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markbt73

If RC4WD does it, how interesting can it be?

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So I thought I had settled on a paint job for my Bruiser. I was going to go all black, and make it look like Marty's truck from Back To The Future.

But now, I see this offered for sale:

https://store.rc4wd.com/rc4wd-trail-finder-2-lwb-with-1987-toyota-xtracab-body-set.html

Yep. They actually went and made it. The right era of truck and all. Ready to run for any idiot with enough money to just come along and buy.

So forget that idea. At least I found out before I started slinging paint.

I went looking for other ideas, and this is the first image that really caught my eye. Basic, minimalist, just a nice old truck (that sold on Bring A Trailer for $22,000 last year, but whatever).

1980_toyota_4x4_pickup_15940838134180a8a

And if I go with white, I won't even have to paint the whole thing. And scratches won't show.

Or maybe beige. Beige looks good too.

fp0912-136305_1@2x.jpg?1475777928000

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I went through the same thought process last year. I bought both the re-re Bruiser and the clone version. I built the real one box art but the clone version I did more like the pictures your post. I wound up painting it red and used some RC4WD decals that are very similar to the original Toyota graphics of the late 70s/early 80s. 

shocks.jpg.0199cbf9070a1756e731fc0bd1f3f102.jpg

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I quite like RC4WD stuff. Sure it's pricey, but most stuff is these days. I think it's a great truck for someone to just buy and start driving. It looks amazing. I went with green on my Hilux. Not Tamiya though.

 

TF2 131.jpg

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I don't have a problem with RC4WD in particular; I just dislike the fact that almost any idea you can come up with has already been done to death by some company or other mass-producing it. Why bother making anything special? Just buy it and yank it out of the box like every other automaton. And they offer payments on it, too. Ugh.

Don't mind me; I'm just being grouchy.

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The beige looks good, seems odd saying that about beige. The wheels on it definitely help. Maybe with some brown racing strips? 

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I like the color I painted mine:

https://i.imgur.com/WnmA3sm.jpg

I went for this after seeing this one...

https://i.imgur.com/G64PEnw.jpg

I dunno, but I love how the Toyotas look with this color.

 

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7 hours ago, Re-Bugged said:

The beige looks good, seems odd saying that about beige. The wheels on it definitely help. Maybe with some brown racing strips? 

I totally agree, beige is probably the last colour choice for me normally, but it looks ‘right’ on the Hilux in the picture.

I am partial to a red Hilux as well, and blue and ....😂

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11 hours ago, markbt73 said:

So I thought I had settled on a paint job for my Bruiser. I was going to go all black, and make it look like Marty's truck from Back To The Future.

But now, I see this offered for sale:

https://store.rc4wd.com/rc4wd-trail-finder-2-lwb-with-1987-toyota-xtracab-body-set.html

Yep. They actually went and made it. The right era of truck and all. Ready to run for any idiot with enough money to just come along and buy.

So forget that idea. At least I found out before I started slinging paint.

I went looking for other ideas, and this is the first image that really caught my eye. Basic, minimalist, just a nice old truck (that sold on Bring A Trailer for $22,000 last year, but whatever).

1980_toyota_4x4_pickup_15940838134180a8a

And if I go with white, I won't even have to paint the whole thing. And scratches won't show.

Or maybe beige. Beige looks good too.

fp0912-136305_1@2x.jpg?1475777928000

I guess if you take the price of the Tamiya Hilux or Bruiser when they were originally released then the RC4WD is probably good value once inflation has been factored in. 

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I wouldn't think too much on this.  I mean, black is hardly an original choice for anything, even if you did land there after a long thought process.  Black looks great on just about everything and often for me it's a deliberate decision not to go black on anything.  Now, if you'd spent ages coming up with an original colour scheme, or you'd looked at some rare factory body options or vintage race car liveries and decided on that, and then an RTR comes along in the same scheme, then maybe you've got something to be upset about.

I can't say I've always thought this way, though.  A few years back I bought a Grand Hauler, and figured I'd do it matt black.  Then the matt black King Hauler came out, and I figured I'd end up with the same rig as everybody else, so I chose a different idea.  And then I remembered an article by Grayson Perry in a custom motorcycle magazine I read many years ago: I can't remember the quote exactly, but it was something like, if you start reaching for the matt black paint, something has gone wrong in your design process.

I've recently been reading a book called Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, and there's a chapter called Originality vs Authenticity, from which I will quote some passages:

Quote

Most things have already been done - but they have not been done by you.

...

When Picasso saw the ancient cave paintings at Lascaux, he reportedly said "We have learned nothing in twelve thousand years"

...

Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir

So - if you want to do black, by all means, do black.  If you want to do a Marty McFly replica, make it more authentic than RC4WD's.

A bit part of the book is about enjoying your work for what you put into it, and not what other people think.  If you make a black truck that's so good people thought you bought it from a major company, isn't that an unintended nod towards the quality of your work?

