wtcc5's FF-01 addiction

[wtcc5]

@ruebiracerYes, they have the increased caster. They are a full copy plus the space for the dcj 

[ruebiracer]

34 minutes ago, wtcc5 said:

@ruebiracerYes, they have the increased caster. They are a full copy plus the space for the dcj 

Couldn´t be better ! 

[Carmine A]

I need to ask a question, for everyone in this Thread.... 

My MONEY is finally starting to come in!!! 😁😊😊😊😊  I just ordered a FF-03!!!!  The Honda Civic, but I'm likely getting another Body. 

QUESTION: since I have an aversion to Ball Diffs (purely personal), I jumped the gun and ordered a Sealed Gear Diff with it. It says it's for the XV-01 and TA-06..... 

I have HEARD that the TA-06 Diff does fit the FF-03. I HOPE I'm right! Am I?? 😳 

Also, do I need anything else for the Gear Diff conversion? I heard something about needing a different Gearbox Case... Do I?  You Guys know more than I. This is my FIRST - but not last, FF Chassis!! 😉

[wtcc5]

The Ta06 geardiff will fit. You just need to order the FF03R transmission housing too: 54398. I also recommend the use of DCJ and/or blades. I use 300K diffoil.

[Carmine A]

Thank you!! If I'm lucky, I WON'T have to order from China... 

DCJs will likely be a future upgrade. I want at least a CVD set for the build. 

Happy New Year!! I'm glad to FINALLY be joining the Club! 😉

[wtcc5]

Looking forward to all your build stories 

[Carmine A]

SO AM I!!!  It's been so long since I've been able to buy ANY new Kit, I'm thrilled. 😊 

Next question... I've got a CC-01 That I've been picking parts off of. ALL Alumininium Front Suspension... Does any of that fit the FF-03?

[wtcc5]

This time I don’t know. But why put aluminium arms on a racecar?

[Carmine A]

Actually.... I was thinking more Hubs and Knuckles. I'd want to go at least FRP on the Arms. 😉

[wtcc5]

I noticed low prices on some Tamiya products in the last weeks. Which will lead to another small FF-01 project. After the FF-03 Opel Vectra kit is available for under 100€, the Honda Civic body set is now offered for a little over 30€. I bit the hook and also ordered a cockpit set to make it another shelfqueen. The final decision came after I purchased 1,8 FF-01 chassis in parts plus 0,8 of a TA02 chassis together for 50€.

Now it is just the rims missing in this planning. And I am lucky here, because I nearly binned them last summer. They were part of  the hard used Jaccs Honda Civic with carbon chassis plates. For my eyes this rim style is a little ugly. After asking @Quincy if he wants them (he said no), I was really close of throwing them away as they also were used a lot.

Somehow I kept them and did a first cleaning before putting them in the FF01 spares box. Now with the project sealed, I did a full cleaning process. I got more dirt and glue off as expected. The result is good for nearly three hours of cleaning (why am I like that ). Here some before-after pictures:

 

Full cleaned vs. superficial cleaned:

 

All clean and restored:

[berman]

Glad you kept them, they are meant to be Tamiyas version of the race version Mugen M-2 (MR-5) wheel. I think those came off the Idemitsu Motion Mugen Civic, and Tamiya did another in white, for one of the other EG Civics. They are probably hard to find now.

Love your FF Collection. 🙂

Would like to get one of the chassis (not sure which) and do a EG civic body also, one day.

[Carmine A]

@berman if I could figure out a way to ship a Body to NZ, that didn't cost a King's Ransom, I'd send you my Castrol Civic from my FF-03 - that I'm still waiting for delivery of.  I'd really prefer an Acura Integra or Ford Mondeo Body.... 

@wtcc5 THAT'S dedication!! Good job on the Wheels. I've got a couple of "Ugly Duckling" Wheels that I don't see a need for.... 

You've just convinced me to hold on to them a bit longer. Maybe a home for them will appear in my Life!!

[berman]

22 hours ago, Carmine A said:

@berman if I could figure out a way to ship a Body to NZ, that didn't cost a King's Ransom, I'd send you my Castrol Civic from my FF-03 - that I'm still waiting for delivery of.  I'd really prefer an Acura Integra or Ford Mondeo Body....

Thanks Carmine, I think the civic body is still easy to get a hold of, but I appreciate the offer! 🙂 Oh yes, I wish I got a hold of the DC5R Beams Integra body when it was easily available, bet that is hard to find now... (*goes looking*).

[wtcc5]

Another holiday here in Germany. Outside it is snowing nicely.

Time to complete this perfect shelfqueen:

[Quincy]

58 minutes ago, wtcc5 said:

Another holiday here in Germany. Outside it is snowing nicely.

Time to complete this perfect shelfqueen:

Enjoy it! 

[Carmine A]

20 hours ago, berman said:

Thanks Carmine, I think the civic body is still easy to get a hold of, but I appreciate the offer! 🙂 Oh yes, I wish I got a hold of the DC5R Beams Integra body when it was easily available, bet that is hard to find now... (*goes looking*).

Yes! The Beams Integra IS the one I'm looking for too...... 

And found out that they're made of Unobtainium now. 😭😭 

..... Oh, and I goofed! My Body is the Jaz Civic, which I wanted even less!  But for some cosmic, unknown reason, those FF-03 Kits are Cheap as Chips in the U.S.!! 😳  I may get a second one - and have TWO Bodies I don't want. 😖  BUT, two Chassis that I DO!!

[svenb]

On 1/6/2021 at 9:28 AM, wtcc5 said:

Another holiday here in Germany. Outside it is snowing nicely.

Time to complete this perfect shelfqueen:

Wow! 

Original decals? 

