Ferruz

I finally got around to figuring out the TC photos site and most of all how to properly embed photos in my forum posts. It seems to work fine now, so hopefully no more posts with disappearing pictures from now on. Also, I think I can call my black and gold Turbo Optima build done just about now. Still unsure about one or two minor details, but that's it. Weather sucks today though (plus is my wife's birthday which means I am not in RC mode lol) and this one is all about the looks, so I will have to wait for better conditions in order to get a few presentable pictures of the finished buggy.

I see this can all over the country, I think it's a standard one along with a few other variants. Producers fill them in and add their own label on the side.

Opened up yet another can of 100% pure maple syrup and hey, it totally looks and feels just like damper oil. I should give it a try on some of my buggies. There's gradations, too: golden for soft, amber for medium and dark for hard! So very Canadian

I took the Delta Integrale for a test drive and, while not as noticeable since on ice, there was definitely some improvement to be felt. I could even spot the suspensions actually working under those mud flaps! It's going to be more noticeable on firmer ground. The playground of choice was a lone hockey rink, undergoing maintenance and therefore deserted. Made for a good platform for some drifting, and within minutes of running I had that grin on my face... can't get enough of seeing this car in action! Pretty sure it did! Although it's a brand new Lancia Delta Integrale kit that my co-driver is hangin on to Driver and co-pilot seemed to be having a great time indeed This was a great outing. Can't wait to see how these shocks perform on rougher ground.

@Superluminal nice to see a driver in there. Looks great 👍 I found some blingy dampers for TT02 and similar a while ago and decided to give them a try, intrigued by their low price and good reviews. I have never been happy with my Mini CVAs because, besides having very little stroke to begin with, they came with no springs. They are supposed to work with the ones supplied in the kit, which are waaaay too stiff, almost to the point that it defeats the purpose of having dampers altogether. Unless, of course, you buy the spring set, which I wasn't able to find at the time. The dampers, besides the odd branding (there were two or three different names on the packaging alone, plus another different one on the shock bodies 🤣) seemed to be legit and ok quality, at least at first impression. Right out of the box there's a dramatic improvement on the looks -I couldn't even notice the Mini CVAs in all that chassis blackness, if it wasn't for the springs; they have double the stroke within the same lenght, are a perfect drop in, they are correctly filled with oil, and came with two sets of springs of different hardness and an extra set of metric hardware. So, where's the catch? After all this goodness on the surface, I expected them to start leaking like a pasta strainer within minutes of use. But I was pleasantly surprised: I ran a whole battery pack in anger and no leaks at all so far, plus a huge improvement on the handling. Gotta finish sorting out the pictures of the outing and I'll post some action, but I can already say so far so good! I am really impressed with these nice little dampers 😀

Finished off the driver for my Turbo Optima. Now only the last few tweaks left to do on the body shell, and the next photos on the matter will hopefully be about the finished item.

Finished painting the driver's face for my TO. I wanted to do a darker skin tone for a change, but this guy's facial features are quite on the opposite side of the spectrum for that, it would probably look weird, so it will have to be for next time. I tried to go for a spirited look as by tradition 😄 Good enough. I also added the visor, it was a lot of fun doing that. It's functional, it goes up and down like the real thing Too tired now, but next I'll connect the head to the body, and the driver will be done.

@El Gecko that rollcage made out of coat hangers looks great, all the way to its color! Can't wait to see the final result 👍

This is amazing!! So well done and worth the win, and hilarious 🤣

Weather or not, this looks so sharp! Wow 😎

In other news, I've been concentrating on the Turbo Optima driver lately. Besides the inevitable last minute touch-ups, this will be the last step of the build (sorry @Re-Bugged for making you wait on those brews you saved, I know it's taking me long but I hope it will be worth it in the end 😅). Since this body figure is lexan -and a far cry from the scale looks and details of a Tamiya driver- I thought I'd play around with painting both inside and outside in an effort to gain some depth, as well as using its own protective film as masking tape. This is it, after some back and forth since I changed my mind a couple times on which color seat and safety belts should be. Safety belts, steering wheel, head rest and glove accents are painted under lexan to preserve the shine, while the rest is painted on top and finished with mat sealant. For some reason, using its own ghost as masking tape proved to be particularly satisfying, especially when the moment came to peel it off 😀 Once peeled, the cowl got some golden bling too, and here is the finished item. Next, on to finishing the helmet -and face- and then the TO will have her driver!

Not today, but sometime last week (been pretty sick and out of commission these past few days). I took the Mad Van to the park. It was quite nippy with windchills at -25°C, which made for a fun but very brief outing.

And so would I!

Just finished reading throughout the thread, and inevitably this comes to mind: I am ever so grateful we have TamiyaClub. No nonsense or attitude, just some awesome folks that are humble, talented and like minded👌

@Escape Wow, mindblowing it's got to be the weirdest RC thing I've ever seen. The car looks well used, as if the components actually served a purpose?? Any explanation on that would be appreciated 😅

@SlideWRX well done, and that ESC packaging looks perfect for the purpose 👌

Today I finished wrapping the gold perimeter on the TO body. SO glad to finally call this phase done. I know I said that doing the wheels has been a labour of love, but it pales in comparison to this. It really took all of my patience, and I would not want to know how many hours it took me. Doesn't matter anyway, I think it turned out great and I am very happy with it. And now on to the next, very specific challenge: trying not to overdo the stickers... there's plenty of candidates from two different decal sheets, but clearly with this livery less is more. In any case, the frustrating part is all done and the rest will be just good fun 😊

We had some record breaking snow falls during the last couple weeks, in the country and even more so in the city (which is still very much stuck). I've been less present on the forum 'cause I was too busy driving the cars in all the whiteness. As a result, now I'm stuck with way too much footage and pictures to choose from, sorry in advance but I'm afraid I'm going to flood the picture only thread 😁 I only ran the Manta Ray and the Terra Scorcher, mostly the Manta which saw quite some air time. Fresh snow makes for good cushioning, so I built some ramps to really let it fly. Almost Traxxxas bro style, but with no harm for the cars. The Manta took the brunt and performed flawlessly, only thing the gears are getting loud again. Oh well, these lasted a few years at least, and I have two sets of all-plastic touring gears coming in the mail soon. I didn't manage to capture any of the highest jumps (best to concentrate on the driving), but this is how a safe landing looks 😄 The hole behind the wing is just my own footprint. Needless to say, there will be more in the pictures only gallery.