Grastens

The side-marker buckets went on after some fiddling. The manual emphasizes the importance of not overtightening the screws, and seeing how the lenses will fix to the buckets, this makes sense: I praised the use of 1.6 mm screws for the turn signals, but cursed having to put them in – turning the standard hexagonal wrench under the hood of the shell was tricky. I looked forward to the front end, feeling the truck with the shell alone was lacking a “face.” Building up the grille, bumper, and headlights would go a long way toward identifying the truck as a Bruiser: Headlight lenses were already snapped in at this point. I regret not using glue as directed, for the lenses rattle around in the buckets. However, I am confident they will be staying put. I would have used either craft glue or sought out my special canopy glue, though the latter may have already set from old age… Despite the bumper turn indicator buckets being clearly marked “L” and “R” on their backsides, I still put them in the wrong order! Maybe it was too obvious? I got it sorted in time for this photo: The lenses are also to be glued in, and of course painted in X-26 Clear Orange. I left them off, as was the case with the side-markers, while the “face” of the truck was coming together: It looks like the front of a Hilux now! The bumper and most of the front grille are to be painted black, which had me debating whether or not I should paint them at all. However, the front panel below the bumper is to be painted body-colour, so it will be painted regardless. The temptation to leave them alone is there – except for the grille trim – but they will probably see paint. This is the hardware needed to fix that front end, with side mirrors, to the shell: It is curious to me that the Bruiser be issued with (and drilled for!) two mirrors and only directed to use one. The Bruiser’s decal sheet features a blue sticker to cover the passenger-side hole left by the unused right-side mirror. That will not work with my paint plans, and besides, I intend to use both. The mirrors themselves look strange to me, but all together the shell looks more like a truck: At this point, I removed the bed and rear cab panel; the shell was too unwieldy with them. I also wanted to replace the screws on the rear cab panel while attaching the side rails: The manual advises paint (TS-7 Pure White, which I do not have) for these rails, but not for the front and rear bumpers. Will this plastic yellow if left alone? Will clear-coat provide some protection? The bumpers and side rails are from the same parts tree. I can paint them later, I suppose. The window assembly went on simultaneously: Once the rear cab panel was returned, I found the top of the panel kept bowing into the cab. Without a window or glue, I used an extraneous piece of rubber tubing (probably from my Lancia 037 build), propped against this unused screw hole in the roof (for the Bruiser’s bed topper extension). It works well to keep the plastic from bending inward and thus out of shape: This will be useful when the time comes to glue the rear panel into the cab, bracing this edge while it sets. The tubing is sufficiently discreet to become a permanent accessory if absolutely necessary. The cockpit went together, using tape for the steering column and craft glue for the steering wheel: I wanted to fit an unpainted driver figure in there, but the non-permanent glues were not strong enough to support the figure’s arms. Hence, it was left out while the interior went in: All that remained were three screws and nuts, to attach the bed to the rear cab panel: As inventory goes, there were a lot of extra screws and nuts, especially as the step-side bed makes no provisions for side-marker lights, and I do not have hardware yet for tail lights. The screws for the bed were the perfect length, though, and soon I had most of the shell assembled without paint: With the shell in this state, it is possible to appreciate the future of this project a little more!

And I look forward to seeing yours Especially given the JennyMo scale detailing! As the Bruiser’s shell appears to be a complicated assembly, compounded by the addition of a customized step-side bed, I saw fit to begin on: This is the parts bag that comprises all the hardware needed to build the body. The variety of screws, nuts, and other hardware will affix most of these to the bodyshell: As everything is unpainted, I am aware that I will need to disassemble everything before paint goes on – except for the main bodyshell. The perceived complexity of the body has encouraged me to build it up, made possible by the fact that almost everything attaches to it with screws. The primary exceptions are turn signals, which are glued; in this test build, they are omitted. They will need to be painted in X-26 Clear Orange, anyway, before they go onto the truck. I did my best to cut out all the parts I thought I needed for this “dry run” of the shell: There are a few curiosities that I missed in the lead-up to Parts Bag E – for instance, the rear window: The stock Bruiser uses the moulded-slats part on the left, which fits on the back of the camper extension on the rear cab. As such, the Bruiser has no need for a rear window, yet one is issued with the windows and windshield. There is no mention of it in the manual that simply references “T-parts 19225139” and illustrates only the windshield and windows, moulded as one piece. It appears that the transparent rear window is the same shape as the space the windshield and windows part leaves when fixed to the cab, but it does not fit. This is likely due to the custom Loops Model cab rear panel I am using. Said rear panel does have a flange for mounting a clear piece of plastic, so this will be the approach I take for the rear window in place of the unannounced piece in the kit. (Update: the same part is announced in the Hilux High-Lift kit, where it serves as both the cab rear panel and the rear window. This means it fills the rear of the cab instead of the window assembly, which explains why it did not fit the latter – on the High-Lift, the plastic surrounding the window is painted in the truck’s body colour!) The moulded-slats part is just slightly too wide to fit the window opening on the custom rear cab panel, so I will proceed with a clear sheet of plastic. The slats were an odd look for the cab, anyway. There is also fine text on the headlight lenses: Not a curiosity, per se, but interesting! The same goes for the 1.6 mm screws for the turn signals: It is a testament to the kit’s clever design and excellent manual that the parts in any one bag can be dumped into a single tray and picked out correctly over a build. Screws in different diameters are simple to identify, and screws with the same diameter but different lengths are either finished in their own colours. In the case of 1.6 mm screws and 2 mm screws, the former use hex wrenches to the latter’s Phillips screwdrivers, and the distinctive head shapes make them easy to distinguish. It all encouraged me to get going on the body, with or without paint!

