My 1/12 crew

[Nikko85 3454]

This story starts in August last year when I purchased a Taiyo Jeep Renegade in order to make a Jurassic Park style Jeep, something I'd wanted to do since getting back into the hobby. The car (an awesome 1980s toy) was advertised as 1:10, but in reality it was much closer to 1:12 depending on where you measure. Compared to my other cars in the collection it made everything else seem under scale, as at the time all my other trucks were around 1/16 or so, mainly Tamiya QDs and Taiyo bodies on Tamiya Chassis, like the Pumpkin QD on a GF01 or cut down MF01x.

I'm finding out that scale is a funny thing in the RC world. Sometime it reflects the size of the chassis and everything on that is just 1:10 regardless, sometimes it accurately reflects the real world car, and sometimes it's just made up completely. Now a normal person might just get over all this but for some reason seeing a Jeep Renegade wider than a Ford 150 just didn't sit with me, and so I began the process of converting all my cars to proper 1:12 scale. It's taken around 5 months, but I'm super happy I did it.

All cars have my little car Edgarmon driving them.

I thought I'd share some photos with a little information. Any questions just ask. None of these were very expensive builds, and they don't have lots of rare parts, but they make the 10 year old in me very happy (and will hopefully make my little one happy, he's already very interested when I drive slowly in the house).

First up is the QD beetle. Oddly enough this was advertised as 1:14 like the other QDs, but the wheelbase on the body (around 200 mm) is much closer to 1:12 scale where as the rest of the series where more like 1:16. This one has VW M chassis wheels, Kyosho 14x tires and a little brushless motor on 8 x AA batteries and proper servo and ESC. It is very fast indeed. The QD beetle fits really nicely onto this QD buggy chassis, like it was made to fit.

Next up is the MF01x with a MN FJ45 body. Sand Paddle wheels give a decent ground clearance. It's powered by a Torque Tuned but with as low a gear as I could fit at 13T. It's an all rounder really. It'll never be an amazing crawling, but can handle trails ok, and it's fast enough for fun too.

Next up is the QD with another FJ45 body, this time in orange. The QD monster trucks are pretty fantastic. Solid axle front and rear, decent articulation and with a small brushless motor they really fly. Converted with full bearings and proper servo. Really good trucks, upgraded I'd say they are superior to the CW01 chassis (which might not being saying much). Big wheels means it rarely gets too stuck - although I'd love to try one with a locks rear diff too...)

The car that started it all. Another MF01x, this time with a custom made chassis spacer to make a 182 mm wheelbase Jeep. Brass bumper to get some weight in the front, and a 35T motor for scale speed. A nice all rounder again with a Li-Ion battery that fits in the body nicely. Wheels are larger than scale, but give good ground clearance and off road ability.

My most recent build, a CW01 Pumpkin. Perhaps my favourite looking car. This one has a few upgrades, a 21T motor I had lying around, 3D printed double wishbone suspension, rear suspension brace and 3D printed body mounts. It makes my other cars look quite small (which isn't usually true of a Pumpkin, being 1:12 it's often one of the smaller cars in people's collections) but in the real world it's a larger truck, and is a lot wider and bigger than the rest. A proper monster. I had ordered the Lunchbox (the body is now with @Mad Ax) but the LB body was far too small to look scale with the rest of the collection).

 

Heck, another FJ45! This time on a GF01. The GF01 is brilliant. Fun, quick enough, good at wheelies and drives really well. 4WD and big tires means it gets everywhere. The only real big mod (other than the steel pinion, bearings and CVAs which all my trucks get) is flipping the rear arms for a little longer wheelbase, so it matches the 200 mm of the body. Looking at the photos I may drop the body one pin?

And lastly the Thunder Dragon. Another brushless conversion and again fast as anything. This is the Mk II QD buggy, which has full bearings and a little more reinforced front arms. I love the look of this thing, so 80s and aggressive. Again this was advertised as 1:14, but seems to fit the scale of everything else. This is just 8 x AA and 18T motor, I know @wolfdogstinkus has gone a little more extreme, but this is fast enough for me. 

A few more pics

Any questions or comments please go ahead. It's not a massive collection by the scale of some here, but it's been fun to throw together. Not planning on adding any more for a little while other than one final WIP I've got going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GeeWings 2830]

So good! They look brilliant as a collection and your efforts to get them all coherent was well worth it.

I think I agree with you though and reckon the blue FJ45 would look better sitting a little lower on the GF01 chassis if possible.

[Willy iine 18806]

Nice collection @Nikko85!! 

[Nikko85 3454]

12 hours ago, GeeWings said:

So good! They look brilliant as a collection and your efforts to get them all coherent was well worth it.

I think I agree with you though and reckon the blue FJ45 would look better sitting a little lower on the GF01 chassis if possible.

