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Boddney

Little Bit of Help For a Newbie Please

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Hi everyone,

I’m new here and this is my first post.

I have built a few Tamiya RC kits when I was in my teens and now I’m 45 I’m gonna have another crack at it.

Here is the help I need. 

I want to build a replica(ish) of my weekend car, a 1987 MR2 Mk1. I found the shell on eBay in a U.S Shop. The description said I would need a Tamiya M-06 chassis. I went to my local model shop and the guy there said I had a choice of a Midnight Pumpkin Lowride or a VW Beetle.

I’m into my old cars so I went for the Beetle. 

Here comes the problem. When I went to order the MR2 shell I noticed that it was a 1/12 scale and the Beetle is 1/10 scale. The ironic thing is that the Pumpkin is 1/12.

Now, will the MR2 shell fit on the 1/10 M-06 chassis and if so will the wheels look to big for the shell? Obviously my other option is to exchange the Beetle for the Pumpkin but I’d rather not. The wheel base for the shell is 210mm and the chassis can be adjusted to 210mm long. Is this the same thing?

Any opinions welcome.

Thanks,

Bod

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942ACCD6-F526-4ABD-BFC9-C29F9EBA62EA.jpeg

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The advertised scale is seldom very accurate as most body shells have their dimensions massaged to fit standard chassis sizes. I wouldn't worry. As long as the wheelbase and track width measurements are correct, the shell will fit the chassis and all will be well. You can then choose a wheel and tyre set to suit your tastes. There are many available.

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Thanks Turnip. What about the wheelbase issue. Is wheelbase the same as length?

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Hey, welcome to the 'club B)

Don't worry about the scale designations the bodies are given -- Both the Pumpkin and the Beetle come on the M06 chassis, which gives you the choice of three wheelbases: 210, 225, and 239mm. In your case, the MR2 is 210mm, so you would build the chassis without any spacers.

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4 minutes ago, Boddney said:

Thanks Turnip. What about the wheelbase issue. Is wheelbase the same as length?

Strictly speaking wheelbase is the distance from centre of front wheel hub to centre of rear wheel hub with the steering pointing straight ahead, while length is the overall length of the chassis from front of front bumper to rear of rear bumper. However in this context the two terms are being used interchangeably. The body will fit the chassis.

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2 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

 However in this context the two terms are being used interchangeably.

That was the feeling I got. I’ve always used wheelbase as the ‘between hub’ measurement. Makes it confusing when the correct terms are not used.

 

Thanks @OCD for your input and reassurance.

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Another note on scale:

As you know, the M06 can be built with a choice of three different wheelbase settings. If you fit the Beetle body shell, you will want the longest of the 3 options. For your Toyota shell, you'll want the shortest of the 3.

Therefore, even though both body shells can fit the same chassis, they fit it at the two extremes of its wheelbase settings, so a 1/10 scale Beetle and a 1/12 scale Toyota MR2 would indeed use the same chassis, albeit set up differently, and would end up as different scale models as a result.

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Oh h.e.l.l., that’s a bit like talking to me about the space/time paradox.Lol

So are you saying that because the shells are different scale, so overall different size, they both may well fit on the chassis that is set at one length?

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They will fit for sure, it is all about width and wheelbase.

i bought a Suzuki Swift M03M (medium 225mm wheelbase), I wanted to replicate my real car a Skoda Fabia, and bought a Skoda Fabia 1/12 scale body. It was advertised to fit 210mm wheelbase and 160mm width.

here is a picture, removed the spacers of the Medium 225mm M03M and I got a short 210mm M03.

24vtagi.jpg

it is a perfect fit.

 

and welcome ! :)

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Hi there Boddney- welcome to TC. Lots of good people on here.

As the others here have already indicated, scales of the kits are sometimes not the best way to determine the right chassis for a body you have in mind to use.

The various 1/10 scale M-series chassis generations(and including the M-06 you asked about) are generally good for replicating smaller sized vehicles (small as in smaller in real life) and those include Mini-Coopers, Miatas, CRX, Renault Alpine, etc...

The added benefit of the M-06 being that the wheelbase is highly adjustable. Unfortunately when purchasing a different body from another brand, and at times in a scale like 1/12th to fit a "small" 1/10th chassis such as an M-series Tamiya the only way you know if it will look correct or work off of your chosen dimensions of the chassis you are working from is to purchase the body and try it. Or if you've seen someone else do it before and know that it works well. As you will find TC is an excellent source for that.

I have been lucky with that sometimes,,and sometimes not and end up selling the body or taking it back to the hobby shop, or returning it to the online seller/vendor if it cannot be used. I've been kit-bashing and trying different bodies on chassis types of all brands for a very long time so this is always the fun part of the project for me, when deciding what the next car will be as a hybrid of sorts. Again, welcome.

s.collins

 

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Wow, so much help in such a short time.

Thanks to all.

I’ve ordered the MR2 shell and it’s been dispatched from Scottsdale Arizona. It may take a while but I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in to the project.

I’m going to take it really slow as I have a tendency to rush things and get it wrong so I want to avoid that.

Thanks again. Love you all already. X

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3 hours ago, Boddney said:

Oh h.e.l.l., that’s a bit like talking to me about the space/time paradox.Lol

So are you saying that because the shells are different scale, so overall different size, they both may well fit on the chassis that is set at one length?

 Almost. They both will fit on the chassis when it is set to the length appropriate to the shell. Long for the Beetle, short for the MR2.

It will all make sense when you have the parts in front of you I'm sure. 

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Hi Boddney!

Make sure you post some pictures when the car is done. I'd like to see what an M-06 MR2 looks like!

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12 hours ago, Yalson said:

Hi Boddney!

Make sure you post some pictures when the car is done. I'd like to see what an M-06 MR2 looks like!

Will do👍

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Your next task is to get all 3 M-chassis cars so you can line them up against eachother... the difference between 210, 225 and 239mm wheelbases although small numerically can sometimes seem quite huge ( getting up close helps!) and on other days hardly noticeable.... you’ll see if you end up down that road ;)  

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Don’t let my Mrs see that @Jason1145. She already wants to know why a grown up has gone out and spent a load of money on a ‘toy car’. Women eh? I’ll never understand them. Lol

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1 hour ago, Boddney said:

Don’t let my Mrs see that @Jason1145. She already wants to know why a grown up has gone out and spent a load of money on a ‘toy car’. Women eh? I’ll never understand them. Lol

To be fair you did push the boat out a bit on that delicious MR2 shell... whatever you do next don’t admit to paying import fees if it’s from USA as you might get stung as I often do with anything valued over £15 :(

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