Pimp my Pumpkin! Part 1

I've been working at this project since the end of 2005, alternating high & low productivity chapters. All started from a used Midnight Pumpkin that I received as a gift from my local shop (I made some repairs for him once in a while). The body wasn't in top condition, but plastic shells are relatively easy to recover, they just need some patience & skill (& putty - sandpaper - primer... well, You know ;-) ). The chassis was pretty used too, but it was useless in my project, so it rapidly takes his path to the trash can. My target for this project were to obtain a compact yet powerful mild off-road basher and the tiny Pumpkin body's was the perfect start. I want the car to look like a real-size Rock Crawler, so I trimmed the body in the front & rear lower section for increased approach, removing the chromed bumpers and tail lights (crawlers don't need them). I also enlarged the wheel openings, to avoid tires rubbing and increase suspensions travel. To complete the race-oriented look I arranged a cover plate for the rear rollbar from a piece of lexan, fixed with small zip-ties and oversprayed with flat black (it even cover the square opening on the bed for the original switch). The final touch is the front rollbar, I made it from a 8mm plastic bar that I bent using a small torch. I choosed this old-stile livery, using TS-33 Dull Red and Flat Black for all other details (including side doors). Internal driver figure cames from the TA01 series, it fits with some major modifications and it's fixed as usually with velcro straps inside the body.
Now the tough part. Building a chassis that can permorm decently and look commensurate under a Pumpkin body wasn't exactly a joke. In addiction I wanted it to be a 4WD - Dual Motors and Dual Steering car (just like a real crawler :-) ). Considering the short wheelbase & narrow stance, my choice was nearly forced for the M01-M02 transmission. Each differential case is pretty small and can accomodate one motor and steering knukles. I used M01-M02 suspension arms too, along with TL01 Knukles for both front & rear end. All is kept together with a custom made 3mm graphite chassis, self projected and wonderfully machined by a kind guy here in Italy (Thanks Alessandro!), while all aluminium parts are self realized with my small lathe. Various parts complete the chassis, like Monster Aluminium gold Dampers (with shortened axles & springs), Acto Tuned motors, bearings & more.
As already mentioned in my other projects, I'm always very carefully in rims/tires choice, and for this one I initially opted for a set of XC wheels (from a Pajero Metaltop). While I was forwarding with the development perhaps I wanted something more aggressive and distinctive; since I was reading for a while about rims & tires cutting for Rock Crawling, I decided to give it a try. I start from a set of TLT wheels, diameter is just a little bigger than XC ones (but a lot wider), and the little rims (on the outer side) are more realistic in my point of view. I proceed removing 19mm in center of each tire & rim, and with a lot of patience (and CA) I glued them back together. I must admit that the process was a real pain, but I think this wheels greatly enhance the overall look of the car.