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Nitomor

Tamiya Mountain Rider build

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Following on from the detailed Bruiser build thread here;
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=76967

I was so impressed when I embarked on the Bruiser build with the quality and ingenuity of the Bruiser, that half way through the build I could see the limited edition Mountain Rider stocks were getting thin on the ground everywhere, finally the last kits were only available at Stella models. The Bruiser kit is one of those purchases that gets put off due to cost, but once you appreciate what you get for the money it's quite addictive, I've spent much more on it in man hours and it has kept me engaged for months! Although the chassis was built within a couple of weeks, it has been the bodyshell that has taken so long and perhaps as much as anything else was the learning curve and practice time which have swallowed up many more hours.

With the colder weather setting in and awaiting a new decal sheet to replace the defective Bruiser one, I've laid off completing the Bruiser and decided it was time to crack out the Mountain Rider. This time round I won't be embarking on a step by step build as this has already been documented, instead this will be a slightly abridged version!

First off, the beautiful box art (resistance was futile);

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Contents - the box didn't make it through customs unscathed, it had been opened, pulled apart and I got the letter from customs charging for the privelege of wrecking the box. So no chance this would be preserved and left unbuilt then :)
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Step 1 all set out, ready to start...
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And so it begins...
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Steering arm, leaf spring shackles, all the screws for the chassis removed, re-built up and threadlocked in. Previously Imhad moaned about the screws supplied with the kit but actually with hindsight, it doesn't bother me enough to warrant spending another £40 on a hex kit and I like the fact it is serviceable using the Tamiya screwdriver and box wrench.
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Nito

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Next up is putting the front and rear diffs together...

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Front axle peculiarity, both my Bruiser and this kit require some work on one of the knuckles to work on a high spot which makes it slightly tight. Others have also had this with theirs...so a little bit of sandpaper and all is smooth as butter...

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Tamiya manual says to use synthetic rubber cement for this (whatever that is) anyway, CA seems to work fine.

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Gearbox...front wheel drive element...note that all the gears for the FWD are metal...

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Not shown in the pic but the 27T and 30T you can see referenced in the manual step are the only plastic gears in the whole box, effectively low speed 2wd and high speed 2wd.

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Sub shaft...

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Gearbox all done, it's such an impressive piece of kit...I'd really like to see this feature in an all new model...(as well as an original Hilux rere of course lol!).

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I'm off to drop it into the chassis now, which currently looks like this...

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The wheels aren't supposed to be on there yet, first time around I resisted, as much as I was dying to whack them on, this time around I indulged myself and fitted them early ;) on the premise that it's easier to work on the chassis with it being a rolling chassis so it's not scratching about on the table lol. These wheels are an alternative set off the Bruiser not the oe tyres, those are HPI Yokohama Geolandars on the Hop up 4pce beadlock rims...

Yum Yum...

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Cheers

Nito

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... (resistance was futile)

Love it. Nicely detailed build! Looking forward to more!!

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Looks great. How tight are your knuckles? The re-re Bruiser I did a few years ago were very very sloppy but the Mountain Rider re-re I'm working on was nice and tight.

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Thanks chaps,

s2-gt, I did a really detailed step by step photo build on my Bruiser thread hyperlinked above if you fancy reading an in depth build, this won't be anywhere near as detailed as that one, at least that was the intention but I just can't help myself!

Saito 2, both the Bruiser and this one have had one tight steering knuckle, the other side was perfect so I just fine sandpapered the aluminium hub internal and the knuckle so it would clear nice and smoothly on lock to lock.

Last night I dropped the gearbox into the chassis so all the running gear is in;
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For electronics I've once again gone with the waterproof lipo compatible HPI ESC along with a pair of expensive Futaba servo's and the Futaba 10J radio setup, more on that later...
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While on the subject of electronics, I'll be installing LED's. All these kits are actually the same system;

