JennyMo

Hi Urban' - thank you - and everyone else of course - for your kind words, glad you like my latest folly! With regard to finding other build threads (from any forum user) - you can use the search bar at the top right of the page and put in their username, that ought to get you a list of posts, starting with the most recent... However, I've just had a noodle, and I see that if you click on a user's avatar photo it takes you to their profile page, and at the top right you can click 'see their activity', and then you'll get a menu on the left which includes various catagories - if you click Topics, then you ought to see a list of all the threads they've started. You know it might have been quicker to just type out a list of links than do all that and write it out, but there you go! Hope that helps! ps. in case you hadn't realised, I also always try and link to other builds I reference in the text, using the hot-link function you can insert when using this forum - so any words I've highlighted in blue/bold, if you click on those, ought to take you to the relevant page/thread on here. As an example: The Gremlin.

cont. The last piece of the puzzle was to find a battery which actually fitted in such a limited space inside the seat back and above the chassis rails: photo. I originally ordered a 2S pack (this profile designed for air-soft guns apparently) only the listing was incorrect and it turned out to be slightly longer than the space available in my battery 'compartment' - fortunately you can buy a 3S version which is actually slightly shorter and only slightly fatter - perfect! (note. I have subsequently re-fitted a short velcro strap to hold the battery snugly in place). Now I've always felt that a 2S Lipo pack offers more than enough 'ooomph' for a scale RC car - certainly on the right gearing it provides more than enough speed and acceleration to be realistic for an 'off-road' style truck, generally speaking of course... However, I would concede that a 3S offers an appreciable boost in both should that be desired (and that your running gear can handle it without detonating - still not sure I'd want to run that much power through an RC4WD Yota II axle for example ;o) - and in this instance, it's made this hot-rod very hot indeed now, to the point where I'm eternally grateful I'd invested in a proper differential rear axle, otherwise it would be flipping over* when steering on the overrun even more than it does now if you're not careful! *fortunately it's only happened two or three times so far, and I can confirm that Mr Keaton's animated head is surprisingly robust after all - thank goodness! It's show time! So what does it look like all together at last? Yep, I'm calling that done! Toot toot for now! Jx

cont. Skinny Malinky As an alternative to the fat front tyres, I also wanted to experiment with some skinny front wheels in more of a traditional hot-rod style, and initially bought the 'stock' style Tamiya Truck front wheels: photo. this 10-hole style visually match the 'wide' versions, other than the trim rings are moulded rather than separate pieces. However, it turns out that while visually the wheels are similar, the thinner 22mm wide version has a much more prominent hub offset than the 'wide' wheels I'd bought initially (ie. they essentially have the same back-spacing, so the extra width of the 'wide' version is all on the outside) - so elected to buy another set of the wide ones and narrow them myself - which in turn would help with the rather tight backspacing the wide wheels and tyres currently have with these particular steering knuckles. photo. these are both bearing/freewheel style front wheels, but you can see the difference in width and also the 'wide' versions come with separate glue-on trim rings. photo. fortunately, all I'd essentially need to do is cut the outside flange off the inside face, and the wide wheel would then be the same width as the narrow one... However, rather than just remove the outside flange (leaving the inner one as the new outer one if you see what I mean?) - in this instance, because the inside of each front wheel is also visible on this open-wheel car, I actually cut off the outer rim flange which has a moulded lip detail, then also cut off the inner flange before reattaching the more detailed outer flange to complete the new wheel: photo. same overall width, just without the prominent hub offset of the stock [silver] front wheel. I then simply trimmed a short portion of each cross rib on the new wheels so that the tyre bead would sit flush and snug against the inner rim, and then painted them in a mix of red-oxide primer as a base, Modern Masters rust and Tamiya AS-29 green, plus some generic 'chrome' paint for the trim rings as before: photo. the same snotty finish, only thinner... This way I now have the option of fitting either the fat or thin front wheels as desired, both fitted with Michelin branded tyres to match the rears. cont.

