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Yep, I would’ve definitely preferred a 6. Still looked quite aggressive whereas the 7 looked like a more sensible family sedan/saloon which continued through the 8 and 9. The 4,5 and 6 were IMO the better looking Lancer Evos. 

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More hobby time taken away from railways as I rediscover some RC fun. 

 

Had a recent acquisition as I think ABC Hobby realised at the Shizuoka Hobby show that one of their popular products was sold out in all of their retailer accounts. Thankfully they decided to rectify this by restocking one of my preferred shops, Super Rajikon.

 

I bought a second Yaris 2018 WRC body as my first has a questionable paint application so great for bashing in the dirt and an ABC Hobby night stage kit. The kit comes with all 14 LEDs along with the moulding for front spots, cornering lights as well as light buckets for the brake light assembly, which doesn’t come in the Tamiya Kit. IMG_1246.thumb.jpeg.d45ec683fc7df6e22bd95abc7ac360b3.jpeg

 

Im rally looking forward to having a go at this. The cut lines on the light moulds are not hugely well recessed like the Tamiya polycarbonate parts, so there’s a very real danger of screwing it up if you’re not paying full attention and taking your time. 

 

I also couldn’t resist another interior driver to paint so I tried to replicate Tommi Makinën and Risto Mannisenmäki.

IMG_1189.thumb.jpeg.33606e1725866d009508c83b76f69a1a.jpeg I really need to get my own printer as the one I use, doesn’t have the best resolution, but you get the idea. IMG_1188.thumb.jpeg.026c4a41cb5082dd0a5b2f4850a96ba4.jpeg

 

I printed some Martini racing decals too for the Lancia 037 drivers based on photos from 1983. Not sure whether to paint their race suits in an off-white as photo colouring of the age suggests it possibly wasn’t white after some racing and older technology fabric. 

 

Then out of the blue, a preorder got brought forward about 3 weeks and this happened. IMG_1247.thumb.jpeg.8d8fce582bfd9577828971b80c1023db.jpeg

 

So I now seemed to be swamped with rally cars to build. This was is the basic TT-02 which i’ll probably trip out with some better parts later. The plan is to make this chassis a road version as the first one was converted to a “dirt” (TT-02 not really designed for) option. 

 

A few recommendations from the members would be helpful. Should I purchase more of the basic Tamiya or similar radio sets, transmitter, receiver, ESC, battery, charger and servo as they’re cheap to run these kits? They are around ¥10,000. The batteries included are the basic 1300 mAh tamiya ones which aren’t amazing but fine to start with. 

 

My intention is not to race although the steering cannot be fine tuned on the Tamiya. Or is it worth investing in a better transmitter to fine tune input and output. The jump in investment seems a lot when all components would need to be bought in addition to the Transmitter and Receiver set.  I’ve not tried a car on a more expensive and feature-rich transmitter so am not really sure what i would be getting. 

 

If I could 

a. fine tune steering especially to reduce turning on initial input to help straighten the cars line. 

 

b. have an option to turn lights on and off although not sure is this is done on the receiver or a separate light module. 

 

c. are able to set up working brake lights but again not sure which hardware this would require. 

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Managed to paint and complete the application of some home made decals for the Lancia Martini drivers. I used some basic top coat from Mr Hobby over the decal paper and it seems it was less effective at preserving the inkjet ink as other top coats I’ve used. I thought it was a lacquer based product but perhaps not. Thankfully most applied without issue, although a few were problematic, I think enough detail was retained for a model that will be driven rather than be scrutinised for its accuracy. 

 

The Tamiya rally interior has a spare wheel and seat harnesses running behind the drivers. The actual 037 had the engine bay behind the drivers and I am considering adding some engine details at a later date. I’ve found some 3D printed engines although would need some very involved customising to fit over this interior mould. 

IMG_1510.jpeg

 

On a slightly similar note, managed to purchase an XV-02 pro Rally Ready chassis (supposedly new) for a very, very reasonable price from Suruga-Ya on one of their time sales.  The cheapest I've seen them is around 31,000 yen, down from SRP/RRP of 35,200 yen.  This came out at 24,000 yen with free shipping. I'm slightly dubious whether this thing will arrive although Suruga-Ya are a biggish company with stores in many cities. Sadly, they don't ship overseas.

Edited by Kamome
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@Kamome Thanks for sharing your builds and your paint and dealing are pro level.  My least favorite part are actually painting and cutting out all the decals, haha.  But I admire beautifully painted and decaled models.  You almost wouldn't want to run them because they're so nice. There really isn't a rally scene here in my area - it's all about on road touring cars, drifting, off road carpet racing, bash cars on and off road and of course crawling.  

Edited by serotta1972
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Love those rally cars, great work Kamome! I might have to get one. Here's my MOA crawler. MOA stands for motor on axle, in that it has two motors, which can be controlled independently. It's totally non-scale but is a hoot to drive on the rocks.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Todd

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Thanks for the kind words, chaps. @serotta1972 @tossedman

 

That crawler looks awesome. Definitely piques my interest but I wouldn't know where to start. That sea plane in the background looks lovely too. A great place to have some hobby time. It's one of those things I miss, seeing a lot of civil aviation in the UK, having lived near Shoreham airport on the south coast, but I seldom see much where I am in Japan.

