Built for an magazine review by Tamiya, so I'm told...

I had seen this actual car a few times in other people's showrooms, so I know it had been passed about a little bit, if memory serves Koenc and of course I bought it from Alonzo Furiozo (apologies if any names spelled incorrectly) in a recent transaction, as he was the last owner. It was shipped in record time. To be honest I was expecting the Dyna Tech motor to be there, but I didn't actually ask, so when it arrived as an empty chassis I was a little disappointed, but there was no intent to deceive, I should have been more thorough, I guess I let my enthusiasm get the better of me!
However, the model, having been new built in 1995-1996 (launch date, although not confirmed on this site is thought to be 1995, with this model being in a 1996 review - if anyone has any documentary evidence of this review, I would be grateful) was in good condition considering the age of the build and the passing through various owners. The decals were peeling in some places, there was some minor paint damage from storage/transport and the tires are very lightly cracked. As a display model it would be superb though and I prefer the livery than the recommended yellow. As the story goes - this model was airbrushed professionally by someone in Tamiya for the magazine, though quite why they chose non-Tamiya livery I don't know. As many of you already know, this car shares a chassis with all the other group C chassis models and notably differs in that along with the Street Devil it uses a Parma body, not a Tamiya one and that this one is the only one that is shipped with a Dynatech 01R motor. This makes it a good deal if purchased NIB for $200 including shipping - the current going rate, IMHO.
Once decals have peeled off polycarbonate, there isn't a huge amount you can do, as gloss coats don't work on lexan and they tend to not stick down very well a second time. I find that cutting a little clear trim from a decal sheet and taping the peeling edge down, after a good dry rub clean (of the bodyshell in the sticking area) works a treat, although don't expect this to last forever - with a car with thin long decals like this, it can seem like painting the Golden Gate bridge!
I cleaned the chassis and body lightly, stuck down the decals again, used a paint pen on the scrapes inside the chassis. Re attached the bodyposts, adjusted the positioning and reattached the mirrors - about an hours work in all, whilst watching House on TV. Then in the absence of a Dynatech 01R that I was willing to sacrifice - I used a spare Dynarun (not the stock, but the 1996 13 turn) motor, which I had recently purchased from Jason (one of many, I plan to put them in a few display Group C cars)
Another couple of differences of this model over the other group C cars is that due to the motor - there are two finer toothed 'hop up' spurs in the kit (104 and 93) with a 20T pinion, rather than the more common 70/14 combo from the others. Also, I think this is the longest 'small' box I have seen, as it has to incorporate the extra long bodyset from Parma, which includes the spoiler at the end. In fact, to pack this properly NIB, the body should be placed upside down, with the parts inside and the parts box at the end. It also uses the red A parts, which look striking through the window, rather than the dull black ones on the C11. The motor plate was also missing, but I have a couple of rere C11s for spares and this part was easy for me to remove for this purpose. Future work will include period radio gear and perhaps some new tyres, although I am not too fussy about this. Again, I would be grateful to find out if anyone knows more about the article this model was supposed to have featured in. Finally, although I can't find any supporting evidence that this model was supposed to be even a loosely authorised version of the car from the film 'Days of Thunder', both the box livery and the original car (shown in my showroom pictures lower down) and the name 'Daytona Thunder' are too coincidental to be true, but that is just the cynic in me!
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