VileQuenouille

Time to build the chassis, but first there's still some painting to do for the wheels, first I tried using a brush and enamel paint to try and fill the ridge between the center and the barrel and get a nice clean line, but it was a disaster, I had to strip everything back to bare plastic and start over, then I used TS-17 and some masking tape, the masking wasn't easy to make sure the ridge was clear, then I used a chrome pen for the nuts. But the result is clean enough for me. I always take some time to appreciate the effort Tamiya puts in the packaging before tearing everything apart lol. I said I would build it stock first but I lied, I really don't want to take the whole gear case apart again so I'm putting bearings in it already For this build I am of course supervised I used another silver can I had in stock instead of using the one supplied in the kit, and I used thread lock even though it's not required in the instructions I hoped I could use a standard servo in this car but the servo saver was hitting the chassis, so low profile it is, thankfully I had one in stock I'm getting TA-02 vibes with this kit, same process overall for the chassis assembly, first you build both drivetrains then you slap them on the tub A sidenote about the instructions, it was interesting to see how they evolved over time, in this kit for example there was no grease used for the control arm screw pins, modern kits using the exact same materials require grease when assembling them, same for some metal in metal screws, no thread lock required while it's present in more modern kits. Also when assembling the shock pistons, they don't show any protection between the pliers and the piston rods, just a note saying "be careful".

Next step : Stickers, full disclaimer I'm far from an expert when it comes to those, I spend a LOT of time cutting them very slowly and even then they're barely okay. I place them with tape first for most of them except the smaller ones, and I use an hair dryer to soften them when working around complex shapes. As promised I did not apply the livery yet, which means I can't apply the door handles and fuel door yet because they're supposed to go over the livery stickers.

I usually start with the body, because it's the most difficult part for me and requires more patience, and once the chassis is built I'm too eager to run it which makes me rush things and leads to mistakes. I always outline the cut lines with a pen, same for the windows later on to help place the window masks, I cut most of the body with the score and snap method, it's what gives the best clean edges imo, in this case the wheel arches where pre-cut. I used two cans of PS-2, in about 10 layers to avoid soaking the masks too much or having paint pooling in hard edges, leading to uneven coverage. Always feels like unwrapping a gift Okay a quick word about the 1:1 car , it's a 1993 Corolla 3 door hatch, I bought it full stock, swapped the engine/gearbox myself for a 4A-GE Blacktop with the 6 speed LSD from an AE111 Levin, I also swapped the rear end to convert it to disks, then a few mods here and there, EBC Yellowstuff pads, BC Racing coilovers, SQ Engineering trumpets, Tom's C3-R wheels, Tom's Dijon steering wheel, 9k gauge cluster. I could have homologated a stock AE111 BZ-R for the same price easily, but my dad used to drive an AE101 hatch when I was a kid so this car has always been a bit special for me even if it's really mundane out of the box, and I like that it's more of a sleeper.

This is it, after finding my holy grail NIB last year, and spending another year gathering all the parts I wanted for this build I can finally start. First of all why is it my holy grail ? Well I'm a big fan of Toyota, big fan of Tom's, and everything JTCC/JGTC in general, and I actually own a car based on the same chassis, ae101, with the same 4A-GE 20v engine the Tom's Levin was running back in the day, plus a couple of period correct Tom's parts, in the 90s Tom's had whole parts catalog for street/track cars. So yeah this kit ticks many boxes for me . Since I haven't seen a NIB build of this kit here I thought it'd be nice to document the process for posterity. The plan is to build it as a "street version" first, 100% stock chassis and no livery, it's my first FF chassis and I'd like to know how it drives out of the box, run it once or twice, then mod the chassis and add the livery to the car, it may seems a bit silly but it'll feel like taking a stock car and build it for track, the child in me will enjoy this very much I also found this exploded view/parts list from a fellow collector, could look nice in a frame.

I found the main hop ups for my Tom's Levin FF-01 build. Yes I only need one chassis set but the seller had two, what was I supposed to do ?

I wanted to get back into the hobby after a 2 years hiatus, one thing led to another and, yeah... I probably won't post a lot about the buggies because they're all very well documented here, but for the Tom's Levin I'll probably do a build thread because I don't think I've seen one from NIB here or anywhere really, and I'll try to find as many period correct hop up as possible to make it more interesting (and for my own personal enjoyment of course ).

FYI It is very interesting to buy NIB kits from Japan right now with the Yen being so low. I just got this NIB Buggy Champ for a grand total of 242€ shipping and taxes included, which is hardly beatable anywhere else afaik. There are different ways to do it, personally I use Sendico, it is super easy, just takes a lot of time to find the best deals.

Thank you! It did take a while and it certainly felt like doing a full wrap on a car, the decals are so huge lol.

First drive with the R32 HKS, Sport Tuned motor, stock gearing and CVA shocks, handles good but not that fast so I'll probably go for one of the gears included with the Carson tuning set.

It's mostly done, only thing left is to glue to tires on.

Bit of both, kinda like my boss. I'm taking it slowly with this car, I only have half an hour of free time here and there, I've been working on it for a week lol. I installed a few mods, CVA shocks, bearings and Sport Tuned motor. The Carson Tuning kit included a pinion kit, but I won't be using it yet, I want to see how it goes as it is and I'm not a fan of big speed anyway. The bearing kit didn't include the 4 small ones (850 I think?) for the steering arms so I used spare brass bushings I had in stock instead, the tolerances are quite tight and with a bit of grease they'll work just fine. **** this thing is gorgeous!

The shell of the HKS R32 is finished, I also added some details to the wheels with matte black and a chrome pen, and I started building the chassis, with some help.

I have lights in a few of my cars. I always use leds bought in bulk on Amazon or Ebay and solder my own harnesses instead of using stock kits like the Tamiya ones, this way I can run proper wire lengths and it's a lot less bulky overall. I also use small controllers plugged in the 3rd channel, they allow for 2 light groups to run independently and can be remotely turned on/off. For the leds I either buy them in warm white or I paint them transluscent orange because I find the blueish-white ones not so pretty, I think a warm white light matches a scale car or a vintage buggy much better. For the Lancia I used 3mm leds, this way you only have to drill slightly larger holes in the light buckets, and it all fits nicely behind the high beams.

Could be that they don't allow certain interpretations of their cars anymore, the CC-01 Bronco is quite scale looking and used in a "civilized" way, while the Blackfoot is more of a basher. Same with movies where brands often won't allow their products to be shown in bad ways, like cars getting destroyed or used for committing crimes.

I installed one of my spare Torque Tuned motors in my Blackfoot, first test drive was a bit of a mess, I think it's already too fast for my driving style (mix of dirt/asphalt) and I flipped the car a dozen time at least, now my options are either to revert to the silver can or find a spare body for the shelf (maybe an original one?) and keep bashing it with the upgraded motor. It was also the first test drive for my GF's new lunchbox, as expected this thing is a blast in stock form, and it drives surprisingly well on asphalt.