cont. All tired out... Ultimately I also decided to fit some different wheels and tyres - not that the big fat slicks weren't cool looking, more that I felt that they really needed to be slightly larger diameter for the overall proportions of the car... So I purchased a set of RC4WD Michelin 'super wide' semi truck tyres (1.7" wheel size) which have an overall diameter of 83.5mm, together with some Tamiya 1/14th truck wheels - in this instance the 30mm wide version (designed to take this width tyre), with hexes at the rear and freewheeling bearings at the front, as per the axles: photo. mocking up for now - these will be rusted and painted of course... Despite the rear axle being very narrow, I was able to use some +12mm hex extensions and barrel nuts to mount the wheels at a suitable offset for the rear arches (and fundamentally to clear the rear shocks inboard too), while the front wheels use regular 1150 bearings and now have a matching [almost] acorn nut to secure them. One option with these 10-lug 'lorry' wheels is to trim every other wheel nut off (leaving a traditional Beetle five-bolt pattern of course) and I also have a bunch of scale hex hardware I could also use to further dress them up a bit. For info. I did something similar with the plastic Tamiya truck wheels I used on Hopper's HiLux and feel they can be made to look very authetic. However, I felt in this instance that retaining all ten bolts and fitting the optional trim rings (painted in satin chrome) would ultimately suit the style better: photo. larger diameter wheels and tyres - less dragster and more traditional hot-rod now... note the Wild Willy NOS bottle on the passenger side bulkhead too. photo. Tamiya [semi] truck wheels, rusted and painted with AS-29, and satin chrome trim-rings attached. photo. positive off-set wheels required slightly wider hexes so the new tyres fill the arches. photo. fat up front too... for now at least. cont.

cont. Exhausting... One other detail currently missing was some kind of [finished] exhaust system... While the scale engine motor cover included has nicely detailed headers, they do end abruptly - and I debated whether to have some short stubby pipes either side of the motor (ie. in a traditional hot-rod stylee), or for simplicity just run them through the firewall and under the body - the issue then being how they might exit at the rear around that huge rear axle... Once again I took a leaf from a previous project (in this case the Baja Blazer) and decided to fab up a couple of slash-cut exits on either side of the body - and while in this instance they would have to exit through the doors, which is not 100% scale accurate perhaps - you could argue that the doors simply open and close over the exhaust exits... it is a 'custom car' after all?! photo. these would look pretty cool... photo. ...and they do! Having replicated the Blazer slash-cut exit pipes, all the headers required was some aluminium tube extensions to tuck under the body: cont.

cont. Gone a bit Danny*... *for those of you not familiar, Danny Huynh is a model maker who produces some incredible dystopian style RC vehicles with fully animated drivers and other features - you can find his work on Instagram & Facebook etc. Right then, Mr 'Juice has been installed, along with a bonus feature: Yes, it really had to be done didn't it? - what with his head poking out of the sunroof like that! First of all, it was clear he wouldn't fit in the cabin at all without some major surgery, allowing him to crouch on the seat and essentially steer with his knees: photo. toes cut and folded, plus knees bent (and ultimately pinned with set-screws - just like a proper surgeon!) - it actually needed a lot more cutting away behind his knees than shown here so that he could squat low enough... Then he squeezed himself in through the sunroof: photo. Steering with his knees! - plus there is still plenty of room on the seat for the magazines and McDonald's bag from before... Fortunately it was actually pretty straightforward to animate his head - his belly being fat enough to house a micro servo mounted horizontally, while I drilled a 5mm hole down though his neck - giving plenty of clearance for a long 2mm threaded rod to be screwed into the servo and protrude so his head could be screwed/glued on in the correct orientation: photo. fortunately his head was already articulated with a similar double ended ball joint to his waist and hips, so it was just a case of running a drill down into his stomach area, then carving out enough space for the servo to be hot-glued in. photo. 2mm thread rod cut to length, and screwed-glued into the servo... photo. although not strictly necessary, I elected to cut a portion out of his back to make carving out his innards more simple (with a Dremel sanding drum) - fortunately the main part of his suit jacket is a separate part, so it simply hides the hole in his back. photo. hips modified to fit around the base of the servo, and the two halves were simple hot-glued back together (with the servo cable exiting under the back of his jacket) in a suitable squat position to fit on the seat of the car. note for added comedy effect, I've wired it so he looks in the opposite direction to the steering! photo. the balls of his feet are screwed to the base of the seat (from underneath) allowing him to be fitted/removed as desired - although to be honest he's not going anywhere now he's finally installed! photo. it took some surgery and tweaking to get him to stand on tip-toes in a natural stance, especially with so little room in the cabin. cont.

