Absolute beginner shopping list?

[m4inbrain 16]

Hey there, 

let me state immediately that i've never built a Tamiya Truck before (in fact, no Tamiya what so ever), and i've ordered nothing just yet, so if one of the questions should be obvious if i had a kit in front of me, i apologise - i don't, yet.

Lets start with my shopping list, currently.

It's going to be a Scania R620 6x4 (reason being that i want a three axle truck, and that appears to be the cheapest by some margin) kit, with a FrSky X20 radio (haven't figured out the receiver just yet), a GT Power 60A Truck EU Sound Light and all the things unit and paints (more on that in a second). I do have random standard sized servos lying around taken from various other RCs (around 15-20kg Servos, standard servos taken from RTR crawlers etc), i assume these would work? 

Well, that's about it so far. Paint, i decided on aerosols by Kustom Canz, automotive paint. I settled on a base coat and a colour (silver medium, candy ruby red) as well as a 2k clear coat - that's about it. Does the body need priming? It's my first hard body that i intend to paint reasonably well (it's not going to be perfect, i don't need it to be perfect - but i do need the paint to stick), just to point that out. What other colours do i need at the very least? I assume some kind of black (for the interior, if that isn't already black?), something maybe for the grille? 

I don't know anything about clear coating either, other than 2k clear coat apparently being rather toxic - i do need to read into the process, buffing and sanding etc - no idea. Mainly, the question is, so far in this list, is there stuff missing? I also wrote up Tac Cloth (never used that before either), but that where it stops. Any input appreciated.

[Willy iine 18823]

Hi @m4inbrain. Hummm.. can you source Tamiya's TS spray paint?   It is lacquer and adhesion quite strong once on the body.  I use it all the time on my hard bodies and styrene projects.   With TS, you don't need to use primer unless you want to.  If you use the TS gloss finish you will not need to coat it with gloss clear coat.  You might want to practice a few cans worth on.something as there is a learning curve, but if you do a wet final coat you will achieve a super glossy finish.

You can stack enamel and acrylic paint on top without disrupting the TS spray so it is very easy to use when you need to brush paint details of the body.  Anyway, GL with your project!  

Here's a drill press I made from scratch.  The glossy red is using TS paint and no clear coat, no polishing.

[m4inbrain 16]

Hey bud - yeah, i could technically get Tamiya TS paint, but there's a few things in regards to PS paint that i didn't like (mainly the fact that certain effects/colours are impossible to achieve without a headache worth of extra work, like Nissans Midnight Purple). They're also considerably more expensive than automotive paint. Translated into doll hairs, a 100ml can is $7.50, whereas a can of this particular colour:

 

is $17.50 for 400ml. It's also kind of a one stop shop, i can get base coat, 2k clear coat etc all from them, including (if required) plastic primer, so zero hassle there, i get big cans that allow me a test run on a scrap piece etc. I understand that the nozzles of TS cans are considered some of the best in the business, i can't attest to that since i've never used anything else (well, PS paint but i'd assume they're the same).

It's an "entry level build", if you want.

[topforcein 1764]

that red looks like it is backed(base coat) with black.

and kudos on using specialist paints i painted one of my trucks  useing their paint and cant not fault it tbh the 2k is fantasic you will need to get it sprayed in a day as it will tend to go of in the can after that

i would never use tamiya paint again after my first truck i used tamiya paint the paint cracked all over and i can tell you when replaceing a truck shell and all parts it gets expensive at around 1/2 the price of the kit the car is also paint with kustom canz

the finish on the truck is as from the can with out the need to sand or polish the 2k coat in any way it lays down that good

 

[m4inbrain 16]

That's good to hear, i landed with them after googling "pearl green", i do enjoy their colour palette - but i think a red truck might be more suitable to the potential trailers i'd have access to. 

They suggest backing that red (Candy Deep Red) with metallic silver coarse, i did decide on "medium" rather than course because i thought it looks more suitable on a smaller scale vehicle. According to their videos, too (see spoiler). edit: somehow screwed up the spoilers, can't get the sentence out there lol. Did you prime the cab prior? 

 

Love that they have a small video for basically all their paints. Did you prime the cab at all?

[tim.senecal 510]

are you planning on setting up lights and sound on the truck?

[m4inbrain 16]

Just now, tim.senecal said:

are you planning on setting up lights and sound on the truck?

Yes, through a GT Power 60A Pro unit, controlled via SBUS. 

[tim.senecal 510]

2 minutes ago, m4inbrain said:

Yes, through a GT Power 60A Pro unit, controlled via SBUS. 

My recommendation for the receiver would then be one of these: https://www.horusrc.com/en/frsky-archer-plus-r6-receiver-6-high-precision-pwm-channel-receivers.html

I would recommend a standard analog servo for the gearbox, and a higher torque steering servo... anything made for 1/10 rock crawlers will do.  others may say a standard servo will work for steering, but i feel more torque can't hurt.

