Grastens
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Posts posted by Grastens
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A passionate enthusiast who has found "the model" - hard to be anything but happy seeing that
Your enthusiasm for the Hilux Monster Racer/King Cab is great, and seeing a nice and well-run example in your collection only makes it better!
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I see. You may be able to try something with the 3.5 mm offset uprights, though that offset may not be desirable. I do believe the axles are separate on those, however.
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Lunchbox uprights have a longer axle than the F103, so I do not think the carbon-reinforced ones will work as standard. If a modification can be made to accommodate the axles, then it would work.
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52 minutes ago, S-PCS said:
I don't know much about bicycles, but my bike is still faster than yours, 'cause it has flashing blue lights!
Seriously. Retired Police patrol bicycle, bought at auction from a small beach town in Florida.
Are you sure it just doesn't seem that way because everybody pulls over and stops when you get the lights going?
Ex-police bikes in good condition are often quite comfortable, I heard - a relative of mine was a bike cop for several years. I guess they have to be, if an officer will be spending lots of time on one...
Nice find!
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Awwww, it's so cute!
Thanks for sharing the rendering. But can that be a standard-size servo I see in there?
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An interesting chassis announced recently by Tamiya: the Lunch Box Mini on the SW-01 chassis. The link is Tamiyablog's; the chassis was also mentioned earlier on this site by TC's Mokei Kagaku, and on his Facebook page.
From Tamiyablog:
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Suggested retail price in Japan: approx. ¥ 10600
Expected release date in Japan: July 2019★ Condensed various mechanisms in a compact new design chassis that fits in both hands of adults
★ Uses an upper arm that works in conjunction with the steering wheel. Reduce the roll of the body at the time of cornering, reduce the fall.
★ The chassis is a gear drive 4WD that transmits the power of the motor located in the center to the front and rear wheels with a gear.
★ The body reproduces the popular Lunch Box in polycarbonate. Adoption of magnet type one-touch body mount makes it easy to attach and remove the body.
★ It can run with four AA batteries.
★ Upgrade to the 4WS (four-wheel steering) specification is possible simply by installing the “Upper Connect Bar (provisional name)” scheduled to be released as an optional part.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As part of the "Star Unit" line, it is likely going to be quite a basic chassis, yet the technical details and the involvement of some sort of Lunch Box might make it intriguing...
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Ha! Well, I cannot claim to be a proud man while climbing
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9 hours ago, Superluminal said:
Thats a seriously big casette - you must be running long cage rear mechs? Are you using this with a compact crank as well?
It doesnt seem that long ago that 27 tooth was the largest you could run when the fashion was for grinding a massive gear that would leave you with a legacy of knee joint problems.
Yes; long-cage rear derailleurs are also equipped on my bikes.
I am not using a compact crank, though - the Schwinn has a semi-compact 52/36, while my carbon bike has a standard 53/39. If I remember correctly, I specified the largest available cassettes for my builds because compact cranks were unavailable when I was gathering parts. The green Trek from earlier did open my eyes to the benefits of compact cranks, though I am not due for new chainrings on either bike for some time. They may be considered when replacements come up.
While having the 34T gear has saved me during the very worst of my climbs, I think I would go no higher than 32T after this, and as my fitness improves, maybe I can look to go lower! I could certainly use the smaller transitions between gears on the top end. It may be a future topic for the carbon wheels, since those will be used primarily for flat stages anyway.
Technology has come a surprisingly-long way since the days when the 27T cassette was for mountain-goat climbing - I heard that cyclists were smaller and lighter back then, too
Incidentally, my Schwinn was originally issued with a classic 52/42 three-piece crank and a 13 - 28T freewheel. I rode it that way long enough to appreciate the setup I have now, especially while going uphill!
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The putty has cured on the driver. Reassessing my work, it seems I will need to cut more plastic off the tops of the shoulders and build up the arms. However, I have indeed reached a usable width for the driver to fit in the cockpit.
I then figured out how the scale seat harness would work with the driver:
At this point, I am not committing to anchor locations for the belts; I am finding out if the size of the belts is appropriate for the driver figure. I will be studying the actual 312T3 to figure out the best places to anchor the harness.
For reference:
It seems the belts I have selected are too large, but any misgivings I had about the appearance were displaced somewhat by the sight of the driver figure sitting in the car, wearing the seat harness, with some sort of wheel in hand:
The height is just about where I want it:
I really do think a "Clear-Cowl" Ferrari 312T3 in this scale would be a cool project...
