and out amongst the customers. One of those employees approached me and pointed me to the counter. I don't know why but I got to skip to the head of the line. I placed the radio box on the counter and told him that I was directed to bring in my radio for repair as the receiver was not working. He asked when had I purchased it. So I showed him the receipt from the hobby shop. He opened the box and removed the Styrofoam container, opened it and looked at the receiver and transmitter. He looked at the servos and then put it all back into the Styrofoam container and said he needed to take it in back so a tech could check it out. He left me standing at that counter for maybe 20 minutes. When he returned, he placed the container back on the counter and opened it. He pulled out the receiver and said that the tech found a "defect" and they had replaced the receiver with a new one. So the receiver in his hand was a new one not the original one I had bought! Cool! He then said one of the servos was no good and they had replaced that also! Double Cool! Best of all, he then said it all done under warranty so there would be no charge. Even Cooler! He packed everything into the box and I exited a very happy camper.
I started to reassemble my car. I ran into a big problem when I was screwing the 2 piece plastic radio tub together. The metal screws used were self tapping and screwed into plastic holes in the tub. Self tapping screws work very well the first time you screw them into something. Screwing them in a second time you can easily strip out whatever you are screwing them into. I proceeded to do that to several (2) of those posts. Damn. Back to "Franks" for a replacement tub. Luckily they did have one in stock. Tony said I wasn't the first one to strip out the tub, that's why he kept them in stock. I told him about my trip to Futaba and then I left.
This time I assembled the car much faster than the first time. Most of the components were already complete units that just needed to be bolted on. I soon had a fully functional Hot Shot ready for the track.
Racing and Upgrading,,,
With my Hot Shot tore apart and the receiver removed I took it and the transmitter back to where I bought them. "Frank's Hobby Shop" was at that time a really nice store. About half of the store was for model train enthusiasts and the other half had plastic model kits and R/C planes, cars and a few boats. As noted earlier they had engines and R/C radios on display in the case near the cash register. They also carried all the building supplies and accessories needed to complete a project. It was a well stocked store. I went in and laid my transmitter and receiver on the case. I spoke with "Tony" (he was the owners son) and told him what had happened with my car at the park. How it took off as soon as I switched it on and didn't respond to the transmitter at all. I told him it had worked fine in the few minutes I drove it around in my yard. He took this all in and then went and and got a battery pack and a couple of servos. He plugged in the servos and battery to the receiver and switched on the transmitter. He moved the wheel on the transmitter around and pulled on the throttle trigger. NOTHING! He fussed around for a few more minutes and then looked at me and said "I think it's the receiver". Well yeah, duh! I had figured that out myself! I asked since I had just bought it, could I get it replaced. He said that he would need to send it to Futaba for repair as it was under warranty. I asked how long that would take? He told me about 2 weeks, maybe longer. I asked why he couldn't just exchange it with one he had in stock. He said he didn't keep those receivers in stock and that he didn't even have a radio set on hand like I had bought that he take a receiver from. Looking in the case I saw that there were no pistol grip radios on display. He then said that if I didn't want to wait for him to send it to Futaba for repair I could take it to Futaba myself as they had a location about 45 minutes away. So that's what I decided to do. He gave me the address and I would go to Futaba and get my receiver fixed.
I think Futaba U.S.A. was in Torrance Ca. at that time which is just a little north of Orange Co. I do remember driving up the 405 freeway. I had put the receiver and transmitter along with the servos back into the Styrofoam they came in and slid that back into the Futaba box. Upon arrival at the facility I walked through the main doors and was dumb struck. There were radios, cars and boats in cases, there were planes hanging from the ceiling. They all looked fabulous. I was asked by someone if I needed any help. I held up the box and said something like "This doesn't work". I was directed to go down a long hall and enter the door at the end. Doing as told I got to the end of the hall and opened the door. That room had a long counter on one side and many guys waiting for their turn at that counter. It was chaos. There were guys holding radios. There were guys holding cars. There were employees behind the counter and out amongst the customers. One of those employees approached me and pointed me to the counter. I don't know why but I got to skip to the head of the line. I placed the radio box on the counter and told him that I was directed to bring in my radio for repair as the receiver was not working. He asked when had I purchased it. So I showed him the receipt from the hobby shop. He opened the box and removed the Styrofoam container, opened it and looked at the receiver and transmitter. He looked at the servos and then put it all back into the Styrofoam container and said he needed to take it in back so a tech could check it out. He left me standing at that counter for maybe 20 minutes. When he returned, he placed the container back on the counter and opened it. He pulled out the receiver and said that the tech found a "defect" and they had replaced the receiver with a new one. So the receiver in his hand was a new one not the original one I had bought! Cool! He then said one of the servos was no good and they had replaced that also! Double Cool! Best of all, he then said it all done under warranty so there would be no charge. Even Cooler! He packed everything into the box and I exited a very happy camper.
I started to reassemble my car. I ran into a big problem when I was screwing the 2 piece plastic radio tub together. The metal screws used were self tapping and screwed into plastic holes in the tub. Self tapping screws work very well the first time you screw them into something. Screwing them in a second time you can easily strip out whatever you are screwing them into. I proceeded to do that to several (2) of those posts. Damn. Back to "Franks" for a replacement tub. Luckily they did have one in stock. Tony said I wasn't the first one to strip out the tub, that's why he kept them in stock. I told him about my trip to Futaba and then I left.
This time I assembled the car much faster than the first time. Most of the components were already complete units that just needed to be bolted on. I soon had a fully functional Hot Shot ready for the track.
Racing and Upgrading,,,
 |
| A stock Hot Shot ready to race! |
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