Yikes! This is exactly what I feared with the HG-P407 - maybe not all of them are like this (I hope), but this is quite bad.

Stunning! I have never seen an inboard rear suspension on a touring car before - I guess this is what a boss' salary can buy! Meanwhile, more electronic equipment and one soon-to-be-indispensable tool: I have all the light kits I could want at this point, and a small stock of spare servos. The ESC and red servo are for an upcoming build, and the pit stand is something that I have waited too long to acquire! The snow piles up outside - I have what I need to bide some more time before painting season...

It is for these reasons that when a Bruiser became available to me, I bought it. The HG-P407 would have been way more budget-friendly, and I could have finished one right down to the scale details for the price of an unassembled Bruiser. Nonetheless, I was concerned about the quality of materials in the clone. I had dreamed about owning a Tamiya 3-speed truck; it would have been quite disappointing if I had bought the clone, only to find the materials were subpar, and then have that taint my experience with these marvellous kits. ... I would also be about $300 or so in the hole for a subsequent Bruiser However, I see that while the HG-P407 is not quite up to Tamiya standards, it is still a respectable kit at an astonishingly-good price, and it has the credit of introducing the wonderful world of multi-speed trucks to an appreciably-broader audience. I imagine it is doing this with more flair than the High-Lift line of trucks, though that is just my opinion! Mine came over the counter from a less-exotic place, but the feeling is the same Whether a Bruiser, Mountain Rider, or HG-P407, it would be nice if every kit builder in the hobby got the chance to assemble at least one of them in a lifetime.

I was on a mission to fit a custom step-side deep bed to: Following the success I enjoyed with my Ferrari 312T3 build, in which I designed and constructed a cockpit from styrene sheets: I was clearly in the right mindset to attempt to modify the bed, the Bruiser, or both! To fit the bed to the chassis, I had several different solutions. Eventually, I elected to pursue the option that foresaw a fair amount of cutting, but also allowed the shell to sit more or less at the stock height. This would be to cut a mechanism-box-sized hole in the bed, and drill holes for the rear body mount. The Ferrari 312T3 came in when it was time to decide how to approach this solution: like the build I undertook for the F1 car, I traced the relevant dimensions for my project and recorded them on paper. Unlike on the Ferrari, I did not use a cardboard prototype; this was only a few cuts, as opposed to a new part built from sheets. Once dimensions were recorded, I cut some guide lines on the underside of the bed. I used the straightest straight-edge I could find, which was a metal ruler out of which I had already carved slivers. I still trusted it more than the plastic rulers I had on hand… I measured with the still-legible plastic ones, and cut with the metal one, ending up with a mechanism box traced on the bed’s underside. While I was at it, I cut two small marks for the rear body mount posts, using measurements taken from the posts themselves. Many careful minutes with some very sharp objects brought me here: The bed was made from a stiff, thick plastic – I tried an X-Acto knife, a box cutter, a panel scriber, and a Dremel with a cutting wheel, and all of these were unsuccessful in cutting the desired hole in the bed. My pin vise drill set even made tiny holes in the corners of the area to be removed, to facilitate the cuts. I finally prevailed with a hot knife: an X-Acto knife blade on the end of a soldering iron. This tool had been unused since my Wheelie Rally project, and still had melted yellow plastic from when I was chopping up the donor shell for that build. It was difficult to remove then, but once heated up again, the blade quickly shed the residue on the first cut. Even then, cutting the bed was not quick work. I did not even manage to cut it all the way, stopping short of cutting the edge at the rear of the bed. By then, it was already heavily-scored from the assortment of other tools I used, so it took a few still-heavy bends to finish the job. Loops Model's parts quality has impressed, but I dread thinking about modifying another one of their parts! The plastic for this step-side bed is just a bit difficult to work with. The first issue for fitting the bed was with its floor; the second one was with the rear body mount. I had to either cut down the stock body mount or make up a new one, to get the shell to sit level on the chassis. With the depth of the bed, the rear of the body would be sitting visibly higher than the front. To accomplish this levelling act, I needed body posts that left 25 mm of space between the chassis and the deep bed’s floor, and found these parts to achieve just that: Amazingly, I had two F103 antenna tube holders. They are machine-threaded on one end and 20 mm long, so they can work as long spacers for the 25 mm screws. As 2.4 GHz receivers do not have significant antenna lengths, the mounts have been made redundant – until now! Everything went together like this: The blue TRF parts were replaced with taller black plastic body mounts, which added the 5 mm I needed on top of the 20 mm antenna holders. I know for a fact that, like those antenna holders, I have only two of the plastic body mounts, so I was relieved to find both of them for this project. For all my perceived difficulty in this task, the cut material from the bed came out relatively cleanly: The last task was to chop up the battery tray – something I really did not want to do – to allow the narrow cab rear panel to sit comfortably on the chassis. I ended up slashing off the two corners next to the mechanism box; combined with some material removed from the rear panel itself at the bottom, I got the shell to sit at a satisfactory height without interference from the battery. It would have come at the expense of an eye if not for safety glasses – that plastic is stiff, thick, and brittle! It took me an entire afternoon, but in the end, my Bruiser gets a step-side bed: The cuts were not clean or precise, so the mechanism box is not a tight fit in the pickup bed. It bothers me slightly, but really, I doubt it will be carrying anything small enough to be lost in there. I much prefer the accessibility of the ESC and receiver in this configuration: The tires still clear the rear arch: At full compression, the shell still stays clear at the rear – I might need to work on the front, though… Overall, the result is not particularly neat, but it is surprisingly effective: Parts Bag E will be next; I can now begin fitting hardware to the shell, meaning I can also find three matching screws and nuts to use for the bed. In its current state, I could even start to paint the shell – once the weather cooperates!

