Hello to all Tamiya 1/10th scale Eunos TCS Best of Show

Hello to fellow modellers,

This is a great forum with some masterful builds. I build 1/24th scale kits on occasion but I focus primarily on larger 1/10th scale and I build Tamiya R/C cars with a little more detail than most. My last project was a Mazda Eunos (Miata in the U.S.). I built it solely to compete in Tamiya Championship Series "Best of Show" category. It was built around a stock and unmodified (per TCS Regulations) Tamiya M02-M chassis (built rwd) and runs on 4 ni-cad cells and a 3-channel radio. I took the stock unpainted Lexan vacuum-formed bodyshell, cut out the hood, door and trunk panels, built them up and hinged them. I also scratchbuilt all of the details and modified an action figure to use as a driver figure. I hope it meets with your approval.

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/miata01.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/miata02.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/miata04.jpg

Let me be the first to say: "Holy crap, that rocks!" That's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and not only because of the novelty of the scale and jump off point. GREAT!

Thanks Willimo,

I'm gald you like it. It runs pretty good considering it only has 4-cells but it was enough to satisfy the TCS Race Director. I've been looking through some of the threads and I love what I've seen so far. I also have among other things, a 1/25 Honda on the bench that I've cut the doors out and I'll be hinging them. What's on your workbench?

Mike V.

PS...Are those twin 40mm Bofors....I'd hate to be a low flying aircraft!!!!

wow that thing looks like a real car :sunglasse hope you stick around and show us some more of your work

That is stunning! Looks real to me...

That´s freakin awesome! Very high level of detail, awesome build. Welcome to AF. You made one hell of an entrance.

Really supersweet model! Can we get some more pics of the interior and more close-up, please?

OH and just another question, has this model ever driven? I would just go crazy see all that work driving around !


olivier

Hi,

great job on a body made of lexan, great details !!!!!!!!!

Hi,
Thanks for all of your gracious compliments and the warm welcome! I wasn't sure at first where to post as the stuff I do seems to stradle both static plastic and R/C. I love both disciplines and so I melded both. I've built many static 1/24th and 1/20th kits in the past but I've always wanted to do something different. With the advent of affordable and "serious" high performance R/C equipment (as oppposed to non-proportional functioned "toy" R/C, which is also cool in a different way) I decided to take the show on the "road" (so to speak). I had a little bit of experience scratchbuilding in a smaller scale, so I had a good set of challenges. Anyway, here are some more pics, some of them were taken during the build process. I hope they are informative.

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/projectmiyatabuildup176.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/subframe01.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/subframe05.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/subframe12.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/subframe25.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/subframe28.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/projectmiyatabuildup.jpg

http://imgup.com/images/mikevillena/projectmiyatabuildup189.jpg
Here is the Miata in action at the TCS Race in Milwaukee (Feb. 2005). I did about twenty laps. I tapped the wall several times but I didn't break anything. I just had to polish out the scratches and dust off the tire dust. The Miata is now in the permanent collection of my friend Mark Mattei. Cheers to all. Mike Villena

Awesome dude! I love the effort you have put in it. Keep it up!

Wow, this is simply amazing. There could not have been anything close to this at the TCS race..

Unbelieveable! :eek:

Very :sunglasse!!!

Thanks guys(gals).
I'm very honored to hang with all of you. I've managed to spend a little time checking out your rides and they are all impressive. I hope to be able to check out more of them when I get the chance. I looked for any photos of 1/24th scale stuff that I've built but I only have a single one (a fellow contestant snapped the photo for me). It is an old scratchbuild from 10 years ago. I took the bodyshell from a Tamiya Golf kit, modified it with mondo fenders and wings. I then scratchbuilt the entire chassis with a mid-mounted twin turbo V-6 with intercoolers and four wheel drive. I wanted to build a fantasy car to compete in the Pike's Peak hillclimb. Afew years later, someone fielded a twin engined VW and then Suzuki did a number of twin-engined "Unlimteds" also. Sorry about the poor photo quality. Thanks again and cheers.
Mike Villena

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/mikevillena/24thscaleGTI.jpg

Awsome work once again! I've decided to get back into modeling just because of the work I've seen from you.


BTW: Its Silent Night from RCCA :cool:

:eek: WOW!! Amazing! Have you thought of doing more R/C cars into detailed models? Keep up the unbelievable work!
Frank X.

Hey SilentNight and Blubaja,
Thanks for all of the kind compliments. I've been away for a little while trying to sort out the "bandwidth exceeded" problem with my image host (free account). I've posted an on-going step by step in another site that is primarily an R/C hangout.
Blubaja - I'm ordering a new Tamiya TT-01 chassis that will be the basis for future R/C projects and I've been adding more kits to my 1/24th scale projects. The problem is finding time to get to them!!!! (I'm sure everybody here has the same problem)
Again thanks to all of you guys and gals. See you soon.
Mike Villena

BTW,
I'm also scratchbuilding a 1/8th scale Porsche 930 engine as used by the factory in their 935/76-77 racecar. I'm supplying the engine to another forum member who is superdetailing his R/C bodyshell mounted on an old 1/8th scale pan chassis. As with all modelers, my biggest headache if finding usable photographs and scale detailed drawings. Although my forum partner was able to supply some crancase photos, I've had to work off of a single frontview assembly drawing of the engine. I've had to extrapolate some dimensions and eyeball the rest.
Here's the left crankcase half in progress.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/mikevillena/bench020.jpg

Welcome!!!

The 1/24 model looks great, very nice details!
But can you repost the first pictures??? I only get Bandwith exceed ...

Awsome work once again! I've decided to get back into modeling just because of the work I've seen from you.


BTW: Its Silent Night from RCCA :cool:
Hey Silent,

I thought I was the only one from RCCA who checks out the incredible stuff here. Nah, I'm a hack compared to these guys. Thanks for the compliment. See you back at the forum.


Mike V.

Welcome!!!

The 1/24 model looks great, very nice details!
But can you repost the first pictures??? I only get Bandwith exceed ...

Hey Thesaint111,

Thank you for the welcome. I'm trying to find a better image host that offers greater bandwidth. Because I went hog wild posting a ton of other pictures (mostly family snapshots) I ran out of bandwidth for the really important stuff....MODELS!!!!
:grinno:
I'll try to sort it and hopefully post more pics. The 1/24th model is a very, very old build (1994?) but I'm still fond of it because it was my first serious attempt at scratchbuilding. All of the details were very crude and a little overscale (I tried to simulate the welds on the rollcage)...Hopefully, my skills have improved somewhat since then!!!!
See ya!

Mike V.
PS. Your stuff is very clean and superbly built :iceslolan