cont. "Hello John, got a new motor?" Along with weathering the body and interior, I also added a little grime to the engine, and painted some of the detail components including the distributor plug caps, header pipes and radiator cap (made from the top of a Wild Willy NOS bottle dontcha know!) : photo. Ford V8 engine motor cover, with a faded chrome air intake scoop. Radiator is another Wild Willy part left over from the Gremlin project, with a Vanquish radiator fan attached for added detail. photo. supplied exhaust headers currently end rather abruptly - these will be extended in due course, now the gearbox [and associated length] has been tested and the motor position finalised. photo. the air intake was orignally chromed plastic, but way too shiny.. I knocked it back with some flat clear (which has the effect of dulling the shine) before adding a little more weathering to make it look more like aluminium or magnesium. photo. similarly the beer keg fuel cell has been aged - filler neck is a length of aluminium tube, with a suitable cap stuck on top. Fits perfectly between the shock towers too, which I left exposed for added detail when viewed through the side and rear window apertures. So shall we see what it all looks like together now? photo. not completely finished, but running at last! photo. it's a Beetle... that has been butchered! photo. flip up body for easy battery changes - the battery hidden inside the seat back and held in place with a velcro strap. photo. section of old winch bumper grafted on as a rear crossmember to help visually tidy the exposed rear end. photo. custom plates (you'll start to get the Easter eggs in a moment) - the working title for this project was always LaLaBee as in 'crazy Beetle' (and also because the name of my friend at university was Lara B), but subsequently I realised I should probably have gone with 'BIRDMAN' (see below)... photo. what's all this junk on the front seat, any idea who might be driving yet? (note a big hint is that particular Playboy cover). photo. why of course! It's an orange beetle - ergo. Beetle - Juice! Now those of you who have followed my builds in the past will know I like to include plenty of pop-culture Easter eggs with regard to my drivers, scale details and accessories - and in this instance, I think it ought to be pretty obvious that this one is very Michael Keaton centric with regard to some of his most famous roles over the years: Beetlejuice (obviously!), plus Batman (the 1989 version which also had Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman) and also Ray Kroc (the McDonald's bag, and him holding a hamburger), and more tenuously with regard to the licence plates - Ray Kroc was from a small town just outside Chicago, while the city itself has often been used as a stand-in for 'Gotham' in subsequent Batman films... and as I mentioned above, I really should have endeavoured to include a Birdman reference somewhere in there too - hmmmmm, something to revisit in future perhaps? cont.