Not a problem! I will be preoccupied with the cockpit and paint-related work, so a rear wing stay can definitely wait Besides, I need to work on a drawing first!

Meanwhile, a 10:1 scale JennyMo has just finished up her model Jeep While the photo is uncanny, it does have me looking forward to completion! In the meantime, I am enjoying seeing your styrene work, as always

This project is definitely catching my interest. I remember the battery holder being an obstacle on both my custom WR-02 projects, but then, I was not about to argue with the accessibility to the battery... Your workaround is a good one! I think you have the right idea with the 1 mm styrene, in the absence of a heat gun. I heard a glass jar of boiling water is also good for bending thin styrene to shape, but unless preparing tea or soup, it can also be a waste of energy, given that this approach requires frequent reheating of the water.

It took me several unrelated decal sheets and plenty of masking, but it was also my best work: Now departed - I might regret that a bit... I have at least one grander design coming up, which is the case when electing to paint stripes instead of using decals. That might just be my opinion on ABS shells in comparison to polycarbonate types, though!

And here's mine!

A reminder on the cockpit’s appearance, again with Tamiya’s 1:20 model: … Did I get it? I would like to think it looks a little like it is supposed to: Next time, I could widen the base out to the sidepods on the shell, but the width I settled on (60 mm) still allows the ESC, motor, and battery cables some room to stretch. This is important for the F104W and its rotating electronics trays; the F103 may have less of an issue with this. In any case, coverage to the edges of the cockpit fairing looks better than if I had elected to build just the cockpit, without extensions to the width (46 mm). On the actual 312T3, any gaps would be exposing the ductwork in the sidepods. Once everything was built up, it became clear how much space I needed to leave under the cockpit. To keep it level and with space for cables to run underneath it, I needed a 3 mm gap between the base plate and the upper chassis deck. As the battery holder takes up 2 mm on the front, I added 1-mm styrene to the front, and 3 mm of sheet to the back: And while I did not even attempt to alter the one 1:12 figure I have, I still posed it in the new cockpit: … Well, I tried! 1:12 might be small, but the 4 x 4 driver is too large. Since much of any driver figure would be hacked away to fit into this cockpit, it may not be a big deal for me to remodel the Starting Rider to fit. From what I can see, I need to lop some plastic off the neck to get the head sitting right, and then perform a cut-and-shut-style operation to join the glued-in-position legs to the torso, and at the correct posture. As before, the parts of the legs that would otherwise be obscured by the front monocoque will be cut off, too. Vitally, though, I will not need to make the driver’s backside presentable, as long as the figure fits without visible or excessive gaps. Comparing my scratch-built cockpit to the supplied driver torso, I can see that I made it slightly shorter than the kit part. If the kit driver were used, the monocoque would interfere with the steering wheel. However, I feel I have some licence in this area, especially if I put the front roll bar and gauge panel in the same positions that they would be in on the kit driver’s base plate. Overall, I can call this miniature scratch-building project a success. The cockpit is just over 30 mm deep, which should be enough depth for me to fit a three-dimensional torso and legs. The overall proportions do not have to be completely accurate; it will be enough for the figure to convey the depth of the cockpit. Anybody working on Tamiya’s Rally Cockpit Set may be able to attest to that effect. Meanwhile, I see some unused screw holes on the upper chassis deck I can use to attach a roll bar directly to the chassis. That would allow me to dispense with the kit-supplied part for the hard body, and add some detail for the polycarbonate shell (which has no provisions for one). It would be a matter of bending a styrene rod (which I have) to shape, and then gluing it to a panel that can screw onto the chassis via the unused screw holes in the upper deck. The cockpit part can even be used to reinforce the bar; on the actual car, the bar was attached to the monocoque, with the bodywork slipping over it. Despite the success of my scratch-built cockpit, I am calling the rear wing stay a failure, noting its excessively-low and laid-back position. It is not symmetrical, either, though rectifying that issue is a simple matter of re-drilling the mounting plate. I actually like the position of the wing that the standard re-release wing stay takes it to, though… I will take you up on your offer, please, @speedy_w_beans! I like the re-release standard wing stay, but would like it printed as a single-leg stay (like the original 312T3) and a centimetre higher, with no protuberances under the wing mount (I will not be using self-tapping screws to fix the wing). The wing mounting holes, like those for screwing the mount onto the chassis, look to be 29 mm wide (centre-to-centre), and the new rear wing position I propose would put the top of the wing mount at 60 mm above the centre of the chassis-mount holes (stock is 50 mm). If this is possible, I would appreciate it immensely; otherwise, there will be no problems as I will continue to use the re-release wing stay. At this point, using the rear detail piece is less important to me. As for the build: next up will likely be the aforementioned roll bar. Additionally, I will look to add detail to the cockpit in the forms of pieces like a steering column, gauge panel, more roll-bar tubing, and other parts that may be visible under inspection. With the cockpit I constructed being usable, perhaps I can also cut out the driver section entirely on the polycarbonate shell! That might wait until the driver figure, I think, but I would not have gotten this far without proving that wrong...

