Tamiya Bruiser Clone Build Part 2.

Tamiya Bruiser Clone Build Part 2.

23/7/2020

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for joining me in Part 2.

Before we start, the links I have provided are NOT associated with me, nor sponsor me or my Blog. 

I know I said in Part 1 I would do all the modifications together. I have came to realise in doing so, the post would be very long and possibly boring. I am also receiving the parts in bits and pieces (down to cost) so I have decided to bring you up to date with what I have done so far. 

When I bought the bruiser, I had the intention of turning it into a scale off road Vehicle using colour schemes and designs of the era (circa 1985). This will include the main body colour, vintage style wheels and tyres. I have also fitted some after market parts that were commonly fitted to the Toyota Hilux in 1985. I will try and give the links to where I purchased the item.

OK, here we go.

The first modification I will be installing is the new steering servo mount. This modification is to eliminate the slog/movement in the steering system caused by the ridiculously long push rod's that are originally supplied in the kit or the RTR versions.

As it turns out this is the only picture I took of the new servo mount in place and it's not very good. It is the black plastic piece behind the white front bumper. It is a printed plastic piece I purchased from Ebay. Steering servo upgrade can be purchased here. Please follow the link. It simply replaces a piece of metal from the front and holds the steering servo in a much better position. I had heard all the negative comments about the original steering linkage mechanism, so for me this upgrade was a must and at £5.99 it had to happen. I also have to add at this point that this truck may not get used. However, all the goodies are in place if I have a change of heart.

Next......

Paint.

As I have just stated, I am going to try and make a scale Toyota Hilux rock crawler, in all it's 1985 glory. This means the main body colour must be in the correct Toyota paint scheme from that era. The closest to the blue I wanted was a Tamiya TA-10 French Blue. Remember this body shell is painted from the outside, hence the TS paint choice for plastic.

As you can see it is a nice vibrant colour keeping with the paint schemes of the era. Spraying plastic from the outside is much harder than spraying a polycarbonate body shell as any error with show up. I have also fitted the light clusters at the rear and headlight assemblies. As I said I used Tamiya TS-10 French blue and can be bought here. Please follow the link.

With the paint applied and some of the detailing installed, it was time to add an after market release for this car that very popular in that era.

The picture above shows show good old flared arches or fender flares in the good old USA. These flares were a must for me as they seem to widen the truck, giving it a more aggressive stance. I like them, a lot!

If you want the extended wheel arches for your Tamiya Bruiser Clone, you can find then here.  Please be aware that in the UK an import tax duty and handling fee will be incurred when they arrive. In my case it was a total of £11.35, with an £8.00 handling charge and £3.35 import duty to pay.

It is now starting to take shape and my ideas made reality. I'm happy so far. 

My next modification was to remove the over hanging chassis legs from the rear to add to the scaling effect. This means a rear bumper will not be fitted, and I am happy with the results.

As you can see in the above picture, the rear end tidied up after removing the excess rear chassis legs. It's a bit like a bob tail range rover, with less to drag at the rear and give a little more ground clearance.

At this point (23/7/2020 @ 20:46), you are now fully up to date with my progress on this truck. 

However,

There is still a lot of work to be done on the truck to get the scale correct and made it look fantastic. I also have a lot of parts for this truck on their way as I type (faster,faster, please). So please look in from time to time to check on my progress.

Thank you for reading.

Take care.

Catxls.

23/7/2020