cont. Orangey Boom! photo. the main body in the booth... after the initial coat of red-oxide primer, table salt was applied to those areas where I wanted the 'rust' to show through, before blowing over with a light coat of grey primer (for contrast), a little more salt where I wanted the grey to show, then finally a top coat of Tamiya TS12 Orange. photo. prior to painted the exterior, I masked the window apertures with tape and sprayed the whole underside and interior with flat black, then re-masked the windows on the inside so that the top coat would not overspray the interior. photo. once the top coat is dry, you simply run the body under a warm tap for a few minutes to dissolve the salt, and this chips off the paint in those areas you've chosen to deteriorate. photo. the next stage is to add some dry powder and/or black wash (using thinned acrylic or oil-based paint) to further highlight the textured paint. Wet sanding with very fine (5000 grit) paper or a sponge will also help to flat off the glossiness of the top coat, and make this weathered style of vehicle look more authentic and old. photo. it's getting there! There is a temptation to really make this snotty (and indeed it can be very effective to actually layer different colours of paint and sand through them more aggressively, to represent a vehicle which has been painted and repainted over many years) - but in this instance, I want to keep it more of a single colour... well, for the time being at least. photo. one other painting 'trick' is to mask around the window apertures (on those bodies with moulded window rubbers of course) and then cut around the rubber line, and just use an acrylic paint (in this instance Tamiya's dedicated XF-85 'Rubber black') and brush to paint the rubbers. Then peeling away the tape leaves a nice crisp line. Inside job Due to the compact nature of the cabin, and the fact it's slammed pretty close to the ground means the interior of this vehicle has been slightly compromised with regard to depth. While it might have been possible to fabricate some semblance of a footwell on the passenger side, the driver's side really is taken up by the micro steering servo underneath - so I simply elected to fabricate a 'half depth' floor across the full width of the cabin, which then angles down towards the chassis rails at the rear so that the bench seat is positioned at a realistic stance. I also fabricated a simple instrument panel (again from styrene) to hide the top of the gearbox/motor mount, and to add detail - including a steering wheel/column (from a Tamiya Wild Willy parts sprue), an 'automatic' shifter lever, and a dash decal with some basic instruments, befitting such a vehicle in 1:1 world. photo. Wild Willy wheel and dash decal - note the wheel rim is flocked for added texture detail! photo. installed, together with a custom windshield cut from lexan (note because the roof has been chopped and pillars pinched on this body, the original Sand Scorcher screen would no longer fit of course). photo. centre portion of the seat flocked tan, and subsequently stained with all manner of nasty... you'll begin to see why once you know who's driving. photo. overall I'm pleased with how much of an interior I've been able to incorporate in such a compact build... it's not ideal from a driver figure point of view of course (well, not if they have any legs that is), but in this instance, I feel my solution is going to make the most of the limited interior space. photo. I've purposely chosen to leave the sunroof open - you'll see why eventually ;o) cont.

cont. Right then, it's finally time for some paint and detailing! photo. what can we do with this little lot eh? The final iteration of the chassis (complete with rear crossmember grafted on), the wheels painted in weathered peppermint green, and the front and rear suspension assemblies erm, assembled. The paint scheme theme for this build was always going to be a ratty weathered look (as I mentioned in the introduction, very much inspired by to my first ever custom project on TamiyaClub back in 2009 dubbed the Fro-Sco ) - essentially a battered Baja bug body with a black nose/hood and rusted orange body, which in turn was a homage to a friend of mine who had a rusty orange Beetle when she went to university. Nosey parker So in keeping with that original 'Fro-Sco' colour scheme, the nose cone would be painted flat black, which in this instance would also provide an excellent contrast for the chrome headlights and polished aluminium shocks mounted out front: photo. Monster Beetle nose cone (narrowed by 18mm) and mesh insert to represent the air-intake for the radiator mounted behind. photo. painted flat black and shocks mounted on aluminium spacers through cut-outs in the mesh. photo. headlight buckets drilled out and low profile 5mm LEDs installed. photo. hot glue used to secure the various wiring, hidden in the C-channel chassis rails. While I've usually done my best to hide any obvious 'Radio Control' components, electronics and wiring with my builds - I wanted to pay particular attention to that aspect in this particular project - not least since the stripped down and exposed nature of a 'hot rod' would mean any tell-tale components would be more glaringly obvious, and detract from an otherwise 'scale' appearance. Fortunately the bell-crank steering gear meant the steering servo could be completely hidden inside the main body, and with the motor and 'gearbox' hidden by the scale V8 engine cover, similarly it was my intention to hide the receiver and ESC in a similar fashion - ie. inside (or underneath) other scale detail elements: photo. Hobbywing 1060 ESC is an affordable way to get a pretty compact brushed ESC. It's not the best crawler controller for sure (although apparently they have a 'hidden' drag brake if you actually remove the Fwd/Brake/Rev jumper plug completely) but for an on-road or higher speed buggy style build, a great option - just be aware it does have that high pitched whine compared to the silent 1080 mind you (which is also programmable of course). Having rummaged in my stash of of old scale accessory crap box, I found a plastic beer keg which I felt could be turned into the perfect ghetto fuel cell - plus was the perfect size to hide the ESC inside! photo. the keg would be mounted horizontally across the chassis, with the filler neck poking through the rear window - while the underside cut away so the ESC could be installed completely out of sight (see later photos for the final installation). cont.

