Tizer

One of the latest additions to my FWD club is this Big Wave FF01 conversion. There's more pictures in my FF01 build thread

The Big Wave FF01 arrived a while ago and took some time to take pictures of it. It had a few upgrades, but the plastics in front are smashed as always. Shocktower cracked and the bumper messed up. I do like the lightweight kingpins and universal shafts that it came with. The body is also in really good condition, so after painting the wing and mirrors I'm thinking of making this into a Zexel livery body? Anyway, here's the pictures of the Big Wave chassis.

I'm really missing some Toyota action in those pictures

I am planning on building a TA02 to match this car, as I have the feeling the TA02 might be a better handling car. Tamiya made the weight distribution changes for a reason of course

I'm a bit sad that the design now doesn't have the long rear trailing arms like the YRF2 has. It's visually such a unique design, but it might be a bit outdated by now Either way the progress looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing this go into prototype/production phase.

The Border RC in the Netherlands still has the bodyset in stock

Holy thread revival! This TA01 has been an ongoing project for years, being upgraded VERY slowly and occasionally driven on track. It's a lot of fun to drive as is, but when I saw some new TA01/2 parts on the Shapeways shop I figured I would upgrade it a bit more. The car has a lot of bodyroll, partially on purpose because of the soft springs, but it slowed the response in the corners a bit too much. I ordered the parts from the MS-Racing shop on Shapeways to add a TB03 foambumper and a TRF418 anti-roll bar set. The bumper goes straight on, but the bars are meant to go on a TA02 with stock suspension. Mine is a TA01 with my custom long arm suspension so it's slightly different, but the set still worked out. I will update the rear arm design a bit to make the rear bars fit better. Here's a couple of pictures of the car in it's current state. And yes... I scratched up the original TA01 carbon decks ...

Woo, this will be an amazing build! Any chance you would want to make a couple extra?

There's a really cool set that uses TRF418 stabilizer bars available on Shapeways. I just installed the set on my TA02 last week. You get front&rear with 3 option bars each.

The second car is indeed a Thunder Shot or any of it's cousins

Not anymore. That's a pretty outdated concept. About 10 years ago, when drift cars were still 4WD and without any overdrive gears that used to be a trick to reduce understeer and get the car to rotate around the front wheels. The trend currently is actually read-mid or rear motor layouts, and in some cases with the motor mounted up high too. Have a quick google for Kashagari-Style and you'll be amazed by the chassis layouts. This is all in the pursuit of weight transfer and realistic body roll and suspension movement.

Unfortunately not. It has been discontinued for 20 years at least. Your best best is to find a second hand one in Germany, or the Active Hobby in Japan on auctions. Do you need any parts?

The chassis in the original post is a 4WD Mini chassis sold by Robbe in Germany. This is actually a copy/rebranded of a chassis produced by Active Hobby in the late 90's/early 2000's. It indeed takes a lot of cues from the HPI RS4 Mini, but it shares no parts at all. Interestingly it has aluminium chasiss decks and shocktowers in the Robbe guise. The Active Hobby also had an option for carbon fibre and some other option parts. I have both versions at home, should take some pictures of the Active Hobby.

Woo I love that livery! I did a similar style on the cartoony M-chassis 911GT1 I have on my Xpress. Might have to build a bigger one

I remember that DC5 body from yeaaaars ago. Always loved the look. Great replica!

If you're making the fuel caps, I have some detailed ones available on my Shapeways shop. You could DIY them easily as well, but in case you might be interested. https://www.shapeways.com/product/RXDAUXUQ8/atl-fuel-cap-smooth-1-10-scale?optionId=65437301&li=shops I can always adjust the dimensions and lettering too.

Nice!! I like the red screws and ballstuds. Might have to do that on mine as well. I didn't want to get rid of the titanium, but some are worn just like on yours.. So where can I join that Surikarn club now?

Woo you're really going all out. I'm amazed at how many NIP parts you've found so far.

I've fallen into the same trap a couple times as well. Tamiya really mixed&matched different versions of their touringcars together

It's an old Protoform body I think. It has the moulded in windowbanner at the top of the windscreen like the Protoform has. It's a rare shell, but not very valueable. Only to the right buyer perhaps, who specifically is looking for this model.

Hello!

Oh I remember seeing those pass through. Was already wondering what they were for. Glad to see them here! The Wheeler looks much better with mirrors What are the aero discs on the wheels? Did you design and print those too?

This is great! Looking forward to the end result.

They have higher offsets too. I own a set in 8mm.

I think it looks great, and would really suit a reversed livery. Yellow as the main colour with blue details, and yellow DF03 tires. Might have to scoop one up Just don't like the blue center shaft, but some caustic soda and a polish will take care of that.