Many thanks. After I took the photos I was able to drop the body down 4 mm which has really helped. The wheelbase isn't quite perfect (195 chassis vs 200 body) but it's close enough. I've still got the QD bodies from Radio Shack to run, if I ever want a Clod Copy. I may keep the RS ones as basher bodies, I've not been on the BMX track for a while! 

9 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Nice collection @Nikko85!! 

Cheers! I know you like a matching collection.

Funny thing is now, I'm not sure what else I could add. A few possible purchases could be the 1/16 no prep Losi drag cars (which, of course are actually 1/12 scale) or the CC01 1/10 425 Unimog (which is also 1/12 scale given the size of the truck). I find having lots to do ends up being a stress, so I'm happy just tweaking these and then getting something for Christmas 2024.

Andrew

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

Thanks for sharing your collection @Nikko85! I'm a big fan of the Land Cruisers and those FJ45 look awesome. If Tamiya ever releases a spare FJ45 body, they have a customer here . It would probably get built into a light MF-01X trail car.

[Nikko85 3454]

34 minutes ago, OoALEJOoO said:

Thanks for sharing your collection @Nikko85! I'm a big fan of the Land Cruisers and those FJ45 look awesome. If Tamiya ever releases a spare FJ45 body, they have a customer here . It would probably get built into a light MF-01X trail car.

Thanks! Yeah, they are a nice design, and very "tamiya" if not in quality but quirkyness and a little bit cute. The headlights take an LED perfectly, so that's my weekend plan, working headlights all round!

 

[Willy iine 18806]

2 hours ago, Nikko85 said:

 

Cheers! I know you like a matching collection.

Funny thing is now, I'm not sure what else I could add. A few possible purchases could be the 1/16 no prep Losi drag cars (which, of course are actually 1/12 scale) or the CC01 1/10 425 Unimog (which is also 1/12 scale given the size of the truck). I find having lots to do ends up being a stress, so I'm happy just tweaking these and then getting something for Christmas 2024.

Andrew

Absolutely!  When I sort of ran out of cars I wanted, I thought about display pieces to showcase along side the cars.. like those garage accessories I've been making.  Even if you have one or two accents next to your cars it adds that extra color and makes your car even more pleasant and interesting to look at as a whole.. and with your 3D design and printing capabilities, should be a walk in the park?   One could even use cereal boxes and paint them. 

I donno, thought I put that out there for ideas.     Presentation is as important imho..

[Kol__ 3377]

Awesome collection mate, I've seen the progress of some of these over the last year and it's great to see them all together 😎

My fav is still the one that started it all!🦖🦖🦖😉

[Aerobert 2149]

Nice crew. All of them look great,  but I like especially the MF01-X FJ45 and the QD Beetle. 👍

[Nikko85 3454]

12 hours ago, Aerobert said:

Nice crew. All of them look great,  but I like especially the MF01-X FJ45 and the QD Beetle. 👍

Thanks!

I always try and make things that I could imagine Tamiya actually releasing, and I think these hit the nail on the head.

I find the QD Beetle interesting. The body has an arch to arch wheelbase of around 200 mm, which is then flared towards the rear. This means it fits perfectly on the QD buggy chassis of around 210 mm, and the motor is in about the right place.

(Oddly enough when placed on the actual chassis it was made for (the QD Monster Truck) I was not a fan. The 195 mm wheelbase chassis looks a little undersized, and more so when the body is placed on the GF01 with a standard 175 mm wheelbase; although this can be improved by flipping the rear arms which also reduces wheelies).

I did have red wheels on the Beetle, but IMHO it looks much better with white.

 

 

 

[GeeWings 2830]

The QD beetle body is really great isn’t it? Perfectly pitched between realism and the slightly comical feel. 

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

On 1/24/2023 at 4:56 AM, Nikko85 said:

I had to come back to comment again , this FJ45 truck is absolutely gorgeous. @Nikko85 What springs are you using? I've been looking for extra-soft springs for my Nissan pickup but haven't been able to find a suitable set (preferably Tamiya).

[Nikko85 3454]

20 hours ago, Kol__ said:

Awesome collection mate, I've seen the progress of some of these over the last year and it's great to see them all together 😎

My fav is still the one that started it all!🦖🦖🦖😉

Thanks! Oddly enough, I'm somehow less of a fan of this in the collection than some others, although I think have "I-like-the-one-I've-just-made-most-recently-most" syndrome.

It does run surprisingly nicely, although the lack of locked diffs hinder in a off road situation, I don't want to sacrifice handling so they are remaining open for now.

[Nikko85 3454]

5 hours ago, OoALEJOoO said:

I had to come back to comment again , this FJ45 truck is absolutely gorgeous. @Nikko85 What springs are you using? I've been looking for extra-soft springs for my Nissan pickup but haven't been able to find a suitable set (preferably Tamiya).

