Parma 1/8 scale Lancia Stratos lexan body.

[mrlexan]

Kyosho made one, but they are hard to find. I believe that ABC Models Japan also makes one as does Carson (aka Tamiya Europe)... I think that both are still available. Do a google search or search on ebay and you should find one. Good luck. Hope this helps.

 Jay

[terry.sc]

For the 1/10th scale Carson Stratos try here

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFunction=...mp;ItemID=11588 

For the 1/12th scale/Mini size ABC one try here

http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/product_info...oducts_id=20571 

[ChrisB]

I have had quite a few of the available Stratos shells, and there are some pics in my showroom of the Carson one in the Alitalia paint scheme and also a comparison of the smallest ABC Hobby one, the next size up ABC Hobby one and the Carson shell.

I think for realism the larger of the 2 ABC Hobby shells looks the best. Be warned the small shell will only really fit on an M-02 chassis - its very small.

Personally I think the Carson one is a bit too long as its been stretched to fit a Touring car chassis, however it does come with the rally light pod which only the small ABC Hobby one has. ABC Hobby have now also released some nice small details parts like the correct stratos wingmirrors, exhaust and wiper which add a nice touch.

Your main problem with the ABC Hobby shells is that they are not available in the UK. I got mine from Japan (japanscaledriver helped me out - nice guy) or some of the Japan / HK dealers sometimes have them.

If you go for the Carson (its easier to get hold of), then be warned the stickers are really **** and won't stay on the body.

I have to say one of the nicest shells I have seen was an option for the Kyosho 1/8th nitro Landmax buggies. The option was for an Alitalia bodyset and wheels and it looks very scale. Haven't seen this for a year or two though, so not sure if its still available?

One day, when I finally get some time to spend on finishing off my attic load of projects I will build another Stratos on an the modded M-04 platform I used for the Carson based one, but stick the ABC Hobby shell on it and paint it in the Chardonnet blue and yellow '79 Monte Carlo winning paint scheme...... someday []

Let us know how you get on.

Chris

 

[benidormboy]

hi chris b, on the carson section on your "building of a stratos", you say that the body of the stratos was stretched to fit on a tt-01 chassis. if i bought a tt-01 car (subaru etc) and a stratos body from modelsport, will the 2 fit together ok!. i am new to r/c but dont mind a bit of work if i get the end result. thanks for any help.

[ChrisB]

hi chris b, on the carson section on your "building of a stratos", you say that the body of the stratos was stretched to fit on a tt-01 chassis. if i bought a tt-01 car (subaru etc) and a stratos body from modelsport, will the 2 fit together ok!. i am new to r/c but dont mind a bit of work if i get the end result. thanks for any help.

Yes, most of the Tamiya touring car 4WD chassis should be fine in standard form as the wheelbase is the same (TT-01, TL-01, TB-01, TA-03) which is what the carson shell is designed for. I just based mine on an M-04 because I wanted rear wheel drive.

I'd recommend something like the TL-01 or the TB-01 as I think its easier to get extra ground clearance by the use of a long arm suspension kit or just longer shocks. The only downside of the TT-01 is its difficult to change the ride height significantly because of the suspension arm design.

I the car is just to run on road then even this doesn't matter and a TT-01 will be fine.

Chris

 

[ChrisB]

Thought I would just update this thread in case anyone was still interested in the the BMW 320 Grp 5 Warsteiner decals from the gold and black 1977 DTM winning car.

I don't know if Steve (OCD) ended up parting with the nice 1/8th scale 320 bodyshell or not? Anyway, as I had some time free over xmas I finally got back onto the decal production and have now just about finished the Warsteiner BMW set in vector form. The results are not perfect by any means, but I was quite pleased with them [].

You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find decent quality motorsport pictures from the pre-digicam era online! I was also surprised at how different the 70's Warsteiner text and logo's were close up from the modern gold versions. The main logo was a real pig of a job to do, but ultimately worth it.

This has inspired me to move onto the '79 Chardonnet Stratos ones next, so hopefully those should be done as well shortly.

Chris

 

[ChrisB]

..... and the full colour scheme:

[OCD]

Nice work there, Chris!

Glad to see you carried through with your project.  How's that vectoring program in use?  Can an average guy like me use it?

I traded the 320 body to Mr. Jay Lexan because he already had some sweet period decals to do the 'National Bank' scheme - it's going to be a real beauty when he finishes it!

Anyhow, currently I'm still working on another 1/8 scale rally project, and have come to a screeching because I can't source the correct decals.  Stupid 8th scale![8o|][]

I priced having some done by a local printer, but with so many variables in material and final appearance, I don't really want to risk the investment of my time and money.  A one-off set of decals will cost the same whether they work or not...[:S]

A big part of the problem is trying to replicate the decal material Tamiya uses - where do you find the equivalent?

 

-Steve 

[ChrisB]

Thanks Steve []

Like you I have been put off the full blown Tamiya quality approach to decals. For something like this especially I can't justify the cost, and the process is tricky to get right (see the numerous posts from netsmith and others on this).

The way I look at these decals is a kind of half way house. I have designed them with layers for the different colours to enable seperation should I decide to try a professional version at a later date. However for now I will settle for the best quality I can print onto special white and clear decal inkjet film or waterslide decal film and some kind of clearcoat. I have a pretty new printer (HP8400) that produces excellent quality prints which I think will do for a runner shell like the one I am doing here. I am not looking for perfection here, just something that looks pretty OK.

I found the Xara Extreme software very easy to use, although I have some experience with the likes of Photoshop / other vector drawing apps and a smattering of CAD so not a complete beginner. I would say though that the tools are very intuitive, and critical things like converting text to shapes and altering scaling, leading and other text attributes works well. This is very useful for creating text as it enables you to use a font that is "close enough", and then tweak it using the editing tools to get an exact match.

The pro version of the software for a little more also allows export of layers to photoshop. Try it and see what you think - it has a 30 day free trial I think.

As part of the Stratos decal set I will probably be doing the Bilstein yellow and blue logo, Pirelli and maybe champion (need to check whats required first).

Once I get the decals on the car I'll update the showroom entry for the BMW 320i.

Have to admit I am tempted by the 1/8th cars - was watching an auction for a couple of the Kyosho Landmax chassis's and bodies a few days ago. It failed to get any bids, but if I can get one cheap enough I would buy one of the Stratos bodysets - they look really good.

Chris