Beetlemankurt

Awesome stuff mate, love it! That colour scheme is epic, nice vintage vibe. Can't wait to see your next one..... ....there's always room for one more... Cheers Kurt

These look great! Have you considered doing any of the Audi UR Quattro rims? I reckon they'd be really popular for the Audi TT02 kit. There'd be a couple of options such as the original Fuchs rims or the white spoke versions seen a bit later on. Just a thought..... Love your work, looks great! Kurt

Hi all, still plugging away at the KW but haven't had much time at all lately as work has been absolutely hectic leaving me a bit brain drained at night. Anywhoo, I've painted and installed the rear Dayton Spider wheel rims and fitted them with some off highway tyres from the Mercedes Arocs. Aside from that, I've been constructing some new air cleaners out of styrene and pvc pipe as the kit ones were too small to be accurate for the specific truck that I'm modelling. Didnt know there were so many sizes and different filter caps until recently! I also ended up vacuum forming the roof twice more until I was happy with shape.lots of complex curves and quite difficult to find reference pics as it's not an area of the truck commonly photographed.....so that's taken a while also. please excuse their wonkiness of tye air cleaners in the photo, they have just been sellotaped on at this stage while I get their dimensions all correct. Next on the list will be making some brass rod side mirrors and I've also cut the MDF formers to begin shaping for the bonnet and guards for vacuum forming. Also, i have ordered some Kenworth hood side badges to be modeled and 3d printed at the correct scale from a local company as i don't have a printer myself. Should be here in a week or two. So it's coming along slowly but nicely. Hope all all well out there with you all my fellow RC truck maniacs . Kurt

Hey Busdriver, very good question as I have seen a lot of scaremongering and horror stories over the years...I would like to share my personal experience. Apart from my love for Tamiyas, I also do a lot of RC flying. About 8 years ago when I dipped my toe into the field of aircraft, it became pretty clear to me that I would also need to see for myself what this whole lipo thing was about. I was extremely cautious about it and upon reflection, was actually unnecessarily worried about what I thought would be the equivalent of a hand grenade just waiting for the perfect moment to explode on me....then, I stumbled on a perfectly logical piece of advice...this was to simply treat lipos in the same way you would treat the storage and handling of petrol/fuel. From a lipo perspective this meant, basically treating them with due respect, storing them in a cool location away from flammable items, follow any provided safety advice, never leave unattended when charging and dont expose them to excessive heat. Basically......don't be a dick :)..... I've now got a sizable collection of lipos up to 6s in size and have actually found them to very easy to use and care for. I charge them always at 1c, always balance charge and use a good charger, use lipo storage sacks and store them in a steel toolbox in the garage. Yes I've had a few swell slightly as they got old and with lots of use in higher draw situations (helicopters) but I still have some lipos that are about 6 years old that are still in good condition and work well. Others have lasted only a couple of years before disposal or drip in performance. Any sign of puffing and I dispose of them, I see no point in taking unnecessary risk with them. In short, I'd recommend them and will happily keep using em. Just grow your knowledge in a safe way and at a speed you feel comfortable with. Have fun! Kurt

@Re-Bugged thats some pretty realistic weathering you've got going on there mate .......I agree with IXLR8s colour combo, looks awesome. Cheers Kurt

That's impressive! Very nice work. Cheers Kurt

Thanks Richierich! Much appreciated mate, I'll give those BRP mounts a look and will keep an eye out for some original items over the coming weeks also. Thanks again Kurt

Hi all, about to start restoring my good ol Ultima Pro from BITD....I will be giving it a second lease on racing life by entering the Vintage RC racing series here in NZ. I will grab a repro body and decals to use for racing and keep hoping that Kyosho re re's this or the Turbo Ultima in the not so distant future so I can do a genuine Kyosho body for display too. Anyhoo.....I've been keeping an eye out for a genuine wing wire and the two aluminium buttons to hold the wing on for some time but keep coming up empty handed..have searched in all the usual online places......has either anyone got these items that they are willing to sell or is there a modern day equivalent that looks very similar that others have found? I found tonnes of buttons but they look completely different to the original ones... Also after the alloy posts that he wing mounts into as for some weird reason I must have thought it was a great idea to remove them as some point in the distant past....(turns out it wasn't 😀).... Open to suggestions.... Cheers Kurt

@Svlreclame, thanks for the reply and good advice. Good to hear that the Tamiya masking tape is up to the task, I've always found it to be pretty darn good. I've got a paint job to do in the coming months on my Kenworth which has some very thin lines/stripes on it so you've given me some extra confidence here. Thanks again. Kurt

Hi, perhaps you misunderstood my question?...I'm not asking for a shortcut,.... I am simply interested in the masking material/tape you used as you have done a very nice job here. I would politely suggest that perhaps your 25 years experience could be used to help others on this forum including myself, if you are willing to share your tips. If not, no problem, I'll keep happily using my Tamiya masking tape 😎..... Kurt

Top job! Looks fantastic and great colour choice. What sort of masking tape did you use to get the tight corner curves and nice clean crisp edges? Cheers Kurt

That's really cool! I'd happily have one or both of those.....but then i am happily biased...

Looking great! Very nice rig. Colour looks awesome too and really suits it. Cheers Kurt

Thanks Tim, awesome sneaky tip there .. Sounds good. Kurt

Hey Tim, cheers mate. Yep this will be a day cab so will need do a few mods with the floor. I'm going to make the bonnet/hood tilt forward too and 'hope' to be able to squeeze the battery under there along with a speaker for a sound system. I'll probably have to go to a lipo to take advantage of the reduced size of the battery but that all good by me. I'm really enjoying the vacuum former, works great and is quick (unlike carving and sanding the moulds/bucks ha ha). Does a nice job at creating the curved bits needed. Just curious as to what lipos people are running in their semis if anyone wants to chime in? Cheers Kurt