wtcc5's FF-01 addiction

[wtcc5]

@Carmine A That was performance (more caster) related and that we don't want chatter and extensive wear in the drivetrain (use of djc).

 

A little presentation of the STW Primera:

It is not finished, yet. The front had a different splitter than 1994 (green one). I tried to build one and print the first version right now.

Now I have a choice to make for summer. Which body will go on my runner chassis? The green Primera with a bad cut body and clone stickers or the blue one with a good cut body, but painted from the outside and with a Carson sticker set... Oh boy 

[Sweatpants]

2 hours ago, wtcc5 said:

@Carmine A That was performance (more caster) related and that we don't want chatter and extensive wear in the drivetrain (use of djc).

 

A little presentation of the STW Primera:

 

It is not finished, yet. The front had a different splitter than 1994 (green one). I tried to build one and print the first version right now.

Now I have a choice to make for summer. Which body will go on my runner chassis? The green Primera with a bad cut body and clone stickers or the blue one with a good cut body, but painted from the outside and with a Carson sticker set... Oh boy 

Can you do a wee photoshoot of all your cars?  I feel like you have 900 ff01's.

 

 

[wtcc5]

@Sweatpants: I will make one soon. Right now I count 16 FF-01... I got to turn it down a bit.

[Carmine A]

16 hours ago, wtcc5 said:

@Carmine A That was performance (more caster) related and that we don't want chatter and extensive wear in the drivetrain (use of djc)......

Thanks! I finally got it. I actually JUST hunted back through the Posts, and found the Post you made when you designed the C Hubs. 😉  Extra Caster is ALWAYS a good thing!!

[Chris_Ward]

@wtcc5 That came out really well! I've been poking around in the game, and there are some really interesting paint schemes for the Primera, if only the shells were a bit easier to come by.

I've been managing to find a few Carson decal sets, got the '97 STW Abt Audi set, and I've found the '97 STW AUGROS Audi set, so will be getting that aswell. Where are you finding your decal sets?

[InsaneJim69]

I have a set of Carson 1998 Laguna decals that I keep meaning to put up for sale. Its surprising what pops up on Ebay from time to time. 

[wtcc5]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:43 PM, Chris_Ward said:

@wtcc5 That came out really well! I've been poking around in the game, and there are some really interesting paint schemes for the Primera, if only the shells were a bit easier to come by.

I've been managing to find a few Carson decal sets, got the '97 STW Abt Audi set, and I've found the '97 STW AUGROS Audi set, so will be getting that aswell. Where are you finding your decal sets?

The '98 Audi set was made by me and the STW Primera set came with a Castrol Primera I bought used before christmas. Sometimes on Ebay-Kleinanzeigen there are some good offers.

 

1995 STW Primera project:

The second version of my front splitter came out as I wanted:

 

 

 

It looks a bit too deep on my carpet. The ride height is comparable low to the real version 

 

[wtcc5]

Some more pictures:

[svenb]

Excellent 👍 

If you hadn't had said it was painted on the outside you'd never tell from the pictures 

[wtcc5]

@svenb Thanks 

 

The stuff that comes now should have been a long post yesterday, but then the forum went down and all I wrote was gone  So I try again:

 

1. The OZracing wheels from JCracing arrived. And I am a little dissapointed 

The surface looks like this (left one). I don't know if the plastic is a little translucent or if the pigments were not mixed properly before casting... It just looks not good in my eyes. I painted them silver with Tamiya TS color to make it better.

 

Here the comparison to my approach. They look pretty close in pattern. What I criticize is the form of the inner dish. It should be so convex, that it stands out. This one doesn't.

 

On the car it is ok. The wheels have two millimeters offset, which can be a problem as you have to run the body higher to prevent the tire rubbing the wheel arches.

For me the design just doesn't hit the spot, cannot express the full (ugly) character of this wheel. The good thing is, that it was not expensive at all and I can run it.

 

Then I made another good deal:

At first it looked like a standard deal, but then it turned out, that both bodies and chassis are in a better shape than expected, plus the box, manual and sticker set were included too. The latter ones weren't in the description.

The Honda Accord looks new. I need to sand the wheel arches and the decide what I do. Should I remove the color?, paint it white and then make it a full blown PIAA? Another good thing is that the tires weren't glued to the wheels. The previous owner painted them black. I soaked them in paintkiller, et voilá!  White again! Unfortunately lexancolour won't be that easy to remove...

 

The Volvo needs love. I will polish the scratches, remove badly damaged stickers and replace them with the MCI sticker set I ordered. The body has no cracks. This makes me happy  I have a Volvo now. The wheels also arrived already.

[rich_f]

8 hours ago, wtcc5 said:

I don't know if the plastic is a little translucent or if the pigments were not mixed properly before casting... It just looks not good in my eyes. I painted them silver with Tamiya TS color to make it better.