More work on the: On an unrelated note: the Tamiya Striker is often described as a Formula One-style off-road buggy. Surely, I cannot be the first one to consider bringing the Striker back to its F1 roots, and I might not be the last, and any attempt must be better than sticking the upper body onto a Tamiya F104W: Yet here we are! Seeing the upper body made me believe for a second that I could make up a lower body for the F104W, and thus have a monocoque chassis similar to the original! It is mostly flat surfaces, after all… However, not only is the aesthetic not quite what I would go for (I would consider a pre-Striker F1 car – I keep seeing an early 1970s racer, maybe even with an airbox, in the blue and turquoise stripes), but it would consume much of my styrene stock for a chassis that will likely be fragile. However, the mood was set for something more important: All the drawing and prototyping eventually had me making a real effort at designing a cockpit for the Ferrari 312T3. I know it can be done, and I see a way to try it, but can it work? The prototyping was done with a scrap piece of corrugated cardboard I found on a shelf. The thickness is wrong, but it is easy to cut, and if cut properly, warps less than the thin, non-corrugated type. I used it so I could preserve my styrene stock for the actual assembly. I had the chassis and bodies set up while I made a draft: The clear shell is proving indispensable for this project! The drawing may be unclear in the photo, but the idea was to build up representations of the sides and front of the aluminum monocoque from a flat base plate. This plate would be mounted on the chassis, with the front of the monocoque being used as a means of compensating for the steering servo’s presence. Following my original idea of mounting the cockpit assembly to the battery holder, a slot would be cut in the middle to clear it, and a hole cut out in front for the servo, around which the front monocoque would be constructed. I find this arrangement suitable, since it works around the steering servo and cuts off the driver figure’s legs at around the point where they would be obscured anyway. Again, the “Clear-Cowl” Ferrari 312T3 from Tamiya demonstrates this: I was going to dig into my new styrene, but unearthed some old sheets. This was ideal, since none of my new stock was 1 mm thick; I only had 0.5 mm, 0.75 mm, and 1.5 mm, in addition to a 2-mm sheet. I ended up using 2-mm sheet for the base, and 1-mm sheet for every other panel. The design of the base considered the servo and battery holder. Here, a test-fit verifies the concept: The notch for the servo wire was added in an attempt to sort out the wire, which would otherwise be easily caught under the chassis plate. I am already looking for solutions for the rest of the cables. I was going to make the most of this stock, and could do so once the base was finished – 1-mm sheet is much easier to cut: After the base, I cut panels for the monocoque front and sides, as well as a rear panel. I am unsure if a seat will make its way in there, since the driver would be obscuring much of it once in the car. This picture shows the panels cut and laid out, with the front monocoque “assembled” with some tape: If everything was measured competently, it could all go together! It is appearing that I did not need to wait for a proper driver figure in order to begin designing and building this assembly.

