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Man1c M0nk3y

Man1c’s DT03 - The Resurrection

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And so it begins!

25746610458_ac953f753f_z.jpg

Utilising the finist makeshift spray both. The bottoms of some old draws that are soon for the bin. 

38909615624_24f1d22f3e_z.jpg

Painted Tamiya PS-5 as per kit but the last time I will be following the kit. 

It appears to be well coated, but I’ll know fully tomorrow. I know it was a pain getting down into the raised spats recess. Hopefully it fully coated.  

I’m other news I’ve been in touch with Nathanael at MCI about getting some recoloured decals sorted. Just need to scan the originals and mail them over now. 

 

EDIT: A quick look over now and I’ve failed to coat the insides of the uprights fully 😕 Another coat or two tomorrow I guess 🙄

Any tips?

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I did my first paintjob back in November just masked it up and stuck it in a cardboard box and went nuts :D

Cos I am very impatient and just wanted it done at this point I left it about 1 hour between coats it was fine with a bit of bleeding between colors!

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One of the factors that sets polycarbonate (PS) paint apart from many other varieties is that it remains slightly flexible even when dry, allowing it to bend with the body shell and wing rather than flaking off.

 

However if the paint is applied too thickly, it becomes less flexible, sometimes to the point of no longer being able to "keep up" with the flex of the body shell and wing, at which point it cracks and flakes off.

 

The challenge with painting deeply recessed areas such as those on your wing is to get enough paint into the recesses without putting too much on the flatter areas.

 

One approach is to mask off the flatter areas once the first few coats are cured, so that any additional coats only hit the recessed areas. Another approach is to spray a small pool of paint into a suitable recepticle such as the lid of the paint can, so that you can dip a small brush into it and paint the recesses that way.

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On 12/28/2017 at 4:48 PM, Man1c M0nk3y said:

Less of an update as such and more of a musings and correcting mistakes 🙄

Firstly the mistake. 

On the last build progress I stopped at the point the receiver switch housing would be added and then the gearbox attaches to chassis whilst I waited for the hop-up Gearbox Bridge’s to arrive. Well, idle hands and all that, I figured I’d fit the standard bridges and attach gearbox etc just to see how it went. Well it went not very well at all 😕

I couldn’t attach the receiver switch housing as the screws I had left we’re too thin to bite into the plastic, crap. 

So the retracing of steps began and I narrowed it down to the screws that hold the differential gear housing lid on. Took the gearbox apart again and sure enough that’s what I’d put the wrong screws in. 

The instructions call for 2.6x10mm (silver screws) and I’d used 3x10mm (black screws). Now if Mr Tamiya had just said use the silver screws I’d have been fine 😂

On the plus side, I’m getting good at dismantling the rear end 👍

38650726214_b6e9da21e6_z.jpg

@TurnipJF
 

4

Actually, the manual does indicate that but it might go unnoticed at first.  The screws and bits are color-coded in the manual.  Here (1) in step 14 where it calls for the 2.6X10 mm screws, the screw is illustrated silver.  It might be hard to tell because the other parts are white plastic or silver metal as well which results in all the bits show as white in the diagram.

 

01.11.2018-09.31.png

But here, in step 25 where black screws (2) and silver screw pin shafts (3) are used, the illustration shows the coloration and difference becomes apparent.

01.11.2018-09.33.png

This detail of the manual is a common oversight by new builders but once you see it, you'll never miss it again.  :)

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On 1/8/2018 at 1:06 PM, Man1c M0nk3y said:

So as I mentioned yesterday I’m still getting some wandering/pulling and think some of the blame might lie with the tyres as I could see them deforming at times. Now I built it up without inserts as I wanted to run it a few times and get a feel first, however I’ve decided to put them in now. 

39532230482_d61a52c3bc_z.jpg

What a battle!

I’ve used Schumacher U6738 on the front and U6734 on the rear  Both ‘Medium’ firmness.

Tyres do feel better in hand, however won’t get a chance to test yet as body is off for painting, when I have the time.

Whilst doing this I whipped the servo out again to check it was neutral/central. With it at neutral and with the servo saver on its slightly to the right. Moving the saver just puts it slightly to the left. I guess it can’t be anything else without rebuilding.  Trimmed it using the TX whilst out of the car and noticed that this time I used less trim than when I trimmed it with it in the car.

I also noticed whilst reattaching the front wheels (paying more attention now!) that there is slight side to side play, maybe 1-2mm. Thanks to the lovely people here it seems that that’s not an issue as such and shimming is the way forward, so will be ordering some shims ASAP and hopefully I will have a truer tracking buggy at the end of it all.

