AshRC

Bit disappointing that no-one's been allowed to drive it yet ...

I find restoring much more satisfying than building a NIB kit. The worse condition, the better IMO. This is probably the worst I've started with which ended up like this

For me, it's 100% this

Love the way the ramp isn't visible

There are some on eBay US at the moment, search for "tamiya vintage willy's wheeler" - starting bid $50 USD

Ah, diamond cut … say no more. I had a GTi-6 for a long time, great cars. Many happy memories from owning that.

Looks like you’ve done all the hard work for those wheels. £100 a corner is too much, I think you should do them yourself. A few years ago I bought some knackered Audi wheels and spent the winter sanding, filling and painting them. It did take a lot of time but it’s easy work and quite therapeutic. I think I spent about £45 on materials. Definitely better than £400 on refurb.

Oh man, I really needed that window glass

Might be an effort to make the wheelbase a little longer?

Finished. I made the individual windows from 1mm perspex, and added window tint film on everything except the windscreen. I'm not particularly happy with the tint as it's already started to come away around the edges in a few places I put in a Tamiya 4x4 driver but he looked too small, so in goes Willy. He fits perfectly onto one of the MSC mounts, just needed a little booster cushion

Gorgeous

Great work @Cycledude - looks fantastic

I’m going to have to do that, I used thicker plasticard on the repair to the windscreen surround, so the back won’t be flat any more. I’ll let you know how I get on …

Next step is decals and interior. @Willy iine - I see you've put clear windows in yours. Tamiya have long since discontinued the glass for this and the Montero, so I'm thinking of getting some 1mm smoked acrylic and making the windows myself. I was wondering if you had any hints / tips from when you did the same?

This was super fiddly to paint, I used 2 whites, 2 silvers, black, red, orange, buff, desert yellow … and grey.

I would leave that exactly as it is. If you restore it, you'll end up losing everything that makes it special. That's a proper one-of-a-kind My advice ... if you want a Blackfoot runner, buy a re-re.

Done

Proper monster Blackfoot, this looks so good!! @Sayer

OMG, of course!

I've only ever used MCI, they ship to the UK

That’s big money

Obviously it’s up to you, but as a potential buyer I’d be more interested in keeping the chassis and original body together.