An important arrival in the mail today: The custom step-side bed has arrived from the Czech Republic. While the Bruiser has been the model I have dreamed about, that dream came with the realization that I was very unlikely to ever own an original 3-speed model. I did appreciate the aesthetic of the Hilux 4 x 4 Pickup, however, and knowing that the Bruiser uses the same main cab, I have always wanted a step-side bed on mine. It would help to address the wide rear track, compared to the front, as well. However, the original Hilux 4 x 4 mounts the rear bed separately from the cab, and that rear bed is filled in completely. This is necessary for covering the mechanism box on the original model. The Bruiser’s chassis design allows for a slightly-dropped bed, so even if I did find an original Hilux rear bed, it would require a significant amount of modification to fit. For a part that costs more than several Tamiya kits (and some combined!), even I would balk at that. Into the void stepped Loops Model, from the Czech Republic. Through their RC 4 x 4 online shop and eBay storefront, this company makes custom bodies and accessories for the RC scale crawler crowd. One of their products is a Hilux step-side deep bed. The deep bed will not sit well over the Bruiser’s mechanism box. The cost, while precious, is less of a deterrent to consider modifications to fit! I figured I would address that once the bed arrives. A member of the RCCrawler forum has already attempted this successfully: However, his post and photos do not make it clear how he was able to execute it. Onto the bed that was delivered: the pieces are the bed and a rear panel that fills in the gap in the rear cab. It also provides a place to attach the bed, using a combination of glue and three screws. The seller advises that additional finishing is required for assembly. I saw minimal pin holes in the moulding, and the only issue I have had to deal with so far is flash in the screw holes. Some of it was thicker than in others, but eventually it was all cleared for some M3 screws and nuts. I did a test-fit to ensure this was the only issue, and it looks good: The three screws I am using at the moment are solely for test-fit purposes. I will source some better ones for final assembly: I ordered a set of Loops Models’ universal tail light buckets, having seen this additional blank panel on the rear end of the bed: I could replace it with a 3D-printed plastic type from TC member simensays, or even one with LEDs from TC’s Pintopower and his AmPro Engineering shop. For now, I will focus on resolving the conflict with the mechanism box – with that, I cannot fit the shell onto the chassis. There are a few solutions I can think of immediately: - remove the rear bed floor entirely and transpose the Bruiser’s rear bed (cut down, since the custom bed is narrower) at a depth that agrees with the mechanism box - cut a big hole to fit whatever part of the mechanism box protrudes into the deep bed, and drill holes for the rear body mounts – I consider this, because the sight of a mechanism box lid sticking into the bed does not bother me, and if it did, I can improvise using scale objects in the back - modify the mechanism box – I am not a fan of this particular solution! - cut a smaller hole to fit the on/off switch, use tubing underneath the bed to build a rear body mount, and modify the front end accordingly to allow the shell to sit higher on the chassis The first and second suggestions appeal to me, with the second one getting more support. That particular option would allow me to leave the stock rear bed untouched, either to sell on or use later. The pertinent issue would be measuring and cutting precisely what I need removed, and nothing I do not – as in a number of my other builds, measuring is not yet a strong suit when it comes to scratch-building or alterations! I will deliberate on this further. What I do know is that I intend to use primer on both sections of the body, as they are made from different plastics. The step-side bed is quite a bit heavier than the stock piece, and primer before paint can reduce any colour discrepancies between the two. It is important to note that the custom part feels to be made from a stiffer plastic than the stock body, so cutting any part of it will require more effort. I will consider this as I resolve the bed clearance. The bed modifications will either prepare or discourage me from attempting similar modifications to the cockpit – one big cutting job might be enough for me and this build!

Thank you! I guess I do have my hands on a lot of toys - how else do you think he has it all ready by the end of the year? I think the slot cars deserve a thread on their own, by the way, like the spectacular-looking Fat Fox build But speaking of Santa Claus: Your generosity and ingenuity know no bounds! I will measure up the rear wing stay and have some dimensions/a design over this weekend. Over the weekend - don't look now, but temperatures might climb to painting ones. That is a long-shot, but it does have me thinking about paint - the polycarbonate 312T3 body will require extensive masking. The manual recommends masking off for PS-1 White, PS-2 Red, and PS-5 Black - in that order - and then removing each mask to paint the colours in reverse, in addition to starting with the special PS-48 Semi-Gloss Silver Anodized Aluminum for the front wing. The difference between that paint and PS-12 Silver is not immediately clear to me, but I elected to follow the manual in case there is an appreciable variation between the two. Meanwhile, the ABS shell only requires masking for part of the rear bodywork that is not covered by a white decal, and advises starting the entire shell in TS-26 Pure White before masking off that section and painting the rest in TS-8 Italian Red. As it is more difficult to obtain a good surface finish on this in comparison to the polycarbonate shell, the latter is likely to be painted first. That, in turn, will wait until I can build a good cockpit for the chassis. ... I am not terribly confident about painting weather, then! Nonetheless, I am playing the painting steps over in my head so I can keep it straight!

Impressive! It says good things about the design of the gears, and your point about minimizing dirt ingress is completely relevant, too - foreign contaminants can really shorten the life of a gearbox's internals. The picture says good things about ultrasonic cleaners, too!

I am surprised I did not see this kind of thing earlier - count me as a member who appreciates the Striker: It is really a joy on loose gravel: And I found it worked well in snow: It was a lot of fun on the pock-marked dirt fields I used to run on, as well, but sadly, those are gone. I am glad I did not end up selling it, since it is such a unique runner. Mine sports the Team CRP FX-10 chassis brace (mandatory for a useful runner) and a silver-can motor. At present, it is one of the few cars I have that can run. One day, I would like to convert the front end to some sort of double-wishbone suspension; the swing-axle arrangement at the front might be my only grievance with the model. Despite that, it still drives pleasantly on the largely-flat surfaces it has been seeing. Given enough polystyrene and time, I might even attempt a Striker-inspired shell for my F1 chassis - that would be coming full-circle!

