Flexin5 13 Posted October 19, 2021 Hi Tamiya club, i thought i would post up my builds here. a little background on myself, ive been building tamiya models for the past few years and enjoy building them. these are two out of the many that i've built: I've always been interested in RC cars but never started however within the last 8 months or so i've got bitten by the bug and haven't stopped. this hobby has been really fun and great at eating up the spare time during covid. I don't compete or anything i just build them for fun and to mess around in a parking lot or on the street for the most part. i'm learning alot as i go along but still have so much to learn. i'll start off with my Tamiya TT02 build. I useto own a 1994 integra that I heavily modded myself, built an engine and added a turbo on it, so of course i had to get a Integra body for it. anyways here's some pics: so i started with a TT02D EG civic kit. this is my first rc car ever. had lots of fun putting it together. added a few parts like the aluminum drive shaft. painted, and added some grip wheels. the hard plastic drift wheels had the car all over the place lol of course, i had to get a ABC hobby Integra body and also a light kit. Drilling body post holes for me I found really difficult and messed up. also added some wider work wheels and tamiya X pattern tires. then I got bit by the aftermarket parts bug lol installed a complete yeah racing aluminum kit, hobby link brushless motor and ESC, CF shock towers etc. having a blast with it. it's actually a bit too fast for the street but i love the speed that it can carry in a parking lot. i've been running the integra body recently but decided to keep it as a display body and purchased a pandora civic EK body for running duty, that's currently where i'm at with it so far. now during the time that I was building the TT02 road car, I met up with two friends who were in the hobby for a long time. one day when we met up to run a friend showed me the buggy he had and i knew i needed to get one lol. so after taking the budget into consideration, I came across a used Tamiya DF-02 frame, did a little bit of research and decided to pull the trigger on it. this was my first attempt at a complete build that i would have to order everything for which i'm glad I did because I really learned alot from building it. the buggy got the Sport tuned motor and ESC that came with the TT02D, some amazon wheels and tires and aftermarket suspension. then I just went ham and ordered everything lol all aluminum parts and finally gave it a paint job anyways, thanks for reading, i'll continue to update this thread as I go, right now the next project is a vintage Kyosho Turbo burns that I just got that I will be doing a full restoration on but i'll post that in the other section. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hIghQ 149 Posted October 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Flexin5 said: then I got bit by the aftermarket parts bug lol installed a complete yeah racing aluminum kit, hobby link brushless motor and ESC, CF shock towers etc. I don't want to rain onto your parade, so just a little tip for the future: unless you build a car as a pure shelf queen, never put aluminium arms on it. If you crash, the forces have to go somewhere. Plastics will either stay intact or break (which then can be replaced for little money). Aluminium however, can bend (and will stay that way). Sometimes it can even bend without you noticing it, but the car will forever handle poorly. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willy iine 18805 Posted October 20, 2021 @Flexin5 Looks good and nice job on the 1/24 models. I don't know if you care or not, but if you do, I use this tool called circle cutter (aka compass cutter) by Olfa to cut perfectly round circles for the wheel arches. I also use a rolled up magazine or anything cylindrical wrapped with sand paper #400 to clean up the cut so the arch is perfectly round. Again, your cars look fine as they are, just wanted to throw that out there if interested. Have fun with your RC! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted October 20, 2021 2 hours ago, hIghQ said: I don't want to rain onto your parade, so just a little tip for the future: unless you build a car as a pure shelf queen, never put aluminium arms on it. If you crash, the forces have to go somewhere. Plastics will either stay intact or break (which then can be replaced for little money). Aluminium however, can bend (and will stay that way). Sometimes it can even bend without you noticing it, but the car will forever handle poorly. it's ok, i knew that going into it but that's mainly why i run the cars in a parking lot instead of the street; especially the road car that's quicker and easier to slap into a curb lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted October 20, 2021 52 minutes ago, Willy iine said: @Flexin5 Looks good and nice job on the 1/24 models. I don't know if you care or not, but if you do, I use this tool called circle cutter (aka compass cutter) by Olfa to cut perfectly round circles for the wheel arches. I also use a rolled up magazine or anything cylindrical wrapped with sand paper #400 to clean up the cut so the arch is perfectly round. Again, your cars look fine as they are, just wanted to throw that out there if interested. Have fun with your RC! ah good advice, i will try the magazine with the sand paper on the EK body, i can never cut the wheel wells out perfectly by hand. thanks! