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As I decided to delay the Samurai first build for a few days, I have some time to finish something... I decided to deal with the two Galaxy. I cut the wings, and drill the driver figures (they are repro in resin).


Next was to take care of the wings paintjob. Thanks to Yogi-bear from tamiyabase and tamiyaclub, I had the Galaxy in png, so I could do masks for the right size.


Next step was the paintjob. I started by the wing for the red Galaxy : blue (PS-4), then bright silver (PS-41). I then worked out the wing for the Galaxy RS : Red (PS-2) and White (PS-1). I completely forgot that the PS-2 tend to react with the masks I use, and it seems my tape react as well, as a bit of overspray happened while I was spraying the red.


I still have another wing uncut for my son's Galaxy RS... Remains the driver to paint. I'm going to do them by batch. A lot of Marui drivers are on my work table right now, and there is still some to be added on the table.

I had Hunter and Galaxy drivers sitting unpainted on my desk for a while (a long while)... Got recently some goodies from @optimaforever for the Galaxies, and I needed to showcase them. No way I can do this without proper driver figure and wings. The wings were tackled a few weeks ago. That was not the case of the driver. I got to the task at the same moment as the Samurai driver...


One is an original and the two others are repro in resin (molded from original).


For the molded ones, I used some black filament to replace the missing wheel...

The Hunter was quick to finish : I juts had to glue the driver in (double face tape). But for the Galaxies, I knew it would take more time : to put the driver in place, you have a bunch of screws to remove from the roll cage. I did procrastinate a bit. And I wanted to do something for the wings: something to help maintain them in case of roll over (there should be a reason why none of the Galaxy I got has a wing). Fusion360 was again my friend.


This is very simple. There is two parts, one goes on the roll cage and has a support preventing the wing to fold, to close to the screws, and the other one replace the washer and is designed to enter in the wing recess to lock it properly.

I printed some, in red, because I like the red, and it will be nice on the Galaxy, but slightly less on the Galaxy RS (although there is already some red on the wing). But that's it.

But before this, I needed to put the Galaxy Shock Stay Reinforcement Bar (GSSRB) from Optima House on the Galaxies. This is a part he made to complete his Hunter gearcover, specifically designed for the Galaxy, and it is versatile enough to work with the non broken Galaxy chassis alone and with a Hunter gearcover for broken chassis. And it is nice, with a Galaxy fine print on the bar in plain center




After tackling the red, and while my son was finishing to put his Super(hot)Shot together, I tackled the blue...



and then it was time for some family pictures. It's missing a variant at this stage (the Hunter with V1 chassis), but at least I have 3 complete cars on this picture (if we don't count the electronics as the Galaxy RS is missing both a RX and an MSC/Servo or a ESC...





Still have a lot of things to do with the other cars you saw arriving in this thread, but that will be for later

Today, while still awaiting one single part to finish my Samurai n°1, I decided to tackle the Galaxy RS my son will use for vintage events...

For memory, that's the one which came in a field box, with a missing roll cage and broken shock towers.

My son has already a driver for this car. It is based on resin printed stl based on a Marui Ninja or Shogun driver. I just paint the face of this one, my son made the rest...

Normally, I'm not the one doing the build of this car. He should be building the car for himself. But first I need to tear it off, clean the parts and repair the chassis (or make proper patching).

I did tear the machine down to parts early this afternoon... There is some very good surprises, and some that are quite bad.
First, as per the general state of the underside, it does look like the car was not used much offroad...

Second, opening the gearbox shows a idle gear and a differential close of being new (just like the red Galaxy, actually).


I finished to tear everything down to parts quite quick (40 minutes - when you know the car by heart without having to think, it goes faster, you do it in the inverted sequence from the build). Most of the screws are close of being new.

I believe from the analysis that the kid (or his father) building the car initially made a mistake mounting a front shock at the rear, and that probably led to the left broken shock tower (because the shock had no axial movement in the suspension arm), and the right followed, because the screw was torqued to much.


Most of the parts, beside the chassis, are in very good state...


For the chassis, it is another story. Marui manual as available in french stores mentioned Philips screwdrivers. But it was not Philips screws. It was JIS screws. That make a lot of difference in the way you feel the torque when working out the screw. As a result, many users were applying too much torque. And the result is catastrophic...

Front bottom arms axles were just kept in position by the bumper


Beside the shocks towers torqued too much, there was also broken mounts for the rear bumper.


Last, one of the screw seats of the gearbox under cover is damaged. To the point you can distinguish a crack on the chassis. Normally, this is not much issue, as the chassis will be taken in sandwich between parts that will be holding it together, but I think I will have to do something at least for the screw seat...


Not too bad, finally. I will have to print some parts to help holding the rear bumper and gearbox cover together (this car will use the OptimaHouse gearbox cover and will be a runner for my son). First I will take care of the cleaning (basically, this is now).

While my son did not even built his Galaxy RS yet as the plan was slightly delayed by an onroad event, I must recognize I may have some sort of weakness. While some other are buying rc10s or Sand Scorchers, I could help but buying another Marui Galaxy

It's complete, and in very nice state.

