So, What Have You Done Today? (Vol 2 2025)

[kevinb120]

Had to modify the 311s inner rim to accommodate the RC channel arms, and revert to good old white ball ends on the inner arms to get out of toe-out and a little more clearance.  All good now. Changing to a low profile servo for better geometry.

[Frog Jumper]

2 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

I found some slightly used generic Holiday Buggy / RC10 Champ tires on ebay.

Testing the fit with some Frog rear wheels (painted red).  They fit very nicely!

These might be the Italian HB clones but there is no “made in italy” printing.  Also, the pair still had the bead intact, but the third in the set I bought had the bead cut out.

 

 

 

With hardware.  A bit a paint chipped off.  Grrr!!!

 

 

[kevinb120]

It runs! Now time for the other 3/4 of the work... Low profile servo definitely the way to go. And of all the generic digital cheapie mo bettas I buy, I think the Injora low profile 22kg($17) may be my new Tamiya std use hero for generic use. Smooth, fast, and accurate, way better than the 20-25kg 'red' ones.  Rolling over undulations and bumps with this little dinosaur is a hoot.

[Andreas W]

13 hours ago, chris.alex said:

My NSU "Prinz" TT body got some new decals. Since it's now mounted on the XM01 chassis, it should have a more dynamic look, more befitting a rally car. I also installed different wheels. I'm already looking forward to the next opportunity to drive it. :-) 

 

I like the Prinz look over it .i have to admit that I almost was shaking the head when I saw the body to begin with on the other rims. I was probably too hung up in the typical Bergrennen looks. But now on steel wheels the more innocent looking Prinz is a pleasure to the eye.

[toyolien]

What have I done indeed.... I've just placed an order for one of these:

[GToddC5]

19 hours ago, Dangerous_Beard said:

I've only had these wheels a week. It took me a year to find them. Not a great day 😕 

I think I might have a King Blackfoot front-only pair that came in a lot. I might be convinced to give them up 

However, you might want to find a less rare wheel set for runner duty!

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, GToddC5 said:

I think I might have a King Blackfoot front-only pair that came in a lot. I might be convinced to give them up 

However, you might want to find a less rare wheel set for runner duty!

Lesson learned sir. I will put the kit wheels back on. 

[ImALlama]

I cut off the steering stops on a TT02 to hopefully improve the steering for RBP, so decided I should also take the time to properly adjust everything. Seems I never took the time to do so, or maybe I had planned to use it as a nascar, cause it was certainly ready for a counter clockwise oval . 
 

[Kowalski86]

I challenged myself to a "Try to make a mundane RC look cool" challenge for this photo.

[kevinb120]

Starting to methodically prep shells for painting weather as opportunities strike.  I've got like 7 lexan shells too... Need to get my behind in gear. Prepped the Mu tonight.

[Torhaantje]

3 hours ago, kevinb120 said:

Need to get my behind in gear

Very recognizable......

Rick 

[Thunder downunder]

Built a DT02 Sandviper chassis today - body to finish over the weekend. Pretty much bone stock except for swapping in a 540 sport tuned, 17t steel pinion, turnbuckle front shock brace and a gyro (aka cheap dumbo receiver w/gyro). Running a 20kg OMG SS gear servo, 1060 ESC w/ deans and a gensace 4200 2s shorty hardcase pack which is almost a perfect fit. Had to scrounge around my parts box for a longer servo screw and then sculpt a bit of plastic out of the chassis connection/bracing plate that was just touching the servo saver arm, but overall a simple and rewarding build. Oil CVA’s a little soft in the rear (ummed and aahed over 1 versus 2 hole, then went for 2 per kit instructions) but managed to stiffen them up a touch with an additional 4mm spacer each from another build. The bearings feel nice and I semi packed the diff with Yeah Racing high pressure diff grease. Never owned a Tamiya buggy so looking forward to getting it dirty! Not going box art - a few pics to come. 

[Pylon80]

Finished the XV-01 and did a few runs. Like every XV-01, it's awesome.

Next will be installing the body, choosing the hex's width etc.

[ThunderDragonCy]

Had a day to myself, and fortunately some club members had opened the track so I went along for a couple of hours in the sunshine

 

 

All the cars ran great. The new layout is super tight and technical, but only one small jump, so although it took some time to get used to, it was my kind of track. Hada lot of fun and the BBX was a real surprise. So fun to drive! 

 

 

 

 

[Wystan Withers]

Broke out the 'Quad Zed' brush for some detail painting and moved the Clod body into the 'finished' category. Still need to add a couple more degrees of angle to the printed bumper bracket, but the paint and decal phase is complete. Of course I drug my feet on this project so the kit breaker dude selling the Boomerang CVA long dampers at a reasonable price has sold out, six months ago he had plenty. Really think this needs yellow dampers.

Made some more chassis revisions, it's almost ready for public consumption.

 

[WhteRbt]

@Wystan Withers: This is a beauty! Great work!