If you're going for realism, I'd say you should always paint the wheels - real car wheels aren't made of coloured plastic (and they are rarely bare metal either). Even if they're the right colour, plastic just doesn't look right compared to paint and it's because of the translucency you allude to (including with white wheels). 

The same goes for the body too in my opinion. A lot of the full-size versions of tamiya cars have solid (i.e., not metallic or pearlescent) paint, which almost never has a clearcoat on top. Therefore solid-coloured cars should be painted on the outside for absolute realism, as otherwise you get a glassy look to the colour which just isn't there on the real thing. Just imagine how thick the polycarbonate would be if you scaled it up to full size - it would be equivalent to almost 1cm of clearcoat! 

I paint my cars on the inside, of course, because polishing paint to achieve the shine that you get for free by painting on the inside would be time-consuming and not very enjoyable. The clear coat just doesn't look right sometimes though.

 

You've got an amazing collection which never seems to stop growing - will there be any ff01s left for the rest of us?

[Carmine A]

12 hours ago, rich_f said:

......You've got an amazing collection which never seems to stop growing - will there be any ff01s left for the rest of us?

I've often wondered that myself! 😲😜

[wtcc5]

I am just buying cars in Germany. @Quincy is the one buying all your cars   ( just a joke, pal).

But in summary you are right. The last months were awesome regarding the hobby. This week alone was legendary!

 

It started with making the STW Primera, then I received the PIAA Accord and the Volvo. Yesterday Quincy gave me this:

  I am now owner of four (!) Primera. This is just crazy!

 

The topic today then was Castrol Primera galore!  Looking forward to the outdoor season, I will use the refurbished Castrol Primera (my first one) as runner body. If it is not used, I want it to look pretty on the shelf. Of course it needs the correct wheels for this. As they are very rare and expensive, I started the day with CAD:

 

The look (print quality not geometry) is ok if you don’t get to close:

 

It will look like the real thing on the shelf (with a little distance):

 

The full tuned chassis will receive the new body that Quincy gave me. I had everything to make it perfect. I corrected the cut lines, sanded the edges and wheel arches, cleaned and painted it. Then it was sticker time!

 

This was my afternoon achievement:

 

Which results in two perfect boxart Nissan Primera shelfqueens:

 

Yesterday I also fell in love with the Volvo very much. The correct wheels arrived. After a quick rebuild of the chassis it came with (except for the drivetrain it was not very dirty), I put it all together.

 

But then decided to put the body on the runner chassis (body switch Castrol Primera and Volvo) as I want to see this body racing. The look is very cool:

[rich_f]

Love the volvo - I have the full size version, but the estate. Would have loved to see tamiya do the estate in rc. 

Those 6-spoke primera wheels look very similar to some variant wheels for the taisan skyline - the 5-spoke ones that come with the kit aren't quite a match for the 5-spoke wheels the real car also wore (in fact, I can't find any photos of a group A skyline with the wheels tamiya provides in the kit for the taisan, calsonic or hks skylines...). Wouldn't mind a set myself, but seems that they are rare. 

[Carmine A]

@wtcc5 I was 97% kidding!! 😜😂😅 

When that Inheritance Check FINALLY arrives, it's time for ME to go Shopping - like a Teenage Girl in a Shoe Store during a Sale! 😜 

Somehow I now feel like a proper FF-01 collection would not be complete WITHOUT a Primera. Somehow, I'll get one.... 

I actually want the Celica, as I had a real one just like it. (Is that FF-01 or FF-02??) 

Boys.... I've got the BUG! And it's all your FAULT!

Also, your 3D Printed Wheels look good! I think with some creative painting, they'll even look good up close! 😉

[ThunderDragonCy]

8 hours ago, rich_f said:

Love the volvo - I have the full size version, but the estate. Would have loved to see tamiya do the estate in rc. 

Those 6-spoke primera wheels look very similar to some variant wheels for the taisan skyline - the 5-spoke ones that come with the kit aren't quite a match for the 5-spoke wheels the real car also wore (in fact, I can't find any photos of a group A skyline with the wheels tamiya provides in the kit for the taisan, calsonic or hks skylines...). Wouldn't mind a set myself, but seems that they are rare. 

L and L models did a run of 850 Estate bodies last year. They've run out now, but you can register on their website to be notified next time they do a run of them. 

[wtcc5]

God save the queen and L&L models  He is very busy with offering us so much cool oldschool stuff. Still waiting for Primera copies, though...

 

I wanted to make a good picture of my FF-01 collection sooner or later. Today it was favorable, because the misses isn't home

The shelf (just the FF section):

 

The true boxart 100% correct Tamiya ones (just one of each kind):

 

And all on one pile:

 

 

Missing for a complete collection are:

- Jaccs Civic

- Idemitsu Civic

- Toms Levin

- Clio Williams

- Golf VR6

- Golf 5

[rich_f]

Wow. What an awesome collection. The jaccs civic is on my to-do list. I have the shell and what I believe to be the correct paint colours (or similar enough) so all I need to do now is create all the masks...