The head was affixed to the body temporarily using tape. In its ideal position, it seems I have the clearance I need to swap body shells. The steering wheel will sit higher in the finished cockpit; the top of the wheel is supposed to be closer to the top of the cockpit glass. The stand-in wheel is a plastic loop from the wheels sprue of a Lancia 037, which is the same diameter as the steering wheel piece issued with the stock driver figure.
The car is progressing:
Day 1 of the hard plastic shell's paint curing is done. I will be working on the cockpit and driver while I wait for another good painting day, and hope to have the polycarbonate shell ready by that time. It is nice to see the car at this stage, though!
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As the cycling season continues its steady roll, I have just taken delivery of several new cassettes and chains:
A wider variety of cassette configurations would be nice, but I am heavy enough to continue wanting a 32T sprocket as the smallest low gear
The CS-HG700-11 on the right even has the big 34T low gear, which would rule out my "Schwinn" (which can only take 32T at the largest) but allow my Tideace carbon bike to use wheels so equipped.
I briefly considered making the 11-34T cassette an Ultegra one, but could not justify an extra $25 for a piddly few grams lost!
I have already installed one of the 11-32T cassettes on my "Twin Star Racing" wheels:
For anybody who has not seen these wheels on here previously: the influence should be quite obvious
Since this picture was taken, the white-striped tires have departed. I also intend to order more decals for the rims - I had wanted the ones installed here to be white, but I made a mistake while designing the order
The trend is for less-conspicuous wheels on road bikes, but I have always wanted obnoxious decals on mine, and so I will be getting them soon! I guess it was because I always remembered flashy decals on high-end wheels while growing up on bikes...
All this would mean little if I had no riding to do, so I have signed up for three different cycling events so far this season. I will be riding with my partner for all of them, so each event will be between 75 - 100 km (though one will be 150 km, split into two days - 75 km/day). Once she improves, I look forward to tackling some proper granfondos!
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On 3/14/2019 at 1:59 PM, ruebiracer said:
Very cool stuff on this project Grastens! Perfect idea to get some more Vintage Hilux look into the Bruiser / Mountaineer! Do you plan to install a rollcage with lights?
Good luck and inspiration for the next steps,
Matthias
Thank you! Having read up on my styrene tube-bending techniques, I feel sufficiently inspired to attempt a roll bar! I have some nice thick-section tubing I can use for a properly-burly one.
That will take some time, though. For the moment, I have applied several coats of grey surface primer in hopes of reducing the colour disparity between the white truck cab and the black truck bed. I am not sure why I did this now, when I know I still need to make cuts for the tail lights (and possibly the roll bar), but the shell has enough coats for paint to stick. It is still obvious that the shell has two different plastics in it, though the contrast is less stark than previously.
I found several cans of TS-7 Racing White. I was planning to use TS-26 Pure White, but feel the off-white tone works better for a truck. I have decided on the main colour, but am unsure how much of the truck will be white if I apply that colour first. There will be quite a bit of time to deliberate while everything cures...
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At last, the rumours of paint weather were substantiated! I got my setup outside and got to work on several bodies; along with my Bruiser and Lancia projects was the Ferrari 312T3:
(The Bruiser is outside the frame, awaiting another coat of primer somewhere else)
The instructions call for the entire shell to be painted in TS-26 Pure White, before masking off the top of the shell behind the driver and painting the rest in TS-8 Italian Red. The white is most needed behind the driver, as there is no decal to replicate the car’s two-tone scheme on the top of the shell. A decal would be difficult to design and apply for such a complex surface, so paint is specified. Covering the entire shell would allow the red paint over top to appear more uniform, and it has the added benefit of brightening the overall colour.
The effect of omitting white paint is not something I particularly want:
The paint itself went on well, with the first very thin coats laying down without issue. Orange peel appeared later on, though, as temperatures dropped and winds picked up at inopportune times during the painting. I guess the rumours were not quite true, after all!
I was disappointed with the result, but reassured by the fact that the white does not represent the final coat for much of the shell. I will need to work on the top of the shell, nonetheless.
The successful metric for this session was that an entire can of TS-26 Pure White made it onto the shell. Again, as this is not the final coat, I am not too bothered by missed spots, which are mainly the radiator details that will be covered again with metallic paint. The top of the shell also looks passable. I will allow the paint to cure for several days (ideally a week) before treatment and the top coat of TS-8 Italian Red.
After my paint session had finished, I got to work on the polycarbonate shell. The plan was to cut anything I needed to cut before washing and preparing the shell for paint.
I intend to use the cockpit and driver figure I designed for both, swapping just the shells over top, so I needed to remove the driver figure moulded into it. It was not an easy task, and despite great care, the brand-new X-Acto knife did slip several times. Errors eventually led me to cut away the entire cockpit interior of the shell, leaving just the outer surface of what would be the cockpit glass.