I finished my Grasshopper II body, as far as I see – I am not that happy with it, as the surface is pretty rough (painted with TS-26 paint). Any tips how to proceed? I am able to wet sand the paint and polish the body to get a smoother finish or should I just live with it? 🤔

With the other bodies (2 x Sand Scorcher, Super Clod Buster, Monster Beetle, Blitzer Beetle) I want to try out some different paint… I should be able to use regular 1K spray paint, right? I want to try a can of Edding 5200 permant spray, after a good layer of plastic primer…

[GToddC5]

3 hours ago, WhteRbt said:

@Wystan Withers: This is a beauty! Great work!

I finished my Grasshopper II body, as far as I see – I am not that happy with it, as the surface is pretty rough (painted with TS-26 paint). Any tips how to proceed? I am able to wet sand the paint and polish the body to get a smoother finish or should I just live with it? 🤔

With the other bodies (2 x Sand Scorcher, Super Clod Buster, Monster Beetle, Blitzer Beetle) I want to try out some different paint… I should be able to use regular 1K spray paint, right? I want to try a can of Edding 5200 permant spray, after a good layer of plastic primer…

The best hard body results I have are from breaking the rules and being impatient. I take the prime stage seriously, with light-ish coats and sanding between. But when I do moderate to heavy coats of paint, it's smooth enough for these old eyes, and much smoother than 4 light coats with inevitable orange peel. Of course this can backfire with too heavy of coats and humidity, so you gotta read the room so to speak. I hate polishing, so I'd probably sand it and go heavy once more and hope for the best 😂. Just a nice wet coat could do the trick.

[Torhaantje]

More detailing on my Comical GPL DT03. 

 

[WhteRbt]

9 hours ago, GToddC5 said:

The best hard body results I have are from breaking the rules and being impatient. I take the prime stage seriously, with light-ish coats and sanding between. But when I do moderate to heavy coats of paint, it's smooth enough for these old eyes, and much smoother than 4 light coats with inevitable orange peel. Of course this can backfire with too heavy of coats and humidity, so you gotta read the room so to speak. I hate polishing, so I'd probably sand it and go heavy once more and hope for the best 😂. Just a nice wet coat could do the trick.

Thanks for the advice! After letting the paint dry over night, I think it isn't that bad at all… it's far from perfect, but also far from being screwed up – at least for the first time painting a hardbody (as far as I remember) and Tamiya White being a „difficult“ color…

As I still have around 40 g of paint in the can, I am undecided between giving it a last coat (after wet sanding it with 2.000 grid) or painting the driver with base instead (as the body will also get some stickers).

All in all, I should have left it unpainted…  This Re-Release is a honor to my first RC car which was – you guessed it – unpainted – and far from perfect either.

So, this is what I will do today!  

[kevinb120]

Maybe carefully wet sand and re-coat.  The problem with TS lacquer spray is that you have to keep a complete working 'wet coat' at all times before you stop shooting as it dries quite fast.  I rarely do mist coats, I build from the initial misting into a full coat in one quick session.  The weather plays a major role with these paints too.  If I can't get the full wet coat, I let it dry for several days then prep lightly and go for it again.  If you have a full density coat and try to recoat the same day after it's 'dry', it won't flow well until the paint has a few days to fully harden.  With normal paints you build up and can get multiple 'final coats' on it in one day's session, or you already plan to paint/wait/sand/paint/wait/sand/paint/wait/sand/clear/wait/sand/clear/wait/sand/polish.    TS is all or nothing, and it takes a little bravery and practice to figure out how much you can safely build up without setting the shell down.  Once you get a feel it you know what to look for, it's somewhat of an unnatural feeling level of paint getting thrown onto the model.

For high-gloss finish over absolute fine model fidelity for say a runner, trying to minimize sanding defects and painting the shell naked will get you a glass smooth finish, particularly if the mold lines are minor enough to 'leave em' or they're covered in stickers, like a Fighting buggy(or grasshopper).  Once you start cutting the body to fix mold lines/holes and go the primer route, it takes a LOT more work.  TS paints have plenty of bite and do not need to be primed. But once you start sanding the shell, you'll need the prime and sand and prime and sand and paint and wet sand and/or clear process, and it's going to take a long, long time. 

If you start working mold marks/lines even with 600 grit the sand marks will show through the TS on raw plastics as it pulls so tightly, then you'll need to prime.  Grasshopper shell? I'd light sand any mold flash on the opening edges only, wash it and paint it, and it's covered with stickers and will inevitably flip on the first run, so I'd just go for 'one can shiny' paint in one sitting. 

If you actually see the Tamiya museum pieces vs the one-off's they commission for a box art shoot(and it's probably a long time for just a body), you'd be surprised that we often ask ourselves far too much to prep even shelfers since we post pictures for judgement these days.  1/12 scale pro static models take a year(s) for a reason.

[GToddC5]

^ Yeah so @kevinb120 said it much better than me! And this is the best takeaway from what he wrote: "TS is all or nothing, and it takes a little bravery and practice to figure out how much you can safely build up without setting the shell down.  Once you get a feel it you know what to look for, it's somewhat of an unnatural feeling level of paint getting thrown onto the model."