cont. A little more progress - the steering is connected at last, and I also repositioned motor [engine] a little lower in the chassis on a custom cut 2.5mm thick aluminium crossmember: photo. bell-crank steering box will be hidden inside the body - I'm trusting this 4Kg micro servo will be sufficient to turn the relatively lightly-laden front wheels... Having decided to drop the motor a few mm between the chassis rails - the simplest solution was to discard the chunky delrin block and just cut a flat aluminium 'skid plate', attached with a pair of 90° brackets (the same I'd used to mount the front crossmember behind the nose cone) to the C-channel chassis rails. Rather fortunately, the holes I'd elected to use in the chassis (two existing, plus two new ones needed to be drilled) resulted in the plastic steering servo bracket also lining up perfectly with the rear upper link mount bolt on that side - and a further rummage in my spares box gave me a small metal L bracket which meant everything bolted up good and tight, and fundamentally square - result! photo. subsequent jigging saw the motor mount moved forward 6mm - centring the motor & planetary gearbox assembly better in 'engine bay'. Now whether this new motor location [without any forward support under the motor itself as before] will prove robust enough we'll have to see, but everything seems to be secure, and this is not a rough and tumble rock crawler of course - in fact it's unlikely to be driven very far at all if I'm honest! photo. body dropped as low as it can go (it will have some clearance for the rear tyres, it's just resting at the moment). The next stage is to finally figure out the body mounting - I'm still intending to have the cabin hinge up from the rear to access the electronics and swap/charge the battery - and now my bench seat has arrived, I feel the neatest solution is going to be fabricate some footwells and a parcel shelf interior around the seat to hide the majority of the chassis (although I think I'll actually leave the top of the rear shocks/towers exposed, because - chrome!) and aim to attach the ESC and receiver to the underside of that assembly, while the battery ought to slot neatly inside the rear seat cushion - or at least that is what I'm hoping! photo. custom mesh inserts painstakingly formed to fit inside the air scoops. photo. still recognisably a Beetle, just a very strange one! Final chassis tweaks Having replaced the SCX10 style delrin centre skid/engine mount with a custom cut flat aluminium plate on L brackets, this allowed me to move the front radius arm brackets backwards too - lengthening the arms by +25mm to 95mm - which means they now run the full length of the exposed chassis either side of the engine - I like that. photo. longer front radius arms, and the previous chassis holes filled with epoxy and repainted. I also wanted to get the chassis wired up and running before the final paintwork was applied, just in case I had to modify the body any further - and while it was precarious having the ESC and battery taped to the chassis, initial signs were good - that 4Kg micro servo seemed plenty strong enough to turn the steering (albeit not especially fast), while my guestimate gearing calculations of a 27T brushed motor, 3:1 planetary gearbox and a direct drive shaft to the Lesu truck axle appeared to offer similar performance and wheel-speed to a traditional SRB based Sand Scorcher... I think we're in business! note. with those slick tyres on a smooth surface (wooden floor) even with the differential in the rear axle, the car will donut very nicely - while the acceleration and top speed is similar to a regular Sand Scorcher... In fact initially (when testing on the bench) I was worried it might actually be too fast with the 3:1 gearbox, and considered I might need to replace it with a 5:1 version instead - however, for now at least I think its a good compromise, it pulls away smoothly and drives slowly as desired, with more speed available than is probably prudent with such a potentially fragile model. The other major issue was just how to mount the main body to the chassis, while retaining easy access to the underpinnings for battery changes - the ideal location for the battery being hidden in the rear bolster of the bench seat. The solution was actually surprisingly simple, and furthermore, the layout of the various interior components turned out to be nigh on perfect to secure the body without the need for any clips or magnets! I simply fabricated a pair of styrene brackets and attached these to the underside of the rear bodywork, and hinged the whole body off the rear of the chassis utilising the existing holes in the chassis ends. With the rear of the body at the correct hight for the arches above the rear wheels, the front of the shell [the fabricated firewall] essentially just rests on the gearbox mounting bracket - maintaining a level attitude for the body while sitting nice and low over the chassis rails themselves. I then fabricated a styrene floor panel to cover the underpinnings, attached the bench seat - and what do you know, the location I chose just happened to mean the rear of the seat clips against the rear shock towers with a satisfying click, holding the body in place with a snug interference fit - it was like I'd planned it! cont.