4 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

L and L models did a run of 850 Estate bodies last year. They've run out now, but you can register on their website to be notified next time they do a run of them

I saw this when it was announced and since some of their bodies are quite good, I had high hopes.

Alas, I was disappointed when I saw photos of the actual body, so didn't buy one. The bumpers and sides of the real car (and the tamiya version) go inwards at the bottom, whereas on the L&L one they go outwards, like a skirt, which doesn't look good in my opinion. Also the proportions aren't as good as on the tamiya one, so it just doesn't look right overall. 

I don't really want the tamiya one either though, as I have the estate version as a real car and prefer the way it looks over the saloon. I wonder how @yogi-bear is getting on with his scratch-built 850 estate body...

[yogi-bear]

6 hours ago, rich_f said:

...

I don't really want the tamiya one either though, as I have the estate version as a real car and prefer the way it looks over the saloon. I wonder how @yogi-bear is getting on with his scratch-built 850 estate body...

wow, someone remembers! however like all my rc projects, the are moving too slowly  but I intend on finishing it. My last update was just over 2 yrs ago and I'd made an attempt at vac forming the body from the buck I'd machined. I wasn't expecting a lot as it needed a bit more work. Plus the vac former needed some improvements. My biggest issue now is work has been insanely busy the last few years and especially the last few months and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

Still minor progress has been made: I have still been able to upgrade the vac former with much better suction, I rebuilt the hinge mechanism and was even able source some 1mm Polyarbonate. I've also upgraded my cnc machine slightly and will probably machine a new buck at some stage.

 

This is where I got up to, pics of the first attempt on a FF-01 chassis

 

 

[wtcc5]

@yogi-bear So cool! I searched for it after rich_f mentioned it, but couldn’t find it. 

You pretty much nailed most of the form. I directly thought of my grandpas Volvo.

I hope you find the time to finish this project in style in the future!

[Chris_Ward]

@wtcc5 That is one awesome of a collection you have there. Must say I have a soft spot for the Mondeo and the Audi, Super Touring was definately my favourite era.

I've managed to reverse engineer 3D models for most touringcars from games if people need them for anything (some are alot more detailed than others though) mainly been using them so I can get a good look at liveries. Here's a mondeo example:

[yogi-bear]

36 minutes ago, wtcc5 said:

@yogi-bear So cool! I searched for it after rich_f mentioned it, but couldn’t find it. 

You pretty much nailed most of the form. I directly thought of my grandpas Volvo.

I hope you find the time to finish this project in style in the future!

thanks, I have every intention of getting back into things, but have to make hay while the sun shines! But all this work has allowed Mrs Yogi-bear and I to tear down and rebuild our house (its about 2 months now from completion). Once that is done, I plan on building a decent sized shed which will give me some proper space to tinker (It will also serve as a Lego room for my son).

if you want more info on the Volvo build

and the vac former I built (work in progress)

 

[Carmine A]

@wtcc5 INCREDIBLE COLLECTION!!!! 😲😳😁😊👍👍 

On my list, the Tom's Levin and Mondeo are very high up. Now, thanks to you and @Quincy, so is the Nissan Primera!! 😖😜

Didn't even know that a Golf VR5 was made! 😲 THAT just made the List! My cousin had the real one... Tuner and exhaust only - it was FAST!!! 😁😁😁

[wtcc5]

On 2/15/2021 at 10:25 PM, Chris_Ward said:

@wtcc5 That is one awesome of a collection you have there. Must say I have a soft spot for the Mondeo and the Audi, Super Touring was definately my favourite era.

I've managed to reverse engineer 3D models for most touringcars from games if people need them for anything (some are alot more detailed than others though) mainly been using them so I can get a good look at liveries. Here's a mondeo example:

Sometimes it is so hard find good pictures from these times... You are really dependent on people digitalizing  them and posting them. Interestingly I found some channels on Instagram that post daily pictures of these times.

How do you pull these cars out of the games?
 

@Carmine A: Thanks! The Golfs weren’t on my list for a long time, but they don’t look bad! @Quincy got a very nice one recently. He should post some pictures to make us want one 

 

After a long print time and one failed print, the Castrol Primera wheels are finally finished:

 

Perfect for the shelf (for the time I don’t run it) and would also work for driving.

This will become my „fake“ Primera, because it has the 3d printed wheels, clone sticker set and will get 3d printed h-parts (still waiting on the delivery...). 

 

Then another good friend found a R/C store, that is hard or not to find with Google search. And it got a lot of old stuff. He bought it all, but left me one treasure:

The 10€ for it I paid with a smile!

 

 

 

[Carmine A]

Those Printed Wheels look great - but that Find is a TREASURE!!! 🏆💯 

WHY would I even question if Quincy had one! 😖😜😂