OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

I felt it time for a new project, not a quick build like the Yeti I recently did.
So I took the plunge and bought this to keep me occupied for a while.
I may get around to using it, then again I may complete the roller, get the paintwork spot on and simply sell it on, just to enjoy the build process etc... Their doesn't seem to be too many of these around, so I feel it's something a bit different and looking past the absolutely toy grade boxart, these can be something rather awesome looking!
I'll stop rattling on anyway, onto some VERY exciting pictures ;)

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Little bit of progress... Excellent box and superb high quality manual, as I've become used to building 2 RC4WD kits before.
A few people have asked me before what the threadlock on the roll is for... Simply makes it easier doing it that way than having to unscrew the lid and screw it back on every 2 minutes, it doesn't clog on the paper, because I put some selotape on and if it happens to drip it just gets absorbed by the paper.
Quite handy if you have loads of screws to do like on some beadlock wheels for example, it also makes it easier to not overdo it with the threadlock, you just dip the little bolt in and away you go.
Little time saving tip :)

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Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

Love getting big boxes in the mail!! have fun!

Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

So I've made some minor progress, built the wheels and tyres, although theirs a few nuts and bolts missing which I've got coming, so one wheel isn't fully built but it's usable.

The body mounts really nicely and it's very flush, no bending it about to get the mounting bolts in.

Only bit I'm not 100% keen on at this point is the hooks on the front bumper, not sure how long they'll last but time will tell.

http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/...psowtjnpxt.jpg

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Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

Nice job so far! I just got mine yesterday and finished putting the chassis together this afternoon. Superb kits these are!

Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

I've made the decision to not actually paint the body at all.
The colour I have is as close to this body colour as it could get, all the extra effort of sanding, priming, spraying, lacquering etc... Plus we have extremely humid weather here so it's not ideal for spraying either, not many hot days that don't include rain at some point or another.
So for now at least, the decision has been made.
If I want to paint it down the line, I can.
It also leaves it in as high detail as possible with zero details sanded away.
I also don't plan to run the back either, it's not my cup of tea with it on and it will also add quite a lot of weight to the top.
I think it's about 400g by itself so quite a lot of high weight, not what I need.
My thoughts so far would be, very detailed, the interior is leaps and bounds ahead of the G2 D90 kit, lot more thought has gone into it, I've added some subtle touches of mine, alright so it's not going to win a 'scale' contest but I'm not aiming to :)
I also feel the tyres need to be bigger, so I might get some slightly taller scale tyres at some point, but that won't be for a while.
So, this is where I'm at with it as of this evening.

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Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

Made a small start to the shut lines this evening after a lovely trail with the SCX10 this afternoon.

This is hardly the first time anyones ever done it, but I had a few people ask me how I do shut lines on my G2 D90 and the TF2, it's a very basic and simple idea.

I simply use a fine brush to paint on some black Acrylic paint, as neatly as you can but don't worry about it going on the main body.

Then all you do is wait until it goes dry and rub it off with a tightly balled piece of kitchen towel/toilet roll.

Works a treat, doesn't scratch the body and Acrylic paint dries hard, so it just crusts off and leaves behind a nice shut line :)

Sometimes you need to go over a couple of times depending on what you're painting onto, but the principle remains the same.

Very simple and effective.



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Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

Great tip, thanks for sharing.

Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

Some more progress made, sorry for the crap phone pictures but you get the idea.
Most of the shut lines are done to where I want them.
Received the badges and emblems today too, only paid for them on Monday and they came from Austria, damn good service!
Got most of the interior done, still looking for a suitable driver... I think a typical 7" one is going to be too big, based on this Jack Sparrow one I've got, so I need to find something smaller!
Also got the ESC in (HobbyWing 1060, ever the perfect ESC) RC4WD 55T motor, might be a tad on the slow side but time will tell, going to use the Ace DS1015 out of my SCX10 when it's replacement arrives, Spektrum SR410 controlled by my DX4C.

http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5mpmsbwb.jpg

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Re: OHO's RC4WD Gelande II Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
 

Well she rolls!
Possibly taking them out on Saturday, I've pinched the Ace DS1015 from the SCX10 and put it into this, more than enough power for this and I've got a beasty Hitec on the way for the SCX10, seemed like an ideal excuse to boost the steering power on that :)

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