Dandie Dinmont

Happy new year to you all! Lang may yir lum reek and your secret kit stash remain undiscovered! It occurred to me that it might be useful for anyone else contemplating getting involved with RC cars to give a quick rundown of what the various bits are in the picture I ended my last post with. So from top to bottom, and from left to right, we have The kit itself which contains all the bits you need to build the car itself, including the electric motor which powers it The battery for powering the car, and its charger. The Controller. This box also contains the receiver for the radio signal The steering servo The electronic speed controller (more commonly called the ESC) which attaches to the battery and powers the receiver and motor A set of sealed bearings for the car. These aren't essential, the kit comes with a set of plastic bearings, but I was assured that they were well worth the small amount of money they cost. Time to get building! What's in the big box? Untitled Lots and lots of separately bagged plastic sprues plus 4 bags labelled A to D which contain the various metal components, mainly an awful lot of screws. The contents of each bag are detailed at the end of the manual (helpfully the components are printed actually size) so you can be sure you have all you need before you get started. The instructions are split into sections which make use of each of these bags in turn, with components being taken from the other sprues as required. The first thing to do is screw the main body of the chassis together. The plastic is somewhat strange, at least to someone used to building aircraft kits, soft enough to tear up messily when cut with my second best pair of side cutters, but hard and brittle enough to send the scalpel blade skittering into the fleshy part of my thumb when I tried to clean up the resulting mess. Fortunately long experience has left me skilled at patching up wounds with the tools to hand (masking tape, CA glue, staple gun, soldering iron etc.). Besides, I find that a sacrifice of blood to the elder gods of modelling early in the build always make things go more smoothly. Screwing together the halves of the chassis, I soon remembered just how much I hate screwing self tapping screws into plastic. Being a clumsy sort, I find it all too easy to over-tighten things and strip the hole the screw is being inserted into. As a true bad workman, I'll take this opportunity to blame my tools. I had read that the cross pointed screws used by Tamiya are slightly different to those we in the West would normally encounter (as I recall, they are JIS, rather than Phillips or whatever) and so I had bought myself the special Tamiya RC tool kit. Unfortunately, the large cross-pointed screwdriver seemed just a little too large to be a good match for the screws in the kit, whereas the small screwdriver seemed a little too small. They both did the job but I was never sure whether I would strip the thread of the screw before I damaged the head. Still as I said, bad workman and all that. Finally the chassis sides were successfully united. Next step was to test the radio equipment, which all seemed to be operating happily, attach the steering servo to the chassis, and build up the rest of the front suspension. I really started to enjoy the build at this point. It reminded me of building a big Lego set, but with the added frisson that comes from being one quivering over-torquing of a screw from disaster. After a couple of hours of intense labour, I had this: and the contents of bag A were depleted. Next up the gearbox! Thanks for reading, Craig.

Yuletide felicitations to you all (if it's not too late for that sort of thing)! I suppose I should start by apologising to all the regular residents of this forum for cluttering it up with what is basically a toy but in fairness, I think we can agree that it's all @The Spadgent's fault since it is he who has already posted 3 RC builds here, here, and here. Now the subject matter was something which I had little interest in but I'll read pretty much anything Johnny writes in the hope that some of his vast modelling skill will rub off on me by some sort of internetty osmosis. The builds were, as ever, highly entertaining and I liked the combination of construction and engineering. Then I thought no more on radio controlled vehicles. Fast forward to the week before Christmas when Mrs. Dinmont, despairing as ever over what to buy the man who has every gadget you can think of and has no interest in clothes (something which anyone who has met me in real life will instantly confirm) dispatched me to the local modelling emporium, Time Tunnel Models (based on the site of historic Drem Airfield WW2 aviation buffs!) to buy my own present. I toddled off with no though other than adding to the large pile of unbuilt aircraft models I possess but on entering the establishment, my eye fell on their wide range of Tamiya RC cars and I remembered Johnny's builds. I reasoned thus: "I've just treated Mrs. D. to double glazing and a new gas boiler, isn't it my turn?" (fortunately for me, Mrs. D. is not a Britmodeller regular reader). Despite it being one of their busiest days of the year with dozens of parcels to be dispatched to tardy shoppers, the staff could not have been more helpful in answering my newbie questions with the result that some time later, I emerged into the fading daylight with this lot: Having some spare time on my hands (unless Mrs. D. decides otherwise) I hope to get this lot together over the next few days and record my adventures here. Hopefully, anyone thinking of dipping their toes into the world of RC cars will learn something from my inevitable mistakes. Any helpful suggestions very welcome! Craig.

Exquisite work Alistair. I started this kit at the new year in an effort to kick start my badly stalled mojo. It will come as no surprise to find that you have in the space of a week exceeded my progress for the last 10 months. Instead, I will follow along and enjoy the experience of producing a masterpiece from this kit at third hand. Craig.

Imagine standing on the platform waiting for your train home after a hard day at work and seeing that go past! It would make your entire week! oh and it goes without saying but the Gladiator grows ever more impressive with every update. You do realise you’re a major factor in the dire superlative shortage this country is currently suffering from? Craig.

You seem to be skipping over the pitfalls of this kit with your accustomed nimbleness. One of these landed on the front lawn of my school in the late seventies as part of a recruiting drive, something that must have posed a challenge to the pilot since said lawn was quite narrow, in the center of Aberdeen and surrounded by tall buildings. I imagine the health and safety people would have a collective fit if something similar was proposed today. Looking forward to further progress. Craig.

Just catching up with this. The kit looks to come with more stencils than the Phantom did, are you sure you’re up to this? Or are you just going to claim that they were all overpainted when it was captured? Anyway, fantastic work as always so far. Shaping up to be another masterpiece. Craig.

Great to see this springing to life again Mark. Craig.

Hi Alistair, Just come across this (I’ve been neglecting Britmodeller shamefully recently). Catching up with 5 pages in one go highlights how you slap these things together apparently effortlessly and yet produce superb results every time. I am very jealous (and slightly tempted to dig out the same kit from my own stash). Craig.

I am sure a man of infinite resource and skill such as yourself will come up with a way of surmounting these obstacles. You’ve been going at this too long to give up now! Might be wise to turn your attention elsewhere for a couple of days though. Craig.

That final shot illustrates well just how ROCoco this bird’s looks are. That undercarriage angle! But all the same there’s a certain something about the overall effect and you certainly show it in its best light Roger. You’ve pROCeeded through this build at near @AliGauld speed and I can only look on in awe. What’s next? Craig.

Very slightly less. The Roc manages the rare feat of making the Defiant look like a sleek beauty. Wonder if it looks any better with the rear fairing lowered? (Checks Google) Nope. But you are managing to make it look just about as good as it can Roger. Craig.

I have no shame. Craig.

You’re ROCketing ahead with this Roger! Looking forward to seeing the beast come together. Craig.

That’s fantastic Roger. What a start to the year! Craig.

Nice looking scheme Roger and a great start. I shall follow this with interest! Craig.

Nice start Alistair. I hope the sprouts didn’t suffer while you were multitasking? Craig.

And the same to you and yours Alistair. Here’s to a great 2023 when it comes! Craig.

Hence the need to check the accuracy?😁 Let me add to the chorus of thank yous for taking the time to do this, and making the end result publically available. Hope you’re feeling better soon. Craig.

Another finely crafted little gem Alistair. Your weathering is a thing of beauty. Craig.

A mere nothing to a man of your talents, I’m sure you will turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse with your customary nonchalance. Done by Hogmanay? Craig.

If that’s what you produce in a year affected by major mojo loss, I’d like to see what you can do in a really productive one! Really nice collection Stew. Craig

Another masterpiece Alistair. You’ve really got the hang of squirting on the yellow! Craig.

Hi Max, I've been planning on tackling this kit as a means of restarting my mojo and I have to say that your build is really firing up my enthusiasm! It helps of course that I have the assurance that you'll be blazing the trail for me and finding all the less admirable aspects of the kit, should they exist, for which I am truly grateful. Watching with keen interest... Craig.

Hi Mark, just spent a lazy Sunday afternoon reading this thread as part of my due diligence before tackling the Airfix 1/48th rendition and I’ve been highly entertained. I can only hope the Airfix effort gives me an easier ride than you’ve had, but you’ve done a superb job. I look forward to seeing the finished article. Craig.

Absolutely beautiful Alistair. One for the front of the display cabinet. Craig.