cont. photo. pinching and tucking the front of the cab with more of a 1940's style firewall. photo. Monster Beetle nose cone narrowed by 15mm and shock mounts attached... note track bar is now behind the axle too. photo. nose cone sandwiched using the front shock mounts to L bracket behind... plenty of space to include a faux radiator and even a [working] fan detail too. Once the main shell had it's integrity restored, there followed a lot of filling and sanding until the body was close to being ready for some top-coat... However, there was still the question on how exactly to attach it to the chassis - ideally it will hinge up from the rear of the chassis (held down at the front with either magnets or hidden posts and pins), so that the interior remains attached to the shell, while the electronics are hidden underneath the seat and a fabricated parcel shelf between the suspension towers... well that's the plan anyway. Speaking of interior - initially I'd planned to leave the cabin bare and full of electronics (since the steering servo will need to be inside somewhere too) and just used mirrored or iridium style lexan for the windows... However, while it's going to be cosy in there for an actual driver, I do think that by using a bench seat (rather than two individual chairs) across the full width of the cabin, I can hide a small LiPo pack in the backrest, while the ESC and Receiver can be attached to the underside of the parcel shelf. Using a Micro servo (rather than full-size low-profile one) for steering also means it can be hidden well enough in the driver side footwell too - although that is likely to limit who I can actually fit inside... fortunately my planned driver in this instance may not need all that much room after all. One thing I'm particularly pleased with is how well the butchered SCX10 II chassis has turned out from a 'scale' point of view - and while I'd concede this would probably come together much more quickly using the RC Everyday flat rails, ultimately I feel this C-channel chassis is even more authentic, particularly since a chunk of it is going to be in full view either side of the engine. photo. scale Ford V8 engine looks even better with the headers attached... this will be weathered and detailed with paint, plus almost inevitably a scoop style air-intake I think! Although an indulgence, I've also elected to replace the button-head hardware with scale hex bolts to add further detail to the chassis, and filled the unnecessary holes to add further realism. cont.