Everything eventually cured on the rear wing mounting components, so I gathered up everything I needed to assemble them. Replacing the 3 x 10 flat-head tapping screws on the wing were a pair of 3 x 6 mm flat-head machine screws, held to the rear wing stay by a pair of 3 mm nuts. There is no thread protruding from the nuts, but while vibration resistance is questionable, the look is undeniably cleaner. A pair of 3 x 10 mm machine screws and 3 mm washers were also sourced, to fasten the engine piece to the mounting plate I made for the rear chassis. Once I am assembling everything after painting, a piece of double-sided tape will find its way in, for reinforcement. For now, I am only working with the hardware. To my relief, everything went together on the first try: The nylon locking nuts I used for the rear engine piece were a bit reluctant to thread; while flange nuts would not have fit, perhaps some conventional nuts with thread-lock would have been the better solution. At least the locking nuts allowed me to skip the hassle of finessing it in there! The 3 x 10 mm machine screws and washers are in use here: By themselves, they will not lock down the engine piece to the chassis, but with a square of double-sided tape on the other side, there will be no problems. That will wait until after paint. The entire assembly made it onto the car without breakage, though I feel as if somehow the rear wing is mounted too low: At least they will be ready for Monza! There is no denying from me this car still has presence, even in its unfinished state: I alluded to the “Clear-Cowl” version of Tamiya’s Ferrari 312T3 static model. The wiring on the 1:10 radio-controlled car does not lend itself that well to the concept, unfortunately: That could change if I figure out a neater wiring solution, I guess! Seeing as the top body clip position is used on the rear mounting posts, I slipped a black O-ring on each rear body post, to take up the slack and provide some (limited) vibration suppression: I should not have been surprised that the rear wing would not look straight upon closer inspection, though there could be any number of things contributing to that illusion, such as the fact that I made the body post holes on the polycarbonate shell, or the way I tightened the differential… In the meantime, I am happy that the rear wing appears level: The stay is sturdy, too. A good hit will probably separate the many glued-together components, but I would expect damage anyway in a rear-end collision. If it remains as I built it under regular running, that will be more than my craftsmanship deserves! The rear wing position compares favourably to a contemporarily-prepared 312T3: However, the wing is always noticeably higher in period: … Except at Monza! I could justify the stock rear wing stay as a “high-downforce option,” while running with my custom rear wing stay for my typically flat-out bash sessions! At the end of the day, I built it to run, so I look forward to being able to do that and seeing how it fares in running conditions.

While I was working on the rear wing stay and mulling over the cockpit, I decided it was time to cut the polycarbonate body. Coarse cuts were made with curved scissors, while fine cuts were scored and folded with a sharp X-Acto #11 blade. I appreciated my eyesight and relatively-good motor skills in the unpolished end result: Sandpaper – not a Dremel – will be needed to smooth the rough edges and corners. There is excess material at the end of each sidepod, which will be removed before the car is completed. In the meantime, I am having a hard time dealing with the excess wheelbase of the F104W, and this is one way for me to cope! I used a body reamer for the first time in my life, and already I can appreciate how much plastic it can remove in a short amount of time! Less appreciated was the difficulty in installing the shell onto the chassis, despite making holes in the locations marked on the body. I turned the front body mount hole into an oval, and from then on the shell settled onto the chassis. Preparing the body had the added benefit of showing how much room I could expect to have for a cockpit, since the ABS and polystyrene bodies are similar: I do not believe the hard body gives me this much room, since that one has the front windscreen separate from the body, unlike the polycarbonate piece. Nevertheless, this could be quite useful in planning and designing the cockpit. Fortuitously, the mail arrived while I was working: The 1:12 Starting Rider was here! I have come to learn that figures in this scale tend to be hollow, with arms, legs, and torsos often in two or more pieces each. This will make carving and filling more difficult, though the Starting Rider does have some elements that can carry over to my intended purpose – I see little need to alter the legs themselves, for instance. The kit showed up as above, from the box. Comparing the dimensions against the car, 1:12 does seem a bit diminutive, but the driver will fit comfortably. This might not be the case for the cockpit I am building; nonetheless, I will only need to reposition the figure instead of whittling it down, as I would have with a remodelled 4 x 4 driver figure. (on another note, that 4 x 4 driver figure is almost certain to pilot my Bruiser) I glued the legs into the position I thought would be used in the cockpit, and compared it to the car: The legs will be cut off around the knees, but they look proportional to the driver torso and helmet sitting in the polycarbonate shell. If I can just figure out what I need to lop off the torso to get the correct driving posture in the car, I can assemble the figure and start building the cockpit around it. The arms will still need some adjusting before the figure can be used. Curiously, the helmet that is supplied with the Starting Rider is quite a bit smaller than the one issued with the Ferrari 312T3, despite the driver bodies appearing similar in size. I think I will wait for the 1:12 F1 driver to arrive, but if I start remodelling the Starting Rider, there might be no turning back… In the meantime, I guess I can enjoy my own “Clear Cowl” Ferrari 312T3! There is a future project in there somewhere - probably with the F104W GP or a TRF special…

