The cab isn't fixed yet, as I still need to attach the speaker & roof light wires to the mfc. which I also need to 'train', ugh..
At least the driver stayed in place when I lowered the cab.

Thank you, it sure hasn't been smooth sailing. I'm so done with repainting the cab. I'm too much of an perfectionist. But no more..it's done. Also the paint's giving me headaches.

Wow! It's really coming together nicely.

I'm not surprised the turning circle is pretty big, the real thing it just as bad. You'll just have to hire out the local community centre so you can use it.

The wheels and fenders are on. Test drive showed the turning circle is HUGE but other than that it drives smoothly. No issues with shifting gears or any other technical thing. The MFC has to be programmed in order to properly work so that will be a challenge for another time.

Should I add the driver or keep it remote controlled?

Busy interior, hopefully the wires won't show too much.

The sub-frame is done. Well, still need to make the chains and add the stickers.

The dash was a pain to paint, and to cut all the stickers to size, ugh. Oh, I see I still need to touch-up the dash I see.

Still need to paint more stuff, I'll do that later.

grrrrrrrrrr...glue and paint don't mix. I blotched a bit of paint during attaching one of the windows. In hind sight I should've waited with painting the body until I glued all bits together.

Also the Tamiya paint bottles are too watery, even NATO black is fussy. But I can't find revell email-paint on short notice.

Oh well, live and learn.

Looking good! That metallic blue looks perfect. It's just like the truck I saw a few days ago :D

Rear and side wires are done, although I'm still waiting for 4 more wires to arrive.
Steering and gear selection work great! I did needed to reverse the inputs on the radio for steering and throttle.

The fuel tanks are also done. There will be a plate going on top thus you won't see much of it anyway.

And the cab is painted too

>>39506 Painted the first layer of the interior, and also the fuel tanks.

That paint really didn't take too well! Primer is the way.

A bit of blue on the dash might look pretty good. Probably worth a try, you could always repaint it if you don't like it I guess.

I've painted the cab, which looks fookin excellent. The metallic paint was a good choice. And I still have some left in the spray can :D

I also tried painting a couple of pieces without priming first..and :( yeah, as I said before >>39516 Tamiya paint ain't Revell paint. You really need to prime it.

So tomorrow I'll prime and paint those pieces. And than I can assemble all the wires to the MFC and receiver.

Should I paint the dash partially in blue metallic? Or just black with brownish paint?

What your saying matches what I've read elsewhere so that's good. I still have some details to figure out, but I'll get to it soon.

From what I remember the 100ml spray can was enough for the polycarbonate BMW M5 body. Just don't spray too much at once, layers is better.

Basically if you have white (plastic) parts just use white primer but if the parts are black and you wanna paint it with a light colour use gray primer.
Now, it's not going to ruin the paint if you use gray primer on everything, though.

I've noticed painting without primer means more layers as the Tamiya paint is really thin, probably because it's acrylic. The Revell paint is thicker but that is email and needs thinner for best appearance.

I'm tempted to paint the black grill and head light surround on the rock crawler white, so knowing about the primer is good info.

I like the Tamiya paints but they are a bit small in the contents department! I need to get around to preparing my rock crawler body shell for paint.

Tamiya Surface Primer for plastic & metal (gray). I've used this stuff before on static models, from Revell, and it works great. It coats darker plastic very good when applying light colours.

I chose Metallic Blue (TS-19) because it looks amazing, and I've seen several Volvo trucks in a similar colour. I just hope I have enough, it's only a 100 ml can.

Sweet! What sort of primer did you use?

There was a nice truck in town today that was a deep royal blue, looked very nice.

The smell in the bathroom is intoxicating but the jobs done, for now. The cab will be blue while the inners will be partially black, mat black, and rubber (black).. and maybe with a dash of blue.

mm..it might. Or my search continues. Anyway, I primed the cab and assorted stuff.

Because it's raining I had to do it inside. And I didn't feel like walking the flight of stairs down and up again, so in the bathroom it happened.

Would heat-shrink tube work for hiding and tidying up the wires?

