wtcc5's FF-01 addiction

[Carmine A 2046]

@Quincy Could I please have the Link to your Shapeways Store? 😊

[Quincy 397]

23 hours ago, Carmine A said:

@Quincy Could I please have the Link to your Shapeways Store? 😊

I have no shapeways store. Just original parts. 

[Carmine A 2046]

On 12/27/2020 at 7:16 AM, wtcc5 said:

Thanks! I cannot explain what makes them look so good for me (us). In the 90s they looked just average for me... but now 

I stumbled across this life action picture recently of the JTCC race at Fuji in 1994:

Picture by Yoshihide Ashizawa

..... I hadn't realized that I missed a LOT of cool stuff on page 8!!! 😁 

And I love 90's Automotive styling. New Cars look like a scattered box of Razor Blades to me! In some cases it works, in most cases it doesn't.

[wtcc5 4896]

On 1/15/2021 at 8:44 AM, Carmine A said:

@Quincy Could I please have the Link to your Shapeways Store? 😊

@Carmine A Did you maybe ask for my Shapeways Shop?

 

The FF01 story has to continue 

My Civic project got more precise. I decided for the Castrol design after the Jaccs purchase didn't have a happy end. It also seems to make more sense to go for a budget build after the chassis basically cost 25€ and is in a shelfqueen condition. The bodyset came for 33€ and the cockpit was 18€.

I did a full manual 58127 Castrol Civic VTi build. I didn't make any pictures of the body build as it is always the same procedure, but the cockpit build was a first for me. Working with a brush is not my strength, but somehow it looks ok. The helmet-face came out pretty good. Jason is not cross-eyed

 

 

In the end I must say I like the cockpit very much... maybe I make one for my runner...

 

Here now the pictures of the mighty Civic:

[Carmine A 2046]

Kevin.... There was a little misunderstanding, sorted now. 😉 I thought the Control Arms came FROM Quincy.... 

I did go back to Your Store, and found them there! 

That Civic is NICE!! That's the one that my Friends think I got - and are so butthurt because I don't want it. 😖  I actually like this one much better than the 2015-17 Civic that I got.....  But as I've mentioned, I'm not a big fan of newer Cars. 

My Gear Diff Gearbox Case is ON SHORE!! 😊😁 Just left Los Angeles! I can commence building again!!

[wtcc5 4896]

I continued to "work" on the fwd Audi A4 project.

Painting and masking the body  was a real challenge and it took a good three days to add all five colors. Especially the border look was not easy to achieve.

 

In between the decals arrived from rcdecals.co.uk. Mark Parnell did a good job sending them so fast:

The quality this time is not on the same level as his Tamiya Primera clone sheets regarding color saturation and opacity. I need to ask him why this is (maybe my fault?). Everything else is very good and we can be happy to have his business for our hobby.

 

Today then it was decals time:

I am mostly very happy with my custom decal design. Some decals need a size change, as they are a little small. Oh well, on the finished body it is hard to see if you don't know it...

 

Aaaand, the finished body:

A welcome addition to my collection 

 

[Carmine A 2046]

WOW!! 😲😎 That's Amazing Paint Work! Seriously, better than my absolute best. That's definitely better than any Decal Job. Probably EASIER too!! That Decal Sheet would have had those colour swaths consisting of at least 30 separate Decals!!!! 😖

[Aerobert 2145]

That's brilliant.

[wtcc5 4896]

Thanks guys!

 

In the last weeks I miss the running of the chassis a lot. Even the building and restoring cannot really comfort anymore... After building the fwd Audi I somehow feel to reach an end with this chassis-type soon. I know I said here several times already "This is my last FF-01...", it feels like will come sooner or later. Maybe just the missing action and driving fun.

Nevertheless, I have several FF-01 projects in the pipeline right now.

 

1. I could get my hands on a Toms Toyota Exiv bodyset:

I bought the fitting wheels for it and will pair it with one of the two chassis I recently bought:

This chassis was used to participate in several races and has not only a lot of tuning parts already, but also a differential conversion, that will be interesting to discover as soon as I start to clean and rebuild it.

