Grastens
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Posts posted by Grastens
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although maybe they got there inspiration here Turbo Tractor Racing
Those would definitely be Willy's agricultural vehicles of choice!
But I wonder, on the off-chance that they could have meant 'tractor truck'...
Yes, the wheelie may be because of the sled this rig is pulling, but personally I can see Wild Willy in the cab of one of these things! The body would be polycarbonate and the majority of electronics situated in the rear section of the chassis...
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Great to see that video, as I could be taking my Avante out for some track work soon. While it still looks a bit tricky to keep the car stable after jumps and the car itself is not stock, at least the chassis can handle it.
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I remember this site; he really does amazing work, even if his English drives me nuts sometimes. As if I were one to talk, though...
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Probably the coolest project I will ever see... Remembering how you talked about scale inaccuracies: I think the wide stance and the other dimensions are very much in Willy's character (like a Willys M38 - in tank form), and the 'Wild' bit obviously comes from the fact that it is an APC!
It looks nothing short of fantastic! The weathering and all those little details make it a show-stopper!
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RICO AND MURPH! Funny to see them just chilling in the background haha
Great-looking project so far! Looking forward to the finished shell!
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All are still very interesting releases, particularly the Jimny on the TamTech chassis. I admit it looks a little strange on those small tires, and I was beginning to wonder if it as a TamTech was going to be 1:10 or 1:16, as the other TamTech cars on the off-road chassis were.
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My Avante returned from home for some track time now that I found one I could practice on. In the meantime I prepared my Astute for painting, made a new steering bellcrank from Avante pieces and stuffed copious amounts of grease into the gearbox.
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Mine was a double issue of Radio Control Car Action I received from my uncle when I was 11 or 12. I still have that issue somewhere... It talked about the hot new products of 2005, and despite having no experience with hobby-grade RC cars I remember drooling over the Tamiya TB-02 one of the writers built for an article about RC on a budget.
With my love of the Gran Turismo series of video games, I fell in love immediately with Tamiya's scale-realistic products and cars that I saw in both their catalogue and my video games, like the various Skyline GT-R racers and the GT-One. The latter eventually became my very first RC car, and since then the hobby has become a part of my life.
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I seem to recall that the F104 has a longer wheelbase than the F103, by about 10 mm (270 mm for the F104 v. approximately 260 mm for the F103). Mounting points for bodies would also change due to the F104's centrally-mounted battery compared to the F103's placement, but from photos it does not appear to be by much.
You could try to make it fit, but I feel the end result will not be what you were looking for unless you do not plan to make a McLaren for your chassis. There is at least one aftermarket company that makes both modern and vintage F1 bodies for the F103, though.
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The Fire Frog? Frog Dragon? Red Menace?
Hard to put a name on a car this awesome! I love the look!
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At least the cages were not mixed up, which I would see myself doing if I had those three cars... Glad they are in your hands, then; they look fantastic!
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hey there, nice work on this project mate
just a quick word of advice on the alloy rear pivots, i'd personally run longer screws and put a 3mm nut on to lock the pivots to the chassis or use a little threadlock. but the best option is to use screws about 4-5mm longer and then some locknuts
cya
Thank you; I did use threadlock for the rear suspension blocks but will see if I have some 3mm locknuts lying around.
Looking great bud!!!!! For your SA when I rebuilt the diff it was rebuilt with per the manual, I only used tamiya ball diff grease for the diff. Nice re-build, doing the old girl proud!!!!
And thank you! For some reason the diff felt thick, but I figured it was good as when I rebuilt it the thing was spinning too freely. It loosened up a bit after some static testing to ensure all the electronics were in order, but with my current setup I figure the diff should last as long as I do not trash the car!
Since I could not fit the undercowl to the chassis plate without the cowl flexing excessively on the sides, I filed away a bit of the chassis plate on each side. The Velcro strips I attached did not last long, but with the flexing body and undercowl I may put some of the Velcro spots (pictured in the last post) on to both facilitate removal of the bodyshell and keep the upper and lower assemblies together.
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Greetings:
I have been thinking of putting a driver figure in my Astute project, partly because my bodyshell arrived with window masks instead of window decals and most of my other cars have drivers.
However, I do not have much of an idea how to do this beyond possibly using the MSC mount on the chassis to place a driver bust (maybe one from the Buggy Champ). That said, has anybody attempted this before? I would believe it if nobody had as the Astute is primarily a racer and did not feature a driver figure in the kit unlike the Avante.