Also making progress tidying the wiring up as best as possible and I am currently waiting for some braided sleeving to protect the motor wires a bit. They feel too exposed to me. 

6

If you were able to pull the tires off and install foams I must assume that you did not glue the tires to the wheels.  This is crucial with one-piece wheels.  Neglecting to glue the tires on will cause them to shift and pull, sometimes they will shift enough to come completely off the wheel.  This is especially so on the outside-front during hard cornering.   Unglued rears will result in the wheel spinning freely inside the tire as well as the aforementioned problem.  Tire foams will help the tire keep its proper profile under compression such as hitting a bump or rut and landing a jump.

Unglued tires alone could be the cause of your wandering nose.  Addressing your servo centering, a 25T spline servo rarely aligns with the servo saver dead center.  There simply aren't enough splines to allow for a fine enough initial placement to nail center dead on.  That's partly why we have trims; to center up the servo perfectly.  I suggest getting your buggy on a perfectly flat, smooth surface like a car park and running it at a slow pace away and back from yourself.  Slowly adjust the trim so the buggy runs true.  This will give you the most accurate centering.  Off the ground or even out of the chassis centering doesn't take steering geometry into consideration.  When the front suspension is under load, even just the weight of a static car, the centering will change a bit.  A bell crank style steering setup helps alleviate this but only somewhat.

Loving your build thread!

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9 hours ago, novicelad said:

I did my first paintjob back in November just masked it up and stuck it in a cardboard box and went nuts :D

Cos I am very impatient and just wanted it done at this point I left it about 1 hour between coats it was fine with a bit of bleeding between colors!

I am seriously having to control myself and not rush off. I’d say I’m savouring the moment but this bit is ‘my’ stressful bit!

8 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

One of the factors that sets polycarbonate (PS) paint apart from many other varieties is that it remains slightly flexible even when dry, allowing it to bend with the body shell and wing rather than flaking off.

 

However if the paint is applied too thickly, it becomes less flexible, sometimes to the point of no longer being able to "keep up" with the flex of the body shell and wing, at which point it cracks and flakes off.

 

The challenge with painting deeply recessed areas such as those on your wing is to get enough paint into the recesses without putting too much on the flatter areas.

 

One approach is to mask off the flatter areas once the first few coats are cured, so that any additional coats only hit the recessed areas. Another approach is to spray a small pool of paint into a suitable recepticle such as the lid of the paint can, so that you can dip a small brush into it and paint the recesses that way.

Cheers. Sorted now. Just needed a bit more, angle, coats and patience!

2 hours ago, Effigy3 said:

Actually, the manual does indicate that but it might go unnoticed at first.  The screws and bits are color-coded in the manual.  Here (1) in step 14 where it calls for the 2.6X10 mm screws, the screw is illustrated silver.  It might be hard to tell because the other parts are white plastic or silver metal as well which results in all the bits show as white in the diagram.

 

01.11.2018-09.31.png

But here, in step 25 where black screws (2) and silver screw pin shafts (3) are used, the illustration shows the coloration and difference becomes apparent.

01.11.2018-09.33.png

This detail of the manual is a common oversight by new builders but once you see it, you'll never miss it again.  :)

Ah. Mr Tamiya is forgiven then 😂 Thank you for the tip, or should that be pointing out the obvious 😂 I won’t miss that in future. 

1 hour ago, Effigy3 said:

If you were able to pull the tires off and install foams I must assume that you did not glue the tires to the wheels.  This is crucial with one-piece wheels.  Neglecting to glue the tires on will cause them to shift and pull, sometimes they will shift enough to come completely off the wheel.  This is especially so on the outside-front during hard cornering.   Unglued rears will result in the wheel spinning freely inside the tire as well as the aforementioned problem.  Tire foams will help the tire keep its proper profile under compression such as hitting a bump or rut and landing a jump.

Unglued tires alone could be the cause of your wandering nose.  Addressing your servo centering, a 25T spline servo rarely aligns with the servo saver dead center.  There simply aren't enough splines to allow for a fine enough initial placement to nail center dead on.  That's partly why we have trims; to center up the servo perfectly.  I suggest getting your buggy on a perfectly flat, smooth surface like a car park and running it at a slow pace away and back from yourself.  Slowly adjust the trim so the buggy runs true.  This will give you the most accurate centering.  Off the ground or even out of the chassis centering doesn't take steering geometry into consideration.  When the front suspension is under load, even just the weight of a static car, the centering will change a bit.  A bell crank style steering setup helps alleviate this but only somewhat.

