XR311 runner glue

[Saito2 6686]

I've been tossing the idea of getting a re-release XR311 runner about. Like a lot of the "models in motion" or "suitable for radio control" types, keeping the many intricate pieces in place seems to be an issue. Other than the usual stuff I use like CA (superglue) or Testors model cement, are there any other glues that will keep pieces in place and not randomly lost along the trail? Thanks.

[WillyChang 1814]

You mean the body bits?

Weld them with Tenax or Plastruct PlastiWeld & the only way they'll be coming off is when they get broken off  

 

[Saito2 6686]

Yeah, the body bits. I'd omit obvious things that would go missing like the mirrors. Just being dusted over the years, my shelfer XR11 now has a loose seatback, pedals and driver. Thanks!

[Juggular 4964]

I like how XR311 runs.  

Despite lacking any damping effect, I love seeing the suspension work on youtube (like the one below).  So scale.  No other Tamiya suspension looks this good.  Tamiya likes it too stiff in recent years.  

As for plastic glue, I've used Testor's needle tube, PlastiWeld, Tamiya regular glue, and Tamiya lemonene glue.  PlastiWeld is strongest by far.  It's unforgiving.  If you glued one part, and one minute later you realized that you put the wrong one?  Too bad. It's not coming off.  If you want to construct a hard body with styrene?  PlastiWeld is the way to go.  It's welded.  If it ever comes off at the glue seam, you can see that it's literally torn apart at the edges.  It smells horrible too.  

So for modelling purposes, I prefer Tamiya Lemonene glue.  Its strength is about the same as Testor's needle tube.  It's forgiving in that you can correct a mistake in one minute.  Lemonene is supposed to be non-toxic, but it smells delicious like orange, so kids are attracted to it.  If we had kids, I don't know if I would use lemonene.  

 

[Saito2 6686]

On 4/2/2018 at 4:32 PM, Juggular said:

Despite lacking any damping effect, I love seeing the suspension work

Precisely how I feel. I'm also drawn to the "Tamiya's first off-roader" and "suitable for radio control" aspect. I've never actually driven a kit this early in design. For being Tamiya's first in a lot of ways, it seems totally blown by the wayside by the SRBs (which are also cool in their own right of course). I'll give both Plastiweld and Tamiya lemonene a try. I know from experience that Testors probably won't hold up. I find it amusing that one of the XR311s in the Tamiya promo actually loses a piece on camera as it bounces by.

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

I absolutely love the XR311 for its status as Tamiya's first off-road RC car and for its cool chassis, I don't enjoy much running it. The same goes for the Cheetah of course. However, both bodies fit pretty well on the TL01 chassis with relatively moderate modifications on chassis and body. The better suspension and authentic 4WD are clearly big improvements over the original body.

I started on a TL01-based XR311 some years ago, but chose to use the Matsushiro (semi-)clone body instead of the Tamiya body because it's a lot more robust. Encountering mostly only minor problems and having good progress, I started on a TL01-based Cheetah in parallel (slowing down work on both ).

The more I worked on the XR311, the more I realized that many parts from the Tamiya XR311 body were needed to make it look good, and also, using the Tamiya body from the start would have been easier, although it would have resulted in a less robust model. The photos below are old, and the Cheetah is just missing some final touches now, whereas the XR311 still needs quite a lot of work. Also, I've started on a second TL01-based XR311 using only Tamiya XR311 body parts.

As you can see in the photo of the two chassises side by side, the front damper arrangements differ quite a bit. These are modifications to the TL01 chassis to make the dampers and damper mounts fit under the bodies, requiring different solutions for the XR311 body and Cheetah body. The same goes for the bumper. TL01 on the XR311, TL01B on the Cheetah,

Furthermore, whereas the TL01-chassis has a suitable wheelbase for the XR311 body without modifications, the shorter wheelbase of the Cheetah made it necessary to put spacers between the two halves of the lower rear Suspension arms. An easy and quick modification although it also made it necessary to grind a bit off material off the TL01 tub for clearance.

Bodies as realistic as the Cheetah and XR311 can't possibly have visible body posts poking through, so upside-down body mounts were used for the XR311 and an extra "floor" for the body Posts under the Cheetah body, with the bodies reinforced with 3mm lexan plates in the areas close to the body mounts and in other critical spots.

For fun, I've included a photo of my Matsushiro XR311 models too.

 

[Saito2 6686]

Those all look very good. Its almost like the body and chassis were made for each other.

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

5 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

Those all look very good. Its almost like the body and chassis were made for each other.

It sure wouldn't be hard for Tamiya to adapt the bodies for the TL01 chassis. I deliberately used TL01 suspension arms as I wanted the suspension travel and stance although it means that the chassis is a bit too wide for the bodies. Sacrifizing a bit of suspension travel and making it a bit more prone to roll, M03/04 suspension arms would make the chassis appropriately narrow. Btw, since I took the photos, I've replaced the TL01 uprights with M05Ra uprights for a bit more ground clearance. They're still not crawlers, but not that bad! Locking the diffs and using better tires would be an option, but I consider them models best suitable for light off-roading anyway, so I prefer diffs and original tires.

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

By the way, just in case Tamiya should eventually re-release the Cheetah too, here are some scans by yours truly of boxarts from defunct plastic model company Otaki. If body parts for the Cheetah should get as easily available as XR311 body parts, painting in alternative colour schemes can be done without feeling guilt!

 

[CarSten 1]

Great conversion report, how did you fix the rims on the axles?