After a long time, we return to the: I had left this project on the shelf with the acquisition of my Bruiser – a build that demanded my attention. Ultimately, it was easier to complete chassis work, however much of it, as opposed to bodywork and scale detailing. That was one reason I had left the 312T3 alone. The other reason was that I was still figuring out how to build not just a cockpit, but an alternative rear wing stay. The half-baked ideas on the latter centered around the unused wing mount in the kit that appeared in the original. From there, I had plans for the also-unused engine detail that bolts onto the rear chassis – the parts would be linked together using a spare F1 wing stay, resulting in a finished subassembly that pays homage to the original car. I write “pay homage” because the actual wing stay link is a lattice of metal tubes, which I am not about to reproduce in 1:10 scale. It will be enough for me to have a system that works like the original, and hunting down the part from the first kit might cost more than the car itself! The cockpit might be easier to figure out, especially since there does not appear to be much of it: Note how exposed the driver is once the bodywork is off; there are no aluminum panels in sight. If going for a similar (and thus more scale) effect in this build, this detail will cut some work for me. It looks as though all I really need to build is a platform with part of a driver figure that will sit on top of the front half of the chassis. The lack of round corners for the monocoque should simplify the cockpit detail build, so all I need to figure out are dimensions. This is complicated by the presence of the steering servo, which reduces space in the nose. F1 cars of this era sat the driver quite close to it, so as expected, full legs will not be possible. The Tamiya model above suggests that full legs are not required, either, since anything below the knees will be obscured by the steering wheel, gauges, and monocoque. I was fortunate enough to accidentally wander upon a 1:12 F1 driver figure from a Big-Scale Series kit, and bought it up – this could simplify things in my search for a usable driver. After deeming the original 4 x 4 driver figure I had for the task unsuitable, I did acquire a Tamiya 1:12 Starting Rider kit, with the intention of altering it to fit the cockpit. I plan to build the cockpit around the driver figure, meaning I will likely not start until it arrives and/or is remodelled. I could take measurements, however, and opted for the unsophisticated method of unscrewing the driver torso in the hard body and lowering it to see how far it could go before touching the chassis, as seen here: In addition to the servo, I will need to consider the wires and the battery holder: I envisioned having the driver figure with the chassis, and swapping car bodies around it – this would mean I only need to paint one helmet, and it makes sense to replace bodywork but not the driver – so I believe I will be mounting the cockpit to the battery holder. This way, battery changes are still simple, and I can have the driver and cockpit with the chassis. It will mean cutting out the driver section of the polycarbonate shell, though this should not be a problem. If none of my earlier writing about the wing stay made sense, this picture could help: Along with this picture of the Ferrari 312T3’s wing stay arrangement: My pin vise drill set was of great utility today, even though the largest drill bit was still way too small to drill usable holes for screws. I widened the holes later with a larger drill bit, clamped in a pair of pliers. The black piece was a TRG F1 wing stay; I cut the mounting tabs/ears off both ends to create the link between the wing stay and the engine piece. Compared to the real thing, it is far from accurate, but at least in principle it works similarly – I could paint a lattice pattern on it, if it helped… There is room to mount a single red LED if I have the room/radio capacity to install a brake light. Fixing the engine piece to the rear end of the F104W without drilling two holes through it entailed building up the rear wing link from behind the engine piece. I had plenty of styrene stock at my disposal to the task, so made relatively-quick work of that. After some iteration, my plan grew to involve two assemblies: a plate that bolts onto the rear gearbox of the chassis, with a perpendicular plate below it that can take two screws to attach the engine piece separately: I had to build up the rear wing link in order to space the engine piece away from the rear chassis. This was necessary to clear the large spur gear, as well as ensure the link remained rigidly in place: I am really good at prototyping, but my finishing skills leave quite a bit to be desired. Unfortunately, I tend to measure once and then cut! The arrangement might make more sense from this angle: The red markings were from another plan to remove the red-tipped exhaust outlets and either relocate or rebuild them to the circled locations. Nowhere in my research did I see the engine piece's exhaust configuration on the rear end of a 312T3. However, they will be difficult to remove without damaging the rest of the engine piece and the pipes, and I do not have the correct tubing to reproduce them. For now, they remain. The original wing stay does not use the same system as the type that appears on the re-release. It uses two screws, too, but these are the 2 mm type, and they thread into a metal insert that is sandwiched between the two halves of the wing stay. Like the original rear wing link, this metal insert is incredibly elusive, and so I elected to continue using the modern 3 mm screw method. To compensate for this wing stay’s lack of corresponding holes, I cut a mounting plate out of styrene and glued it to the top: The grey residue you might see on the top is chrome plating, from an earlier unsuccessful attempt to glue the plate to the wing stay. You can see why that did not work! Again, everything might make more sense from here: I assembled everything to confirm the concept; I will disassemble it before painting. Happily, everything appears straight and sturdy! At present, I am waiting for all of it to cure.

