tamiya models - what body variations and new chassis would we like to see

[Guest sk8te-penguin]

i'm voting for a ford mk II escort on a 2wd chassis that has independant front and leaf sprung live axle at the rear (super soft) with the steering srvo, 3 speed gearbox and motor mounted at the front. it will be a tail happy car i can tell you that! anyone agree?

[DJTheo]

It would be nice for few realism and Ford fans, but how many people would buy an old Escort RC with solid axle to cover the costs of developing even a new chassis? So, despite being nice, its chances to become reality are negligible, still nice to have dreams and hopes []

Cheers 

[Mad Ax]

i'm voting for a ford mk II escort on a

2wd chassis that has independant front and leaf sprung live axle at the

rear (super soft) with the steering srvo, 3 speed

gearbox and motor mounted at the front. it will be a tail happy

car i can tell you that! anyone agree?

That actually wouldn't be too hard to make, if you started with a

Hi-Lift chassis and converted it to RWD.  The ladder chassis

construction of the hi-lift isn't too different from a MkII Escort

chassis in terms of principle (after all, you'll never get an accurate

Ford replica chassis unless you make it yourself [])

Anyway...

Then you'd change for shorter coil-over shocks up front, shorter

unsprung dampers at the rear and use the leaf springs from the Hi-Lift

to mimick a MkII principle design.  THEN all you need to do is

find some suitable wheels - Rover Mini Cooper wheels for example, look

like Minilites that were a popular escort mod; or hunt around for

something that looks a bit like a classic 13" 4-spoke RS wheel. 

MkI and MkII escort shells are available in lexan from a UK ebay

supplier.

The rest is just putting it all together, innit?  []

Or, you could just use a lexan MkII shell and slot it over a RWD TT01 [] 

[DJTheo]

But this way it wouldn't have independant front suspension, thats why I said its not that easy []

Cheers 

[3doorpete]

Just a nice 190mm shell for a flat nosed Mk2 escort would be nice - that way you could put it on a M04L chassis, or a drift TT01 for example.

I'd just be happy if they re-ran some of the full body parts kits for Tamiya hard bodies (Brat, Monster Beetle, Blackfoot and midnight pumpkin) plus a re-run of some of the Grp A rally shells of 90's like the Evo 5, Escort Cosworth (big wing), Celica GT4 etc.

Would like to see a really nice 80's road going 911 turbo lexan body with plastic whale tail by Tamiya as well.

[Guest sk8te-penguin]

MkII escort shells are available in lexan from a UK ebay supplier.

 i cant find any. what do i search on ebay? or alternatively: whats the link for where you saw them cos i've been looking for a 1/10 ford escort mk II for i dont know how long.

[Brooklands 280]

Ah, now you talk my language...

as of yet no mk2 shells are available that i know of, only the mk2 RS2K is availible in a 1/12 lexan for the mardave V12s.

the mk1 shell is available though in a 1/10th lexan though,both in 190 and 200 mm widths, i have a couple, the 200 mm one im doing at the moment in modena green has 4 frog spots on the front, they look just like the 2 up 2 down oscars, its coming together nicely and will be run on my fusion.

the 190 mm will be run on a tb 02 chassis which will be converted to just RWD for some doughnutting fun...

[steviedee]

man i'd love a rwd mk1 or mk2 escort kit, plz plz plz mr tamiya release some retro cars.

any of the below would be fine for me

mk1 or mk2 escort

mk1 fiesta

peugeot 205

mk1 golf

renault 5

ok ok so all the old skool boy racer cars would be fine [H]

[fastfordrc]

Just a thought here, but for a realistic Mk1/2 Escort chassis could you start with an XC/CC01 chassis as base? It has independent front suspension, a front mounted motor and a solid axle at the rear. You would need to lose the front driveshafts and diff (and possibly the transfer box/modify the gears), but could it be a goer? The rear suspension could be easily modified to represent the group 4 or 5 spec cars (4 or 5-linked with coilovers), but with a bit more work could also probably be changed to use Juggernaut/High Lift leaf springs to give you group 1 or 2 spec cars. For wheels, the Minilites used on the 1/8th Mini Cooper would do I think.