In the end, I did manage to do just that:
Differences in the mouldings of the hard plastic and polycarbonate shells meant I had to remove more material behind the driver figure. Careful trimming got it to a point where the shell would clear the scratch-built interior part without issues:
I may require some creativity to paint the shell around the cockpit area accurately, but at the moment I am happy it fits:
The new opening proved an opportune time to fit the driver figure, so my next task became chopping up the driver at the shoulders and arms to fit the cockpit. This also involved shaving off plastic from the sides of the torso, to fit the arms more closely to the driver’s sides. The legs were cut by another 5 mm to move the driver forward, ensuring his helmet will clear the shell during changes.
I made great use of the carving and chisel blades on my X-Acto knife, and consequently was able to achieve a better-fitting driver:
This was the same work I would have done with a hot knife. While the carving and chiselling is far more time-consuming and produces a larger mess, it does allow for a more precise approach thanks to sharper blades and the ability to remove small shavings of material at a time. Most importantly, it also eliminates toxic fumes and fire hazards, so it was a good method. There were still fumes when the putty came out, though…
At present, the driver figure is curing along with the bodywork. The arms were ill-fitting to the torso, but I managed to tack them on with putty. Plenty of filing will be required to get the driver into proper shape, but that will require plenty of time for the putty to solidify, too.
In the meantime, I will look to build up the cockpit piece and perhaps paint it, along with the rear-view mirrors. The painting weather will not stay for the week, though, so it is possible I will be doing that in another few days. At least there is progress to report!
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Plenty of waiting was done for painting weather, but at the first warm day I could not wait. I gathered some unpainted shells and got to work - alongside my Bruiser receiving primer and my Ferrari 312T3 taking a base coat of TS-26 Pure White, the Lancia shell got several layers of the same paint as the Ferrari:
I started out with many, many thin coats, but the weather took a downturn. Unfortunately, this somewhat rushed my work, and orange peel began showing up on the shell. Fortunately, after one full can of TS-26 Pure White, coverage looks adequate, and the finish looks manageable.
The white is intended to be mostly a base coat, as it is not presently going to be the primary colour for the finished shell. As such, I am fairly pleased with the result. I will pay more attention to the other colour coats, though!
That will be in a week's time, at least, once the white cures thoroughly.
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"Put it in H!"
I guess it is just like the reader as we await the driver figure: "Put it in, H!"
Everything looks great from here!
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Since the adventures of the driver figure, I have not made meaningful progress. However, recently, @speedy_w_beans designed a fabulous rear wing mount to replace the sorry-looking attempt I made at producing a slightly more-accurate part.
My sad-sack effort looked like this:
Compare with the 3D-printed excellence from speedy_w_beans:
No contest! I mean, his even has room for a proper tail light!
And today, I finally had some free time to install it:
You may recall that the new wing stay was designed as a part of a new rear motor mount panel that was reworked to include engine and brake details. All together, these would replace the stock rear motor mount panel, the plastic engine detail included in the original kit (if it was ever to be used for the re-release), and the wing stay.
So, off came the original part:
The only modification required was to nip off the locating tab on the left motor mount side. The 3D-printed part has no matching notch, so the tab has to go. It was such a diminutive price for such a massive upgrade in detail! This is certainly a well-designed piece.
Yes, a massive upgrade:
When speedy_w_beans consulted me on the part and modifications, one of my requests was to eliminate the bosses under the rear wing mount. The trade from 3 x 10 mm tapping screws to 3 x 6 mm machine screws and nuts were the reason:
Yet so well-designed was the part, and such attention paid to its finishing, that the holes for the wing were already tapped! The mount itself was just thick enough to make the nuts redundant, too:
Incredible!
Thus attached, the presence of the car has been greatly enhanced:
Another appreciation of the new part:
The rear wing is now straight, level, and at an accurate-looking height:
Overall, I am beyond thrilled by this latest addition to my build. Thanks, speedy!
While I wait for painting weather to finally appear (plenty of false alarms lately), I will prepare the polycarbonate body. This will include cutting out the cockpit section, to fit my own driver figure.
For the time being, I have decided not to proceed with a scratch-built roll bar for the chassis, instead ordering another chrome parts tree so that I can fit the rear roll bar and turnover pylon to the polycarbonate body, too. If I can successfully manage to bend plastic sprue or rod in the correct manner, though, I could revisit it. An accurate installation would mean more work on the cockpit piece…
Meanwhile, that driver still needs modifications to fit under the shell! I will make some cuts and putty it together over the next month.