cont. Beetle-ing a dead horse As I mentioned above, bodywork wise I've had this Sand Scorcher shell sitting on a chassis for literally years now, and since the re-re body sets are still widely available anyway, I had no qualms chopping this current shell around a bit to try and make it a bit more unique looking and 'hot-roddy' as it were... photo. get ready for Dr. Dremel, Surgeon Styrene and Anaesthetist Araldite my friend... Fundamentally, while I wanted to retain the overall look of a Beetle (particularly that wide rear end with the Baja flares and cut-away engine cover), I also wanted to chop the roof to make it more of a traditional hot-rod - but not so low that it started to look comical, and in 1:1 world, impractical. I also felt that reducing the overall length of the cabin (ie. into very much a two-seater) would not only make it look more appropriate, but also allow me to reduce the length of the chassis and the overall wheelbase which currently was around 300mm - making the build better proportioned, and less of a barge when actually trying to steer the thing! Since this was not the first time I'd carved up a Tamiya Beetle (indeed I like to think I pioneered this concept a few years ago with the 'Stump Scorcher' here on Tamiya Club), I was confident that I could reduce the overall proportions, while retaining and hopefully actually enhancing those which this particular body shell provides: photo. it's kind of like 3D printing, albeit in reverse, - Tamiya moulded it all in one piece while I cut it into sections, only to then have to glue them back together again! photo. Still rather egg like and ungainly in this photo... photo. lots more room for that huge V8 engine now - plus I mocked up the front suspension so I could get a better idea of the overall stance. Ultimately I elected to chop 35mm from the sides of the body (between the rear edge of the doors and the rear aches), which meant technically this vehicle still has it's full-size doors, you'd just be sitting in the back seat rather than the front now! I also elected to remove the B-pillars, not only as they were one less element to try and line up correctly, but that the completely open window-less coupe style is very much the hot-rod look of course. This also made it much easier to shorten the A-pillars and drop the roof into more of a wedge profile, while the front of the body is now pinched in a little so the shorter windscreen pillars still line up with the scuttle in this lower stance, and I will have to fabricate a completely new firewall/bulkhead to tie it all together. photo. bodywork will need a lot more prep of course, but the basic proportions are there now. Those of you familiar with the Sand Scorcher (or more accurately the Monster Beetle in this instance) will notice I've also narrowed the nose cone by 15mm - wanting to retain the 'bug eye' round headlamp profile of course, but aping the more narrow vertical style radiator you'd get on a traditional hot-rod. Fortunately since these body kits come with a separate nose-cone, it already looks very much like the vertical radiator cowl you'd get on a hoodless rat-rod, just with a Baja Beetle face - bonus! photo. it won't be quite this slammed, but the idea is this is very much a street-legal dragster. Finish wise, I'm aiming to retain the majority of the moulded body detailing (window recesses etc), and perhaps smooth and fill certain elements much as you might do with a 1:1 custom car that had been de-seamed and 'tubbed' as it were. However, while the underpinnings (including that lovely detailed Ford V8 motor cover) are all going to be 'brand new' I do feel that the style of this build will be best served as more of a rat-rod than a pristine show-car - ie. keep it much more as a work in progress with faded paint (and even some patches of primer perhaps) and rust, lots of rust. cont.