Many thanks! It was a happy accident, I had the MF01x all lined up to take a Pumpkin body, but when I realised the Lunchbox wasn't going to suit my needs I put the Pumpkin on the CW01 and then had a spare MF01x to play with. Thankfully the wheelbase with single medium spacer matched perfectly, and the width works nicely. It's one of my favourites now. Again, it would work better with locked diffs for some things, but I like it as a sparky all rounder.

The springs are from a RadioShack Hot Machine or Intruder. I had a few spares. You will need to cut them down somewhat to get them soft enough, but they work really well for these, the stock springs are way too stiff for any kind of trailing or crawling, as if you lift up one wheel the whole front end comes with it. 

 

[87lc2 2666]

Great collection.  Had to comment since I've never seen a Pumpkin actually look big   

[Nikko85 3454]

15 hours ago, 87lc2 said:

Great collection.  Had to comment since I've never seen a Pumpkin actually look big   

Thanks! Yes, the F150 was a pretty large truck in real life, so within my collection that comes through nicely. Plus it's a true monster truck, it just doesn't look that way when next to a Clod!. It's why even though I really want one, I probably won't get a Clod, as the second I do ALL of these will look tiny.

There's not a huge amount out there that would fit this scale but I keep looking; the CC01 Unimog 425 is very close due to the sheer size of the real thing, so if I manage to not spend much this year that could be my Christmas treat. 

 

 

[87lc2 2666]

11 minutes ago, Nikko85 said:

Thanks! Yes, the F150 was a pretty large truck in real life, so within my collection that comes through nicely. Plus it's a true monster truck, it just doesn't look that way when next to a Clod!. It's why even though I really want one, I probably won't get a Clod, as the second I do ALL of these will look tiny.

There's not a huge amount out there that would fit this scale but I keep looking; the CC01 Unimog 425 is very close due to the sheer size of the real thing, so if I manage to not spend much this year that could be my Christmas treat. 

 

 

Yea, I'm used to seeing Pumpkins/Lunchboxes next to Clods so they always seem small to me!  Definitely not a lot out there in that scale that's for sure.  Even a Blackfoot would look big next to these.  I'd pass on the Clod, your trucks are probably much more fun.  Stockish Clods are neat to look at but not so much fun to drive.  

[Busdriver 6209]

How would these fit into your 1/12 crew????

[Nikko85 3454]

1 hour ago, Busdriver said:

How would these fit into your 1/12 crew????

Perfectly! I think one of those might be in my next build. The Unimog is one of those few tamiya that is a real 1/12 scale, it fits so nicely next to that Pumpkin which is pretty close too. 

They all look so good together.

[Nikko85 3454]

On 1/25/2023 at 10:59 AM, GeeWings said:

The QD beetle body is really great isn’t it? Perfectly pitched between realism and the slightly comical feel. 

Yes! Works so well, and has a scale look whilst also looking slightly comical as you say!

[rc_ox 323]

Wow! Great collection  Thanks so much for sharing all your MF01x info. It has been very helpful and inspiring!

I first came across the MF01x when I started looking around for an alternative to the Wild Willy Shapeways chassis build. I really want to turn my Wild Willy into a little trail truck but the cost of Shapeways parts and trying to find some axles wasn't viable. The helpful TC folk put me onto the Wild Willy build by @JennyMo and I was SOLD!

Now that I've seen your builds, I'm even more excited to see what I can put on this chassis. I have a Jimny MF01x in the post, on it's way to me. The plan is to fit the WW Jeep to it with no spacers. I have a TL-01 as well so I have some alternate parts to work with. 

Although, I'm a sucker for an FJ (My CC01 got me back into the hobby), and now that I see your FJ45 ute, I'm in love!! It looks great - even a little 'comical'.

Would you mind sharing the details on how the MF01x sits under it? Any spacers? Wheelbase?

I'm seriously thinking of getting a silver one like yours and putting it on the MF01X - then maybe put the WW Jeep on the FJ45 chassis - although, I'm not expecting it to be a 'performer'.   

[wolfdogstinkus 1893]

I almost bidded on a "powertoys flex" a big yellow toy car from the 80's that I had when I was a kid, it had flat tyres that expand to a balloon tyre when it got stuck, was thinking about an R/C conversion but I have enough to do already. Lol. 

There was another vehicle that had animal claws emerge from the tyres, would make a great novelty crawler.

 

[rc_ox 323]

I remember these! Especially "The Animal" 

[Gebbly 588]

On 1/23/2023 at 8:56 PM, Nikko85 said:

The car that started it all.

I love that Jurassic Park Jeep. The proportions are just perfect. Makes me think of McGuyver

@Busdriver, that 6 wheeled log carrier looks great, what is it?

[Busdriver 6209]

They are both G6-01 chassis’s. The yellow one is the portal axle version with a Loops Unimog cab and scratch built bed and the other is the stock chassis with a Pumpkin cab and another scratch built bed. I also have a third body that is a shortened Pumpkin body with a second back section and arches