Not yet - I have not even run the truck, which is when I will figure out if I am discontent with the steering. A special delivery for: I had ordered a Futaba 4YWD Attack radio and receiver, as well as a 4 x 4 Slipper Clutch kit. I finally had the time to work with them, and quickly prepared everything: “Quickly” does not describe the ensuing process of rigging up the radio and installing the slipper clutch, as we will see. A lot of it had to do with my expectations for the radio, and one lost bearing… I set up the Futaba 4YWD’s supplied 4-channel receiver with few problems: The radio itself left a good initial impression. With its array of switches and sliders, the large radio really felt like an old 1980s device, but the capacious battery bay only needed four AA batteries; the rest was blanked. It may be a testament to the efficiency of current electronics, since the radio uses 2.4 GHz technology in a case that clearly accommodated frequency-crystal-type internals. Curiously, the bay separated the batteries into two pairs – one on each side – instead of clustering them together. This resemblance between the 2.4 GHz version of the Futaba Attack and its crystal-type relatives should have tipped me off that the radio would not have end-point adjustment for the servos. One thing I was excited about was the inclusion of an on/off switch with the radio – maybe I could hook up the ESC and have something to stick onto the mechanism box lid! Alas, it failed to work, with the Axial ESC not recognizing the switch. I am unsure how some in the crawler community break multiple on/off switches in their models, but I will get used to a lack of one for the sake of the Axial ESC’s drag brake and LED output; ultimately, those are more important to me. From there, the slipper clutch was assembled, beginning with these parts: The slipper consists of 3 plates and 2 washers between the discs. The locking nut over the clutch spring was set to roughly 1 mm of clearance from the top threads, which is recommended by the instructions. The slipper sits inside a clutch housing and a dog gear: Once assembled, it is intended to replace the part known as Planetary Holder A, which is part gear and, well, part planetary holder. Retrofitting it to the Bruiser’s gearbox involves reinstalling the planetary gears onto the slipper clutch – entailing, of course, removing the gearbox from the chassis: Removal required: taking out the front body mount (2 screws), detaching the gearbox (2 screws), releasing the propeller shafts from the axles (2 grub screws), unplugging the motor cables, and undoing the ball connector on the shift rod (the hardest step!). I was about to find out how maintenance-friendly (or unfriendly) the Bruiser could be! It was initially unclear that the other components outside of the gearbox in the following photo were also to be replaced by the slipper clutch. Another read of the instructions confirmed the substitutions: I thought I had everything reassembled, until I figured out that the “leftover” 1150 bearing was in fact supposed to be inside the housing that I closed up. In the bearing’s absence, the gearbox refused to shift into second, making distressing crunching noises as it bound itself… It took two partial teardowns of the gearbox to figure out I was missing the 1150 bearing! Once back in, I could evaluate the performance of the Futaba 4YWD properly: My initial impressions of the radio gear’s performance was still poor: coming from the efficient 3-channel setup that I was using for tuning, this dedicated 4-channel equipment only served to slow down and add ambiguity to each shift. Without end-point adjustment, I could not look to prevent excessive wear on the shifting and steering servos, either. However, the 4YWD Attack is claimed to be designed for the 3-speed trucks – Tamiya even has their own rebranded version for this purpose – and as such, end-point adjustment proved largely unnecessary. The shifting servo only buzzed if the shifter was moved without any wheel rotation, and after some practice they were silent at their limits of travel as gears were selected. The steering servo showed some signs of excessive travel, but did not strain too hard at full lock in either direction. The purpose-built nature of the 4YWD is accentuated by the inclusion of an adhesive round sheet, cut into the shape of a shift gate, for use with the throttle stick. This part appears compulsory for safe operation of the shifting servo on these stick radios. In short: all my misgivings and flaws that I perceived were for nothing once the radio was in. I still think the old 3-channel setup performed better, and using its 3-position auxiliary switch minimized the time spent off-throttle. The trade-off, though, is a control system that captures more of the feeling of the full-size thing, and for a scale truck like the Bruiser, this is worthwhile. As for the slipper clutch: that will prove itself in the field!

A nice selection today: The decals are for an upcoming project: This Futaba 4YWD is destined for a 3-speed: The clutch will go in, as will (hopefully) this extra switch: I will attempt to fit the cockpit set to a Lancia Rally. Plenty to work with here - I look forward to the coming weeks!

I used to enjoy driving my Lancia Rally in the rain - besides being fully waterproof, the treaded tires gave some sense of handling. Once I finish the new bodywork for it, I look forward to doing it all again I would be interested in making my upcoming Ferrari 312T3 a wet-weather runner, especially since Gilles Villeneuve was well-known for his driving in the rain...

Yes to the Striker, and will give the Sonic Fighter time - I like the F1 styling, unique construction, and light weight of the former, but feel like all its quirks would make it difficult to justify acquiring the latter. If I had one, I would probably not want the other, and the Striker is more attractive to me; therefore, I would likely have the Striker or Sonic Fighter (in that order of preference). However, I am not ruling out having both, especially since the Sonic Fighter looks disconcertingly like the F-117 Nighthawk: This is all putting aside my cynicism that the tooling for neither model exists right now, since life is too short for that kind of negativity!