 This is all guesswork of course, as I don't own an XC chassis, or know if those Mk1 bodies would fit on them. We could really do with a Mk2 body though - I can't understand why Kamtec or whoever haven't come up with one as I think they would sell like hot cakes (I would have thought being boxy would make it easier to model than the Mk1?). You could possibly even make the rally version by having an accessory kit of screw-on forest arches - the ultimate in scale realism!

 Andy

[thesnake505]

hehe esscort would be nice but, i have found a guy who is making 1/10 capri shells! gona give me a msg when he has a few done :-)

[necronomicon]

I would personally love to see a range of old british fords, escort2,3,4, Cortina 3,4 and capri 2,3 would be my favourites, as i used to own the 1:1 versions in my youth. Probably not enough interest to make the moulds worthwhile though! Dunno about the aerodynamics of the shells either, the MK 4 cortina was shaped like a brick!

cheers

neil

[Guest sk8te-penguin]

oh crud i wanted a mk II escort [:'(] and paint it like this

and this...

[Mad Ax]

But this way it wouldn't have independant front suspension, thats why I said its not that easy []

Cheers 

I guess any custom project of this type ain't gonna be "easy" - but with enough patience it could be done.

After

all, if you convert a Hi-Lift chassis to RWD, you no longer need the

front axle.  So you could rig up the front end from a TT, TA, TB,

CC or whatever happens to fit best. It'll need some research and

practice - but anything's possible, with enough time, money and

pursuasion []

I saw a hi-lift in my LHS yesterday, for what I

think is a very reasonable price.  If I can save enough money over

the next few months I might buy one, and if my finances are better off

next year I might use my experience building my first to work out how a

2nd can be modifed into something totally different...

I doubt

we'll ever get oldskool Fords from Tamiya tho, the interest is centred

wholly on Western Europe and even then, it doesn't represent the

majority of buyers in that area...

[DJTheo]

I doubt

we'll ever get oldskool Fords from Tamiya tho, the interest is centred

wholly on Western Europe and even then, it doesn't represent the

majority of buyers in that area...

Western Europe? Most of their cars are Japanese (Subaru, Nissan, Toyota, Honda) and their only current Ford (F350) is Ford USA.

Cheers 

[3doorpete]

Want Tamiya to produce the Mk 2 scort shell as you'll get lots of details. Forest arches and Rothman decals....!

 Anyway - Tamiya made the Renault Alpine which was far less successful than the Mk2 'scort rally car, and is not really known outside of France!!

[DJTheo]

Only that the Alpine is actually beautiful [] and was a special mid engine sport car, while a Escort was mass product like a Golf or Kadett. I think people should try to see things a bit more globally, European Fords have their fan base mainly only in UK, should now Tamiya also produce rally Golfs just as in Germany VW has many fans?

Cheers 

[Mad Ax]

I doubt

we'll ever get oldskool Fords from Tamiya tho, the interest is centred

wholly on Western Europe and even then, it doesn't represent the

majority of buyers in that area...

Western Europe? Most of their cars are Japanese (Subaru, Nissan, Toyota, Honda) and their only current Ford (F350) is Ford USA.

Cheers 

Yes

- sorry, that reads wrong.  What I meant is, interest in oldskool

RS Fords is centered on Western Europe, whereas Tamiya produce

primarily for the Japanese and US markets[]

[Glitch]

I think vintage Ford Escort shells are the preserve of small scale specialist manufacturers, just as you can get plenty of vintage JDM shells from smaller manufacturers in Japan - think Chevron, ABC, Speedway Pal and such.

What would i like to see from Tamiya:

1) More sports proto bodies, but then some of these might be as likely as expecting a Ford Escort. Tamiya seems to have had a good and long-standing relationship with the Audi licensing department, so maybe an R10 to sit on the F103, alongside their Courage, is a remote possibility? A Pescarola? I would love to see it, but thats surely in the realm of fantasy...

2) A return to their F1 series, with detailed lexan shells with ABS detailing to allow the current style of F1 cars to be replicated, and a new, more efficient chassis than the F201...

 3) Bunches of shells and options for the F350...