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XV-01 Lancia Delta Build

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By popular demand (well, one person mentioned it in passing). A build thread of my Tamiya XV-01 Lancia Delta.

First thing's first. the biggest challenge was probably finding a kit in stock. In the end payed slightly over the odds for one off of eBay when the latest delivery slippage hit all the other UK suppliers.

Next, This is not going to be an attempt to recreate the classic white car. I wanted something a bit different and couldn't face all the decals anyway.

So, went with Fluo Red (PS-20) which, I hope will end up with more of an orange kind of vibe (as per other builds I've seen). Full disclosure. I'm basically planning to copy this:

I've read through all the comments and apparently this is PS-20 backed with White and then Black.

Okay, so progress so far:

God bless Tamiya for pre-trimming the wheel arches.

15CZZjR.png

 

Fully trimmed shell:

AiouDFm.png

 

Surprising Zen task of cutting out the window masks:

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Masks applied:

y9sft0K.png

 

Okay, so, this took maybe ten coats (two cans) to achieve but I finally got to the colour I was looking for. Initially it was looking very pink but gradually it built up to this red/orange kind of colour that I'm pretty happy with.

G3SOMgH.png

 

And then backed in white and black Looking messy but I think it has done the trick.

kiZD3HH.png

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I'll leave this to cure for a few days now and then do a little shoe-gooery on the wheel arches and bumpers. After that I'll do the window tiniting (bit nervous about that). I'll want to keep the tint very light though as I also have this interior (masked and first coat applied):

gS8y5eC.png

 

And that is about it so far. Appreciate there is a lot of detail there (probably more than most people need) but it took me a bit of searching to figure out the process I wanted to follow so maybe this will help someone else out (assuming it works out).

I'll update as I go along. I expect to get relatively little done during the week but, hopefully, wee bursts of activity at the weekends. Plan is to finish all the body/paint/decals etc before starting the chassis. Basically, I'm trying to tease this out for as long as possible to help with lockdown fatigue.

Cheers.

p.s. Couple of other pre-build activities:

Choice of wheels. Didn't want to use the stock white ones with this colour choice so bought  set of Tamiya Cporrado rims for the rally block tyres and some HPI (or similar) five spokes to run with pirelli style tyres:

X5pEOpd.png

 

And then, lastly (actually lastly), I bought a couple of 'hop ups' to get me started. These were the most regularly recomended options I found by scouring the usual forums:

RjBTpA8.png 

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Going back and forth on how to power this wee car. Discussion thread here:

As noted in the thread, I went nuts and bought a Castle Mamba X, 1406, 3800KV combo while drunk. I am still not sure it is really the best choice but it's waterproof and very programmable so hopefully will work out.

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On servo choice I hoped to be able to use an old faithful amazon special (DS3218) but unfortunately it doesn't quite fit. It's only too large by 2-3mm so I don't think the car actually needs a low profile servo but I went with one anyway just to be sure.

Bit budget but I went for an Etronix ET2035. It's metal gear at least so hopefully it will get me going. Curious what servo other people are having success with in this chassis?

Cheers.

 

 

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Low profile servos are the way to go on an XV. I'm using some Turnigy aluminum case brushless low profile, which is one of the best servos I've ever owned, and the only Hobbyking servo I've been pleased with. The Savox 1251 is a good, relatively affordable low profile.

The XV-01, and touring cars in general, really benefits from a fast, precise servo. Because my cars get driven hard and frequently, and I'm an electronics snob, apparently, I tend to opt for, and recommend, nicer mid-range electronics. Realistically, an XV-01 with a silvercan would probably be fine with any metal gear servo faster than .17 or so, and a fairly zesty car like yours would really feel good with something fast, in the .10 range.

Nice stiff servo savers are a must, of course. A solid horn will break steering parts, and the stock servo saver has no precision whatsoever. 

The XV-01 is my all-time favorite chassis. I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I have. You might want to pick up another body for rough use, though, because the car is so much fun to drive off road.

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Probably a good idea on the spare body. This one is proving to be a real labour of love. The Killerbody one from banggood looks pretty goood for the money (especially given it is fully decal'd).

57 minutes ago, Big Jon said:

Nice stiff servo savers are a must, of course. A solid horn will break steering parts, and the stock servo saver has no precision whatsoever. 

Sorry for the noob question (still learning about the chassis and Tamiya parts in general TBH) but can you point out a specific servo saver you'd recomend?

Thanks,

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Surprised and frankly embarrased by how much I enjoyed doing some of the details on the interior last night. Weirdly calming. Thought I'd be terrible at the hand painting but I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Working up attempting the drivers themselves.

Process was to mask off the spare wheel, fuel can and drivers, PS-5 black paint (because I had some) and then PS-55 on top. The PS paints seem to have adhered well, the plastics have not deformed and the acrylics have bonded well on top where needed. I believe I should have used Acrylic spray paint (TS-29) since the plastic appears to be thin ABS but I had the PS-5 to hand. Additionally, the flexible nature of the plastic might mean PS paints fair better (speculation). Either way, if you have some PS-5 to hand, it seems you don't need to bother buying TS-29.

The other paints are all just Tamiya Acrylic pots.

As a note, I thought this would be a terrible task based purely on childhood experiences of attempting to paint airfix models. I think a more patience and a decent paint brush have made all the difference. That said, let's see how I fair when I get to doing the faces.

ZShbvIe.png

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Oh yeah, and, as per Big Jon's recomendation, bought a Tamiya 51000 hi-torque servo saver. Not gone for the aluminium horn yet. Thought I'd try the standard 51000 parts first.

