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Stoat Muldoon

58028 Toyota 4x4 Pickup Restoration/Build

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Hello people of Tamiyaclub!

A while ago I began to gather parts for a Tamiya Hilux and made an account on here to get help and share the build. Unfortunately, there seemed to to be some kind of server bug at the time, and I was unable to log in to my forum account. It probably resolved itself ages ago, but I ended up forgetting about it. Anyway, I am now here and I thought I should share my build.

This is how the car looked after the first 3-or-so batches of parts, the first time it was assembled:

IMG_20130723_205416_zpsa3aca9b4.jpg

Chassis:

IMG_20130723_205024_zpsd72859eb.jpg

This is how it looks now:

IMG_20131110_181638_zps50190c18.jpg

IMG_20131110_181843_zps6ac4fb51.jpg

I have had it running, but solely to test the mechanicals. I had to replace the counter gear with the only one available; a brass one. It has no chamfer on the end like the stocker so it does struggle to shift into third while moving, something I need to fix so it doesn't damage the tubular rack that slides over the counter gear.

Here's some of the body parts after a little sanding before I repaint them (going with box art red, so don't need to strip it all off. Or do I?)

IMG_20131110_181751_zpse30bd2d4.jpg

As you can see, I did end up buying a new cab with a grille as I couldn't find a grille anywhere. Naturally, as soon as I did so a grille became available :rolleyes: . But hey, now I've got another cab. There's a few scuffs and scratches that need filling, and both cab and grille were damaged when I got them, one of the fender lugs and upper mounting post were broken on the grille, and the corresponding mounting post on the shell was also broken. A dab of superglue later and they were good as new:

IMG_20131110_181944_zpsda7f2a6d.jpg

IMG_20131110_182005_zps85b99159.jpg

Should really have got some picture prior to gluing them, but the thought slipped my mind.

A common problem that I need to rectify with the addition of a little styrene. One of the rings around the holes on the back of the cab back has broken off, and needs replacing too.

IMG_20131110_182021_zps3fd7cdce.jpg

Monsieur Tamiya has a light limb related ailment. Nothing a little plastic cement can't fix.

IMG_20131110_182052_zps58414a4a.jpg

Reproduction decals I got on Fleabay. Quality isn't great, but they'll do once placed.

IMG_20131110_181928_zps79c5e8d8.jpg

I currently have a new radio box and lid on their way to me, which shall allow me to properly mount the body. The old one along with the blue cab will probably be sold off in a job lot of leftover parts once I'm done. I don't think you can see in any of the pictures, but the window glass I bought has a crack in it. Not sure if I should replace it or try and fix it with glue lots of scratch remover and plastic polish.

A list of the parts I'm currently in need of:

-Rear bumper

-Front radio box mounting bracket (Why does no-one ever seem to sell these?)

-Third servo saver horn post thing that goes through the radio box

-Motor cover

-Switch cover

-Roof lights

-Another headline bucket and lens, and another indicator lens and bucket. The grille I bought had one of each.

-A new hub - one of mine is stripped out, meaning the front left wheel is always in freewheel mode.

-Bed rails (Trying to haggle myself some on eBay right now)

-Transistorized speed controller

-Rear-view mirror

-Period electronics. Might not manage this one, vintage 3 channel radios are hard to find nowadays.

And now we have question time!

With regards to painting, what should I do? just paint over the existing stuff after it's been sanded a little? Strip it all off or go from there? Use primer? I have almost zero experience of painting hard bodies. I do have an old Blackfoot shell to practice on though.

Also, what paint should I use for box art? The manual says X-7 Red, but that's a brush paint and I'd much rather have the superior finish from one of the rattle cans. The closest I have found is TS-8 Italian Red, is that the same colour or do I need to use non-Tamiya paints to get the right colour?

One more thing; what should I use for filling in the deeper scratches? Tamiya do various putties and fillers, but I'm not sure what I ought to use.

This build is going to be a little slow, as being only 16 and in full time education with little room for a job, I have a very low income. All of which is getting spent on this, naturally.

Thanks for looking. ^_^

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Hello people of Tamiyaclub!

[...]

A list of the parts I'm currently in need of:

-Rear bumper

-Front radio box mounting bracket (Why does no-one ever seem to sell these?)

-Third servo saver horn post thing that goes through the radio box

-Motor cover

-Switch cover

-Roof lights

-Another headline bucket and lens, and another indicator lens and bucket. The grille I bought had one of each.

-A new hub - one of mine is stripped out, meaning the front left wheel is always in freewheel mode.

-Bed rails (Trying to haggle myself some on eBay right now)

-Transistorized speed controller

-Rear-view mirror

-Period electronics. Might not manage this one, vintage 3 channel radios are hard to find nowadays.

And now we have question time!

