Kyosho Optima Mid Part 4
"Tyres OT-66"
Hello fellow RC enthusiasts from around the World and thank you for joining me. I hope you are all well.
In this long awaited "Part 4" of the Optima Mid series, I am going to be changing the Sand Super tyres that were supplied in the re-release kit for some reproduction Bridgestone tyres.
The Bridgestone tyres were originally supplied with the Optima Mid and the Optima Pro buggies back in the late 1980's and early 1990's and had the original part number of OT-66. The re-release Optima Mid (in fact all the re-release buggies) are supplied with the "Sand Super" tyre which in my opinion don't look anywhere near as good as the Bridgestone tyre. The reproduction tyres will give the Optima mid (in my humble opinion) the full nostalgic look it deserves.
The reason I had not fitted these tyres any earlier was simply because I couldn't afford them until now. I had always planned to put these tyres on the Optima Mid. Some might say I should have used the spare money I had to go towards my Javelin project however, I needed to finish the Optima Mid project before moving onto the Javelin. The Javelin will also require the correct reproduction tyres, so I will add them to the build parts list.
The "Optima Mid SE" above and the "Turbo Optima Mid" below.
As you can see from the beautiful examples above, the tyres have 3 different colours painted onto the tyres. It will be tricky and time consuming to paint the tyres, but the results are more than worth it. I also plan to ask my friend (who is extra careful and critical of quality) to paint them.
Whilst we are talking about the worth of things, I am sure you are all interested to find out how much I paid for the tyres and where to get them. I bought the tyres from
"Marwan RC" and the costs are as follows.
OT- 66 Tyres $18.49 for 2 tyres
I obviously needed 4 tyres so it came to $36.98.
Express delivery was $19.75
Giving a grand total of $56.73
The grand total in GBP (£) was £44.15 using the current paypal conversion rate.
Hopefully you can appreciated that the tyres are quite expensive, hence the time it took to save for them.
As you can see I use a Pilot super color with the extra fine tip (£5.20) which was ideal for colouring in tyres.
From a distance you cannot properly read the writing, so I doubt you will notice once the letters are painted. However, after a lot of research, it became obvious to me that the spelling is well known throughout the RC community and using some creativity with the tyre pen the word BRIDGESTONE can be recreated! I cannot wait to get them on the buggy and painted up!!
First of all I removed all the wheels from the car and put them to one side (It would be almost impossible to fit the new tyres whilst the wheels were still on the car). I originally fitted the tyres to the car back in 2022 and I had forgotten how soft the rubber was on the original tyres. The softness of the tyres made removing them from the rims very easy.
Putting the new reproduction tyres on the rims was very difficult as the rubber is very tough and doesn't stretch very easy. However, with a little patience and careful movement the tyres fitted perfectly. I can imagine if the buggy was used with these tyres they would last a long time. I suspect these tyres would provide lots of grip on grass, whereas the original tyres would be better suited to loose surfaces with their compound being very soft.
Time to get the wheels on the buggy...
With the wheels on the buggy, I can see the transformation into what an Optima Mid originally looked like back in the 1980's, and the memories flooded back. The nostalgic look was awesome.
When I refitted the wheels to the car I took the opportunity to fit the gold M4 nuts to the hub. The gold doesn't quite match the gold on the shock absorbers, but I think they will match the gold on the new shock absorbers of which I will show you in the next part of the Optima Mid blogs.
Another picture of the Optima Mid.
A closeup picture of the rim, tyre and the gold M4 nut.
Now to remove the wheels again so I can paint them. I know I stated earlier in the post that I was going to get a friend to do them, well, I couldn't resist putting the paint on them myself.
Using an illuminated magnifying glass, I carefully painted in the lettering with a small amount of success. There are mistakes which i will try to correct when the paint is dry.
I have to say, the "Pilot" paint pen was amazing and I would advise anyone to use one for painting the lettering of their RC car tyres.
The close picture up of the tyres reveals the mistakes I made of which I can hopefully correct when the paint is fully cured/dried.
A final look at the tyres whilst they are drying.
I did want to paint the other letters on the tyres, but I don't think I have a steady enough hand.
When the tyres had dried enough, I quickly put them back on the car to see how they looked and I am very happy with the results. From this distance you can hardly tell that the word Bridgestone actually reads Briocstone.
It's looking really good.
The pictures I have taken do not do the wheels and car justice to how good it looks.
The final picture is of both my Optima's which both cars have Marwan RC tyres and they look great.
Well guy's, with the tyres mounted to the rims and painted, that is the end of this post but not the end of the Optima Mid series. There will be two further posts on the Optima Mid of which I hope you will join me...
Until my next post, please take care and continue to enjoy you RC hobby.
31/7/26
catxls.com
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