And, lastly, ordered a 2S Turnigy 4000mah nanotech hard pack battery. Looks like it will just fit. Plan is to cut a hole in the battery tray so I can pull the whole battery connector up and through (for charging without having to unscrew the battery tray every time). Sort of a semi permanent battery install. Bit uncomfortable with this, since I normally store all my batteries in a metal box, but the battery tray on the XV-01 looks to be too much of a pain to be dealing with every time I want to charge the battery (how long do those screw threads actually last anyway?).

That's about it for today.

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Minimal update today. Just a bit more paint on the interior:

sZiTshS.png

It's looking a bit 'primary colours' right now, hopefully it will look better once I've attempted to tidy up the seatbelts and added other details.

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Okay, so that's the interior done. I'm really pleased with it. I'd assumed I'd make a bit of a mess of the details but I think this has worked out fine.

Might add a coat of lacquer but not sure if I should use a PS Lacquer or TS Lacquer. I'm doing some experiments with off cuts and paint to see what works best.

CT9ZQqg.png

 

Next job is to shoo-goo the bumpers and wheel arches of the shell. Always messy but probably a good idea given the 3800kv motor I'll be running :)

 

 

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Taped up the bumpers, wheel arches and sides.

FHiMnTN.png

 

I'll maybe do the goo tonight. I don't enjoy this part but do thinnk it makes for a stronger shell.

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Goo'd and then oversprayed in black: As usual, Goo-ing was a horrible messy task and I failed to get a uniform application. Once dried though it has really improved the rigidity of the shell and should help prevent cracking over the weelarches and around the bumpers.

4xxKl4f.png

 

'Masked' the headlights on the grill with bluetack. I have no idea if this will work.

hPGvEI1.png

 

I'll spray this and the spoiler black with TS-29 later today.

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Love the blu tac idea, look forward to seeing the outcome. I have a 2nd Lancia Delta body to do (just finished my Rally one). Thinking a street car on a touring chassis of some description

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Oh yeah and a couple of mjnor edits to the interior before overspraying with PS -55 one last time. FYI, PS-55 (clear flat) seems to adhere perfectly well to the acrylics.

CVV3tSn.png

 

One last tip, it's work 'tapping' the threads in the helmets before mounting them (just use the provided screw). I gave the driver a potentially fatal neck injury by jabbing the screwdriver right though the plastic while screwing the helmet on.

 

 

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Much to my surprise the blutack mask over the headlights worked really well. I'd figured some tidying up would be needed but they came out pretty much bang on. Spraying the part worked really nicely too because you still get a little darkened silver showing through from the back of the grill where less paint settles. Adds just a bit more depth.

Yz2h0n0.png

Bit of clear coat and on to the next job (window tiniting).

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I’m enjoying your build, but did you start with the bodyshell and interior first?!  

You must really enjoy the painting 😂

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1 hour ago, ewant81 said:

I’m enjoying your build, but did you start with the bodyshell and interior first?!  

You must really enjoy the painting 😂

Thanks!

I did start with the paint. It's the bit I always mess up on previous builds so figured I'd get it out othe way first this time, incur the inevitable heartbreak and then move on to the fun of building the actual mechanicals :)

Only difference is that I've really taken my time with it on this build and (posibly not by coincidence) not messed it up yet. I do still have to tint the windows and add the decals though, so plenty of time for mistakes later on....

I've also never done any detailed painting (like the interior) and am very surprised how much I've enjoyed it. Possibly just a symptom of not havng left the house in weeks......

 

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Nicely done so far. I like it much. As your are going with an interior I wouldn't tint the windows.one point is that I always find it tricky to stop at the right moment and the possibility to mess it up is huge. And the second point is you've made such a nice interior, but it's hard to see behind tinted windows.

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I've been reading this thread with interest over the last week.  I'm going to start on my XV01 lancia tonight.  I bought it 3 years ago but the thought of stickering the body has been putting me off building it. 

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So, I bottled it on the window tint. I think it would look awesome to have a slight tint to the windows but the chance of managing to do it well seems remote. So, removed the window masks and peeled of the overspray film. No going back now.

J7RaZrW.png

I'm really happy with the colour and the arduous backing process (white then black then shoo-goo then black again) seems to have worked really well. Nice solid colour and the body feels robust.

12 hours ago, davidwj95 said:

I've been reading this thread with interest over the last week.  I'm going to start on my XV01 lancia tonight.  I bought it 3 years ago but the thought of stickering the body has been putting me off building it. 

Thanks, glad it has been of some use to you. I'm posting a lot of fairly benign detail here but hopefully it answers some of the questions that come up during the build (for a relative novice like myself).

I too am a bit put off by the stickers. In part that is why I chose to stay away from the original colour scheme. I'll only be using about half the stickers provided (avoiding the larger blue/red/back curved ones). If I really want  a more trad looking Lancia, I can just buy the stock KillerBody one.

Given I'm eschewing the full martini livery, think the only stickers I'm really concerned about are the window surrounds. I'll post details as/when I grow up and get started on them.

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Other update was that my Castle Combo turned up yesterday. Here's the ESC sat in the electronics box:

NZN9tEl.png

Long and short of it, this is going to be a tight fit.

I think the ESC fan will need to be removed and the opening in the cover widended to allow for all the wires. If needed, I'll try to find a way to mount the fan in the lid of the elctronics box. I think it should fit in the space circled below (stock photo).

That said, given the Mamba X is designed for 1/10th and even some 1/8th sized cars up to 6S, perhaps I won't need the fan at all to run this car on 2S. Any thoughts?

7fZpfQi.png

 

I'm also going to cut a hole in the top of the battery box (x marks the spot in the first photo) and route the battery cables up and over to the ESC. That way I can connect/disconnect/charge the bttery without having to unscrew the battery cover each time.

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Looks great so far! The body is very well done, great execution and I love the color! 👌 can't wait to see this finished but take your time and enjoy the build!

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