With regards to painting, what should I do? just paint over the existing stuff after it's been sanded a little? Strip it all off or go from there? Use primer? I have almost zero experience of painting hard bodies. I do have an old Blackfoot shell to practice on though.

Also, what paint should I use for box art? The manual says X-7 Red, but that's a brush paint and I'd much rather have the superior finish from one of the rattle cans. The closest I have found is TS-8 Italian Red, is that the same colour or do I need to use non-Tamiya paints to get the right colour?

One more thing; what should I use for filling in the deeper scratches? Tamiya do various putties and fillers, but I'm not sure what I ought to use.

This build is going to be a little slow, as being only 16 and in full time education with little room for a job, I have a very low income. All of which is getting spent on this, naturally.

Thanks for looking. ^_^

Hi mate. That project truck's MEGA!

Some comments:

Be sure to contact TCer bruiserbuilder. He has an online store and sells old and new parts for these trucks. Forrest is a good guy, and his parts for the classic 3-speed vehicles are not expensive!

Regarding paint, I'd rather take all of the old paint off of it. In the UK you have some products to help, but you can also use break fluid. I usually soak some old towel and cover the body. After a day or two the old enamel will start to lift or turn softer. Then you'd have to use an old toothbrush and/or wooden toothpicks.

Once clean, you can sand it a bit, use some cheap primer and paint it. You can order some original Tamiya paint for it in the UK, although you can always find the other brand, Testors, which is very good and less costly. Now, if you plan to keep restoring old hardbodied Tamiya cars you might consider getting yourself a compressor and a good quality airbrush. That way you can always use the colors you want, not just what's available.

Good luck with the project, and keep those pictures coming!!

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On the body, you'll want to strip it down to the bare plastic. Reason being that the new paint you use may not be compatible with the left over old paint on the body and nobody likes a wrinkle finish

There are other ways to remove paint but my favorite is yellow can easy off oven cleaner which is basically caustic soda.

I use body glazing putty from Bondo to fill in scratches.

Make sure to prime the body with a primer from the same brand as your color coats. You'll need it to fill in the minute scratches and give an even body color. The color of the primer will affect how the red will look so try to use white color primer.

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Hi mate. That project truck's MEGA!

Some comments:

-deleted to save space-

Thanks for the tips!

I'm pretty sure I'll end up having to contact Bruiserbuilder to get a forward radio crate mounting bracket if one doesn't come up on eBay. An elusive part, it would seem. :rolleyes:

When you say brake fluid, do you mean the actual hydraulic fluid used to operate the caliper, or brake cleaner?

If I'm going to have to strip the paint off and primer it I might not do box art red. Perhaps something a little less common. I'll look at the list in the manual and see what I fancy.

I don't think I'll be able to justify buying a compressor and airbrush right now, as I'm currently spending the last of my stockpiled cash on the few remaining bits. But hey, Christmas draws near. ;)

taking on a vintage hilux 3 speed at 16 years old is quite a project.

good luck. let us know if you get stuck or cant find a part.

Thanks! An acquaintance of mine at my local club was surprised when I told him about this project, he wondered why I was doing it since I wasn't even alive before this trucks heyday had been an gone. I'll probably be asking you about a radio box bracket (as I said earlier) if I can't find one. I wonder why no-one ever seems to sell them on eBay? :huh:

On the body, you'll want to strip it down to the bare plastic. Reason being that the new paint you use may not be compatible with the left over old paint on the body and nobody likes a wrinkle finish

There are other ways to remove paint but my favorite is yellow can easy off oven cleaner which is basically caustic soda.

I use body glazing putty from Bondo to fill in scratches.

Make sure to prime the body with a primer from the same brand as your color coats. You'll need it to fill in the minute scratches and give an even body color. The color of the primer will affect how the red will look so try to use white color primer.

Thanks for the help, I'll probably be using all Tamiya brand stuff for this, as per the manual (I know you don't have to, but I like it when it's consistent, hehe :P ). Currently putting together a shopping list as a write this post.

---20 minutes later...---

An here it is!

Paint:

http://www.fusionhobbies.com/product/85008-tamiya-ts-8-italian-red

Primer:

http://www.fusionhobbies.com/product/87044-tamiya-180ml-fine-white-surface-primer-large

Filler putty:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bondo-Glazing-Spot-Putty-907-4-5-oz-/330772270210

(Haven't put paint remover here because I don't know what I need yet)

Questions regarding this stuff:

-How many cans of colour paint and primer am I likely to need?

-Does the primer I linked come in a spray can (Can't see a reference to it being in one anywhere)?

-Is that the right sort of putty?

-What kind of styrene plastic should I get to fix the screw tab on the back of the cab?