Loving your build thread!

Correct, I didn’t glue the tyres as I expected to be taking them off pretty quickly anyway to add the inserts. Just wanted a few runs to appreciate the difference. I do intend to glue, just haven’t got round to it yet. The extra information is valued. 

I will certainly be checking the trim again once I get the buggy back running, my post was more an observation. 

And thank you. It’s great to know people, even those as advanced as yourself are get something from this thread. 

———

Did a little more earlier.

Managed to get the fins/uprights/spats/whatever(!) coated. No pics, it’s too dark now. Just the decals to figure out on the spoiler now. 

Next, I moved onto the main shell. Let the masking begin...

24765679177_07dcbcce20_z.jpg

Now this bit really tested my patience! Was sat there thinking “Why? Why did you decide to deviate from the box art” 😂

So all masked and ready for the first colour. Some more PS-5. Well once it’s light.

39633987021_faa6dc4452_z.jpg

After that its fingers crossed the main colour works. Always as risk I suppose.

So what’s people’s opinions then on deviating from the box art? 

As always, thanks for reading.

 

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1 hour ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

39633987021_faa6dc4452_z.jpg

 

After that its fingers crossed the main colour works. Always as risk I suppose.

So what’s people’s opinions then on deviating from the box art?

5

Ah, painting the body.  Always a pain IMHO.  Someone here, I don't remember who (my apologies) said they were starting their builds with the body first because once the chassis was built it was too tempting to run it sans body or with an unpainted body.  So much wisdom!  I took his lead and now I do the bodies first as well.  I found that I take my time more that way.

I too like to stray from box art.  It's a personal almost zen experience building up a kit from a stack of part sprues and bags of screws.  Why would I want my baby, my unique baby to look like every other model out there?  I have just 2 box art models in my fleet.  A Frog that is on permanent display in my office and a Suzuki SX4 rally TT-02.  Let your personal expression flag fly.  Also, don't fret if the trim job or paint job isn't perfect.  It's your first go.  I've done dozens and not a one has come out perfectly which is no matter because these are meant to be run.  If you actually use it, it won't take long for the body to get some wear on it anyway which will in all likelihood completely obscure any imperfections.  Think about this.  If your trim/paint/decal job did turn out perfectly, how willing would you be to run that puppy hard?  :)

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For me, it is box art on classic or scale models, but I do my own thing on  buggies or trucks without classic status or a real world equivalent to base it on.

 

If I was building a Racing Fighter, I'd do my own thing, possibly drawing inspiration from a fighter jet of some sort to tie in with the name.

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41 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

For me, it is box art on classic or scale models, but I do my own thing on  buggies or trucks without classic status or a real world equivalent to base it on.

If I was building a Racing Fighter, I'd do my own thing, possibly drawing inspiration from a fighter jet of some sort to tie in with the name.

2

Oooh, Imperial Tie Fighter inspired...  Geeze now you got me thinking.  Thanks a lot!  :P

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That’s a good idea about painting the body first @Effigy3 (and whoever it was that said it first!)

With this build I always intended my own thing even though it’s my first and following the box would be ‘easier’.  

Like @TurnipJF says though. If it was some rare/special/expensive one I’d follow the box but I’d probably get a spare shell and do my own thing with that for running. 

Removed the masking this morning before work. Too eager to wait(!). Come out well imho. A slight bit of bleed at the back. I can cope with that as a first go. Might even be able to tidy it up a bit with a knife or some such. 

Top/main colour now, when I have the time. Busy for a few days now however. 

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So update time (part1). 

A little change that @TurnipJF mentioned and that seems quite common. 

The shocks are mounted with step screws. Top on the front and top and bottom at the rear. They also have plenty or for/aft slop. The solution as such is to swap the step screws out with 5mm ball connectors. 

So withoit further ado...

25809443768_b81336838b_z.jpg

You can see the ‘free’ space left on the step screw allowing movement. When I removed these the finish was already wearing off and it’s only been run twice  

25809444858_9389bb86f6_z.jpg

We call our trusty Tamiya tool into action and six 5mm ball connectors (50592).

38972547184_072ea47ee7_z.jpg

Nice and secure now. Repeat for the rest.

Wiring. What can I say? What a mess! Without cutting and re-soldering this will have to do.

24812585777_c3456d7e85_z.jpg

As you can see the receiver (Futaba R304SB) is the aerial version. I didn’t want the aerial sticking out the body so the rest is tucked away with just a bit pointing up which sits just fine under the shell. By all accounts the range of the RX is very good so don’t see it being an issue, but if it comes to it I’ll do it ‘properly’.

