Subaru Brat to Super Champ conversion

[junkmunki 846]

Well, the story so far.

In the original Brat instructions, it just says to cut out the panel in the rear bed of the Brat body to fit it to a Super Champ. What it doesn't tell you, is that the body has to have an extra cut out to avoid the shock oil bottle, hence the semi circular cut in the rear bed, and also that the body wont fit on unless you remove the rear part of the metal cage on the chassis,as It interferes with the bracket that holds the rear panel on the body shell, and so has to be removed.

The instructions also say you cant use the roll bar on the body, this is because the chassis body pins are right next to the roll bar mounts, so they foul slightly, and its almost impossible to get the body clips in. A Brat without its roll bar just doesn't look right, so i will figure a way round this. The front body mount is a Sand scorcher item, that fits directly onto the top of the original Super Champ mount, but with the mounts where they are, the front wheels seem to be a bit forward in the arches, but unfortunatly that cant be changed.

I am going with a take on the original Super Champ colour scheme, and have ordered some repro original type decals from an ebay seller, but he is turning out to be a messer, and after 2 weeks hasn't even sent them yet, so if anyone has some decals, either original or repro, i need them.

Anyway, its getting there.

J

 

 

 

 

[Toolmaker72 507]

Looking good, but you can see why Tamiya decided to not go ahead with this body on that chassis.

That said I’m sure with a bit of ingenuity you will solve any issues 🙂

[KEV THE REV 2319]

I kinda like the 'industrial' look of this . A nice job done there - fair play

[Grumpy pants 4485]

I like this a lot as well 👍

[mongoose1983 3335]

Looks FANTASTIC, and much better than the ORV chassis. Also what's better than a black Subaru Brat? That's how I painted my first one.

By the way, any chance that you can get a side picture for us to see?

[junkmunki 846]

 

12 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

By the way, any chance that you can get a side picture for us to see?

It doesnt look too bad from the side. The black paint does show all the finger prints though...

It will look batter when it has some stripes applied.

I was thinking of removing the roll bar from the Super Champ chassis and then creating a 'load' to go in the bed at to cover the Champ workings.

J

 

 

 

[Doc Hollywood 160]

That looks awesome I didn't know that you could fit a Subaru brat shell on an SRB chassis what a cool idea 

[junkmunki 846]

43 minutes ago, Doc Hollywood said:

That looks awesome I didn't know that you could fit a Subaru brat shell on an SRB chassis what a cool idea 

I didn't know either.

This came about when i was looking at the build sheet for a vintage body set, and apparently, the Brat shell was originally designed to go on the Super Champ chassis, hense the pre marked panel in the rear of the body.

J

[tamiya3speed 464]

That top down view reminds me of a TR-15T.  I think it's a cool look.

[Biz73 603]

It looks like it has a monster NOS bottle in the back. A drag ready Brat

[mongoose1983 3335]

Sideview is just fantastic. FAR better than over the ORV chassis. Rear end doesn't look better, though.

THANK you for sharing these pictures. It's great to have the chance to see this small bit of Tamiya RC history!

[junkmunki 846]

2 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

Sideview is just fantastic. FAR better than over the ORV chassis. Rear end doesn't look better, though.

You are right about the rear view, it looks a bit ungainly with the metal cross bar showing. There isn't much i can do about that though, becouse it is so lowdown under the Brat bumper, i can't even make a rear skirt to cover it.

J

[junkmunki 846]

 

 

 

I thought id take some comparison pictures of the conversion next to my original restored Brat.

The back end seems to sit higher on the original whereas the body on the  black one looks more level. As has already been pointed out, the wheels do stick out the sides a lot more on the original, but the even though they are still a bit wide on the conversion, they do look better.

You can see now how far forward the front wheels are on the conversion compared to the original, i dont like this look, but there is no way to change it, short of moving the whole front axle back.

Decals are finaly on the way, so should be finished soon.

J

 

[Falcon#5 594]

I like the look of the exposed 'gear in the rear'

Is it an option for you to paint the bare ally 'junk in the trunk' black?