Questions aside, my new-ish, undamaged and lid-bearing radio box arrived today, as did the bed rails and number plate. Did a quick mock up assembly to see how she looks now that I can actually mount the cab properly.

IMG_20131113_175432_zpsa4217ab3.jpg

Sorry about the focus here, phone camera doesn't quite cut it in low light environments. This is the best I got. Headlight (singular) is being held in with masking tape. ;)

IMG_20131113_175451_zpsa8a3894f.jpg

The bed rails. In black, because that's all I could find. But seeing as I'll be repainting it, it doesn't matter much. I almost got hold of the Toyota logo for the back, but someone bought it before I could accept the counter-offer I got. :(

Doesnt look quite right without the nice polished bumper either. I need an original roll-bar too, that's a Blackfoot one on there right now.

IMG_20131113_175641_zps4cdb2075.jpg

Ooh, shiny. :) Old one will probably get flogged off along with the blue cab to raise money for the rest of the build.

Note all the skimps on screws. Realized I'm gonna need a few more of the correct size. And washers. Lots of washers. :rolleyes:

Hope to get some more pictures of it being painted as soon as possible. Gotta get the right stuff first though.

Thanks for looking. ^_^

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The, paint, primer and putty linked are correct. The brake fluid suggested by others is the standard DOT 3 fluid can be bought at any auto parts store. I have stripped with brake fluid but I prefer the Easy Off oven cleaner. I know this is a US product so look for for a heavy duty oven cleaner at your grocery store

Don't skip the primer coat regardless of how well the body paint strips otherwise the paint will run and pull away in the body lines.

You will need at least two cans of color coat. For Italian red you might want to spray a base of pink.

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[...]

According to this thread http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9012, Easy Off is sold here in the UK as 'Mr. Muscle Oven Cleaner', which I actually have some of. Good news, one less thing to get hold of. :)

How many coats of primer should I use, enough that any remaining paint specks can no longer be seen, or just one coat? Also, how long does that stuff take to cure?

And with regard to the pink backing coat, there's only one gloss finish pink paint in the TS lineup, it being this:

http://www.fusionhobbies.com/product/85025-tamiya-ts-25-pink

It looks a little too pink, might it throw off the red? And how many coats of pink would I need to do?

Sorry about all the questions, I just want to make sure I do this right. Screwing up the paintwork on such a fine vehicle would be frustrating to say the least. :blink:

On a more progressive note, I recently received a small sum of money, on which I am spending on this. Long story short, furniture company screwed us over and caused me and my brother a lot of hassle and cluttered up our bedrooms for weeks, and we were given a part refund. Some of which was given to me, since I was affected by the whole escapade.

So, on order I have:

- TSC (From UK)

- TSC mounting bracket and J-bolt (From Japan)

- Forward radio box mounting bracket (found you, you little blighter!)(also from Japan)

- Some NIP Rubber gearbox caps, because they were only £2.50 for 4 posted. :rolleyes:

-Stock counter gear. Mentioned this before, but it's not here yet. (Economy postage, pfft)

Currently haggling on eBay for:

-3 More Servo control arms (only need one, but they only come in threes for some reason)

-A rear bumper

-A rubber switch cover.

Wish me luck! :lol:

I'll post pictures once the stuff arrives. And by the looks of things I'm going to have a sizable leftover parts pile at the end of this, should be able to sell that stuff and fund the restoration my little Hornet.

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You're starting with a far better body than I had. My Hilux came from Canada and it was extensively damaged in shipment. The transmitter stick had its way with the cab and punched a few holes in it. I stripped the body down best I could. Then I glued the pieces I found in the bottom of the box back into the body with a product called plastiweld. Then I used the bondo glazing putty to smooth out any imperfections. Then came the primer. I smoothed the primer with 1000 grit sand paper then shot another coat or two. Basically you want the surface to be as butter smooth as possible and consistent in color. The non metal flake TS paints tend to be on the thin side so several light coats are better than a few thick ones. You might get paint runs, don't freak out. Just leave it alone to fully dry and sand them out. When I'm satisfied with the paint job I give it one last wet sand with 1500 grit paper and spray one final color coat. Let that dry then spray some clear coats to give it a deep shine. I cannot stress enough to take your time. As for color, you could go with the Italian red and have your truck look just like the other 50+ one here on TC. If it were me, I'd go with Mica red as it's an awesome color

Example of mica red.

042307002.jpg

Here is my Hilux

trcukandtrailer.jpg

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Hi and Welcome Stoat Muldoon ... still pretty new here myself.

That's some project you've taken on . Should be a winner when you finish it ... these are a great looking, CLASSIC RC car.

I have a Blazing Blazer I want to restore. I'll watch your progress with interest.

Good luck with everything.

