ABC Hobby Lancia Stratos shell - buy in haste repent at leisure?

[ChrisB]

Well, that will teach me to be a smug smart ******* - just bought an ABC Hobby shell off the bay as they come up so infrequently (another Stratos), only to find out when it turned up that they do TWO different sizes of shell [:$].

The so called "mini" size of shell will only fit the 210mm wheelbase Tamiya chassis it seems, which effectively restricts usage to the M-02 RWD chassis as supplied with the Fiat Arbarth, Renault A110 or Honda S800 - none of which I have in my possession or am likely to be able to afford anytime soon!

I thought I was buying a spare for the excellent ABC Hobby shell that is the next size up - the nicest and most dimensionally accurate Stratos shell I have seen anywhere.

Anyway the mini Stratos shell is still top quality, and unlike its larger brother comes with the full bank of rally driving lights []. I think If I could source a cheap M-02 chassis I'd be tempted to keep it, but realistically it will probably end up on the bay or in the traderooms here.

Must remember to READ the auction descriptions carefully in future [:$].

Chris

[Shodog]

We all do stupid things.  This is how I came about having my Porsche GT-1.  I thought I was buying a body that would fit my HPI RS4 and then when I get it, it only fits short wheelbase TA02 and TA03 cars.

At least this will give you a reason to buy a mini chassis and really in the end, it's worth what you paid for it if you decide to resell it on eBay.

[ChrisB]

Yeah, hopefully I shouldn't lose on it as its still a very nicely proportioned and detailed piece of work.

Only issue for me is lack of cash - I am guessing a decent condition M-02 chassis is hard to come by these days and therefore likely to require me to part with more of the stuff I don't have []. I'd love one of the Fiat Abarth's or the Reanult A110's......

I was wondering if an M-03 whould fit, but suspect the spaceframe setup up front will probably foul the body.

[WillyChang]

Would the M04L become 210mm if the 'L' spacer was tossed?

[jerrywasaracecardriver]

Will it fit any of the 4wd touring minis? If so, I would be interested.

[DJTheo]

Would the M04L become 210mm if the 'L' spacer was tossed?

Or would it become M04M?

Also many M01/M02 designed bodies don't fit M03/M04 due to their high front ends.

Cheers

[ChrisB]

I think DJTheo is pretty much on the money.

A M-04L without the spacer becomes an M-04M and is sadly still too long in the wheelsbase department as I have a few of these in the attic at the mo.

I think any of the front wheel drive mini chassis's (M-01, M-03) are not a goer, even though they have the correct wheelbase (210mm). This is mainly because of a lack of clearance under the bonnet of the shell.

I am pretty sure the only chassis this will fit in is the RWD M-02, as used on the Fiat Abarth, Honda S800 or Renault Alpine 110. Interesting thing is the difference in approach between the M-02 and the M-04 series RWD chassis from Tamiya. I think the wheel base works as follows for each one:

M-02 (210mm)

M-02M (225mm)

M-02L (240mm)

M-04M(225mm - no spacers)

M-04L(240mm - 1 spacer)

Shame Tamiya didn't decide to start with a 210mm wheelbase M-04 chassis and used the spacer idea (very clever) to give them the M-04M (would need 1 spacer), and the M-04L (2 spacers). This would have opened up the option of the A110 and Fiat Abarth as RWD re-re's, which I think would have proved popular.

Anyway, if you have one of the M-02 kits then the Stratos will make a really nice alternative runner for it.

Have pretty much decided I will sell it, but will put it up in TC traderooms before I resort to ebay, unless someone has a cheap M-02 they want shot of []

[DJTheo]

M01 can be easily converted to M02 and vise versa and M01s aren't hard or rare to find.

Cheers