>>39500 I found several small servos but I don't think it will be a problem. I tested it this morning and had zero issues.
Yes, wiring and hiding them will be a challenge. I do wish they gave me more spiral wire tubing to hide them ugly cables. And I haven't found them online yet. So I guess I either paint them or use electrical tape.

I'm currently waiting on the paint to arrive before proceeding with the cab but I did start building the sub frame. All I have to do is add the back plates and drill some holes.

>>39492 A low profile servo might help there. I'm using them in my rock crawler.

>>39493 Yay! Spaghetti :D

>>39497 It always pays to read ahead a little, but it's still easy to miss the details! :S

>>39499 Holy shit, that's a lot of wiring! :O

Looking fricking sweet though!

75% of the wiring done. Still to do: front lights, roof lights, and speaker.

It took me too long to realise the easy path..

Okay, blurry pic of the on/off switch and other switches. This part had me going crazy with anger ...

Battery box and MFC module installed. The MFC is covered cause it's shy. Also the MFC brain box will be installed in the cab so all those wires have to be routed forwards. Luckily both the Truck as well as the MFC provided cable management clips & zip-ties.

tail lights installed. It's a pity Tamiya does sell the crane. Lesu does but it cost more than the whole truck + MFC module.

Next up: wiring inferno! Yes, the MFC is a must but, oh lord, the cables. So many cables..

One thing to note is how close the motor is to the shifting servo. I've already seen some aftermarket stuff that remedies this; smaller shifting servo that's directly attached to the gearbox housing. But that's a worry for later.

And married the gearbox & e-motor to the frame!
Now even heavier.

Finally covered her up. I'm using a higher torque, slower speed motor for more 'realism'.
This thing has heft to it.

Getting to this step meant swearing and curses. Th thing was slippery like a politician.

More gearbox time. During building this one of the e-rings decided to fly away but was caught later. I decided to not use the provided tool but use pliers which worked much better. Also so much greece..I mean grease.

On to the gearbox! Left is part of the motor mount, top right is the shift rod and bottom part of the gear shaft. So much grease and of so many e-rings.

Super cool! I love the detail. The leaf springs are a very cool part. I really need to have one of these trucks one day.

The Grasshopper/Hornet style servo-saver for the steering does make me laugh though. Classic Tamiya :D

The control unit is a must for these trucks. The whole point of these trucks is the detail.

And of course, fuck E-rings! XD

That's all 4 today.

PS: I also bought the MFC-03 unit for extra bling.

Next up for today is the gearbox. And, oh boy, more E-rings! :C

And done the rear suspension! The travel (in & outbound) is not much but it isn't an off-road truck. Probably will upgrade of needed.

One more diff..and grease

The parts for the rear diffs. Note: every gears needed grease, and again metal!

next up the steering assembly, this will probably need to be upgraded, I never really liked this (too much room for error)

Very leafy, also of metal, so metal leafy

Building the front axle was easy..

After the electronics stuff came the frame with the subframe supports in center view (angled bits), and the gear servo on the left. The red bit with the toothpick is the thread-lock, to the left of that a small tube with grease. Bags and bags with screws, bolts, and tiny clips...grrrr them fucking tiny clips

I considered getting that Carson controller, I saw it was highly recommended for the Tamiya trucks. Manuals are always a tricky, trying to make them understandable by every person regardless of age or language is always going to have consequences XD

The quality of the components are superb, although the manual does require good reading skills.
So I started yesterday with testing the electronic parts and which button will operate the 3-speed gearbox. After testing I started working on the chassis and assembling the front and rear suspension. Both are made from cast as well as machined aluminium. Weirdly though, or blessed, the shocks don't have fluids. But I've already used a lot of thread lock and grease. Today I will assemble the gearbox, if my head permits (headache atm).
And no, I've not forgotten to take pictures but just not from every step, some are too boring and others I just forgot. Once I'm home I'll upload a few more.

PS: The logs are a lie! They are paper (templates). I'll use sticks or twigs that I find on my daily walk.

I want one! I love the quality and detail of the Tamiya trucks.

Does it come with the logs or do you have to make your own?

Definitely going to need to build updates for this.

I went with this one because of the after-market modularity, and twas a bit cheaper.