[m4inbrain 16]

Just now, tim.senecal said:

my recommendation for the receiver would then be one of these: https://www.horusrc.com/en/frsky-archer-plus-r6-receiver-6-high-precision-pwm-channel-receivers.html

Looked at that, talked to a few people now - out of curiosity, why this one over, for example, an Archer RS Plus Mini? The Mini would be much more convenient to install, and if i do understand any of this stuff correctly (might not), the PWM channels are redundant through SBUS anyway?

[tim.senecal 510]

the simpler s-bus systems would work, but if there is anything flaky going on with the s-bus functionality of the GT Power, it would be nice to have the esc, steering, and gearbox available via pwm, and the R6 receiver is a very small receiver.   remember, the Tamiya stuff was originally designed for the much larger traditional 40mhz/75mhz receivers.  the sbus receivers and the r6 are both ridiculously small compared to those.

[m4inbrain 16]

That's a good point, but if the SBUS stuff on the GT Power was wonky, leading to not being able to control everything as desired, i'd probably control everything through the smart phone and just install one of my Noble NB4 receivers (i'm more of a pistol grip radio person for surface RC ). Of course, the Mini was chosen with space in mind, i have no clue how much space is available for electrics - indeed if it's not that much of a concern, then a more "normal" receiver makes more sense. 

[Shergar 141]

Some thoughts - There doesn’t seem to be much info on the GT Power SBUS but its probably £100 cheaper than say a Beier SBUS set up. There is plenty of info and youtube how-to on the Beier however and that might be quite valuable? Heres the English manual: 

https://www.beier-electronic.de/modellbau/service/Soundfahrtregler SFR-1_GB_V1.40.pdf

Paint wise I’ve seen some really good trucks finished with the Montana Gold spray, and lacquer, and its cost is pretty competitive. I’d always prime too, and sand and finesse the body shell as you will get sprue marks, high spots etc. I will add if you use your truck expect the odd scuff on the lower levels (a lot trucks run the metal tube bumper under the plastic kit bumper for protection), and you will likely scuff the top of the rear arches by the fifth wheel in trailer use. A metal fifth wheel will look better than the black plastic next to painted arches, ditto a metal cab clip will look good for little cash too. Grab some tamiya translucent paint pots for the tail lights as the lens is clear.

https://www.montana-cans.com/Products/SPRAY-CANS/MONTANA-SPRAY-PAINT/GOLD-400ml-Artist-Paint/

I would 100% go for a direct drive steering servo, rather than the tamiya linkage, and you might find the plastic wheels are not always the most true - alloy wheels would negate the tamiya truck ‘wobble’. I run crawler motors and servos in my trucks - it suits them well.

[m4inbrain 16]

Thanks for the manual, it's very.. german. Not the language, just the amount of abbreviations and exhaustive (exhausting) detail. And i say that as a german. But i think it doesn't apply really, since the SBUS configuration is done all through an app with the GT Power unit, with drop down menus. Not quite sure whether or not it really is that simple, but i can only figure that out once i got everything here. 

I've not heard the term "direct drive steering servo" yet (the only stuff where i've heard it was in sim-racing, for direct drive wheel setups, but that's something else entirely), so i'm not quite sure what you mean by that. I haven't build nor seen a truck yet, so i don't know how steering works on these rigs - i'm used to servo->horn->some kind of ackermann steering. Does that require some kind of modification?

The Montana cans are certainly priced well, but i'll stick with the automotive paint - mainly because i can get literally everything in one go and more importantly, from the same manufacturer (primer, base coat, colour coat, 2k clear), so it saves some potential heartache there later down the line. Being automotive, it should be reasonably resilient too. Sanding and finessing might not be happening considering i'm, well, ham-fisted, but again.. It's not meant to win prices, it's meant to be "my first truck", hence the cheapest one (3axle) available. Later down the line, if i stick with this niche of the hobby, we'll look into improving my handywork - for now, this is more or less an experiment. I mainly want to build another kit, and currently there's no crawlers tickling my fancy - and i've recently built a drifter on the edge of my possible budget, so there's nowhere to go there (other than £1800+ rigs, which i can't afford and don't see a point without going to competitions etc)  - so a lorry it is. 

I'll certainly look into alloy wheels, wheel wobble is one of my biggest pet peeves (especially on open wheel rigs like my Capra, took me hours to get the foams/beadlocks right) - cheers bud.

[Shergar 141]

This is what Tamiya deem a steering link - a tortuous route of bendy plastic:

Instead you can mount the servo between the front of the chassis rails with a short link straight too the upright. Normally this would be home to the shift servo, but you can get a double mount, or fit a micro servo ,under the gearbox like this:

http://www.scaleclub.club/goods/content/202208/270.html

Scania build instructions if you havent got a copy 👍

https://www.tamiyausa.com/media/files/56323-ml-454-3e5a.pdf

[m4inbrain 16]

Now that's helpful, thank you very much. I'd probably go the micro servo route, since i don't live in the US (not sure if i can readily get this in the UK) - and i do have a few old micro servos flying around from TRX4 projects. 

Cheers. 