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3 hours ago, JennyMo said:
Hee hee - I hope so!
In that regard, shall I paint it yellow with a #4 race number?
(with Gordon Willy driving ;o)
Jx
If he did, he would have called it FAB
However, Wild Willy's cartoonish proportions would lend themselves well to a Thunderbirds-style driver! Hmmmm...
The cage is spot-on - that looks like a proper Class 5 racer already!
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I, too, thought it was a Sinclair C5-style vehicle, but reading through all your notes quickly dispelled that notion, and opened up a really interesting and unique one! Mind you, I was just excited to see another new JennyMo build thread
The use of a solid axle is also interesting, but as you wrote, it is definitely in the ethos of a true Unlimited-class racer!
I look forward to following along as it all shapes up - including the detailed posts! I wonder who will be driving...
Edit: and NOW I see what you did there with the name! Nice one
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On 3/30/2019 at 3:59 PM, Fabia130vRS said:
Took out my bike and cleaned it, did not see any running for over 6month as I had a leg injury.
it is a Scoot Aspect 50 I already own 7 years. hopped up with downhill sun ditch rims, the front hub is a DT Swiss rear a common shimano hub. Also Hayes MX2 mehanical brakes. Custom selected grips, seat, pedals.... rear sprocket from SRAM with more teeth... This bike is nothing special, I paid more for hop ups then the bike itself then. That is why I cant let go of it.
A beautiful and well-spec'ed bike! It feels special from here - I hope you are able to get back on it soon
I know the feeling of paying more for hop-ups than the bike:
... But what matters is that I have fun, right?
However, I have been working quite hard lately on a different one. While I am out of town, I have access to the following road-going beauty:
The owner does not ride it very often these days, so an agreement was reached where I can ride it as much as I want during my stay - provided I keep it in top condition, of course.
The components are 10-speed as opposed to the 11-speed groupset on my, uh, "Schwinn," but the frame is of much higher quality! Since the time this photo was taken, I have lowered the angle of the handlebars and swapped in proper clipless pedals.
So, today, I put in a good, hard ride, and met my distance goal for the week a little early
To the relief of the owner, I then spent a good part of the rest of the day servicing it.
It took me a while, but I think cycling is a hobby I can stay interested in - maintaining all the components is something I find therapeutic. However, it is one more wallet-draining pastime!
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Interesting point. Given the breadth of HPI touring car shells advertised at 200 mm wide, perhaps this makes sense? Unless those were not their 1:10 bodies...
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I specified the same HPI fifteen52 turbofan wheels for my ongoing Lancia 037 build:
It is worth noting that the 037 shell is quite narrow to begin with... At the time, I was musing that the setup would look fantastic on a Lancia Delta, which actually used these wheels in period - unlike the 037, where the wheels appear on vintage rally cars post-Group B.
However, I see from Superluminal's image that the wheels actually fit quite well under a Delta shell.
The semi-slick tires on this 037 were a tight fit for those HPI wheels. Overseas gravel-style touring car tires (or most tires made overseas) seem to work better, since their bead seat diameters tend to be larger than stock Tamiya tires'.
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I like the Fenix Classique - if I ever stumble upon a grand or so, I would love to pick one up!
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I appreciate the depth and notes in this build thread. It helps to spread the enjoyment of watching this neat little kit come together
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I neglected to mention this incredibly lovely 3D-printed wing mount arrived recently, courtesy of the incomparable @speedy_w_beans:
This will take a place of pride on my Ferrari 312T3 build, once I return to town. In the meantime, I am admiring the pictures - he really did such a spectacular job designing and painting it, and it is quite sturdy, too. Fine intricate assemblies like this are part of the reason I fell in love with static modelling, but this is a job far beyond anything I could manage, yet I am lucky enough to be the owner of this
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Those mirrors could be useful on a number of 1970s-period projects...
With a little bit of work, this could be a stunning car - and it looks like studioRS already knows what to do!
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Thanks for sharing the rendering. But can that be a standard-size servo I see in there?
The trend is for less-conspicuous wheels on road bikes, but I have always wanted obnoxious decals on mine, and so I will be getting them soon! I guess it was because I always remembered flashy decals on high-end wheels while growing up on bikes...
To the relief of the owner, I then spent a good part of the rest of the day servicing it.
Tamiya 57409 - Lunch Box Mini (SW-01)
in General discussions
Posted
Agreed! And now, I seem to be wanting one... It seems that it could be a great "impulse buy" item for a Tamiya hobbyist, like the chewing gum, candy bars, and batteries at the grocery checkout line
... At the price I imagine, anyway!