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Nitomor

Tamiya Bruiser Hilux 3 speed - detailed build

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To scale or not to scale, that is the question :)

Scale sized wheels look great, but so do the 2.2's!

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Thanks.

That is indeed the question lol, might just have to indulge in both as the mood takes me. Once I complete the bodyshell I'll get some proper pics up with all the different configurations and feedback what the differences are in the drive!

I've also picked up a shell for use as a runner to keep the original shell for shelf duties.

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Thanks speedy,

Progress to date...

It's coming along slowly but surely. I've been away a lot this month so not much done, but tonight I put a reasonably wet coat of clear on. I'm getting much closer to the glass finish I want. I reckon 2 coats now to complete. Think I've said that before lol but this time its very close now.

As the shell looks tonight...

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Rubber window trims painted...

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With front grille...

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Interior

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With alternate hard top

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That's about it for now. I'm getting quite excited, looking forward to getting the clear coat finished so I can start on decals, more clear then finally reassembly!!

Cheers

Nito

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Thanks neverfollow,

Just took this pic, I'm really pleased with the colour choice and box art match!

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Wearing the Tamiya 4 piece Hop up rims and HPI Yokohama Geolandar tyres, these maybe give it a slightly more scaler look than the original tyres but still at 2.2";

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Man that paint and build is stunning! Two thumbs up.

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Thank you very much, still a way to go, I think I must be close to the longest Bruiser build ever!

Just some more lacquer, decals, lacquer to finish and re-assembly. I'm leaving the lacquer for 1-2 weeks in between coats until it doesn't smell/off gas anymore which means it's painful in waiting times. If I'd used a clear filler coat I could have cut down on lacquer clear coats so it's a lesson learned for next time as the paint flecks are quite large and take some clear coverage for a smooth layer but it's getting nearer now.

It's been quite an obsessive build, I've really tried to up my game and push my limits, the Bruiser does that to you, I think it's Tamiya's ultimate RC so it kind of seems to bring out the best in you. It was my dream RC as a kid, the ReRe makes it a reality now and I've really savoured every moment of this painfully slow build lol.

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Great build thread nito. You've put a lot of care, time and effort into building this bruiser. The quality and components used make the price justified and it looks simply amazing. All that metal, 3 speed, 2 & 4wd, leaf springs are all amazing features.

I think this is a model to really savour building and then admire on a shelf with the occasional drive around your house were there is no mud or rain or things that can scuff up that lovely body shell. Keep the WT01s for bashing about and running through puddles and doing crazy jumps. This one is a bit special.

It's great that you're taking your time too. When I do a build I love building it and planning what I want to do next but I really want to see the finished article. The problem is when it's finished it's finished so do all the little things that make the difference as itll be worth it in the end.

Looking forward to the next installment. :)

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Had a mini mare tonight, clear coat has run in a couple of places! So while I wait for that to dry, a couple of pics I took last night.

Some different wheel/tyre combos!

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Left to right... 2.2 Gmade G-air with Gmade Big Horn tyres, 2.2 Tamiya hop up beadlocks with Proline Mashers, 2.2 Tamiya stock rims with Bruiser tyres, 2.2 Tamiya hop up beadlocks with HPI Yokohama Geolanders, 1.9" Gmade NR01 wheels with Gmade MT1902 tyres.

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I like the look of the gmade tyre and wheel combo followed by the tamiya hop up bead locks with geolanders. I think they will give a nice scale look to the vehicle.

As I'm finding with my build at the moment. There's a definate trade off when going scale though and the performance does suffer.

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Great to see them all side by side... Agree with Terz1 in order of style.

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Thanks for the feedback chaps,

The best compromise is definately the Tamiya beadlock with Yoko geolandars which is what it is sat on at the moment and in the pics further up the page. The 1.9" gmades combo, although the same diameter as the Yoko tyres ultimately, the tyres are actually too soft for the weight of the Bruiser and would deform considerably on cornering when running. The G-air combo would unquestionably be the best for crawling.

Funny how the scale crawler route seems to be the most popular option. It's a shame Tamiya don't bring back the original Hilux or make a scaled variant of the Bruiser, it's so realistic as a model except for the bigfoot look. The more hours I put in on the build concentrating on detail, the more I seem to be heading towards the scale route but equally it needs to retain a decent level of function over form. I feel the Yoko's are definately the best all round for finding that middle ground.

Will be fun to see how this changes in proper running. I'll look forward to testing it with the different setups, probably not this rig though, I ended up buying a second Bruiser for running in July along with a spare shell for 'bashing' using the word losely in this case lol, this one will be the shelfer as the runner has some mods planned but that will be a way off yet.

Edited to add, I bought some vintage Hilux wheels and tyres for which I paid a small fortune, but alas the three bolt fitment is slightly out therefore incompatible :( they seem more like 1.55"! They'll need to be going back on ebay, they're up in the for sale section here if anyone is after a set.