Cheers, Mirrorman

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You're starting with a far better body than I had. My Hilux came from Canada and it was extensively damaged in shipment. The transmitter stick had its way with the cab and punched a few holes in it. I stripped the body down best I could. Then I glued the pieces I found in the bottom of the box back into the body with a product called plastiweld. Then I used the bondo glazing putty to smooth out any imperfections. Then came the primer. I smoothed the primer with 1000 grit sand paper then shot another coat or two. Basically you want the surface to be as butter smooth as possible and consistent in color. The non metal flake TS paints tend to be on the thin side so several light coats are better than a few thick ones. You might get paint runs, don't freak out. Just leave it alone to fully dry and sand them out. When I'm satisfied with the paint job I give it one last wet sand with 1500 grit paper and spray one final color coat. Let that dry then spray some clear coats to give it a deep shine. I cannot stress enough to take your time. As for color, you could go with the Italian red and have your truck look just like the other 50+ one here on TC. If it were me, I'd go with Mica red as it's an awesome color

Example of mica red.

Here is my Hilux

Thanks for the advice! Which of the mica reds is that, since Tamiya do two? TS-39 or TS-85?

Still considering what colour to go for. The more I look at that F-350, the more the colour grows on me. But I'm also thinking about blue, like the one in the old TV commercial. Decisions, decisions ;) .

Nice Hilux, Porsche and trailer look good too ^_^.

Hi and Welcome Stoat Muldoon ... still pretty new here myself.

That's some project you've taken on . Should be a winner when you finish it ... these are a great looking, CLASSIC RC car.

I have a Blazing Blazer I want to restore. I'll watch your progress with interest.

Good luck with everything.

Cheers, Mirrorman

Thanks, hoping to finish before the year ends, although that may not be possible if it gets too cold to paint outside. :)

Anyway, some more stuff arrived today. Phone camera got better pics this time as I was taking them in good light.

Another servo control column to operate the in-transit TSC:

IMG_20131116_123431_zps26b0ffe5.jpg

(Little grubby in there, plus I noticed one of the servo mount blocks has fractured and I need another. I als know that two of the columns are the wrong way around according to the manual)

Bumper and rubber switch cover:

IMG_20131116_123530_zpse3f79bf8.jpg

And the bumper with all the body parts on:

IMG_20131116_123636_zps07253379.jpg

The tow bar hole is a little bend, nothing that can't be fixed.

More pictures soon, once I get the rest of the parts I ordered. :)

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Sorry I haven't posted any more pics recently, been busy with school. Anyway, here's the latest:

A nice roll bar complete with 'daylighter' roof lights

IMG_20140101_150958_zps108bce50.jpg

A lovely piece of kit this. Works like a charm, and nice and clean too.

IMG_20140101_151049_zps33e0e894.jpg

The nice orderly radio box. :rolleyes:

IMG_20140101_151105_zpse7212d06.jpg

Got these at Christmas. 3 cheap waterproof Altern servos. Used em before, never broken one. They're my top servo for low cost/ low power applications, such as most Tamiyas. The ones that are in the tray right now are borrowed from other cars just to get the Hilux running. It's a good car to run, very lifelike. And once you get all the weight in there, the flex improves a pit.

IMG_20140101_151008_zps588ab715.jpg

Haven't been able to do any painting because of the weather. If it doesn't improve I'll have to clear out some space in the shed to make a painting booth. :P

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Sweet truck indeed. Totally inspiring!

I'm nowadays trying to locate the two rails for the rear bed and the full rear windshield for this model. Very difficult to find.

Anyway, keep up the good work, Stoat Muldoon! :)

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A couple of questions??

Are the orginal roll bars and spot lights made of white plastic?

And are Brusier leaf springs the same as the 1st Hilux leaf springs?

Great build thread by the way, really impressive.

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A couple of questions??

Are the orginal roll bars and spot lights made of white plastic?

And are Brusier leaf springs the same as the 1st Hilux leaf springs?

Great build thread by the way, really impressive.

I'm sure the spot lights are white. Not sure about the roll bar itself. Shoudl be black, but I'm not 100% sure.

Nope. The Bruiser's leaf springs are not the same.

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A couple of questions??

Are the orginal roll bars and spot lights made of white plastic?

And are Brusier leaf springs the same as the 1st Hilux leaf springs?

Great build thread by the way, really impressive.

The lights, as mongoose said, are in fact white plastic. The roll bar is black plastic.

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Really nice work so far dude. Really makes me wish I never traded on my Hilux all those years ago. I'll be keeping my eyes on this one

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Bruiser leafs are a bit longer and more arched than the Hilux leafs. I used bruiser leafs on mine to give it a but of a lifted look. I used a chrome closbuster roll bar and a set of CCP chrome plated lights to give it bling.

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Stickers arrived from MCI, applied and clearcoated over. Just the tires and antenna now.

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Onwards to bigger things!

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