Schumacher Cat XLS Masami Bodyshell, Wing, Undertray Shaping and Painting.

21/10/23

Hello RC enthusiasts from around the world. I hope you are all well.

In this post I will be cutting, sanding, shaping and painting a full Schumacher Cat XLS Masami body set. As you know I have two XLS buggies. One is completely standard, and the other has every trick part in the book. The fully loaded version was built from the parts list and was not an actual kit. I had to buy every part separate and it cost a small fortune. I have receipts for £1133 believe it or not. It would have been cheaper to buy a kit (at the normal price) and then do the upgrades. However, Schumacher unexpectedly, discontinued the XLS and the prices went up, a lot. A kit that initially cost £225 was now commanding £500 plus. So, that's why I ended up building up my own kit and then building the full custom Cat XLS Masami. It has every upgrade that Schumacher and and other manufacturer makes for the XLS. It has carbon everything, ball raced everything and alloy differential cases. It is a thing of beauty (and expense). As I have two Masami's, I am going to part with one of them with a lot of reluctance. However, The custom XLS has a custom paint job, which I love TBH. My standard XLS has the box art colourings but the paint job is not the best. So, I have come up with a plan. 

My plan is to give the custom XLS a brand new upper body shell, undertray, rear wing and  finished in the box art colours. As I said, I don't want to part with either car, but it is a waste just sitting on a shelf and hence the sale of one of them. 

So I have just spent £90 on two bodyshells, two undertrays, one wing (as I already have one in stock), one gear cover and one belt cover (as the other is in perfect condition). The model store only had one bodyshell in stock and the second should arrive early November. I also need to order the paint which will be almost as much as the £90 have have just spent.

The XLS on the left (nearest) is the full custom (full fat) version. The car on the right is the standard Cat XLS Masami. Both cars are in brand new, unused and unmarked condition. 

The very long wheel base looks awesome. I do love my CATS!

Full carbon chassis

Alloy diff cases

I may even leave one of the bodyshells clear to highlight the carbon parts.

Anyway guys, until the body parts arrive and the paint, that is all for today.

Please join me in this post to re-shell one of my Masami's.

Tomorrow is the 2/11/2023, which is the expected date, that the supplier will receive the new body parts, and then send them on to myself. This means I still may not receive the body parts until next week (8/11/23) but there is nothing I can do about that. I need to be patient.

1/11/23

Today is my birthday (13/1123), and I am still waiting for the bodyshell's, undertrays and the other items I ordered. Please try and be patient, just as I am trying! Please stay tuned!

13/11/23 

Still no body parts.

16/11/23

Finally, today the body parts have arrived. Happy days my friends. This is what £90 buys in Schumacher body parts. In the package is :-

2 x undertrays.

2 x upper body shells.

1 x rear wing (as I already have a new one in stock).

1 x belt cover (the other is in perfect condition).

1 x gear cover (the other, again is in perfect condition).

As I said earlier in this post, the parts should have been here in early November, but they were short of one upper bodyshells and were waiting for it. Rather than send me a partial order (albeit short of one part), they made me wait for weeks for the full order. I would imagine this is to save money. However when the whole order arrived, there was a £50 wine voucher inside. WOW.

As you can see, a £50 thank you wine voucher from Wheelspin Models and it is free delivery too. I am absolutely over the moon with the voucher, not that I drink wine (I like lager), so I will give it to my brothers! 

I can now go and order the correct Tamiya PS (REMEMBER PS for poly carbonate), and not TS which is for hard plastic. I have made this mistake before on my Optima and the paint never fully cures and flakes away from the polycarbonate eventually as it does not flex. I will be doing a box-art scheme on one of the bodyshells and the other, I may leave clear, I am not sure yet. I say I am not sure yet because these particular bodyshells are difficult to cut out and shape without scratching or marking anything. If the bodyshell, undertray, gear cover, belt cover and wing are to be left clear and unpainted, they need to be perfect and free from any markings otherwise, it will look awful and be a waste of time and money. 

As far as the box art is concerned, I need to do more research into the correct paint codes that are used on this project. But before that, I have many, many hours of cutting and shaping to complete the undertray, bodyshell, gear cover, belt cover and rear wing to get them ready to paint. I will obviously update the post with my progress.

Please join me for future updates.

25/11/23

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