 

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(Part2)

The bit we’ve all been waiting for 😂 Paints done. 

So then as I’ve said a few times, it was never going to be box art, so withoit further ado...

38974414944_5e9dcb1d31_z.jpg

24814509117_8e8770331f_z.jpg

39683255131_00c20d410d_z.jpg

38785642455_06599ed71f_z.jpg

Colours used were:

PS-5 for the spoiler, roof, a-pillars and ‘vents’ at the front. 

PS-23 for the rest of the shell. 

I was worried it wouldn’t work when the paints arrived. The lid on the PS-23 was nearly as dark as the PS-5 so I started to doubt the pictures I’d seen. Needn’t have worried in the end. 

I’m really happy with how it came out. Yes there’s bits I’m not happy with. Slight bleed at the back and a little overspray where I slightly missed a slight gap in the masking, that should be covered by a decal though. 

Now a single colour admittedly would have been simpler but as soon as I received the kit this was the intention. If I’d have wimped out I’d have regretted not trying. 

So next I need to sort the decals. I’ve not had the time to scan them yet and send a copy to MCIRacing so until then they will wait. A few I’m definitely using a few I’m not and a few I need to adjust. Hopefully be done soon. 

Any thoughts? Good, bad, fire away. 

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Great colour choices! Ties in very nicely with the grey and black chassis mouldings.

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Looks very nice!  I’m trying to figure out what kind of vehicle my 5 year old son would like and showed him yours...  boy did his eyes light up over it!!  He keeps bugging me to buy it from you now...

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4 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

Great colour choices! Ties in very nicely with the grey and black chassis mouldings.

Cheers bud. Always felt they’d work so long as the grey came out right. Luckily it did. Phew!

4 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Nice job. It's made me realise that the Racing Fighter shell is actually pretty Nice, ruined by all those chequered flag stickers. 

Thanks. Yeah I agree. I think the RF has the better, more aggressive shell over the Neo Fighter. When it comes to graphics though I think the NF looks better. 

I’ll be using very few of the decals tbh. The chequered flag being one that won’t be seeing use. 

3 hours ago, kwkenuf said:

Looks very nice!  I’m trying to figure out what kind of vehicle my 5 year old son would like and showed him yours...  boy did his eyes light up over it!!  He keeps bugging me to buy it from you now...

Cheers. High praise indeed if a real kid likes it instead of just us big kids!

My two youngest can’t wait to go and make it a mess 😂

Only one course of action now. You’ll have to buy him one and build it together, obviously detailing it here.

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31 minutes ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

Only one course of action now. You’ll have to buy him one and build it together, obviously detailing it here.

That is the plan!  Keep up the good work!

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38 minutes ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

Thanks. Yeah I agree. I think the RF has the better, more aggressive shell over the Neo Fighter. When it comes to graphics though I think the NF looks better. 

I’ll be using very few of the decals tbh. The chequered flag being one that won’t be seeing use. 

Completely agree. That and the black wheels instead to the white astrals on the Neo Fighter are why I paid about an extra £15 to get the Racing Fighter even though I wasn't going to use the shell!

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1 hour ago, kwkenuf said:

That is the plan!  Keep up the good work!

Look forward to it. 

1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Completely agree. That and the black wheels instead to the white astrals on the Neo Fighter are why I paid about an extra £15 to get the Racing Fighter even though I wasn't going to use the shell!

The black wheels are worth the £15 alone!

What did you do with the shell? 

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19 hours ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

(Part2)

The bit we’ve all been waiting for 😂 Paints done. 

So then as I’ve said a few times, it was never going to be box art, so withoit further ado...

38974414944_5e9dcb1d31_z.jpg

24814509117_8e8770331f_z.jpg

39683255131_00c20d410d_z.jpg

38785642455_06599ed71f_z.jpg

Colours used were:

PS-5 for the spoiler, roof, a-pillars and ‘vents’ at the front. 

PS-23 for the rest of the shell. 

I was worried it wouldn’t work when the paints arrived. The lid on the PS-23 was nearly as dark as the PS-5 so I started to doubt the pictures I’d seen. Needn’t have worried in the end. 

I’m really happy with how it came out. Yes there’s bits I’m not happy with. Slight bleed at the back and a little overspray where I slightly missed a slight gap in the masking, that should be covered by a decal though. 

Now a single colour admittedly would have been simpler but as soon as I received the kit this was the intention. If I’d have wimped out I’d have regretted not trying. 