Absolutely 100%, but don't let it scare you. Just do it a couple/few times and never get cocky about it, because Murphy is always close by with surprise runs and those little gnats that like to ruin your paint while draining away any joy that you might have felt  

I have the experiences with little to no sanding with no primer and wet coats, with same day high gloss results - and they came out great. The times I prime are when I'm trying to restore a scarred shell that needs filler.  I know I'll get those sanding marks through the TS paint, and then forget about same day satisfaction.

[Guest]

Time for a rebuild. Back to plastic we go.. 

[Ray_ve]

On my knees, praying that the items I need for the Samurai arrive tomorrow so I can make more progress. 

[kevinb120]

2 hours ago, GToddC5 said:

^ Yeah so @kevinb120 said it much better than me! And this is the best takeaway from what he wrote: "TS is all or nothing, and it takes a little bravery and practice to figure out how much you can safely build up without setting the shell down.  Once you get a feel it you know what to look for, it's somewhat of an unnatural feeling level of paint getting thrown onto the model."

Absolutely 100%, but don't let it scare you. Just do it a couple/few times and never get cocky about it, because Murphy is always close by with surprise runs and those little gnats that like to ruin your paint while draining away any joy that you might have felt  

I have the experiences with little to no sanding with no primer and wet coats, with same day high gloss results - and they came out great. The times I prime are when I'm trying to restore a scarred shell that needs filler.  I know I'll get those sanding marks through the TS paint, and then forget about same day satisfaction.

We try far too hard.  With megapixel cameras, 4K monitors and fast internet connections we spend too much time trying for an anonymous audience for a level of perfection that has a monstrous bell curve between 'looks awesome' to perfect.  Chasing expectations from some youtube video from someone who has thousands of models and thousands of dollars invested over decade(or is actually getting PAID to do it for a living).   I can guarantee we only assumed there was 'perfection' when looking at a grainy 1985 Tamiya catalog that it's anything but.  I remember seeing old model car boxes where the photo was physically touched-up ON the photo itself, and who knows what digital ju jitsu is being done for images you see online.  Believe me there's almost as much work done for the 'perfect picture' as there is for 'perfect paint'

Advanced techniques and the sharing of information have plenty of forum members here with far more complex work restoring an old R/C car than they even considered bothering with for the original prototypes.

Main thing is to RELAX and stop attempting to achieve just one photograph(at 5X better than human vision clarity) for a forum.   And even if pure shelfers, the types of shells we're working with are not the same as static scale contest level builds. 

Plus, deciding to start to get 'serious' with first attempts at what are gigantic scale models is difficult to itself without a handy fully ventilate spray booth system, perfect HVAC temperatures/humidity, and long experimented/perfected lighting and spray equipment.  Somehow we expect them to look like a $30,000 Amalgram model. This is rattle can territory, and frankly Tamiya Spray cans have been the best overall for time immemorial.  Some things about doing paint work we need to be Elsa and let it go...

I will say the main things are in tiers.

As I said, the Tamiya shells paint extremely well with zero primer.  But once you sand the shell for corrections you pretty much have to prime. If you can get it 'good enough', and the mold lines are minimum(Unlike say the huge step at the front of Scorcher Shell), painting it with minimum to no corrections to the flat surfaces will make for a nice shiny model.  Prime is not magic either, a primed model often needs every single surface tended too, and you have THAT layer that needs to be smooth.  Thankfully Tamiya molds even 40 years old are still some of the best ever.  TS will lay hard and glossy over the naked plastics.  Glossy tight paint over primer, you've already added at least 10 hours of work and it's a lot of hope and prayers vs a known perfectly smooth surface.

Temperature and humidity are EXTREMELY important with TS paints.  Warming cans in water is always a huge booster, and if you are laying a one-coat on a larger shell, having another can ready, warmed, cap off and test-sprayed RIGHT THERE is very important.  70 degrees and dry and you're on a hero's path.  Really stinks for waiting for that perfect time 3, 5, 10 times once you go primer.

Perspective and strategy are big to consider.  What's getting covered with stickers, if there's even a minute chance of hitting a chair leg with a shelfer that's only run in the house let alone runner, etc.

The easy hero move is sharp masking lines, particularly for things like the Brat's molding.  One of the easy moves when you've committed to things like spraying window trim or something that covers your fingers, the floor, the dog, and the desk with tiny cut pieces of tape is to spray clear gloss first(one notable coat-not light not heavy) then spray that matte black.  The clear will take the bleed.  Usually you only need the clear to dry for 15 minutes or so, it's just another coat of paint..  If it's a wide or two color area it needs one proper coat then dry before color (large smooth areas again) if you're taking the Scorcher box-art challenge.  Trudging through trim is difficult because it's often not in one sitting and the main thing that happens is some edge bonding is lost from time going by or handling by the time you finish masking the other side. So the clear helps catch the 'problem' first.

And try to paint EVERYTHING.  The Brat has a white roll bar, but knock down the mold lines with 400 sanding stick and paint it matte white anyway. 

Learn to do stickers well, and there's enough going on it should look aces.  Don't take 15MB pictures of it then blow it up on your monitor to torture yourself.

 

[Hypoxic]

A sunny evening dust-off! (It’s hard to photograph yourself.)