Jato The Tamiya Desert Fielder TA02T

[JSterrett]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

The motor plate. Anodized blue sure is pretty. Now I just have to install it.

I have the same one in my Manta Ray. The stock plastic one is pretty much worthless, lol

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[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by JSterrett

I have the same one in my Manta Ray. The stock plastic one is pretty much worthless, lol

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It's probably fine with the stock motor since it's dog slow!

Mine is getting brushless for sure. I'm leaning towards a 17.5T.

[JSterrett]

Since your truck and my Manta Ray share the same chassis tub, what are you using for a battery? Standard LiPos don't work because the battery opening is for Ni batteries. Was thinking of making some sort of fitment adapter out of dense foam and running an 1/18th scale LiPo....

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[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by JSterrett

Since your truck and my Manta Ray share the same chassis tub, what are you using for a battery? Standard LiPos don't work because the battery opening is for Ni batteries. Was thinking of making some sort of fitment adapter out of dense foam and running an 1/18th scale LiPo....

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I use this HobbyKing round LiPo. It is a tight fit. It pushes in hard. Venom also makes round LiPo batteries.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-...tick-pack.html

I believe this is the Venom LiPo battery for Tamiyas.

https://www.venompower.com/products/...or-tamiya-cars

[JSterrett]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I use this HobbyKing round LiPo. It is a tight fit. It pushes in hard. Venom also makes round LiPo batteries.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-...tick-pack.html

I believe this is the Venom LiPo battery for Tamiyas.

https://www.venompower.com/products/...or-tamiya-cars

Thanks! I didn't know anyone made those...

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by JSterrett

Thanks! I didn't know anyone made those...

You're welcome.

The HobbyKing site event mentions the Manta Ray chassis in the description.

A friend uses soft packs to fit the Tamiya chassis. I prefer hard packs.

[JatoTheRipper]

This is the first I've ever seen this on a Tamiya or any other brand of body. Only the wheel wells are precut. That's good because those are the most difficult to cut nicely with the compound curves, but bad because Tamiya decided how large they would be.



After test fitting the body I think it looks pretty mean even with the large wheel wells. The front needs to be large for the wheels to turn without contacting the body. I'm really liking it.

[JatoTheRipper]

I've been wanting to try Tamiya's Anodized Blue paint since I first learned about it, but I couldn't find anything to use it on. I decided to give it a shot on this build along with some custom decals I ordered.

I'm not a painter. I hate everything about it except peeling the outer masking film off of a lexan body. Damn that's such a satisfying feeling!

I cut out the body and then washed it with dish washing soap like I always do. I usually go a step farther and scuff the lexan with steel wool, but I decided against that in this case. I figured the scuffs would show through the anodized color.

I then took my time to spray very light coats for the first two coats. This tested me because I have the patience of a 5 year old and my lexan paint jobs are usually one or two thick coats. The third coat was heavier. The body was still translucent and they want you to back it with black. This scared me because I thought the black would show through. While painting the black backing I also cut some of the outer film off of the bed and window trim and painted those black. That makes a nice, matte finish on the outside. Good news is that the black backing did not show through the anodized blue paint. Phew! Disaster averted...or was it?

As I was peeling off the outer film I noticed what looked like drops. What the hell? Hopefully this is on the outside. It is not! The more I peeled the more I noticed tons of defects in the body. I'm not a happy camper. I was annoyed that I took the time to do this right and it turned out like crap and it doesn't appear to be any of my doing.

Defects out the wazoo! The side marks seem to be scratches in the body. I have no idea what the spots are. Does anybody have any ideas what they are?





It looks much better from far away. Still, the defects drive me nuts!





This is very, very unlike Tamiya, but the body is also way too thin at spots. As you can see here there is actually a hole where the body got too thin. It sucks. This body is a cluster F from the start at this point. I guess the benefit of that is I can drive it without worrying about the first scratch.

[JSterrett]

The drops look like leftover residue from hard water? Did it air dry after washing?

Really strange that they're in straight lines though....

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[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by JSterrett

The drops look like leftover residue from hard water? Did it air dry after washing?

Really strange that they're in straight lines though....

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Hmm. I have well water and it's not particularly hard, but it's a possibility. It air dried with the help of a blow dryer.

[JSterrett]

I try to do a quick rubdown with rubbing alcohol (90% or higher) and a microfiber cloth right before I mask and right before I spray. But I also have 2 kids, so I can never trust that my bodies are as clean as I think they are, lol

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[JatoTheRipper]

Well here is the finished body. Or at least partially finished. I don't like the light bar in the front, but I think it needs a bumper of some kind.

This didn't turn out like I expected. The paint job is a disaster. Lots of bubbles in the decals. And the decals, which are from MCI Racing, leave a lot to be desired. The print quality is low. The decals have fuzzy edges, there are discolored artifacts randomly throughout the decals, and the quality of the plastic and adhesive just isn't there.

[JatoTheRipper]

Here are photos of it out in the wild.* It looks pretty good in the sun.* I wish the anodized blue was darker.* You can see the defects in the paint and body, but oh well.* The first rollover won't hurt so bad.