 

2. Another restoring will happen with this PIAA Accord. Again I added fitting wheels already. The body has had some impacts and will need attention, the bumper also. The rest of the chassis just needs cleaning and is nearly in a shelfqueen state:

 

3. The last upcoming project wasn't planned at all, but is a coincidence regarding the separate activities in this hobby by @Quincy and me.

Before christmas I bought a Castrol Primera with painted body and two decal sets (I posted it here). Removing the paint was unreal difficult. In the end I needed to bath the whole body in paintkiller for days to even have a chance to scratch (!) off the paint. The painter used real car paint and a very good primer. You may say I should have left the paint on, but it was such a bad paintjob, that this was no alternative. Anyways, now the color is off, but I need to sand and polish a lot before I could think of painting it.

In the middle of this process Quincy told me about all the Nissan Primera bodies he could purchase and always they were missing the body parts (mirrors, wing). I offered him the parts of my just mentioned body, as it will not become a shelfqueen anymore. And I didn't know if he was joking or not, but he offered a deal: A Primera body for Primera body parts. Well I find this deal quite attractive and added a 3D-cad work to it, so that he can equip his other bodies with body parts, too. So I guess we are all happy and Quincy will show us a lot of Primeras in the coming weeks  

Here my file for Shapeways:

Not enough, my brain then tinkered around with the idea of owning two Primera shells without color. Well the one Quincy will give me, will become the body of the shelfqueen Castrol Primera as it is perfect for that. The actual refurbished body of this shelfqueen will replace the Ford Mondeo body on my runner, so that I will have a Primera runner for the summer.

The "paintkiller"-Primera will be left over, but too cool to just lay around. I also have the 1995 STW Primera decal set. I decided to combine both:

To make this:

I already love to think of this car, unfortunately also in a sad way, as I saw it live (I was living in Berlin at that time).

One important detail is missing in this puzzle. Again it is about the rims. They are kind of ugly, but necessary to make that STW Primera look. One evening of CAD and there they are:

The next weeks will be entertaining.

[wtcc5 4896]

I forgot to post a show off picture of my FF-01 collection up to now (without fwd Audi):

[svenb 3778]

I think the stw Primera wheels look spot on👍

[Carmine A 2046]

Better job on the Rims than Tamiya did!! 

The Primera looks a lot like the Nissan Maxima here in the Colonies... I wonder if they're the same. 😉

[wtcc5 4896]

4 hours ago, Carmine A said:

Better job on the Rims than Tamiya did!! 

The Primera looks a lot like the Nissan Maxima here in the Colonies... I wonder if they're the same. 😉

Thanks  The Maxima looks larger to me on the Google search pictures compared to the Primera.

 

@svenb Thank you! I used 4-5 pictures to get close to the real thing and then combined it with Tamiyas zero offset 24mm dish rim features to make it a perfect fit also for FF-03 (and others). The shown version is without the inner ribs, because they won't be needed for the shelf.

 

Yesterday evening I started to strip down the chassis intended to become the Toms Exiv Toyota. The car is full of tuning parts and has a differential mod:

 

The previous owner put in a TA-03 diff housing (50718) with TT-01 internals (51008) and Cup Joints (53790):

Then he filled it with black putty to have more traction or to cause black hands for me  The inner gearbox housing was modified a little bit (material removed) to make it fit, because it is wider.

 

The usual cleaning chaos:

 

Some shots of the build. I changed the orange screws with standard Tamiya hardware, rebuild the shocks to "Tuned Special" level and brought the chassis back to a high quality manual standard (FF-01 differential, rear shock towers & rear arms, were TA-02; and shock position):

 

The result of the work with the Toms wheels:

[Carmine A 2046]

1 hour ago, wtcc5 said:

Thanks  The Maxima looks larger to me on the Google search pictures compared to the Primera........

I'm sure the Primera is yet ANOTHER JDM Gem of a Car that never made it to the States...😖 (Like the 180SX and Super Turbo!!). The Lines reminded me of a 3rd Gen (Mk3) Maxima...

Mate, my Wife isn't going to end up liking you... You've all but CONVINCED me to get at least 2 FF-01s!!! 😜😂  I don't expect to get any of the Unobtainium models, but whatever I can actually FIND in the U.S., hopefully for under $250.00. 