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Left kit came from Amazon, centre Hobbyking and the right from Modelsport. Now I know this is the same kit, in future I'll just buy from Modelsport, for £11.99 it does everything I want and is only a couple of quid dearer than elsewhere but with Modelsports superb backup and service. In order for the kit to work correctly with the Bruiser/Mountain rider, you need an extra pair of 3mm Led white and 3mm LED red, I got them for a couple of quid each from Modelsport made by Killer Bodies,this means I'll have some redundant 5mm LED's left over which I'll use elsewhere. What does this kit do? It has 2 Y leads so you can piggyback it off steering and esc outputs which gives you indicators, sidelights, headlights, brakelights, reverse lights. However I don't want the indicators to come on everytime I turn and I might not want the lights on all the time. On my Bruiser I'm using my old Heli Futaba 7c, but I want to be able to run them together and in any case the 7c has been phased out and the FASST receivers are getting pretty pricey so it was time to get an upgrade. I'm using a total of 5 channels on the Bruiser, steering, esc, transmission shift, indicators, front/rear lights. Unfortunately this ruled out Futaba's new 4 channel stick radio for cars, the 6j doesn't have a 3 position switch which is how I shift gears, leaving the 8J and 10J radio options. Ripmax had a special on the 10J which meant that for not a lot more I got a spare receiver which I can use on my next build.

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So that's the five channels used up, fortunately it just fits in snugly where I wanted to position it. Here I'm configuring the radio to the LED's using some clever channel mixing and re-assigning of switches etc.

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Fortunately I made some notes last time which let me get straight to it;
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So, on with the electronics box;
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All the servo's connected up and cable tidy in place...
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Finally for now, running through the gears testing the shifting and setting up the end points on the servo's to prevent any binding, particularly important to set up the shift servo so it isn't fighting against itself by pushing too far once the gear has engaged etc.

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Did a test around the kitchen, I've also configured some other switches on the remote, I can now indicate independantly off the left stick L/R for example if I wanted to indicate while running straight ahead, or I can flick a switch which will then cause the car to indicate with the right stick steering input. For the lights, I can illuminate the headlights from the right stick forward position which is on a ratchet, or I can apply brake light from that stick while running. Once again I can flick another switch so it operates automatically from the throttle/esc input so it'll light up the headlights on throttle, brakes when I stop and reverse lights when I reverse. I can also flash the headlights from an intermittent switch.

I have to say how impressed I am with the Futaba 10J. Looking forward to all sorts of different possibilities with other rigs, like dual esc's with selectable 2/4wd and 4ws etc.

Cheers
Nito

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First hop ups. Once again going with the 4 pce beadlock hop up rims, this time with Gmade RH03 centre hubs in red. I've also ordered the Fastrax LED 5 spot light kit which I've managed to attach to the 'Mounter' roll bar, it wasn't quite a direct fit.

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Not sure quite how this will work out or if it will stay but below pic shows one of the lenses in place, there is also a chrome grille to go in front of that if I want.

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Great work on those lights.

Are any of the roll bars hollow? could you run the wires through them?

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Thanks,

They're U shaped, the wires are in the grooves mostly, with the foil tape sealing the cavity as it were!

I was tempted to try with solder to see if it would take, maybe on a Mk2 version!

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Subscribed - I've yet to break out my Bruiser and 'Mountaineer' kits so your threads are useful reading (and impetus to get my act sorted :lol: )

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Thank you very much, it's always nice to know that the threads are appreciated and can be of help. I read as many Bruiser threads as possible before plumping for such an expensive kit and then subsequently to get inspiration or purely just admire the handiwork of others. I'm totally hooked on them and haven't even drive one in anger yet. I bought another Bruiser for precisely that reason (when the £ was strong against the euro in the summer) which is going to be my runner but I haven't even got around to building that yet!!

Cheers

Nito

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Made a start on painting the Mountain Rider shell yesterday.

Previously I'd used Miliput to infill the redundant holes on the side of the cab, in hindsight I don't know why I used the yellow miliput and not the fine white which I also have (looks white in pic due to sealer/primer base)! I'd also cleaned the shell up by taking off the flash lines etc with some sympathetic sanding to give it nice smooth clean lines.

So a couple of days ago I put some adhesion promoter on it. Yesterday I scuffed it up with some 600 grit sandpaper, then washed with detergent, before shooting some AutoAir white sealer base. Then after letting it dry a bit, starting hitting it with the first couple of coats of colour...