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryz82 160 Posted October 20, 2021 3 hours ago, Flexin5 said: having a blast with it. it's actually a bit too fast for the street but i love the speed that it can carry in a parking lot. i've been running the integra body recently but decided to keep it as a display body and purchased a pandora civic EK body for running duty, that's currently where i'm at with it so far. Looking good. What's the Pandora body like ? I know a lot of them are designed for Drift look, so are usually 200mm wide and can look pretty funky without the right offset rims. I recently (well start of year, but haven't got around to working on it yet) EK9 body from MST (https://www.rcmart.com/mst-ek9-clear-body-set-for-1-10-rc-onroad-720010-00087476) which is pretty nicely detailed and moulded - something I find the ABC bodies lack unfortunately, though the Integra has less shape and body lines to be concerned about maintaining 3 hours ago, Flexin5 said: i'll start off with my Tamiya TT02 build. I useto own a 1994 integra that I heavily modded myself, built an engine and added a turbo on it, so of course i had to get a Integra body for it. I wish someone would release a Gen 5 Prelude body ... sadly the only one was by HPI and is now discontinued. Love the McLaren! Reminds me I should finish of my MP6 body for the my F104W ... ergh too many kits to work on, that's a good thing right? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Re-Bugged 10147 Posted October 20, 2021 Welcome @Flexin5 👍🏻 So you like the odd Honda or 2 I take it? 😉 Good to see you getting off to a great start and enjoying yourself, coz that’s what it’s about after all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted October 20, 2021 18 hours ago, Ryz82 said: Looking good. What's the Pandora body like ? I know a lot of them are designed for Drift look, so are usually 200mm wide and can look pretty funky without the right offset rims. I recently (well start of year, but haven't got around to working on it yet) EK9 body from MST (https://www.rcmart.com/mst-ek9-clear-body-set-for-1-10-rc-onroad-720010-00087476) which is pretty nicely detailed and moulded - something I find the ABC bodies lack unfortunately, though the Integra has less shape and body lines to be concerned about maintaining I wish someone would release a Gen 5 Prelude body ... sadly the only one was by HPI and is now discontinued. Love the McLaren! Reminds me I should finish of my MP6 body for the my F104W ... ergh too many kits to work on, that's a good thing right? thanks! the Pandora body so far is...ok. for it to line up with the rear body posts, they come out right where the spoiler is, so in order to get some cotter pins in you have to cut out a spoiler extension and glue all that to the body and even then it'll be a tight fit for the pins. also, the body came with the indention lines to cut out like a diffuser almost but i wanted the oem rear bumper and lip that is separate so cutting out the actual bumper and attaching the oem one is almost next to impossible to get to fit cleanly. it's also very thin too, probably can't take much abuse but i do like how it comes molded with a aftermarket style front lip and hood; no window, headlights or taillight masks either but does have light bowls for LEDs. IMO, the ABC body was nicer because it was thicker, but neither of them compare to tamiya bodies they are much better. that EK9 body from MST looks nice tho! i should have gotten that. a Gen 5 prelude body would be sick, Pandora has one i believe but the dimensions are a little off to me. thanks on the compliment on the mclaren, that thing took me forever to build because i put alot of detail into it. having too many kits is NEVER a bad thing! haha i have the EK civic body, might get another EG body, and a kyosho turbo burns body to all do lol. should keep me busy for a good while. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted October 20, 2021 18 hours ago, Re-Bugged said: Welcome @Flexin5 👍🏻 So you like the odd Honda or 2 I take it? 😉 Good to see you getting off to a great start and enjoying yourself, coz that’s what it’s about after all. thankyou! haha ya i'm a bit of a honda nut to be honest. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryz82 160 Posted October 21, 2021 9 hours ago, Flexin5 said: thanks! the Pandora body so far is...ok. for it to line up with the rear body posts, they come out right where the spoiler is, so in order to get some cotter pins in you have to cut out a spoiler extension and glue all that to the body and even then it'll be a tight fit for the pins. also, the body came with the indention lines to cut out like a diffuser almost but i wanted the oem rear bumper and lip that is separate so cutting out the actual bumper and attaching the oem one is almost next to impossible to get to fit cleanly. it's also very thin too, probably can't take much abuse but i do like how it comes molded with a aftermarket style front lip and hood; no window, headlights or taillight masks either but does have light bowls for LEDs. IMO, the ABC body was nicer because it was thicker, but neither of them compare to tamiya bodies they are much better. that EK9 body from MST looks nice tho! i should have gotten that. a Gen 5 prelude body would be sick, Pandora has one i believe but the dimensions are a little off to me. thanks on the compliment on the mclaren, that thing took me forever to build because i put alot of detail into it. having too many kits is NEVER a bad thing! haha