I'm not sure if that helps any, but I thought I'd throw it out there ;) 

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2 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

I wouldn't think too much on this.  I mean, black is hardly an original choice for anything, even if you did land there after a long thought process.  Black looks great on just about everything and often for me it's a deliberate decision not to go black on anything.  Now, if you'd spent ages coming up with an original colour scheme, or you'd looked at some rare factory body options or vintage race car liveries and decided on that, and then an RTR comes along in the same scheme, then maybe you've got something to be upset about.

I can't say I've always thought this way, though.  A few years back I bought a Grand Hauler, and figured I'd do it matt black.  Then the matt black King Hauler came out, and I figured I'd end up with the same rig as everybody else, so I chose a different idea.  And then I remembered an article by Grayson Perry in a custom motorcycle magazine I read many years ago: I can't remember the quote exactly, but it was something like, if you start reaching for the matt black paint, something has gone wrong in your design process.

I've recently been reading a book called Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, and there's a chapter called Originality vs Authenticity, from which I will quote some passages:

So - if you want to do black, by all means, do black.  If you want to do a Marty McFly replica, make it more authentic than RC4WD's.

A bit part of the book is about enjoying your work for what you put into it, and not what other people think.  If you make a black truck that's so good people thought you bought it from a major company, isn't that an unintended nod towards the quality of your work?

I'm not sure if that helps any, but I thought I'd throw it out there ;) 

A great quote and good advice. If you like it do but the best you can. Then it’s yours and nobody else’s!!

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Nah. It was just "an idea," not something I was in love with, just a direction to go that wasn't box-art. The bumpers are close, and the silly half-topper thingy kinda-sorta looks like an extended cab, so it seemed to fit. So now I'm going in a different direction that's not box-art.

I know there's nothing new under the sun, but more and more I'm reminded of a line from the movie Pump Up The Volume: "All the great themes have been used up and turned into theme parks." It's not that they "stole my idea;" it wasn't much of an idea to begin with. It's that you really don't have to make anything for yourself any more, just wait long enough and Disney or Amazon or some nameless juggernaut in China will come along and sell you a "limited-edition" (of 100,000) version of it, and then shout into your face about it ad nauseam. (Which means maybe I shouldn't use the Toyota body at all; I'm sure HG P407s outnumber actual Bruisers at least 5 to 1 by now.)

And actually, I can't think of a worse insult to something I (or anyone) made by hand than to have it mistaken for some mass-produced garbage. Spend a hundred hours painstakingly building and detailing something, and have some yahoo say, "Oh yeah, my cousin just bought one of those!" I'd rather it look like a five-year-old painted it, but in a unique way, than have that happen.

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On 9/3/2021 at 2:08 AM, mongoose1983 said:

I like the color I painted mine:

https://i.imgur.com/WnmA3sm.jpg

I went for this after seeing this one...

https://i.imgur.com/G64PEnw.jpg

I dunno, but I love how the Toyotas look with this color.

 

I bought a 2nd hand bruiser in a beige it looked really good it just look right in that colour but I had it for a while and decided to do it a different colour I  used rover grey metallic and my maroon one was the Toyota genuine colour  for the hi-lux (can't remember what it was actually called)

20190707_221012.jpg

img37842_17072014212234_2_1100_.jpg

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I think Bruisers have been done in about every color.  Find a color you love and go for it.  

I think black washes out the details and didn’t the HG knock off come in black also?  

Don’t hate on the RC4WD stuff.  I applaud them for coming out with scale stuff that Tamiya wouldn’t touch.

 

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I went with beige on my clone a couple years ago. After I put the decals on, I wished I had just left it beige and found white rims for it.

t5VSXuF.jpg

 

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On 9/4/2021 at 10:43 PM, tamiya_1971 said:

I went with beige on my clone a couple years ago. After I put the decals on, I wished I had just left it beige and found white rims for it.

t5VSXuF.jpg

 

This looks nice. What paint is that?

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2 hours ago, RC4x4 said:

This looks nice. What paint is that?

Thanks. Testors 1963 Modern Desert Sand.

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I only have good things to say about RC4WD, allowing us to reinterpret days well gone is gold IMHO.

Painted_01.jpg

 

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I really like the beige/gold colors on these 80s trucks.  I went with a bit darker bronze on mine and it's OK, but really wish I went for the light cream color I've seen on a few of them.  Here's mine:

IMG_6348.JPG

IMG_6305.JPG

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On 9/7/2021 at 10:38 PM, 87lc2 said:

I really like the beige/gold colors on these 80s trucks.  I went with a bit darker bronze on mine and it's OK, but really wish I went for the light cream color I've seen on a few of them.  Here's mine:

IMG_6348.JPG

i think it looks very good in this chocolate bronze brown :)

i have a the 4 door version, and i have been thinking hard for a while about what color to paint it, and i still haven decided :wacko:

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If you want to go black, you could go this direction. RCWD makes these trim stripes

1981-toyota-sr5
 

 

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Beige and no decals imo. Bruisers are boring in boxart with the decals imo. It's all about making it YOURS!!! 👍

James.

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1 hour ago, InsaneJim69 said:

Beige and no decals imo. Bruisers are boring in boxart with the decals imo. It's all about making it YOURS!!! 👍

James.

Absolutely spot on individuality is what it's all about on all models actually!

20211025_104300.jpg

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