So next I need to sort the decals. I’ve not had the time to scan them yet and send a copy to MCIRacing so until then they will wait. A few I’m definitely using a few I’m not and a few I need to adjust. Hopefully be done soon. 

Any thoughts? Good, bad, fire away. 

Looks excellent big thumbs up 

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Awesome paint scheme mate, very nice. Have been contemplating using gunmetal on something for a while, looks a beaut on this shell.

I like the way you've accented the original contours of the body. Also the grey goes well with the palette of colours of the the other materials of the plastics and springs. I bet you're going to agonise over the sticker placement now, they'd just detract from the great paint job. Be careful how you go! I'm another who'd say 'stay away from the cheque stickers'. I also agree that the neo fighter shell looks a bit weak, this racing fighter shell is far more determined.

20 hours ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

Wiring. What can I say? What a mess! Without cutting and re-soldering this will have to do.

If you want to sort your cables out, I suggest you start reading up on a new skill if you don't know already - wiring, soldering and heat shrinking. You cut the wires down to the correct length, solder the end connectors back on, then heat shrink over the joins with protective rubber. You can do this for the battery and ESC (maybe even other components such as servo and receiver, however I haven't tried these).  This way you get pretty clean cable runs on your chassis under the shell. It's just another part of the OCD that you're slowly succumbing to....  there's loads of good RC guides on the net how to do this, doesn't need to be Tamiya specific either.

Great car!

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1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Sold it new unused to fund other hop ups. Put my GH2 shell on the buggy.

Ah. I know you are running the GH shell just wondered if you’d held onto the RF shell. 

1 hour ago, novicelad said:

Looks excellent big thumbs up 

Thank you. 

41 minutes ago, ALEXKYRIAK said:

Awesome paint scheme mate, very nice. Have been contemplating using gunmetal on something for a while, looks a beaut on this shell.

I like the way you've accented the original contours of the body. Also the grey goes well with the palette of colours of the the other materials of the plastics and springs. I bet you're going to agonise over the sticker placement now, they'd just detract from the great paint job. Be careful how you go! I'm another who'd say 'stay away from the cheque stickers'. I also agree that the neo fighter shell looks a bit weak, this racing fighter shell is far more determined.

If you want to sort your cables out, I suggest you start reading up on a new skill if you don't know already - wiring, soldering and heat shrinking. You cut the wires down to the correct length, solder the end connectors back on, then heat shrink over the joins with protective rubber. You can do this for the battery and ESC (maybe even other components such as servo and receiver, however I haven't tried these).  This way you get pretty clean cable runs on your chassis under the shell. It's just another part of the OCD that you're slowly succumbing to....  there's loads of good RC guides on the net how to do this, doesn't need to be Tamiya specific either.

Great car!

Cheers. 

Yeah, the Gun Metal looks great, just not on the can lid! I will definitely use it again at some point. 

Yep, agonising over decals big time. Narrowed down to those that are B&W only so as to stay on pallete. 

Pretty much decided the spoiler is having none. 

Plan to get a can of PS31 (smoke) and ‘tint’ the windows slightly. 

As for the wiring. This time I just went with it. On my next build the ocd will flow!

I can solder already, just very rusty so I’ll be practicing first. 

———

In other developments  the washers to take up the slop in the front wheels arrived. Can’t get them to play nice  suspect too thick so back to the drawing board. Will probably just order some Tamiya shims 53587.

Got plenty left to get out of this yet, but already thinking of my next one. I want the build aspect again. This is a worrying sign isn’t it? 😂

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Well I’ve added a few decals. This has been the hardest part I’d say. The paint and subsequent graphics placement has wormed away at the back of my mind since getting the kit. I cut more out than used and even applied some then pretty much removed them straight away(!) 

I’m pretty happy with how it sits,  but if I change my mind they are easy enough to remove. 

Anyway, pictures...

38995066084_bc768fd7b7_z.jpg

For some reason it looks like there’s something on the scoop in the picture. There isn’t. Must be the lights. 

39672936622_e19921f037_z.jpg

39673001302_833d5d1fda_z.jpg

Opinions?

As mentioned previously I’d hoped to scan the decals and send to MCIRacing. Unfortunately my scanner doesn’t want to play ball and is outputting junk files. Spent over an hour playing with it and just gave up. As it stands though, even re-coloured I don’t feel I’d have used any more than I already have done so not overly bothered, apart from the scanner being goosed 🙄

Anyway, need this rain to sod off now so I can go make it a mess 😂

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I think that looks superb. The colours work really well together and tie in nicely with the wheels etc. Great work, well done for going off piste. :)

 

 

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