Sand Rover, Tamiya's unlovable child

[Dadio]

Your just not going to see this how it is in real life , black chrome , holographic flake topped by candy green .

[Frankentruck]

I'm beginning to get the impression that you like this buggy.

[Dadio]

I'm beginning to get the impression that you like this buggy.

It's memories not quality that I'm loving

[silvertriple]

I'm beginning to get the impression that you like this buggy.

I guess we have all one or a few cars we love but we would not recognize this
And I believe the Sand Rover for Gavin is the same as a Marui CJ-7 Golden Eagle Super Wheelie for me : a car I dreamt about while young and with not specific reason. Those cars fill a purpose : memories. They are representation of our childhood, when we were still candid young people for who the performance did not matter yet... Had a cousin who had a Holiday buggy, another one with a Sand Rover, a third one with a Super Wheelie... They had all very common caracteristic : they were more scale looking than many others, and that made a lot of difference for some of us

[XLR8]

I'm beginning to get the impression that you like this buggy.

It's memories not quality that I'm loving

I reckon that sentiment is shared by every Tamiya fan over age 40.

Really nice work!!

[Dadio]

Replaced the printed shock tower with an aluminium one, bolts replace the self tapping screws , the holes go right through the chassis and are used to hold the bottom gear cover on so the bolts now do both jobs and won't strip out the threads in the plastic . I'll shorten the bolts later.

[Dadio]

Machined up some bottom shock mounts out of brass , thought it would suit the shocks , should have been a quick job but I ended up doing a full service on my lath/mill combi machine before I started.

[Dadio]

Paint is getting there, you just can't see the holographic metal flake in pictures.

[Lowgear]

The paint reminds me of the Matchbox Sand Digger I had as a kid. Actually, I think I still have it.

For reference:

[Dadio]

Few more shots.

[Dadio]

Headlights , in 3 pieces and ready for LEDs

[silvertriple]

Headlights , in 3 pieces and ready for LEDs 20230508_135956.jpg20230508_140051.jpg

I love leds on rc cars... I find it more realist and it's nice to finish a car this way...

[Dadio]

Dash board , incredibly difficult to photograph and I made it I two pieces which may have been a mistake as the facia is Incredibly thin , I thought it might have been easier to paint with my fat fingers but I will probably have to make it one piece .

[silvertriple]

I can see where you are heading to . Enligthed dashboard is going to be super nice

[Dadio]

I can see where you are heading to . Enligthed dashboard is going to be super nice

Yup , I have several colours of translucent paint I'm going to paint behind for indicators , ignition light , dials etc then just a single light sorce .