VS4-10 Phoenix in Italian sauce

[SloDon]

Very nice detail. Looks great!

[rockspider]

Gosh! It's July yet?!
I may have set a new sllooowwwiness record...

Anyway, sorry for the long wait.
really I have always too many open projects at once, and suddenly got inspired by completing two Drift cars I had waiting there.

But here I am. In the last couple of weeks I've worked on the Phoenix body, and this is the result as yesterday night.

One word though, after long debating I've decided to not add dents and rust. Aimed at a well worn desert faded look.
Ok too many words

Lets have the pics talk by themselves...

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Did my best to recreate the old FJ40 look out of it.
Hope you like it

[rockspider]

The more I look at it, the less i like that orange anod rims...
Suggestions for a better looking wheel?
Should I go with weathered white steelies? Or should I keep the rockcrawler custom approach, rat rod body on top class mechanical? If it was 1:1 I'd like that classic BWA Outlaw look, but have not seen any RC replica of those yet...

[rockspider]

White steelies to be weathered could be an option, but...

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For as much as I like the look, I was not able to find a way to mount them.
6mm shaft and stepped hex do not work with Rc4wd hubs. I even tried installing Injora stepped hubs on the steelies, but the bolt circle is different (smaller on Rc4wd) so no compatibility...

[rockspider]

Anyway I do not dislike a modern alloy wheel.


it's not a pure classic FJ40 restoration. it's more of a crawler oriented restomod,
a Rock-Rod with weathered body on top class mechanical... Got portals too after all!


Let's have a quick test fit with wheels I have at home from other models...


SSD Assassin

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Very cool wheel, but not fond on the gun metal vs weathered desert combination...


Injora silver something...

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uhm... don't know... too bling maybe?


Another Injora, but a narrow 2.2 on Mtz's

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Not bad... not bad at all! I like that tall and narrow look under a Toy..


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I could get used to that...

Opinions?

[twade984]

Last combo looks great!

I like the ssd wheels also


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[rockspider]

Hi everybody,

During summer vacations I finally had the opportunity to test the rig in natural environment.
I was in Croatia and the spectacular rocky seashore gave me the perfect location for pictures and for testing rockcrawling abilities.
I've been there many times in past years, so I remember the lines I took with other models for comparison.
Also the rocks here are very grippy, so it was a good opportunity to also use the stock tires.

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Needless to say, I was impressed by the ability of this vehicle. Even with full height body and interior, the stability was top notch. Great on climbing, and great on descending, no tippy nose effect here.

I'm not good at one hand filming, so just took pictures, but believe me, no picture is just a poser. All pictures have been taken by stopping and restarting the climb, with no hand of God

Following sequence is a single climb, you can easily spot details of the rocks around from one picture to the next one

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I got a big smile at the top! Very predictable behavior even on three wheels, great feeling on side holding. Sure the Axe combo help too, with super slow speed control.

This is another climb, nice steep rocky stairway:

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What else to say? I'm very happy with the weathered Toyota look achieved, I'm very happy with the dynamic behavior. I love it!

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Next, will have to test it in the woods, with softer ground, loose gravel, dusty climbs.
With different tires for sure

[Goro Majima]

Looks great, love the photography, and super jealous of those rocks!

[B-MOW71]

Those are great pics! Your Phoenix is one of the best weathered bodies that I have seen!

That is a great location! Excellent place to test out your rigs!

[rockspider]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it

And yes, that location is really a fantastic place!
I've tested there all my rigs during the years, the first time in 2001 with a Clod axled custom chassis monster truck, go figure!


Oh, and re-reading the thread I realized I totally forgot to mention that in June, after a first indoor test, the brushed silver can was swapped for an Axe R2 2800kv combo.
I had driven a friend's Axe R1 in the past and was less than happy with it, due to the lack of throttle feeling, I did not like at all that rpm hold function.
But recently was convinced to try the new R2 and I'm happy to report that in the setting menu that rpm hold feature can be minimised almost completely, and the throttle feeling is very similar to a good brushed setup.

[chilly]

That is exactly what my Phoenix would look like if I had the skills to do anything with it I could imagine. Beautiful job, and I would typically go without the but you really nailed that too. Does the 1:1 land cruiser have the Word Toyota in the grill as I’ve seen in some other Places? I always thought it looked cool, but I have no idea if it’s scale or not.


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[rockspider]

Yes, you are right, real Toyotas of the FJ/BJ series always had the Toyota name on the grill, though along the years the font changed at least a couple of times.
Also on the hood sides there should be the Toyota Land Cruiser emblems, again along the production years a combination of capitol and cursive fonts.

Rc4wd has a nice laser carved set of names and emblems, which I'd like to buy, but not yet bought because price plus shipping to the other side of the big pond makes the total cost a bit high for just emblems... but who knows... maybe if I had to buy other stuff together...

https://store.rc4wd.com/Cruiser-Body...et_p_5059.html

[durok]

CCHand is the actual manufacturer for these - they make a lot of the items sold on the RC4WD website.

PART: #CC/D-5005

Atees is currently out of stock on them:

https://www.asiatees.com/display?Mis...d=146887&pid=1

AMain Hobbies has them in stock - they ship to Italy:

https://www.amainhobbies.com/search?...cruiser+emblem

Shipping: US $17.53 USPS First Class Mail International / First Class Package International Service

(still not very affordable...)

[rockspider]

Thanks for the links!
The Atees set with double set of emblems, with different fonts, would have been much appealing, could do Phoenix and MST FJ45 with one set. But it's out of stock everywhere, I fear it has discontinued in favor of the simpler set sold at Amain

[themountain]

One of the best looking Phoenix so far...great work on the weathering but what happened with the dark wheelset?
Now you have to give some "weathering" to the interior...that would be the cherry on the cake

[rockspider]

The "gold" (orangish...) wheelset with stock tires were great with the 30°C plus summer temps, but last sunday in the mountains at 8°C they definitely suck... hard like brick, zero grip on rocks.
So it was time for a softer tire, the MTZ's 2.2 on black wheels

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The soft MTZ's were great, even on dirt/wet rocks. And the tall & narrow aspect ratio ties well with the old Toy look

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Sunday started as a friends group exit, but it quickly developed to an almost rockcrawling course, and everybody was doing his best to clear the stages without penalties (even if there was no prize, just for fun)

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Considering my Phoenix was the only full bodied scaler against a bunch of low lightweight dovetailed race cars, a fourth overall score is enough to make my day!

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the ice cold creek made up for some nice watercrossing too

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(I love when coming back home the car is as clean as it started in the morning )