[1981 Sand Rover RC project]

We might be in luck here Erich.... can you check dimensions? This is about 23mm wide and about 4mm deep.

[1981 Sand Rover RC project]

Will have a look today - can you let me know the dimensions of that part? I've got a bunch of loose spares I can go through.

Looking good though :). Are you going to do the tire lettering?

Orange, white, or do I keep them all black?

White would be interesting - never seen that done before. My best results with roll bars has been to do them in matt black, although I know you have some issues getting matt paints in Chile.

[1977 Tyrrell P34]

Welcome to the nut house

Great find and great story! Can you post some pics?

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Thanks guys - now completed and in my showroom:-

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=130760

I decided to leave the decals as is and subtle for now. Might add a couple extra some other time once I've lived with it a bit,

Thanks for watching

 

 

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Oh, I forgot - I did get the front grille mounted properly:

 

A bit of approx right size plastruct rod with a hole drilled in the middle did the trick....

I used the original screws to mount this, as the button heads on the stainless set I have are a little bigger and I don't like as much. I gave these a quick coat of gloss black with a brush and they look great (eg nearly invisible).

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Hi guys,

So, battery pack....

I bought some 5000mAh sub-c cells on eBay for not a great deal of money. No idea what quality is like but I won't be running this much so I'm not too worried.

The 6v original pack had already been opened by a previous owner - a bit rough around the edges but not too bad. So all I had to do was build the new pack and get it glued into place.

5 of these turned out to be a really good fit - nice and easy and plenty of room.

I then soldered these and glued into place.

Then put the pack pack together using some "go faster" striped from Halfords around the edge. That'll make it really easy to open again if I ever have to.

I then switched 2 of the AS-3 servos out for the correct AS-2 (thanks to a swap with @wildwillydriver ). I noticed I was missing the gearbox tierod because the previous owner had all the servos oriented in one direction rather than the middle one swapped (so had 2 long tierods rather than one long one short). So I made a short one using an old SRB steering rod cut to size and bent into shape.

Looking nice :). Boy I forgot how heavy these things are...

Tomorrow I'll mount the antenna, fix the roof mountings and take it for a spin

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

They probably would too Erich, which reminds me - did you manage to get that front light for the Sand Rover?

I managed to spend a little time today finishing up the gearshift (which is from a Sand Rover tree), the steering wheel and tidying up some of the interior lines.

... so I started on the decals.

I stopped here because (a) I'm a fan of "less is more" and (b) I did actually put the silver/orange side stripes on one side, didn't like the look and removed them again. I will probably come back and add something more (I think a drivers name on the side would look cool, but I think I'll leave it here for now. Minimal

I've test fitted the J-Man roof which is just awesome. Here's a few pics to show that off:

 

 

 

Pretty nearly there - last few little jobs to do:-

1. Mount the front grille properly (I'm missing a little plastic spacer, so need to make one)

2. Mount the roof properly which I'll do after the grille.

3. Fix up the battery pack (will start on that tonight)

4. Fit the last servo and take it for a spin on the lawn

Hopefully will get all four of those done by next weekend and if the weather is up for it I'll take a video...

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Oh, PS - I think I mentioned this somewhere else in the thread, but I have to say if you're in the UK, the black paint I've used here is from Halfords and is called "Audi Brilliant Black". It is really quite the most amazing black I've ever painted with - the photos don't do justice but it has an amazing depth and richness to it. Highly recommended (would look awesome on a Porsche if anyone is currently building one of those).

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Wow, thanks for the positive words of encouragement guys! I'm enjoying this build (patience is 99% of it).

Bodywork is done, rubbed down to the finest grade micromesh (12000 I think) and really pops now . Only took about 5 hours of work - this one is a simple bodyshell but there sure is a lot of it!

 

I then masked up just the floorpan area so that I could hit that with matt black with the airbrush:

I'm finding it really hard to get decent shots of black in both natural and artificial light (is that a "thing" with photography or is it just because I'm doing this with a smartphone?) but it looks really good - I like the contrast between gloss and matt black. It's subtle but it's there and it makes the floor look like a floor.

Once that was done I managed to get first coat on the seats too - they need another one and I need to clean the edges up a little:

Best angle of contrast between gloss and matt black that I can get with the iPhone - hope you get the gist (it's better in the flesh):

 

I then found these chrome guages in my box of bits and thought they're perfect for this build! So in they go, rev counter and speedo.

 

I think the hole in between the seats is just part of the mould release process, so I created a little plate from plasticard that sits underneath and I painted that matt black - I'm calling it a tray. Somewhere I have some 1/10 scale keys, coins and bits and bobs that I'll put in there at some point.

I also found a perfect gear shift for this (from a Sand Rover driver tree) which I've primed ready for paint. So this is as far as I've got this weekend, but I'm so close now I think next weekend I might actually be able to get it over the line and done!

Thanks for watching

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Hi gang,

Sorry about the long delay - work and family stuff took over for a while (you know what it's like).

Anyway, after a few months away from this awesome buggy (at least I know the paints dry by now!) I finally got around to taking over the kitchen sink and giving it a rub down with Micromesh.

I'm about 3/4's of the way there. Wanted to give you a couple of pics to show you I haven't forgotten about this buggy or this thread. I do hope to finally have a decent chunk of time back next weekend and will look to finish it off. I need to paint the seats, other than that it's ready for final assembly....

Sorry the pics are not best quality - it's really really hard to get decent shots of something dark and shiny in artificial light.

[1981 Sand Rover RC project]

Looks fantastic Erich - love that colour!! Really suits the Manx well.