 

I’m certainly not planning to give most of my rally cars too much punishment. I also discovered an F103GT chassis and TS050 car body a few weeks ago too so have even more work cut out. 

 

The XV-02 is not yet finished and I’m just waiting for the humidity to reduce to get all of the bodies painted and decals on. I have an ESC and brushless motor to go into it and the idea is to fit the newer hybrid Yaris body to it.  The TT-02 chassis from the kit I will use for the older model night stage Yaris. Already found some perfect asphalt wheels and painted them white with semi slick tires and lengthened the drive shafts on the rear to give it a very cool stance. IMG_1605.thumb.jpeg.f56a403fa6d08dbc357d2f60f016fa5a.jpeg

I know what you mean, the decals are quite a long-winded exercise but the slow emergence of the finished article makes it worth while. 

 

I may consider getting another spare body so I have some display ones when not in use. I’m also planning to get some extra wheels and tires as I’ve ordered some vinyl tire decals which I don’t want to trash. It would be also nice to get a slightly better transmitter as I just have one of the basic ones which don't have any customization or tailored control functions. 

 

The Lancia drivers are now finished but needing time and favourable weather to cross the finish line. The humidity is still very high and really don't want moisture issues while I'm painting.

 

The face painting is not my best work to date. Not really sure what went wrong compared to my other attempts but the result was not quite as good.IMG_1737.thumb.jpeg.d3434fb408855cfebbe2bdb0ce568895.jpeg

 

IMG_1746.thumb.jpeg.516cd349d1103b80b0b6de3a6f376c51.jpeg 

 

Everything is Tamiya as it’s more of a nostalgic trip for me and Tamiya was what was available in the UK back in the late 80s, early 90s. There was a recent event at the Hankyu department store in Hakata so bought a few cheap bits that you can’t get in hobby stores. 

IMG_1773.thumb.jpeg.e313b5ae54b8103836b09806c3b58282.jpeg

Edited by Kamome
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Late 80s I had this:  https://tamiyabase.com/tamiya-models/58059

 

Ity was hard to keep running because one of the dog bones kept slipping out when driving somewhat aggressively.   I don't remember what ever happened.  I bought a few parts and tried to get it fixed but ended up with it in a box.  I also had that era's RC10.  

 

Later late 90s I got an RC10 truck IIRC but I never built it.  I still have it in a box around here somewhere.  Not gotten into cars since.

 

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That Tamiya Porsche 959, the earlier release anyway, is a bit of a jewel for Tamiya collectors. Not many RC cars that had cigarette advertising before the  relevant agencies put a ban on tobacco branding being on anything of  interest to children. 

 

If you still have it, may be worth doing it up. Not sure many would actually run such a valuable car these days and even better if you still have the box. Tamiya box art was always the big draw when I was a kid. They have recently released a book with all the Mini 4wd art and hope they’ll do the same for the RC stuff. A lot of the new stuff just has a photo of the model which doesn’t really give you the same level of imagination. 

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1 minute ago, Kamome said:

That Tamiya Porsche 959, the earlier release anyway, is a bit of a jewel for Tamiya collectors. Not many RC cars that had cigarette advertising before the  relevant agencies put a ban on tobacco branding being on anything of  interest to children. 

 

If you still have it, may be worth doing it up. Not sure many would actually run such a valuable car these days and even better if you still have the box. Tamiya box art was always the big draw when I was a kid. They have recently released a book with all the Mini 4wd art and hope they’ll do the same for the RC stuff. A lot of the new stuff just has a photo of the model which doesn’t really give you the same level of imagination. 

 

Hi.  I still have the car somewhere but its all banged up.  Not sure I ever did a full paint job.  Decals are probably still on the sheet.   I honestly don't remember though I know it is around here some where.

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Yes, Tamiya RC cars. They start off cheap then the hopping up begins, Carbon fiber stuts stays, aluminum uprights, titanium screws & functional cardan shafts. The basic I've done with mine is that and heat sinks. Though in my pile of shame is a M-05Ra, that I think I started pulling together my preferred upgrades and I don't think I've assembled.  . I know I was planning on trying M-chassis stock racing but stock is apparently not stock as they have a default lipo+ESC+brushless combo. While I've got the box silver can and Tamiya ESC. 

I'm also a bit of an oddity as I've gone out of my way to track down a 2 stick 2.4Ghz radio. Though 2.4Ghz radios makes running easier as I don't need to mess about with crystals it's just switch on, hit the pair button if needed and go. 

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I dabbled in this hobby a bit and I've got a Hot Shot, Hornet, Lancia Delta TT02, and King Yellow 6x6. I'm still heartbroken that I missed the original Apine A110 release. No interest in that Jagermeister livery. I always sort of struggled with finding a good place to run these because they aren't exactly the kind of things you could take to the local track. Maybe one day if I ever have a backyard I can make a cool dirt track!

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