i have the EK civic body, might get another EG body, and a kyosho turbo burns body to all do lol. should keep me busy for a good while. Sounds like a lot of pain, but get some shots up here when you're done, I've not seen that particular Civic body by Pandora, my LHS stocks a fair bit of their bodies, I picked up one, think it was the EF (Gen 4) Civic they had, last year. Sadly I botched the body post holes waaaaaaay to much to recover, the whole body sat at an angle left to right eeeek. Though TBH probably for the best, as with its OTT styling it did look a bit silly in my opinion, it was definitely a full drift body. The MST body is third in line for me behind Mustang and Sierra bodies, mostly as I have a very particular paint/livery job I want to do for it which is going to require a) patience and b) decals that I need to get made. I've done an EG body also, its one I picked up to replace that Pandora one. It was buy a cheap brand "Body Worx" here in AU, but recently in another post looks like a common cheap brand that is re-sold to anyone that was to be a re-seller, its not the most detailed, but one of their better ones. The Tamiya EG6 Castrol Rally body is still pretty easy to find outside of your kit, so might be worth a shot. Or MST also does an EG. Do you have a link to the Prelude body ? as said the only one I've EVER seen is the HPI one, which is "ok" but has has already been moulded with a body kti/race look - not to mention, as said, no longer being made. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted October 21, 2021 14 hours ago, Ryz82 said: Sounds like a lot of pain, but get some shots up here when you're done, I've not seen that particular Civic body by Pandora, my LHS stocks a fair bit of their bodies, I picked up one, think it was the EF (Gen 4) Civic they had, last year. Sadly I botched the body post holes waaaaaaay to much to recover, the whole body sat at an angle left to right eeeek. Though TBH probably for the best, as with its OTT styling it did look a bit silly in my opinion, it was definitely a full drift body. The MST body is third in line for me behind Mustang and Sierra bodies, mostly as I have a very particular paint/livery job I want to do for it which is going to require a) patience and b) decals that I need to get made. I've done an EG body also, its one I picked up to replace that Pandora one. It was buy a cheap brand "Body Worx" here in AU, but recently in another post looks like a common cheap brand that is re-sold to anyone that was to be a re-seller, its not the most detailed, but one of their better ones. The Tamiya EG6 Castrol Rally body is still pretty easy to find outside of your kit, so might be worth a shot. Or MST also does an EG. Do you have a link to the Prelude body ? as said the only one I've EVER seen is the HPI one, which is "ok" but has has already been moulded with a body kti/race look - not to mention, as said, no longer being made. oh it has been a pain already and i haven't even gotten into the meat of it with masking, painting, LED's etc etc. but i plan on just taking my time to make sure everything is done to the best of my ability. TBH, i find RC car bodies much harder to do than the models because the whole painting from the inside thing; but it's good to hear that i'm not the only botching body post holes haha sucks about the EF body tho, i was on the fence between the EK and the EF body myself. i'd love to get a castrol rally body actually, i have a collection of that livery in my models and it would be super cool to have a RC body to match, can't decided if i want to do it to a road car or lately i was thinking about making a rally TT02 with the castrol celica rally livery. you know what you're right about the prelude body, i thought pandora made one but they have EK, EF, older civic, S2k and NSX, but the HPI one looks decent if you can get your hands on one. looks super wide tho lol 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alvinlwh 5895 Posted October 23, 2021 On 10/20/2021 at 1:04 AM, Willy iine said: @Flexin5 Looks good and nice job on the 1/24 models. I don't know if you care or not, but if you do, I use this tool called circle cutter (aka compass cutter) by Olfa to cut perfectly round circles for the wheel arches. I also use a rolled up magazine or anything cylindrical wrapped with sand paper #400 to clean up the cut so the arch is perfectly round. Wasn't there an advice about using a bottle, moving the hand in a certain motion while watching some kind of movie once? 😁 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted November 2, 2021 tackled this project over the weekend, new EK body. this body was a little difficult as the rear bumper had to but cut and fitted on. i also decanted some park green and mixed in a bit of silver metallic and backed it with white to get as close to Midori green as possible. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Re-Bugged 10147 Posted November 2, 2021 On 10/22/2021 at 5:42 AM, Flexin5 said: That GT in middle looks the business 👍🏻 Actually they all do but if I could take one home, GT it would be 😁 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted November 3, 2021 thanks man, ya that GT was a difficult but nice build, as you can see i really like the entire castrol liverly. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flexin5 13 Posted November 8, 2021 a little update. had to make a set of one of the best looking wheels (imo) out there. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites