#13 FJ60 Phoenix

[Gula]

Can't wait to see the body painted up. I'd love to have a while 1:1 LC60. Did you buy your body from Aliexpress?

[Goro Majima]

Originally Posted by Gula

Can't wait to see the body painted up. I'd love to have a while 1:1 LC60. Did you buy your body from Aliexpress?

I bought from a UK site/store called L&L Models as at the time in January I couldn't find it anywhere else so I imagine it can be had other places now.

[Goro Majima]

Annnd we're getting somewhere people. The wheelbase looks off in the full size picture but the other 2 that show each wheel centered are still the same body position. I'll probably have the body officially mountable by tomorrow so I can get on with paint. I don't want exposed body clips so I'll come up with something.

[B-MOW71]

Tire placement in the wheel wells looks spot on. Curious to see what you have in mind for hidden body mounting.

[Goro Majima]

Body isn't mounted yet, as I noticed something about the front lexan bumper. It appears the end caps are upside down (I can't unsee it lol). So body mounting is again on hold until new bumpers get put on.





New plan is to trim the bumpers off but keep them intact for scale use. I ended up playing around with some bumpers for fitment and I bolted these SSD 10.2 Rock Shield bumpers on meant for the XJ body. Unfortunately, they are a little too narrow for this body. For the rear, I extended the bumper mount with the SSD extensions (x2), and cut the bumper mount/fuel cell plastic bracing in half so a bumper could still be mounted like factory. Also did the necessary trims to the front plastic servo bracing to make room for the aluminum SSD bumper mount.







I was going to wait until I could visit a buddy to see how some TRX4 width bumpers compare, but I decided on ordering a custom set through Scalerfab. I didn't have luck with my first order with them when I bought sliders for my purple Gen8 4Runner build a while back and they got lost in the mail, so I made sure to purchase with the insurance this time.

I like how these SSD bumpers look, and so I ordered the similar style. Can't wait til they show up so I can make some actual progress.

[Goro Majima]

Looking to attend Scale West Challenge #4 this weekend up on Cisco Grove, and would love it if I could take this with me. Let's grind.


Lexan bumper cut line.




Scalerfab bumpers on, before I realized I wanted this to attend. I like how the tucked in front bumper looks, but I changed my mind again. Also how I cut the lexan bumper off, the corners where the mold transitions from the body to the bumper was curved too much, hence the curved cut. The gap under each headlight kinda played with my mind like a pet peeve.




Rear bumper on the other hand, is damn near perfect.




Here's the chosen front bumper, an Injora special for like $26. I think this style bumper suits the build a lot, even though the rig now isn't stock ish appealing. At least it'll be a very functional front bumper under protection. I have a RC4WD Warn winch that I can throw on the bumper too.




Had to put the corner pieces back on to mount a front bumper.





Here's the front body mount setup, which I have used on 3 other rigs.





Body on!









Now I need to figure out mounting for the rear. I was thinking magnets glued on some right angle lexan pieces to glue onto the inner back of the body (the hatch), which would self center the body into place.

[B-MOW71]

You're right! I can't unsee that front lexan bumper.

Nice choice on the bumper replacements. Ok, I need to see more info on that front body mount. That is fantastic and looks awesome!

[Goro Majima]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

You're right! I can't unsee that front lexan bumper.



Nice choice on the bumper replacements. Ok, I need to see more info on that front body mount. That is fantastic and looks awesome!

This is the body mount kit, sold for the drift community and picture for reference:

https://www.rollinggaragerc.com/prod...p=false&q=true




On the far left of the parts tree, you can see the shape of the latch which gets installed on the body (7mm reem) with a backing nut. Then the hook on the post (use previous post for reference) gets inserted into the latch, pressing down on the body enough for the hook to then be leveled out to "catch" the latch fixture. It's held there under the spring tension.

[Goro Majima]

Last night's update; rear mount method done.

Rummaged through my body post bag and picked out some HPI Venture posts as they have flat sides where the holes are. This FJ60 kit comes with lexan light buckets, and I mounted the posts upside down to them. There's a nice slim flat section of the buckets where it is a perfect spot to use some 1.5 button heads and not interfere with the body. Just need to trim off the unused holes.

I didn't get the leveling on point the first few holes I put in it but that's not an issue as the buckets will be covered by the taillight decal anyway. Once I had those done, I taped them to the body and made my marks on the bumper and drilled away. Stoked on how it turned out!

[Speedy-Triple]

bumpers and body mounting look great... looking forward seeing some color on the shell.

[OutLore]

Any chance the bumpers are supposed to be cut off, turned upside down and reattached? Looks like that would make them a better match.

[Goro Majima]

Originally Posted by OutLore

Any chance the bumpers are supposed to be cut off, turned upside down and reattached? Looks like that would make them a better match.

It's a possibility and definitely doable. With the bumpers off, I'm still going to complete them with more lexan to not only have them as scale items but also make them mountable again.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Goro Majima

This is the body mount kit, sold for the drift community and picture for reference:

https://www.rollinggaragerc.com/prod...p=false&q=true

On the far left of the parts tree, you can see the shape of the latch which gets installed on the body (7mm reem) with a backing nut. Then the hook on the post (use previous post for reference) gets inserted into the latch, pressing down on the body enough for the hook to then be leveled out to "catch" the latch fixture. It's held there under the spring tension.

Great, thanks! I'm going to have to give this a try on my next build.

[Goro Majima]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Great, thanks! I'm going to have to give this a try on my next build.

No problem, would love to see these on other crawlers! Actually used this method on my G-Shot build also so that makes 4 builds having them now lol.

Paint done, almost. I found some thin areas so the paint mask will stay on and I'll hit the LHS in hopes they have Tamiya champagne...

[Goro Majima]

First off, I did not attend Scale West Challenge #4 unfortunately. This didn't get complete in time, and it's not 100% yet either. But also I didn't have any other rigs prepped as I was focused purely on this. I'll share full rig pictures first, then share my thoughts about this body (moreso the mold design).

Here it is beside my 80 series TRX4. Note the plates!







Now details on the gripes. Overall, I love the look of this rig. But these details bother the crap outta me.

1) - Check out the taillight proportion, in comparison to the mold lines. The taillight mold line on the side of the body is too large as it should be slim. They could've deterred this by providing a wider taillight decal, but instead it's too tall and too narrow.




It's clearly too tall, and the one that's already on the body is too narrow. You can see how I tried to correct it's size by cutting it into pieces and stacked them one another like so.




I said to hell with it, and still completed both sides. I would live with it if the gap wasn't there.




I will fix this anyway. Plan is to cut the bucket out, leaving the glued part intact. That will leave me access to paint the sides of the taillight area, bringing the line closer to the edge like how it should be. It's gonna be a pain but I think I can fix it. I'll also glue the decal down since it'll be wrapping the corner.

If this doesn't meet my standard, I will scrap the taillight decals and attempt to paint them on. Otherwise, the back lower rear half of the mold looks too similar to a XJ. The bumper made for a XJ (slightly wider) doesn't help it but I like the look at least.


2) - The mirrors. Yes, cool they provided mirrors, awesome. But they are mirrors for what look to be a FJ40. I don't mind having these as spares for my FLEXJ40. Anyway, I had some 70 series mirrors that were meant for my Rock Pirates Interceptor LC70 but threw them on here instead and looks correct now.




3) The Toyota grill lettering mold is so off, the whole grill might as well be a decal instead. I didn't even catch this until it came time to detail the front end out. The bars of the bumper were still on at this point, which helps disguise that issue along with the grill being full flat black. Other than making a black trim line around the chrome, grill and such, I would like to cut the grill out and modify it to at least make it look better than it is. Correct scaling on the Toyota lettering, and grill design. Wish I could work CAD and had a printer. With that said, this will probably be the last fix thing on the list.

[Goro Majima]

So I did end up cutting the taillight buckets out. You can see through it, where I already have the light decal positioned into place where it should be, and I've liquid masked the rear side of the lens so those can remain clear. And I just went ahead masked the windows and shell since I decided to actually spray the area rather than trying to touch it up with a brush on method.






As the paint was drying I added some glue to the light decals to make them stay on the corners. Used some masking tape to keep them stuck in place.




Detailed the front chrome a bit with a fine point permanent marker.




There's a slough of wires everywhere for this build so I got some flexible wire loom in attempts to clean up the mess. Usually I try to focus builds with trying to save weight or move weight, but this build doesn't matter. More complete pics this evening.

[Goro Majima]

Finished desk pictures.

Wire tidying, loom installed and ziptied. Not the best but cleans up the random color wires well.




Here's the final micro servo links I made, using parts tree bars lol. Could've made them look nice but they work.




Here's how the rear ScalerFab bumper is mounted. Wish it was connected to the frame rails for true rigidity, but again, it works.




Positioned the front bumper one setting lower and it now looks like it's in stock position. But also I removed the guard for fun. It actually looks really good.







And the taillight fix is done. Taillights look like how they should have from the start! Bits of glue was exposed and got painted over but it's nothing for me to stress over after all this.






It's also all tuned and ready to go. Tuning the overdrive servo in 3 position is awesome for that neutral front axle option and run RWD only. All this trail truck is missing is unlockable diffs.

Recap on future things to do if I haven't mentioned yet:
- cut out stock grill and make a better looking one
- VP inner fenders or build with styrene
- install light kit (8ch Rx)
- wiper set
- proper interior set when available

[Speedy-Triple]

truck is looking good ... the taillight fix definitely improved the look. once the body gets a little bit of use and weathering it will look to par ... lexan bodies look better as they get used ... I like that they are shinny and clean right after paint but they look fake and you loose depth if the mold is not the best. Perhaps after a few scractches the weathering will start. once you cut the grill perhaps pushing the from bumper back will give you a better approach angle.

[B-MOW71]

Looks fantastic! Love the classic look!

Taillights look 100% better. Nice job!

The Toyota fleet is turning out great! We're gonna need a family portrait of all of the rigs together when they're all done!

[Goro Majima]

Just gonna leave this here until next update... (No, I absolutely did not make my own grill like I'd planned).