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G parts arrived, so the front reinforcement part was fitted. Thanks again to kontemax who pointed out its usefulness:
I did not get the required screws, though, so once again my Buggy Champ parts came to the rescue:
The number of tools I need for this car keeps growing, as I put the shell on the chassis to make sure the ESC and receiver did not foul the body:
But the big news today is the painting of the undercowl!
I spent a lot of time masking the outside with automotive tape, and it worked beautifully.
Some light bleeds through the cowl, but I figure the paint will more or less get chipped off by rocks making it between the cowl and chassis plate. My preferred colour was PS-31 Smoke, like my Avante's undercowl, as paint chips are less visible and the chassis plate is semi-visible.
It was a windy day and I set up too close to a field; very fine dirt stuck to the undercowl. Phooey...
I never thought extra Velcro strips could prove useful for an RC car body, but here they are on my newest project!
Great value indeed...
I will be getting the stock servo saver from my Avante and a host of other parts in about a week, and no new parts are coming in through the mail (yet), so the next step will be to attach the undercowl once the paint has cured.
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Went outside and spray-painted the undercowl for my project. Unfortunately, I set up too close to a field and so my paint work has become a stucco finish... Not noticeable here, though!
I also fitted some parts that came in through the mail to the chassis.
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Still way cool! I love how the cars are drawn...
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Painting it on the inside is probably the better use; I tried it outside the shell/wing endplates on two of my projects and ended up with a sparkling finish that was not really desired and vulnerable to damage.
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Maybe he only had a small job to do that day...
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The ESC AND servo parts arrived much earlier than expected today:
So I got to installing the servo, ESC and receiver. The manual actually suggests to loop the motor cables in between the rear bulkhead and the left rear damper, which makes sense and does not appear to compromise anything in the suspension. But then again, where would the cables go?
The receiver was put in:
And now it gets exciting:
However, I am missing a servo saver. There is one from my Avante sitting in my parts bag at home, but I am not exactly at home right now... It is just as well, since the steering bellcrank is too long for my currently-mounted servo, and I will probably fashion one out of the spare threads and connectors in said parts bag if I get a hold of it anytime soon.
So the Super Astute G parts are the only new pieces I am waiting for, and then paint comes (with hopefully my spare parts bag as they will be brought up with family when they come to visit). Chassis-wise, this was a quick project; it will probably be more rewarding when the bodywork is finished!
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More parts for my project:
I just realized I can complete the chassis now...
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Sure the Sonic Fighter was! Its based, um, I mean inspired by a fighter jet, with an open cockpit, Yeah. Right.
Custom auto maker Bill Carter was on the initial design team
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TCer mongoose1983 posted this reference entry for the Tamiya Bigwig: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=104764&id=23692
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Some work today, enabled by the arrival of the rear suspension blocks! The website had them finished in red, so I was a bit surprised to see them in this polished finish. Not complaining, though!
The first time, I installed the block first but it led to difficulties sliding the suspension shaft through the holes and securing it with the c-clip. On the other side I fit the shaft in the block and rear arm and then attached it to the chassis, which was a bit simpler.
I was missing one lousy c-clip, but by complete luck had four shot Buggy Champ dampers, each of which used the correct c-clips. After one shot into space when I was removing it, I took another; hence the two missing clips in this picture.
This picture was taken as I was attempting to identify which screws went where. This one fit the rear upper arm link; again this car had the Madcap rear suspension conversion and so I had no reference in my printed Astute manual, and my electronic Madcap manual failed to bring up results!
Another view of the rear suspension, useful if I have to strip the car down again! The few pictures I took when I first received the car have actually proven useful.
And now the chassis is almost complete, or it certainly looks more that way compared to how it was before the rear suspension blocks arrived.
I still need servo stay pieces, and am waiting on the Super Astute G parts and ESC. The body and undercowl again have been trimmed and drilled; the rear wing still needs the smaller endplate holes drilled and cutting. Once I cover the undercowl on the outside (no overspray film), I can actually begin on that part, while I will wait a bit for the shell due to my plans for a tri-colour scheme.
Idle observations: I am not really liking the sheen on the CRP front tires, but original fronts are very difficult to find and rather expensive, and after use the tires should be dirty enough anyways... I am kind of curious to see how I can route the motor cables so they do not interfere with the rear suspension; either receiving the ESC or reading the manual will solve that for me... I wonder where that c-clip could be?
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Very excited for these:
I can continue with my Astute chassis and dye some wheels...
RTR Toyota 4x4 Bruiser - Full Op. Finished
in Re-Release Discussions
Posted
This was clearly not a kit I expected to feature an XB model... While many buy it for the build, I can see people being interested in an RTR; fully-built it is still very cool, and it can certainly be appreciated.
Still, even if I did have the money I would not.