m4inbrain's reasonably priced RMX 2.5

[Stormbringer]

nice 1 mate glad you had fun and donuts 

[Lone-wolf]

Donuts on the track and in the belly, jobs a good un, glad it went well for you

[m4inbrain]

Cheers - yeah, was loads of fun. Can't wait to get out in two weeks again. 

 

Plans for the shell have changed entirely lol, the body i really want isn't to be had anywhere in the world it appears: 

 

Seen some cool "drifty" variations of it, looks awesome - but can't be found anywhere in stock. Harumph. Now i'm looking more at "customisable" bodies - the usual suspects, S13, S14 early/late, S15, JZX100 - for these kind of bodies, you get loads of aftermarket parts/panels, to further customise it (engine bays, fenderless frames etc). Haven't really set my mind 100% on what to go for, the favourite changes daily at the moment. But i'll get there, gotta read into paint blending etc first, haven't done a shell in a decade and gotta fresh up the non-existing knowledge lol.

[m4inbrain]

 

 

Short video of that friday. I'd like every one to keep in mind that this was my first RWD drift experience, so.. shhht. 

 

Does show though how well the kit runs, despite my inability. Sadly that LED went out (tore a cable, downside of magnetic body mounts - can push the body backwards 😞 ) prior to a (new) mate taking the video.

[Stormbringer]

You didnt look to be doing to badly there 

[m4inbrain]

1 hour ago, Stormbringer said:

You didnt look to be doing to badly there 

 

[froggy8]

@m4inbrain just took me nearly an hour reading this thread, one of the most thorough build i have read in a long time, thoroughly enjoyed it. kudos to you mate 🙂 

[m4inbrain]

41 minutes ago, froggy8 said:

@m4inbrain just took me nearly an hour reading this thread, one of the most thorough build i have read in a long time, thoroughly enjoyed it. kudos to you mate 🙂 

 

Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed. Appreciated. 🙂

 

In other news, ordered the next light kit today, from Amain. 

 

Gonna look like this:

 

 

At least, that's the plan. Might be cheesy to some, and i'd agree, but hey. I like it.

 

Oh yeah, the current light kit. Apparently loads of LED kits go into some kind of "standby" when inactive, so my LED kit basically started blinking all LEDs after 15 seconds of not doing anything. Could not get that sorted, really - what i did was to create a throttle mix on a free channel, plug the kit directly into that channel (rather than piggybacking the ESC channel to get the throttle signal for brakes/reverse), and had that trimmed to +35. Now it basically runs always on (because it thinks it's getting throttle) while having the brake lights still work, albeit not instantly (it's a bit of trigger-travel to get them to light up). Was a faff and a half. 

 

For the shell, i've basically narrowed it down from two (E30/KE70 Van) to one (Honda Odyssey) to now, well.. eight, lol. 

 

All eight made by Pandora RC, they look awesome. Here's one: 

 

 

That's one of the choices, and for contrast, here's another. 

 

Already found an exhaust tip that i like:

 

 

Actual metal, and heat discolouration. Haven't found a wing that i like yet (the one on the S15 isn't included) - but i did find intercooler:

 

 

And oil cooler. 

 

 

Also:

 

 

Somewhere visible behind the headlight, maybe. Not sure on the last one just yet, will all come together once i figure out what i even want to go with first. That's also when paint is decided, the first shell (Silvia PS13) would probably end up in some sort of dark grey, gunmetal or black with a predominantly purple/pink livery - the second shell (Silvia S15) likely candy red (black bonnet, roof and trunk lid) with a sort of yellow livery, or also dark grey ish with a red livery. I kinda like the idea of purply and pinky stuff (not as stigmatised in japan as it would be here), like this: 

 

 

But it's probably the most overused colour scheme/livery in the hobby. First of all am i nowhere near the level required to do that kind of paint blending, secondly, i would like mine to stand out a bit from all the purple pink stuff - even if it might look worse. 

 

Ah well. The eyes of my wallet are already firing between my wife and me, clearly in an attempt to persuade her to reign me in. As if.

 

[Stormbringer]

That light kit looks great 

[froggy8]

it seems like you have done loads of work on this, hope you get it to how you want it.

[m4inbrain]

2 hours ago, froggy8 said:

it seems like you have done loads of work on this, hope you get it to how you want it.