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While taking the above picture, I moved the red paint into the shot and in doing so, realised I'd inadvertently not used the intended colour. I couldn't even remember buying pearl red! It should have been painted in Sparklescent Red. Thankfully I'm only a couple of coats in so it shouldn't be any biggy to change. I was marvelling at how nice the red was going down compared to the previous Sparklescent Blizzard Blue II of the Bruiser now I know why lol!!

D'oh!

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Now in the correct colour!!

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still another coat or so to go. :)

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Looking good. I thought you'd forgotten about this build (something I'm very guilty of). 

 

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Thanks gents,

Lol Chris, I was just waiting for the weather to get warmer. I've also come to my senses and realised that I shouldn't start anymore projects until I've finished the previous one! So I'm making a concerted effort to finish this and the Bruiser off (as well as a few other shells that require paint) before embarking on any further projects.

A little more progress today;

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The seats are actually painted cream color (even though it looks like they're just raw plastic) this Mounty was specced with cream leather!!

 

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First coat of clear now on.

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Once again I'll be sealing the decals in. Just shot 35ml of clear coat over it. A few more coats needed to fully cover the paint flakes for a smooth finish. I've done about 40ml of spark paint and the 20ml of pearl red which I accidentally used in the beginning, and maybe 20-40ml of white sealer base.

There's some detailing to do soon also, such as door handles, window trims and of course I forgot to paint the rear window of the cab which doesn't feature on the Bruiser, so D'oh, need to crack out the red paint again and clean the airbrush all over, I knew I forgot something!

 

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There's a few more coats of clear required before decals, here is the shell after it's first sitting of clear. The Bruiser was exactly the same, by it's very nature the larger flakes on the sparklescent paint means it takes a fair amount of clear coat to have a smooth even coat and the full colour doesn't come out until then. Even the Bruiser requires another coat or two of clear to be finished since applying the decals...it's a slow process because I leave it a week to cure between clear coats.

For the moment it looks a bit meh, but comparing it to the Bruiser will give an idea of what it should look like. The Bruiser itself needs a bit more so that the bonnet looks like the wheel arch currently does...

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Some more early images...

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There's a long way to go yet, more clear, then decals, then another few coats of clear to seal them in, paint all the lenses, paint some of the detail on the body like door handles, window rubber trims, vents behind the door handles, side bars all the masking and making good if it goes wrong, I forgot to paint the rear window/bulkhead with the body so that needs paint and clear, the driver needs doing, the lenses will need gluing and fixing to the various plastic receivers, I need to finish the bull bar LED spots and so on...I'm also going to have a go at spraying the bumpers chrome to match the bull bar but not convinced how well that will come out yet!

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All your effort will be worth it in the finished article B)

 

It's hard not to just say 'that'll do' but once its finished there's nothing worse than looking back thinking I should have done this, or that, been more patient, spent more time etc etc

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Thanks Percymon, couldn't agree more. Probably why the Bruiser isn't complete after nearly a year and a half!

I've laid down the second coat of clear today. Still a couple, maybe three coats of clear left to go before I begin detailing!

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Not a great pic but it's slow going clearing over the sparklescent paint!

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Third coat of clear now down the texture is becoming more like glass now. Another couple required before decals. I'll probably start on some of the detailing before the next coat, such as the backing for the rear lights, the side grilles, door handles and window trims.

 

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Looks nice and shiny. Not sold on the colour, prefer your Bruiser which looks fantastic. 

Did you keep the surfboards? I thought this model came with them.

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The flat surfaces, ie roof and bonnet need some more work, they're always the last to fill up. The paint is really tricky to photograph, this is a sparklescent colour just like the Bruiser, but red instead of blue. In the right light it really pops. It won't look it's best until it is completely sealed under the clear. This doesn't come with surfboards, that's the highlift 3 speed as opposed to the Mountain Rider, or Mountaineer as it used to be called.

Here's another pic which captures some of the sparkle...

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It's quite a way off it's final effect. The Bruiser didn't look its best early on either. I shot some clear on that today too, I reckon one more decent coat and that should be done!

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It's a lot redder, deeper and more vibrant than the pics suggest. If you remember the show pics when this kit was announced, you'll recall how all the photos mis-represented the red. I'll try to get some better pics of colour representation once I'm happy with the clear coat finish. :) 

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