Yes, it's time for another 'Blast from the past' - following on from my scale Wild Willy 2 build The Gremlin late last year, and I thought I might revisit another one of my earlier Tamiya Club builds and put a fresh twist on it... This time I've taken inspiration from one of my earliest and longest-running projects here on Tamiya Club, dubbed the Fro-Sco (ie. Frog Scorcher) which I started to build back in 2009 before the re-released Sand Scorcher was available, using a Blitza Beetle body and Brat chassis (so technically not a Frog nor a Sand Scorcher, but the name sounded better and a lot less ambiguous than Blit-Bra for example), and eventually even grafted on a re-re SRB front end too - and although I'd spent a lot of time and money on that project, ultimately it was another which didn't make the cut when I moved to the US full time, and so was sold along with a handful of my other Tamiya based builds. Still, I've always had a hankering for a Sand Scorcher of some kind in my collection (since like many people of a certain age, it was that original Tamiya 'Baja Bug' which turned me onto RC cars in the first place) - and while I've subsequently assembled a mix of SRB components in an effort to complete a new 'Scorcher project, I'm rather ashamed to admit that particular project has continued to sit dormant on a shelf (Car 72 - No Activity) while countless other concepts have taken my attention instead - and while I've made a promise to finish that 'Baja' build at some point, I thought I might experiment with something slightly different in the meantime... Note. the following content is edited from my original build thread on the SBG forum - in an effort to streamline the build process and focus on the highlights, with additional content as appropriate. Rather than my usual off-road orientated [4x4] vehicles, I thought I might have a go at something which I've always admired, but never really had the resources or inclination to do anything about until I visited the RC Everyday booth at ProLine By The Fire last year - and was inspired to create some kind of 'Hot-rod' on-road vehicle myself, albeit with my usual twist and 'kit-bash' nature of building - that is to try and avoid anything prefabricated and 3D printed if I can help it. That is not to say that Josh Dutton's kits are not awesome - and indeed if I wanted a traditional '40s' style body, I'd have snapped up one of his low-rider chassis and body kits right away - as it makes the whole process exponentially more easy to get something rolling (and fundamentally at the right ride height) quickly. However, I don't intend for this to be an especially fast project, and perhaps just as importantly while I realise that he has put pretty much every kind of body-shell on a low-rider chassis over the years (including a VW Beetle), it's my intention to mix things up a little bit more than that too. Slammed Scorcher Having studied how these low-riders are typically assembled - that is a traditional rail chassis and crossmembers, plus the front axle from a Tamiya 1:14 scale truck, and a rear axle of similar dimensions (usually from RC4WD), I bought a pair of SCX10 chassis rails and a non-powered drop axle for the front, and together with a left-over RC4WD Yota II rear axle, and set about seeing whether this could possibly be something I could work with? photo. Tamiya Beetle body for scale - and because it's been sitting on a shelf for over 5 years now, looking for a home! Having studied the layout RC Everyday use for their flat-rail low-rider chassis, it turns out they are effectively the reverse of a traditional 4x4 ladder chassis - in that there is mild step up and flat rails towards the front (to support the engine) and a more significant arch up over the rear axle for clearance... so basically an SCX10 chassis running backwards as per the photo above! Of course the geometry here is by no means perfect, and certainly not in the same way as a dedicated fabricated low-rider chassis would be - but I was keen to see if this could actually be made to work successfully, ideally without any welding or braising since I do not have the facilities or talent in that regard. photo. test fitting the proposed engine and transmission layout... Since I already had a spare 540 motor and 3:1 planetary gearbox in stock, I cobbled them together with a simple vertical mounting bracket to see whether the SCX10 rails would be anywhere close to appropriate, and factored that once the excess rear (now front of course) rails were cut off forward of the front axle, we might well be close dimensionally after all? In addition, using these Axial C-channel rails meant I could buy a simple flat skid plate which would make mounting the rear motor bracket and any rear suspension links much easier too. photo. now we're getting somewhere... we have a roller at least, if no actual suspension as yet. To cut a long story short, I mixed and matched all manner of rods and ends and various brackets I had in my stash until I got something resembling a rolling chassis. I chose this particular delrin skid plate precisely because it was only 70mm wide, which meant the front and rear of these SCX10 chassis rails (which taper if you're not familiar with them) would be a nominal 60mm apart, or basically the same as a Tamiya 1:14 truck chassis, which means there ought to be the correct clearance for the front and rear axles, which there is. Nice. photo. front axle features a 90° crank arm for steering - adding to the 'hot rod' vibe in having the steering servo mounted inside the cabin and out of sight. Now while it might have been possible to fit leaf spring hangers on the rear (particularly as these axles are designed to accept them directly), I really didn't want this build to be that antique - and indeed I soon realised that my wheel choice (for info. these are 1.55" diameter raw aluminium wheels designed for the Sand Scorcher/SRB platform - which have free-wheeling/bearing front hubs and use the SRB five lug hub for the rear - fortunately which I also had in stock) meant the rear wheel track width with the Yota II rear axle was now way too wide, even for that flared arch Sand Scorcher body shell... ah. Thinking laterally, if the front 1:14 truck axle works well for this format, then why wouldn't a corresponding rear? - so I took a punt on a Lesu aluminium rear axle that features a proper differential too, which means this actually ought to drive quite nicely on harder paved surfaces: photo. these Lesu axles are a thing of beauty - but very narrow too, so it's a good job those rear tyres are so fat to fill out the arches! Once the new rear axle was bolted in place (and dressed up with some scale M2 hex hardware), it was clear this was going to be much more of a street-sleeper style dragster with those huge slick tyres on either end. Indeed, the oversize 'truck' pumpkin of this axle is very much a drag-car style of rear end I thought... and with some custom 4 links and chrome shocks - plus the fact that there is no bodywork overhang on this Beetle body, I think this is going to look 'the bomb' from behind? But I'm getting a little ahead of myself with the photo above of course... cont.

Mouc-RC has already said the SRB front end! So I'll add, customising various driver figures: Jx

Depends on what kind of plastic you're screwing them into - to softer nylon type works reasonably well with a machine thread first time, but if the plastic is hard you'd be better off tapping them with the correct size metric tap first - makes it easier to screw them in and reduces the chance of the harder plastic chipping/splitting from the less sharp screw thread being forced in (compared to a cutting tap) - which can happen since the metric thread pitch is so much finer than stock 'wood screw' thread.