Cheers

Nito

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Took a bit of a risk today as the Bruiser was looking pretty good already but in the quest for perfection, I took some 2500 grit wet and dry to it then touched up some fine details such as the black grille by the door handles, which I did with masking tape and a sharpie.

So here goes...

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What am I doing???.......

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Then I went for my next coat of clear, possibly the final one unless I get another ocd attack. I feel high as a kite now in spite of my mask!

That elusive glass like finish I have been chasing is one step closer...

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To be truly happy I think I'd like "just one more coat" lol. I think I'll put the decals on next though instead as I plan to seal them in with a couple of clear coats anyway.

So here is the current finish, it's not an easy colour to photograph and looks different in different lights. In dark light it just looks a nice blue, in daylight it really "pops" out.

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I wish I had the patience you posses! Your Bruiser is going to be a beautiful showpiece. Keep up the great work!

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Thanks for that. These aren't great quality pics, taken with phone but when I'm properly finished I'll crack out the SLR which should capture the finish better. Next job will be decals and probably some more clear to seal them in. I don't know how that will work out yet, it's a bit of a risk but hey ho, nothing ventured nothing gained.

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First outdoor pics...this is just a trial fit of the other components, it'll all be coming back off. Windscreen needs polishing (although new out the pack there are a few scratches on it) I also need to paint the screws etc, probably be using different fixings for the side bars etc.

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Wow, looks awesome in the sun. I was thinking about spraying clear over stickers but hadn't read much about it. Made sense to me to do it, but wasn't sure how many people had done it and what the results were.

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Thanks, those pics actually look like it has loads of specks all over it, in real life it just pops out and looks superb, the sparkles are really hard to capture with the camera, I'm hoping the SLR will do a better job.

With decals, I'm actually thinking about spraying a light dusting of the sparkle blue over them so they blend better with the base colour, need to trial it first.

The clearing over decals has worked well on my Son's 9th Birthday Mad Bull shell I did for him, but they are only small decals. It stops them lifting and getting dirt under them causing them to peel and the like.

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I would definitely test the blue theory over decals somewhere first as I'm unsure that would work? The Mad Bull looks awesome.

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Glad you like the Mad Bull. The two tone is achieved using two different base coats. So the base coats were masked in prep but the top coat is the same all round it just reacts differently to the base colour. The cockpit is over black, the lighter green over white sealer, the final effect looks great.

I tried a similar two tone effect with the original test shell before ruining it! It looked great at this point, but I learnt a lot with clearing on this shell.

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Yes I'm a big fan of testing things. The silver I've used behind the lights and door handles is an Alclad chrome product which supposedly shouldn't be lacquered over but it has taken fine on the door handles and on my test Mad Bull shell before that. I left it a while to test for any reaction but so far so good.

There are so many variables and products that its the only way to know for sure.

With regards the blue, it's fairly translucent, I was thinking a very very light dusting just to add some sparkle to the Tamiya light blue decals. I'm worried that the plain decals will look odd next to the sparkle finish of the paint.

Cheers

Nito

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Had a mini mare tonight, clear coat has run in a couple of places! So while I wait for that to dry, a couple of pics I took last night.

Some different wheel/tyre combos!

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Left to right... 2.2 Gmade G-air with Gmade Big Horn tyres, 2.2 Tamiya hop up beadlocks with Proline Mashers, 2.2 Tamiya stock rims with Bruiser tyres, 2.2 Tamiya hop up beadlocks with HPI Yokohama Geolanders, 1.9" Gmade NR01 wheels with Gmade MT1902 tyres.

It's great to see the side-by-side wheel comparison! Myself, I'm partial to the original tire/wheels combination as it is the most realistic. And also because the Toyota Bruiser downscales an early 80's mudbog racer.

The tires are Firestone 42070-24 "All Traction Utility" ;)

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Thanks for that mongoose, and in the end, those are the wheels I ended up putting it back on, it'll be displayed with the original tyres and probably a set of the hop up beadlocks in tribute to the original Bruiser which had them as standard.

The other wheels will be used on the other runner when I can afford to buy all the bits I need to start building it (Hex bolt set, paint, quality servos, receiver, esc, etc)! I haven't even finished this build and already I'm looking forward to the next one, trying to make small improvements over this one. I also have its twin, the Mountain Rider to start which will be its cabinet buddy and again there are a whole load of bits to buy before I can start it. I'll probably build the Mountain Rider first which means the runner Bruiser will need to wait a while. I have two boys so the plan is they'll each inherit a 3 speeder one day!

The runner will be a bit of a departure from the way Tamiya intended, not massive mods but a few things here and there I think.

Cheers

Nito

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Took some more pics today before stripping the shell down for a wet sand and re-coat of clear!

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Have switched the esc over to lipo. Battery in the pic below is a Core RC lipo turned upside down as it looks smarter all in black! The Futaba J leads poking out behind the battery are for the led light kit that will be fitted to the shell.

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The electronics box

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Cheers

Nito

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