[wtcc5]

Yes 

[wtcc5]

Three days ago I started to work on the body.

 

Marking, cutting, sanding edges, washing, masking:

 

Painting body and bodyparts:

 

And today I attached all the decals... To be honest, this time I wouldn't have made it without a hairdryer. The neon decals are more rigid than the "normal" decal and as the whole body is nearly full covered, there are a lot of  places where the decal has to wrap around two or more axis. And it starts with decal one  Right now I am just happy, that I hit all the marks and have no white gaps where they are unwanted. After the first forty decals (all bright color) I needed a break 

 

No wonder you see so many of the Jaccs Hondas with just a few decals on them. Every normal person would just drive it white. Only us crazy Tamiya fanboys go through all this hassle. The final result is stunning, but it really costs some lifetime 

[rich_f]

On 1/3/2021 at 6:47 PM, berman said:

Glad you kept them, they are meant to be Tamiyas version of the race version Mugen M-2 (MR-5) wheel. I think those came off the Idemitsu Motion Mugen Civic, and Tamiya did another in white, for one of the other EG Civics. They are probably hard to find now.

You're not wrong. I spent ages looking for a set for a civic project I have in the pipeline. I eventually found a set in a similar condition to wtcc5's pre-restoration pics. They are accurate replicas of those Mugen wheels, so necessary for a racecar replica build, but they aren't the prettiest!

On 1/3/2021 at 1:04 PM, wtcc5 said:

I nearly binned them last summer.

Man I hate this throw-away culture that seems to have permeated the world. Those wheels (though not the best looking design) are rare and really hard to find and I would gladly have bought them from you if I had been given the chance, in order to restore them myself. 

In my opinion, throwing something away is incredibly selfish - it's like saying "I don't want this item, and I don't want anyone else on the planet to have it either" - even if the item is perfectly good! And look how good they came out after a clean up!

Just imagine how much perfectly good stuff is thrown away every day. Sometimes I wish I worked at a dump so I could collect all the cool stuff other people throw away. Instead it just sits buried under the ground... 

[wtcc5]

I think it is much more complicated than just „selfish“. A lot more factors come into that, like: time, value, work to put into, availability, etc. Just because someone somewhere in the world values an old worn part, does not automatically mean I am selfish if I throw it away. So selfish is the wrong word.

But (!) you are right if you impose that we all are happy if we find old parts, that we personally value, for sale. And I recently found a nice bundle of parts and chassis for very little money:

I am not going to need arms and c-hubs soon (and yes, I binned beyond function damaged parts already).

[Carmine A]

@wtcc5 THAT'S the kind of thing that I'm hoping to find here in the Colonies!!! Nice Haul!! 😁😊  ........ And as Correct as those Decals are in a Collection standpoint - I would find it MUCH easier to Mask and paint all of those large, complex colors!! 😲 

........ I'm no fan of wasting bits that might be of value to a Fellow Tamiya Nut. I'll put the Decals on Evilbay!! 😉

{True Definition of Love}  There is absolutely NO Logical reason why I would want a FF01.... Yet I want at least one!!  It's "obsolete", for the most part, with very little aftermarket support. Yet I really want one or two!! 😉

I guess the same holds true for the FF-03! Newer maybe, but aftermarket parts are fleeting. I can at least give you two semi-logical reasons: I've always been enthralled by the Cantilever Front Shocks, and my little M Chassis Cars have shown me how much I really like FWD!!  (In RC anyway! Real Cars - RWD and V8s ONLY for me!!) 

Of course with any of us, with any RC Vehicle purchase, it will always be based on a Love derived decision.... SO - You can tell your Wife that She was RIGHT. 

No..... I don't NEED another RC Vehicle! I WANT another one because I truly love building, modifying and Running them!!! 😜👍👍💯

[wtcc5]

R/C cars is on all levels beyond "basic need" or "reason". I mean, why do I need nine FF01? And why do I have the urge to build a new one every week? This is stupid, but fun. It calms me down everytime I complete one. It would be even more fun to drive them with people who share the "sickness". Until then I have fun building them. I tinkered around with three on my cars in the last days.

1. The 3d-printed parts arrived and I added them to my Runner chassis:

The quality is very nice. I chose the Multi Jet Fusion method with Nylon12 glassbeads. The surface looks smoother and it seems to be more rigid. It also is good to grind (the seat of the ballbearings).

 

2. Out of all the parts that arrived (see last post), I rebuild one chassis that will become a Civic (I have not decided which one... for two hours it would have been a Jaccs, but then destiny turned that around and now I will probably stay with a budget Castrol... which is still cool!).

 

The some more of the parts will become another FF01 This time not one you could buy in a box, but a custom design.

This design drove in the german touring cars series called STW and it was in 1998, the year Audi was forbidden to use 4wd (after sweeping the championships before). Team Abt then used the fwd converted cars this season. I somehow was motivated to do a decalset and make one.

I am in contact with Mark Parnell of rcdecals.co.uk and he will print the set. Awesome!

 

3. The latter will be a kind of ugly duckling chassis as some parts are heavily used and lost its fresh look. Also I have no bumper, no tail end and no gearcover...

So I played a bit with cad :

The bumper will be milled from 8mm carbon and is deeper to protect the lower motor case.

 

The motor cover part is unavailable and if it would be more expensive than one whole chassis. So why not make a Shapeways print...

 

I am not sure if I should draw a tail end or just buy the original or maybe ask @Quincy 

 

[Quincy]

2 hours ago, wtcc5 said:

I am not sure if I should draw a tail end or just buy the original or maybe ask @Quincy 

 

 

How many parts do you need

 

[wtcc5]

Wow! lets deal some arms and chubs for gearcover and tails