 

.. so do i lol. Doubtful, but won't know until i try. 👍

[m4inbrain]

So. After ordering the light/backfire kit from Amain (dispatched today), i also ordered the first of probably way too many shells. 

 

I went back and forth between almost a dozen shells, including one proper awesome one (scale replica of a 2020 D1 drift car) for £130 uncut/unpainted, but since i haven't built a shell in donkeys years, i thought it more appropriate to get something easier. I'll get to that replica shell eventually. 

 

I went with a Silvia S13. with Origin LAB body kit. This is the 1-1 variant, with a slightly different body kit:

 

 

The plan was originally to have like drift liveries and stuff, stickerbomb, all kinds of decals and whatnot attached to that - but my mind changed a bit on this. This shell will be a little more trick than the prior one (few scale details like intercooler etc, the backfire-LED kit), but otherwise it'll be a basic build. I haven't cut nor painted a shell in 10 years, ease back into it. 

 

It's going to be either single colour, or two tone with the bottom part being dark grey (along the lower body line). Colour, took me ages again, i'll be going with this.

 

 

As mentioned, either the entire car, or two tone with a dark grey/gunmetal on the bottom. 

 

I actually have nothing anymore, need to re-buy lexan scissors, masking tape, basically everything that is required to actually get a shell built lol. 😞

Edited May 3, 2023 by m4inbrain

[m4inbrain]

Shell arrives today, but won't start working on it for a while. 

 

Ordered Bittydesign Scissors as well as a hobby knife by them (recommended by everyone due to the short blade, makes tracing easier), on this shell i'll try scoring/snapping for the first time. Lets see if that works well and if my hand is steady enough to get straight lines done. Haven't ordered paint yet, though i am pretty much set on translucent purple, black and bright silver by Tamiya. 

 

Also ordered this just now:

 

 

And next on the list is the hunt for wheels. Narrowed it down to three choices:

 

 

 

 

And i have absolutely no clue which ones to get - they'd all look great, and i love them all. Probably will end up with all three, but the tally on the shell is already quite steep (£140 and counting so far, without paint), so it's going to be just one set. They're all adjustable in offset (which is great), and three piece rims. They'd all look great on a purple drift car, .. 

 

[Stormbringer]

Yeh all 3 would look great on your car but i think i would go with the black/gold in 2nd picture 

[m4inbrain]

Gotta see what the wife says lol. 

[Stormbringer]

Ahh these decisions are above your pay grade then and you gotta ask the boss 

[m4inbrain]

2 minutes ago, Stormbringer said:

Ahh these decisions are above your pay grade then and you gotta ask the boss 

 

Yeah, but there's a reason to it.. Slowly coaxing her into the hobby, she's already interested in taking the RMX 2.0 RTR out for a spin, if she gets into it, .. you know. Can't argue against me buying a £130 unpainted/uncut shell if she just got an RTR for free lol. 

 

[Stormbringer]

Ahh theres method in your madness 

[Lone-wolf]

looking to be a great project but becoming a real money pit as so many of these projects go, even my cheap 1/24th K5 Blazer is starting to eat budget, a guy in USA is 3D printing inner fender kit and its $40 shipped but then when import and royal mail put a ransom demand on i can see that being closer to $60 all in 

[Kpowell911]

9 hours ago, m4inbrain said:

 

Yeah, but there's a reason to it.. Slowly coaxing her into the hobby, she's already interested in taking the RMX 2.0 RTR out for a spin, if she gets into it, .. you know. Can't argue against me buying a £130 unpainted/uncut shell if she just got an RTR for free lol. 

 

Best thing I ever did was get my girlfriend into RC, it certainly makes it easier to justify stuff, and she has invested in the TRX4s and bought herself a Sledge and Rustler.

 

HOWEVER!! Im having a hard time getting excited that Ive found some old school Tamiya’s, such as the Cosworths Ive recently spent a lot of money obtaining, and then telling her Im not actually going to USE them. She didnt seem impressed me  my building the SRX, and having no intention of using it…..

