Lancia Stratos Turbo Gr.5 1977 Giro d'Italia TT-01E Build

[SteveU30 1011]

After a few months away from RC (mainly due to the pressures of my new job) I've finally found some time to put this car together.

Some of you may remember me getting the Killer Body body set around Christmas time along with a TT-01E kit for it to sit on. Well here is the inevitable build thread of putting this beauty together.

First of all, here's the 1:1 car that will be the inspiration for the build:

The star of the show is the body set: Killer Body part number 48308. I went for the painted but not decaled body set as I wanted do have some input into the body but didn't fancy the paint scheme on the roof (that's not a decal):

This is going to be a shelf queen along with my other Lancias:

I decided to get a basic TT-01e chassis kit which I got for a song from Asiatees. Along with that I ordered the closest wheels I could find to those pictured on the 1:1 car above, Tamiya part numbers 50672 & 50673 and then Tamiya racing slicks 50454 & 50547 to wrap around them:

So that's the parts sorted (for now), on with the build!

[Nobbi1977 1793]

You have all my dream car! Looking forward to seeing this one finished

[SteveU30 1011]

OK let's get the boring bit out of the way, the chassis. This will be a bog standard TT-01E chassis build, the only alteration bring that I'll be using stealth body mounts as I don't want to drill through the shell and have ugly posts sticking out.

I'll skip the step by step pictures and just run through the main stages.

Prop and motor fitted to chassis:

Rear end fitted:

Now at this point I did wonder if I might need the wider axles that are available separately due to me using the wide deep dish rear wheels but as I didn't order said axles, I decided to just carry on and work that bit out later:

Front end fitted:

(Friction) shocks fitted:

Chassis brace and motor cover on:

And we have a built chassis, next is the exciting bit!

[XV Pilot 1936]

You weren't kidding about it being a bog standard chassis build! Bushings and all, I see.

I am very interested to see/read more about the shell. How is the accuracy of trimming? How would you rate the paint? How do the decals feel, and how well do they match the painted roof?

As one who loves building chassis but hates trimming shells, the Killerbodies offerings look rather attractive...

[SteveU30 1011]

Ha ha, yeah I could easily have put bearings in but I deemed it a waste as this thing will never turn a wheel. If it was a more special chassis then I would have done.

In terms of the shell, I'll do a proper review shortly for you but so as not to keep you on the hook, I'd say the quality is very good indeed, not quite Tamiya standard but it's not a million miles away.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Any concerns about the bonnet of the shell not fitting over the front damper stay properly? I would have gone with an IFS chassis (TB03, TA05) to play it safe...

[SteveU30 1011]

I actually test fitted it on another TT-01 chassis I had before I bought this so I knew it would be OK, here is the test fit:

[Kevin_Mc 411]

Where did you get the 037 and Delta S4S shells from?!

[SteveU30 1011]

The 037 was from an eBay seller when they were re-released a year or so ago.

The S4 I bought off a member on Iconic RC but it's essentially a Rally Legends shell so you could get that from Modelsport

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/rally-legends-lancia-delta-s4-martini-rally-body/rc-car-products/384057

[Kevin_Mc 411]

Excellent, thank you!

[StrokerBoy 772]

Ace, love it.

[SteveU30 1011]

So on to the exciting bit, starting with the wheels.

They're a two piece affair with the central 5-spoke 'insert' being removable to allow for it to be painted. Now I did toy with the idea of stripping the chrome off the main rim and painting the whole lot red as per the pic of the 1:1 above but I felt this was too risky in case I didn't like it and I actually liked the idea of having chrome with a red insert.

So I set about painting just the inserts and mounted the tyres:

The inserts can be mounted on either side of the rim to give a choice of offsets as per the instructions:

I kinda knew (and hoped) the rears would have to go on in the deep dish configuration so these were built this way for the test but I wasn't sure about the front so built one of each:

Front wheel dished:

Front wheel flat:

Now for the test fit

Rear wheels fill the arches perfectly:

Flat front not so good:

Dished front much better:

Full set ready to go on:

And bolted to the chassis, loving this already, even without the body on!

[Kevin_Mc 411]

That looks lovely.

Really looking forward to seeing this finished

[Grastens 2795]

Agreed! Having witnessed the other Lancias, I am sure this one will be done just right!

[SteveU30 1011]

OK, apologies for the break in proceedings. Managed to find some time to tackle the job of decalling the body. There's a lot of them and I'd put it at just one notch below doing an 037. Luckily the Killerbodies decals are top notch quality (not far off Tamiya grade) and are precut which makes the job easier.

Anyway, here's where I'm up to after a couple of hours (that central stripe is hard to keep straight with it being spread out across 8 separate decals):

.

[kontemax 1725]

You should paint the chromed back of the wheels with matt black imho.

Max

[SteveU30 1011]

Good idea Max, I'll stick that on the 'to-do' list.

[kontemax 1725]

It will make the difference.

Max

[Kevin_Mc 411]

You've done a grand job with the decals, that looks perfect

[SteveU30 1011]

Right! Time to get this moved on.

More decals going on, that big A in front of the rear wheels was very tricky needing lots of heat!

Then the rest of the sponsor decals went on, quite easy but just time consuming

[SteveU30 1011]

Next job was to fit the accessories so on went the wing mirrors, wiper, tail light lenses, roof spoiler and rear spoiler.

[SteveU30 1011]

Next, I decided to take Max's advice above and paint behind the wheel spokes matte black

Much better

[GregM 1109]

Man, you did a lovely job on the bodyshell! I can't wait to see it sitting on the chassis.

[Kevin_Mc 411]

This will be lovely when put together

[Nitomor 2122]

Looks great so far