I think I might have found a couple of those front headlight bits as I noticed one in my spares box a few weeks ago. Thought of you but wasn't sure if you had one yet. Will have a look in there later and let you know...

[Restomod Ranger XLT]

Superb, gentle restoration.

The radiobox looks amazing! What did you use to wetsand - micromesh?

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Hope everyone had a great Xmas!

Managed to get the driver done:-

... and have rubbed down the first clear coat and given it a second:-

... fair bit of orange peel and overspray on that shot, but that'll all flatten down. Will be doing that and final coat 3 of the clear later today I hope.

In the meantime I've been working on the grill. Haven't decided yet how to best mask the headlights (going to be tricky) for the chrome.

I've done 1 coat of very very thinned matt black for the inner grille so not looking too even just yet, but another coat should do it (it's also still slightly wet in this pic).

The Chevvy badge is a highly thinned Tamiya lemon yellow which I dripped in with a brush and let it self level (few drops of Tamiya Retarder helps).

Here's my man getting an early preview of his new ride:-

I've also cleaned up those rear lenses which are now finished and ready to do:-

[Sand Scorcher built for beach running]

Nope, no backing out now. This definitely has to be run on the beach

My experience is it's fine as long as you're sensible and clean it up afterwards.

[HC4 Build (This thing is nice!)]

Nice build :). Haven't seen one of these before... look forward to seeing progress!

[What's your build music?]

Building quite a nice TamiyaClub playlist here - talk about eclectic....

 

[Hard plastic body paint removal best pracitces - US products specificaly]

@chevelle - neat trick! What media do you use for that?

[Anyone know where I can get a Tamiya 6v Battery Connector?]

There's also the older 6V connector for the regular sized pack. A smaller plug. Tamiya 50039.

That's the one Yonez - thanks

@Tamiyabigstuff, thanks but those are the Tamiya minis I think.

[Anyone know where I can get a Tamiya 6v Battery Connector?]

I can't seem to find one in the usual places (eBay etc).

It's the battery end that I need to replace (for a vintage 3 speed 4000mAh battery).

Thanks!

[Toys from Trash]

Awesome.

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Thanks Kev, you're right - the racers don't need indicators

Looking at some real racers it seems a useful spot to shove a decal. So I'll probably do that instead.

Haven't tried the Rust-oleum but had a look and they do some nice looking effects. Will give some a try.

The lenses have come out pretty well - a bit of bleed under the masking which I expected because I had to spray this on pretty thick to get the lens effect I was after. It'll clean up with a bit of acrylic thinner and a toothpick though. Worst case I can touch up the chrome with a fine brush (don't think I'll need to though).

Having flatted the first coat the body has also now had it's second coat. Don't know if I'll need a third, but I'll rub this back and flatten it tomorrow and see how we're looking. Then it'll either be coat 3 or clear gloss.

This black is really nice btw - for those of you in the UK it's Halfords "Audi Brilliant Black" and it's one of the nicest non-metallic blacks I've seen. Has a real depth to it - very rich.

 

I hope to get to working on the front grille today which is good to go for clear coat. Once that's done I'll flat and polish the clear before chroming the chrome bits (which is going to be a tricky masking job by the looks of it). Have started to think about how to black the inside of the grille - I think once the chrome is done, I'll thin some matt black and try and flow it into each of the rectangular sections with a brush. 

[Street Rover Build]

The stripes make it. Nice addition

Are you keeping the chassis stock ?

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Rear lights underway.

Masking off the chrome edges:

... and about 6 coats of translucent red:

 

The colour looks about right to me so I'll probably stop here, let it harden off and then give it a few gloss coats to protect. No idea how well the masking tape has worked - I'm expecting maybe a little bit of bleed, but I think I can touch up with a superfine brush. I'm also thinking I might run a really thin hand brushed line of translucent smoke around the inner corners.

Pics of these with the masking removed when it's dried off in a day or so. In the meantime I'm going to start to flatten the painted body which has hardened off and I've given the grille a second coat.

Speaking of grille, I found this which is I think about the closest I've yet seen to the Tamiya styling:-

I've noticed there should be indicators beneath the front headlights, which is why there's a space there for them, but don't think any came with the original Blazer kit?

I think they'd look good so thinking I'm about making something.

 

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Quick sneaky update from the office

I got a few coats of black top-coat on yesterday to the body and the grille. I'm now going to leave it alone for a few days before I rub it down and give it a second go at the weekend. So you probably won't hear from me now until Sunday.

I managed to get some Alclad II Chrome onto the rear light pieces also (I had already backed those in gloss black at the weekend). Awesome stuff the Alclad II - most "metallic" looking stuff I've seen. First time I've used it and I'm very impressed. These pics don't do justice - it really looks like Chrome.

My plan here is to overspray the light section with translucent red and then a really thick dose of lacquer. I've done this before and find it makes for a pretty realistic lens.

 

[Blazing Blazer Resto Build]

Today I managed to get the tires done. I used the set of repros I picked up recently thinking at least I can run this around the garden without feeling guilty that I'm burning through £150 worth of rubber

I have also got the primer flatted back to ~800 grit ready for paint.

Next week I should be able to get a few top coats on and start on the rest of the bodywork bits.

@wildwillydriver really kindly has swapped an AS-2 with me for one of the reversed AS-3's that I have too many of. So radio box stuff has taken a back seat and I'll finish that up when the other AS-2 arrives  (I have one already).

Right now I'm off to paint the wheel caps matt black...