2014 Kyosho Beetle

[GreenBar0n]

Wagner! I love it!!
Every time I hear that piece it reminds me of Apocalypse Now. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." "It smells like -- victory."
Great drone video and a great view as well.

Much thanks! The Ride, or The Flight of the Valkyries, depending on how you translate it, is an advanced and instantly recognizable tune; and being royalty free made it my first choice . Love that song though, it inspired so many soundtracks, I would guess John Williams, creator of the Star Wars theme and many others, has heard Wagner once or twice .


I got the gloves painted white on the exterior, they came out a little puffy, reminiscent of Mickey Mouse's gloves.


Going to tighten up the paint around the cuffs, and then add the stickers that will cover all that errant paint on the base.


Determined to finish this body today. Still missing the Rx for the chassis, should be here Monday.

Got the driver base completed.




Going to sand and repaint part of the helmet, had a bad drip.

[GreenBar0n]

The window decals are terrible on this model. They bubble up and always have a filmy coated look to them.


I put a heat gun on them and they blistered and shrunk, didn't behave like Tamiya decals for me.


Even without a heat gun, the view is hazy at best.


Not sure what to do, thinking about getting rid of the window decals altogether.

[XLR8]

The driver base looks fantastic! Well done!!

Yeah, I'm really not a fan of the full window stickers. I can never get them to set correctly.
If I use them, I'll go back and cut next to the faux weatherstrip and remove the clear portion.

[silvertriple]

The window decals are terrible on this model. They bubble up and always have a filmy coated look to them.


I put a heat gun on them and they blistered and shrunk, didn't behave like Tamiya decals for me.


Even without a heat gun, the view is hazy at best.


Not sure what to do, thinking about getting rid of the window decals altogether.

This is tipically what I usually try to do with masking and paint. Gnerally, I try to do my own masks on the Silhouette Cameo 4, and generally, I use a colored paper cut to fit the windows, scan it, size it, and use a 1,5 to 2mm external offset I cut at the same time at the mask. I transfer them, and used the offseted part to do the windows joints in black while I back the main color in black...
On the Tomahawk, I did not procced this way, and I should have, that would have been much better...

[GreenBar0n]

The driver base looks fantastic! Well done!!

Yeah, I'm really not a fan of the full window stickers. I can never get them to set correctly.
If I use them, I'll go back and cut next to the faux weatherstrip and remove the clear portion.

Thanks so much! This was not easy for me, and the helmet is far more difficult than the base, I've had to re-do the helmet in a few spots, a couple of times now.

I was going to cut out the center parts of the window frames, but the window trim lines have decent arcs to them, would've been sloppy for me to try to cut them without a straight edge, and that would look odd without the arcs and just straight cuts. Wasn't convinced I could do that correctly.

This is tipically what I usually try to do with masking and paint. Gnerally, I try to do my own masks on the Silhouette Cameo 4, and generally, I use a colored paper cut to fit the windows, scan it, size it, and use a 1,5 to 2mm external offset I cut at the same time at the mask. I transfer them, and used the offseted part to do the windows joints in black while I back the main color in black...
On the Tomahawk, I did not procced this way, and I should have, that would have been much better...

Great tip, I understand, that's how to make a mask for the window rubber. That's a great idea, I'll have to try that next time I get in this jam.



What I ended up doing for the moment, was removing all of the window decals, except the front windshield, for now, and used Tamiya PS-31 smoke on the sunroof, and rear windows only. Trying on the carbon fiber running boards and wing edges too.




With the front windows clear, the driver should show up in there better.


Going to leave it like this for now, and see how it looks tomorrow.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement guys!

[juicedcoupe]

I remember having difficulty with the windows on my beetle. They are still a little hazy, kinda like darker tint on a car.

I think that I used an X-Acto knife and hair dryer to remove the bubbles. I also put decals on with Windex, which seems to help when pushing bubbles out.

[GreenBar0n]

I remember having difficulty with the windows on my beetle. They are still a little hazy, kinda like darker tint on a car.

I think that I used an X-Acto knife and hair dryer to remove the bubbles. I also put decals on with Windex, which seems to help when pushing bubbles out.

I tried warm water and dawn, and used a scraper, but couldn't get all the bubbles and dull haze out. I'll try cutting out the center of the windows in the future, just need to find a way to do it cleanly.


These loud decals over the green paint are starting to look better to me every time I walk by.




Will decide tomorrow.

[Frankentruck]

I think there's other sites that would be better for that indulgence.

[GreenBar0n]

I think there's other sites that would be better for that indulgence.

Legal here, but I get it. I haven't had a sip of alcohol in over 2 years.

[Dangeruss]

I dig the graphics

The coolest buggy's were always loud colors with contrasting stripes. With the decals laid, some numbers, and a few contingency stickers it'll look rad.

www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/105899-kyosho-beetle-2014/

[GreenBar0n]

I dig the graphics

The coolest buggy's were always loud colors with contrasting stripes. With the decals laid, some numbers, and a few contingency stickers it'll look rad.



Green Beetle Graphic.jpg

www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/105899-kyosho-beetle-2014/

That settles it, about to bring the noise with these loud decals today. Thanks as always @Dangeruss!

[GreenBar0n]

These decals don't seem as obvious, without the white border. Miss the white border of the backing paper now.








The front windshield looks nasty, like I drove it through a field of locusts at top speed. I tried the Xacto and heat gun again today, tried a wet scraper, can't get that windshield clean. Going to have to figure something out.

Even without the front windshield decal, it still has a bit of haze.

[1911Colt]

You may have a look at my thread on the Tomahawk, I did a custom visor, using a simple sheet of transparent and two M1. 6*4 screws...

Brilliant!

[GreenBar0n]

The Rx should be here soon. Painted the chassis top, used PS-23, the same the driver is backed in.




Really still wishing I could use these 'Centerlines'.


I have looked at every adapter I can find, it seems that no one adapts old Tamiya 5-star wheels on to any other RC. I constantly see Kyosho wheels adapted to Tamiya models, but not the reverse.

The front wheels would require a smaller ID bearing for the smaller Kyosho axles, fronts wouldn't be too difficult. I see there is an adapter for the Kyosho rear drive to run 12mm hex, by using the Scorpion (I think) hubs, but no one makes an adapter from 12mm to Tamiya 5-stars that I have found. The rear axles are thinner than the Tamiya 5-stars are drilled for, too.

[GreenBar0n]

Found the Scorpion 12mm hex adapter for the rear of the Beetle.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/121952207335


Found an inexpensive adapter from 12mm to vintage Tamiya, says Hot Shot. Hoping these will work.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/355584612492


Going to use layers of heat shrink tubing to make up the diameter of the smaller rear axle shafts, if necessary.


Apparently RPM made Tamiya Blackfoot to Kyosho Mid adapters, there are some new versions of this out there too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175079855411


Also picked up this one, which is a newer version of the RPM kit, for much less.



Need to figure out the front adapters now.