[Mad Ax 10026]

Not much more I can add to this - my only advice would be, get hold of the manual for the truck you're going to build, and check it for small parts that need painting before fitting.  Not sure on the Scanias, but when I built my MAN TGX, there were a few parts that needed to be cut from the sprues, cleaned, prepped, primed and painted before fitting to the chassis rails.  I didn't notice that until I turned the page and saw the paint codes, and since I didn't have any of the paints in stock, I had to stall my build while I placed an order, then had to wait a while until I could get the painting done.

A friend has just started a Scania build and said there weren't any chassis parts that needed paint, so you may be fine, but it's always worth flipping through the manual to see if you should get anything painted before starting the build.

[tim.senecal 510]

I also agree with as direct a servo linkage to the steering as possible.  you will notice in the illustrations Shergar included that none of the linkage geometry is 90 degree angles, which means you will almost certainly end up with inconsistent steering alignment left to right, ie, turning radius will differ steering left to right.  something i have noticed with my stock trucks, and don't like.

you might also want to look into some of Lesu's alternative gearboxes.  they take up considerably less space, and already built, and can have alternate servo setups, allowing you to get the direct steering servo without adding 3rd party parts.

[m4inbrain 16]

Cheers, appreciate it. 

There has been a small development, someone in our local club does have the 620 (in the process of finishing it), i'll have a look at it on friday, to get an impression. But, because he has one, i gotta step it up to the Actros Gigaspace now lol. I definitely will go to the direct steering "upgrade", i'm not too sure about an alternative gearbox - it's the first truck i'll ever build (well, we'll see if it's the first or last depending on how it goes), i'll build it with the parts that are supplied rather than immediately souping it up with reasonably expensive parts (keeping in mind that i do have to start from scratch in regards to radio etc, adding to the bill). That's something for later down the line - but thanks for pointing them out in the first place. 

[m4inbrain 16]

Okay, here's another question, since it's not 100% clear from the descriptions.

Looking at the "pre-painted variants" of the kits, are they fully painted, or just, well, the cab? Looking in particular at the 3363 Gigaspace in pearl blue. While not necessarily the most exciting of colours, it's good enough, saves some money (well, potentially) and ensures that i'll not ruin the build at that particular stage. Checking the manuals of these trucks, they're just the manual of the general unpainted kit, so.. yeah, not certain?

[Shergar 141]

I’m pretty sure pre-painted means pre-moulded colour in the plastic. I’d say it will look fair if you don’t paint it, but it might just not cut it…

 

[m4inbrain 16]

50 minutes ago, Shergar said:

I’m pretty sure pre-painted means pre-moulded colour in the plastic. I’d say it will look fair if you don’t paint it, but it might just not cut it…

 

From what i've seen in videos, it's good enough for the girls i'm dating i'll be honest.

Certainly not gonna look worse than a paintjob by yours truly. 

edit: it does have a pearl/metallic effect, so it's not just coloured plastic, i don't think?

[tim.senecal 510]

I have never purchased a pre-painted tamiya kit, so i have no clue what they actually look like.  i am very old school, i prefer to do all my building and painting. not just tamiya, but with all the toys i own.

[m4inbrain 16]

14 minutes ago, tim.senecal said:

I have never purchased a pre-painted tamiya kit, so i have no clue what they actually look like.  i am very old school, i prefer to do all my building and painting. not just tamiya, but with all the toys i own.

I prefer wrenching on my own car, but that ain't happening anymore either - i know what my previous paintjobs look like (even Lexan shells, i just can't get into prep), so that's a great option for me. Otherwise i'd have probably paid someone to paint it. Still might, but in the end, that's where i'll end up for now. 

Actros 3363 Gigaspace 6x4 in pearl blue, bearing kit, direct steering and carson 80t. Good enough for the first ever truck.

[tim.senecal 510]

On 10/29/2023 at 2:34 PM, m4inbrain said:

That's a good point, but if the SBUS stuff on the GT Power was wonky, leading to not being able to control everything as desired, i'd probably control everything through the smart phone and just install one of my Noble NB4 receivers (i'm more of a pistol grip radio person for surface RC ). Of course, the Mini was chosen with space in mind, i have no clue how much space is available for electrics - indeed if it's not that much of a concern, then a more "normal" receiver makes more sense. 

If you really have your heart set on a pistol radio, and have not yet picked up the x20, you might want to wait a few weeks and pick up one of these:

https://www.radiomasterrc.com/products/mt12-surface-radio-controller

[m4inbrain 16]

1 hour ago, tim.senecal said:

If you really have your heart set on a pistol radio, and have not yet picked up the x20, you might want to wait a few weeks and pick up one of these:

https://www.radiomasterrc.com/products/mt12-surface-radio-controller

Appreciated mate - but while i haven't picked up the X20, i did buy an X18 (out for delivery tomorrow). 

Not just for the truck, but i can foresee cinewhoops and boats in the immediate future too. That MT12 might be a decent pick for the wife though, no need to share the NB4 anymore.