[Falcon#5 594]

It has all the hallmarks of a 1:1 build.

Big lift will throw out the camber, Move front drive forward to improve approach angle (usually on solid axle fronts though)

Side view looks more scale, and lack of frogs legs at the back.

I prefer it to conventional Brat. Well done on the build.

[mongoose1983 3335]

Comparison shots are interesting in the fact that what you see there is exactly the turning point in the history of electric RC cars: with the infamous ORV chassis the "toy" coming over the "suitable for RC scale kit model".

Thanks again!

[junkmunki 846]

Well here it is finally with decals. The unlikely love child of a Super champ and a Subaru Brat.

The ebay seller of the decals told me a pack of lies about sending them then sent me a fake tracking number, so after nearly a month of waiting, i threatened to open a case with ebay to get my money back, and hey presto, they arrived first class today with yesterdays post date on them.   Avoid 'mmrccars' like the plague, he is a blatent liar and the decals are quite poor anyway.

I had to trim the side pod decals to get them at the right angles, and because the vinyl they are printed on is so thick, it was a mision to get them to follow the body lines. A bit of heating with a hairdryer did the trick though.

Strangely there was only one Bilstien decal on the sheet, but it fitted perfectly in the square indent on the tailgate, which is why there is only one.

Anyway, thats that experiment done with.

J

[stefank 29]

just found this thread..... then i might change my mind and not sell my brat body.... i  knew my friend had the brat on srb chassi and thought he made the cut out "by fun".... but that it was meant for a  super champ... i had no idea  and have a  super champ

[junkmunki 846]

9 hours ago, stefank said:

just found this thread..... then i might change my mind and not sell my brat body.... i  knew my friend had the brat on srb chassi and thought he made the cut out "by fun".... but that it was meant for a  super champ... i had no idea  and have a  super champ

There are still a couple of adjustments that need to be made after the panel has been cut out, but it's quite straight forward. 

I never bothered to read the instructions before, so I'd missed that conversion for years....

J

[unixphreak 60]

So do we call this new configuration the Super Brat or the Subaru Champ?

[Grumpy pants 4485]

15 hours ago, unixphreak said:

So do we call this new configuration the Super Brat or the Subaru Champ?

Does Brat Champ work?

 

[Raman36 1656]

Very cool, the Brat actually has a real suspension with this chassis. That is a far better option than the ORV 🤮.. which has suspension designed by a &$@%#€ 

The Brat ORV was my first Tamiya, I have fond memories of the body but not the chassis.. 

[simalarion 2196]

I wanted a Subaru Brat, as a kid i was looking at that shelf for the 10th time (and been looking in that Tamiya catalog that replaced the porn magazines under my pilow for 2 weeks) and finally said to my dad that i wanted Blackfoot. After that i always did regret not picking Subaru Brat that seem more like a adult car that would also probably be better to drive (?).

What is holding me back now is the hard body, when picking up the hobby again i first made the The Grasshopper (ofc), the hard body is a bit pain to work with and i find much harder to get a great finish like you very easy get with plexan body. This was the main reason for me buying Agrios TXT-2 now and not Subaru Brat, i do not regret it, but yes i did the same choice today, i choosed a "Cartoonish" RC over a more realitic one, But man! that Agris with 2*540 and 2*Servo steering as a Monster!, i like this much more than i did with BlackFott :).

 

edit: Oh almoast forgot why i wantd to post, very cool project junkmunki Looks great!

[Biz73 603]

1 hour ago, simalarion said:

What is holding me back now is the hard body, when picking up the hobby again i first made the The Grasshopper (ofc), the hard body is a bit pain to work with and i find much harder to get a great finish like you very easy get with plexan body. This was the main reason for me buying Agrios TXT-2 now and not Subaru Brat, i do not regret it, but yes i did the same choice today, i choosed a "Cartoonish" RC over a more realitic one, But man! that Agris with 2*540 and 2*Servo steering as a Monster!, i like this much more than i did with BlackFott :).

The Brat re-re comes with both a hard shell and a PC shell so you can choose which type to run.