 

Amazing attention to detail and a great thread mate. I take my hat off to you for the care and dedication that sort of shell is going to take to complete, especially as you’re ACTUALLY going to use it haha

Edited May 5, 2023 by Kpowell911

[m4inbrain]

3 hours ago, Lone-wolf said:

looking to be a great project but becoming a real money pit as so many of these projects go, even my cheap 1/24th K5 Blazer is starting to eat budget, a guy in USA is 3D printing inner fender kit and its $40 shipped but then when import and royal mail put a ransom demand on i can see that being closer to $60 all in 

 

Boy it does. A part of that is tools that carry over though (scissors, blades, masking stuff, markers etc), so while it is a big outlay for a shell right now, it's not quite as bad as it seems. But yeah.. It's dangerous, too. It's like looking at shells, thought "man, that £130 is steep tho" - so i went with one that goes for £60. And then i thought "well that exhaust tip is only £10, so what the hey". And then i thought "hm, does need window wipers", another tenner. Then you start getting careful, but it does need side mirrors too - another £15. Intercooler, another £14. And because i'm a magpie, i need all them things right when i build the shell, not at some point after, that's why i haven't started yet (also still waiting on the tools etc, but mainly i want all pieces on the table and then spend an entire saturday to build it from start to finish). Also have to figure out what i use for mounting, i can't seem to find the "shell side" of my magnetic body mounts only, and i don't intend to spend another £30 on a full mount kit just to get the four magnets and their cups.

 

But. While it ends up expensive-ish, it's something that you can look at and say "that's mine, i made this" - that's worth in its own right, there won't be another one "like mine" in the country. Be that good or bad 😄

 

1 hour ago, Kpowell911 said:

Best thing I ever did was get my girlfriend into RC, it certainly makes it easier to justify stuff, and she has invested in the TRX4s and bought herself a Sledge and Rustler.

 

HOWEVER!! Im having a hard time getting excited that Ive found some old school Tamiya’s, such as the Cosworths Ive recently spent a lot of money obtaining, and then telling her Im not actually going to USE them. She didnt seem impressed me  my building the SRX, and having no intention of using it…..

 

Amazing attention to detail and a great thread mate. I take my hat off to you for the care and dedication that sort of shell is going to take to complete, especially as you’re ACTUALLY going to use it haha

 

My wife does crawl (with an RC), so she's not entirely out of the loop (it was also her that bent the Dementor lol). She's actually helping with the build of the shell, she's artsy and has a steady hand so window and light masking etc is going to be her. She's also actively involved in the process of choosing the shell, colour and wheels. Now, we'll see tomorrow if she's into actually drifting the rig, but she understands either way why i'm spending on it, she wants it to look cool, too. 

I'm not quite certain how she'd react if i told her that i want to build an expensive base, and then not use it - i don't think she'd be excited about it either. That's the beauty of the expensive shells - i can say i'm gonna use it, but keep it as a shelf queen lol. Though, with drifters.. They're pretty slow (RWDs are, anyway), so there's no real issue in running them, even expensive ones. Once you get a feel for it you don't hit the guard rail ever, and most people don't play bumper cars. Issues arise a little bit when you're drifting together with 4WD cars (much faster and nailing throttle in corners, otherwise they don't drift), but for that i still have the basher GR86. 

 

Other than that, i did get lucky that i have a club relatively close by (15ish miles), so there's of course the "showing off" part of it too. I want it to look better than the shells that run there. 😄

 

Cheers, i enjoyed your thread too - as mentioned there, it's way not enough build threads out there. 

[Stormbringer]

Really enjoying this build thread mate and really cool you have your mrs involved with it 

Wish mine showed the slightest interest tho lol 

[m4inbrain]

53 minutes ago, Stormbringer said:

Really enjoying this build thread mate and really cool you have your mrs involved with it 

Wish mine showed the slightest interest tho lol 

 

Cheers - yeah got lucky on that one. 

 

Expensive tho, for some reason her RCs last one or two sessions, then they're either bent or otherwise broken. 😄

 

[Stormbringer]

Why would you expect otherwise mate 

[Lone-wolf]

3 hours ago, m4inbrain said:

 

Cheers - yeah got lucky on that one. 

 

Expensive tho, for some reason her RCs last one or two sessions, then they're either bent or otherwise broken. 😄

 

My wife does some rc stuff, has 2 rigs of her own the brushless outlaw and the carisma coyote, she used to beat the cr@p out of the outlaw but she has got a lot better these days and now prefers the crawler