TOPIC:

Manta Ray body has been fully primed and is looking very promising :


The surface is really smooth and there are hardly any flaws anymore.
After a final sanding with a very fine paper the top coat will be sprayed on.

Progress has been made on painting the Levant rims too - these wheels will be shared with the Humvee/Cayenne for now.
Here I also got a good result. Thanks to this perfect little Tamiya spray can :


The primer is sticking very nicely to the surface of the rims :


Next chance I get the rims will be sprayed black and the body silver...

Only setback on painting the body silver was a single crack that appeared and that I had to restore :


After that I made a lot of progress :


Now it's really starting to look good!
And painting the rims also went well :


Just for the pic I losely fitted the Dirt Hawg tyre :


These alu hop up lock nuts are still on their way here :


The black wheel nuts I mentioned before but as a subtle extra the Manta Ray will get itself one more blue alloy detail...

After running in some more minor trouble the body has now passed the test :



Now it's time for blue again! Among others this high gloss blue chrome :

Progress on cutting the decals is made slowly but steadily :


The material is really cool. The shiny colour will work nicely.
The piece that is cut out on the picture is an inlet that I traced from the original decal.
Since it is a vintage car, it should have at least the references of the original release.
Although in the end it might be considered very much of the 21st century!

Falcon#5 wrote:

I've heard of people using rubber bands fitted around the rim (in the groove) where the tyre sits.

First of all - where you at, man? Haven't seen you post anything lately...

On the tyre subject - when I saw the instructions on the Pro-line site, I was reminded of this post.
There they don't use the rubber bands on the rims but around the tyre after it is glued.
It is a cool trick to put pressure on the rubber and glue and it works well :


Only a single tyre had to be reglued in one place because the foam filling came in between.
But painting the rims and fitting the Dirt Hawgs was a succesfull venture!

Allow me to show another picture of the chassis with the Hummer body and new Dirt Hawgs on it :


Think I might have a bit of a clearance issue with the front wheels - while cornering over bumps.
But in general :

Edit

Edou wrote:

And a side track also...

Because I will (hopefully) soon be able to trade the Hummer tyres that are shown in the picture above, for a clear Porsche Cayenne body that will also fit on the chassis :

Like I said, it will not come in this exact shape because it is still unpainted.
So that will be another paintjob challenge.

But you gotta love the possibilities of the wonderful TA01 (DF01) chassis!

Oh my - these parts arrived sooner than I thought. And I received a lot more than I was expecting!


In the picture are the Cayenne box, manual, all body parts and decals, body mounts and a full set of wheels!
Even found the antenna tube later. This is a bit like Xmas because I traded all this for the Hummer rims and tyres...
I can easily say this person did me a solid favour!

Have to admit I am not disappointed with the result of the Manta Ray body so far :


Even used one of the original decals again...
Of course now it's not referring to the resistor anymore!

Edou wrote:

First of all - where you at, man? Haven't seen you post anything lately...

I've been busy of late.
Son was born on Thursday.
Got my Falcon up and running (well, one of them ) and had a bash on the weekend with about 8 other blokes. Was a blast!
And because of that I've been researching Short Course trucks. Those things are great!
So haven't had much time for posting!
I've a lot to catch up on by the looks

Anyway, Ray looks awesome! As does the Hummer with your new wheels/tyres.

I really like that decal sheet.
Where did you get it from?

Falcon#5 wrote:

Son was born on Thursday.

CONGRATS!
It's a reminder that there are more important things than old Tamiyas. (not many, but still some...)

-Lars

Thanks Lars.

I'm already trying to work out what his first R/C will be!

Falcon#5 wrote:

I've been busy of late.
Son was born on Thursday.

Wow - congratulations!
So there's a newer model of you too now! An updated rerelease so to say!
All the best and all the luck...

Falcon#5 wrote:

Got my Falcon up and running (well, one of them ) and had a bash on the weekend with about 8 other blokes. Was a blast! And because of that I've been researching Short Course trucks. Those things are great!

Sounds great. The short course cars are indeed cool. Tamiya is not really into that yet, are they?

Falcon#5 wrote:

Anyway, Ray looks awesome! As does the Hummer with your new wheels/tyres.
I really like that decal sheet.
Where did you get it from?

Thanks - the body of the Ray is turning out better than expected. Put a lot of time in it.
And the wheels are pretty brutal. I can fit them on the MR too.
With the difference of blue alloy wheel nuts instead of black.

The decals in the middle I actuallly traced from a black and white print of the original sheet.
Following the lines with a hobby knife...
The one on the front end is an "original" design and the "blue factor" sticker is from Lrp.
Outlined with the same blue stuff I cut the others ones from.

Wing needs some more work and the car in general will get more decals still.