The use of bits from other iconic Tamiya Models, the layout, and just seeing the modifications that you Guys have been able to engineer for them, is absolutely intriguing to me!! 😁😊

I've even got 3 sets of TT01 Diff Gears and a TA-03 Diff Housing - if I can't find the right one!  Is that a One-Way Diff you fitted? 

NOT looking to hack into Classics, and I'll likely get Repro Bodies from TBG in Canada. And I may be wrong - but I've heard from two others that my CVDs and Aluminium Front Lower Arms, from my useless CC-01, FIT a FF-01?

[wtcc5 4896]

I am not a CC-01 expert, so don’t know...

Today I could 3d print the front bumper for more chassis bottom protection:

 

 

 

Looks ok, but could be even half a millimeter thicker...

Overnight the STW Primera wheels will be printed. I hope they will come out fine... always a little gamble.

[Carmine A 2046]

..... I'm no CC-01 expert either. 😖  It's fine if I just have to get new bits - as long as they're AVAILABLE. 

That Bumper looks quite STOUT. Of course your Chassis looks phenomenal!!! 👏👏👏👏👏  I've managed to convince myself that I should build at least ONE FF-01, spec'ed out like yours. Even if I haven't been Racing since the late 90's, just to build something that impressive would be amazing!

Are 3D Printed Wheels a Shelf Queen thing only, or can they take any abuse yet?? 3D Printing is still a young thing. There's still more questions than answers. 

However, I ordered a Printed Double Wishbone Front Suspension from Shapeways about 5 years ago.... The kit was for a Lunchbox - which I BASH mercilessly! 😲😳 

NOTHING has broken.... Of course that doesn't mean that something spit out of a Home Printer would have the same strength. But, making Viable Wheels, especially 60's and 70's NEVER produced in RC Mag Wheels, is exciting to me!!

[wtcc5 4896]

@Carmine A The Mondeo wheels on my Mondeo runner are 3d printed. Just not with the same print method I can do. Of course they are not as tough as injection molding, but enough to drive hard (not crash hard).

The STW Primera wheels have no ribs on the inside, so they won‘t stand a beating.

[Carmine A 2046]

@wtcc5 Yeah.... I understand. I'm sure we'll get to a point in 3D Printing, when we can produce things like Wheels - that can at least have the same rebound strength as molded Polystyrene or ABS. 

[wtcc5 4896]

Good news! The overnight print was a success!

 

Tomorrow I will clean of all excess structures.

[Carmine A 2046]

WOW!!! Too bad there isn't a LOVE button. Seriously, those came out GREAT!  I can see why you said these were Shelf Queen Rims.... No Bead Grooves. 

But the bit that everyone's going to see, looks brilliant! 👏👏👏👏🍻🍻👏👏👏😎 

GAWD I can't wait to finally be able to afford a 3D Printer. SOON! 

[wtcc5 4896]

Hahaha, no no, they have everything except the inner dish ribs. It is only covered by support material. You will see once I cleaned them

[ThunderDragonCy 7881]

@wtcc5Man i LOVED those wheels on touring cars. So good.

Hey, i also found a cool Primera livery for your next build 😉

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKmUhxnnSs-/?igshid=192p0jj0hxnb6

Early 94 JTCC. 

[wtcc5 4896]

@ThunderDragonCy: Thanks! If you want the file to print them yourself, let me know

Awesome picture! Interestingly the color looks different from what Tamiya suggests.

@Carmine A: This is how the wheels look „cleaned“:

[wtcc5 4896]

The chassis for the PIAA Accord is clean now. The car has seen some mileage. At least this is what the gears look like. Outdrives and bones look hardly used like everything else... So maybe the previous owner used it as spareparts chassis... He added new gears to this buy, so nothing to worry 

 

[svenb 3778]

10 hours ago, wtcc5 said:

@ThunderDragonCy: Thanks! If you want the file to print them yourself, let me know

Awesome picture! Interestingly the color looks different from what Tamiya suggests.

@Carmine A: This is how the wheels look „cleaned“:

Those wheels look ace👍

Almost makes me want a Primera, but no! I'm a rwd or 4wd only(90% rwd) touring car fan. 

Favourites are the Capri's, RS500's and 3 series BMW's. Although I do have a ford Mondeo on the shelf, but that's only because Andy Rouse tried out a 4wd  mondeo with the front drive disconnected. 😉👍