Few elements will require work, but new roll cage, tires, stickers (original sheet) and few additional parts (i'll have to do a full inventory to understand what is there, but there is clearly some additional parts)...
I will have to see which one is going to be my Galaxy runner between the two I'm having now (yes, one of the two red will be a runner - in Belley, when the car was on the table, I was quite tempted to get it running, and I didn't because I did not have proper tires for that)...


But I really need to stop looking at those Marui Hunter and Galaxy on sales group and ads

Pursuing my target to model all tires from Marui range

One additional set is done.



And since I love to spread the Galaxy love as well, the other face is different 


The front tire should not be that expensive to print in MJF rubber like to do some test on the wall thickness and to adjust it to find the sweet spot...

A Marui Hunter is a must have for this season's vintage events... And I do not want to use the first car I restore for this. As I want to be able to run the car without thinking about the risks of breaking a chassis... My solution for this is to use a broken chassis . I took the original chassis from the Galaxy when it arrived, with broken shock towers. I glued them back when it arrived, thinking that it would be good enough to build a Ga(laxy-Hu)nter with a Optima House combine gear cover / motor cover. There was a few parts requiring still a bit of cleaning, I did run my ultrasonic cleaner for that and then it was build time...

I will just put pictures as the previous builds were already heavily documented in this thread...




I did put my own gear set in the chassis, as the target is to use this car as a test car...


I had to adapt the shaft so I can put the idle gear on bearings...


While fixing the motor mount, one of the pilar broke... I suspected it could happened, and did not worried at all... I went to my laptop, got the stl I uploaded in the past in Thingiverse, put an ABS roll on the printer and just printed it, put it in place, a bit of acetone on the brokent surface of the broken pilar and it's good to go


Optima House shock towers, my led holders (the car will run with leds )


The full black look is going to be nice




Next steps tomorrow...

My eyes opened early this morning. After the breakfast, I started right away the operations...

First I installed ESC and rear leds (the front will be installed in the spotlights on the bodyshell so I planned for a plug near the roll bar...


And this is the rear view...


I then added the wheels, and worked on the bodyshell...




I did test quickly the chassis setup, and it seems there is too much lateral play for the small bevel gears. It can run but there is some skip in the differential, and it's imperfect... I know exactly where the problems are and I will review the design accordingly, and I'll need to get another gearset done urgently...

I did some masking in the afternoon... I like the results when there is multiple colors but it is always time consuming... Much more than the paint itself...


And then I did the paint... This car maybe box art, at very few exceptions. Had to think about it, actually...


After this I need to take care of the driver. I have some repro Samurai/Ninja/Shogun, and I really like them, but I could also use a Hunter driver more conform to the original, although it is resin molded... Time will tell

Today was a bit run time with my son in the morning and with my daughter in the afternoon. In between I spent some time to finish my Hunter...

First it was about assembling the bodyshell and connect the leds... You may note the driver. I had that driver (printed from a scan I can't share) painted already, and thought it would go nicely with this car. For the led, it was mainly to solder the wires together and add a plug at the end...


Then, there was the stickering time. The stickers are some reproduction home made by one of my Australian friend, and I felt that was a duty to feature them on this Hunter, except the sizing which is a bit small, these are very nice quality and easy to work with...










And some family picture with both Hunters...

Leds are working fine and this detail makes a lot for me in terms of realism...



But there was a missing detail... I spent a bit of time to try to get it right yesterday evenning


This car will be nice...

That's really nice Mark , love the lights . I just had one of those thoughts, for the shelf it might be nice to have lights that can be hooked up to mains electricity rather than battery's.

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 10:06 am That's really nice Mark , love the lights . I just had one of those thoughts, for the shelf it might be nice to have lights that can be hooked up to mains electricity rather than battery's.

None of those cars I put leds on are for shelves . A rc car should not live on a shelf, but running outside or on a track
But agree... I'll have to think about this, and it might be very easy to do, by the way... Basically, you just need a small USB charger with a 5V output and that should be enough to powere many cars led lights, as long as you have the right connectors for this...

And if you ask me why I put so much time on those cars to run them at the end, I don't know . Basically, I don't like to do things half way!

silvertriple wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 10:15 am

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 10:06 am That's really nice Mark , love the lights . I just had one of those thoughts, for the shelf it might be nice to have lights that can be hooked up to mains electricity rather than battery's.

None of those cars I put leds on are for shelves . A rc car should not live on a shelf, but running outside or on a track
But agree... I'll have to think about this, and it might be very easy to do, by the way... Basically, you just need a small USB charger with a 5V output and that should be enough to powere many cars led lights, as long as you have the right connectors for this...

And if you ask me why I put so much time on those cars to run them at the end, I don't know . Basically, I don't like to do things half way!

I feel the same way , I love driving them , only my 834b Dogfighter is resting now and I have a fully printed one to drive if I get the urge , the Sand Rover probably won't get driven hard or much and I do worry about the bodywork that I have planned , might get a Holiday Buggy body to run it ...

Let me correct that for you

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 12:14 pm I feel the same way , I love driving them , only my 834b Dogfighter is resting now and I have a fully printed one to drive if I get the urge , the Sand Rover probably won't get driven hard or much and I do worry about the bodywork that I have planned , might get a Holiday Buggy body to ruin it ...

silvertriple wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 12:15 pm Let me correct that for you

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 12:14 pm I feel the same way , I love driving them , only my 834b Dogfighter is resting now and I have a fully printed one to drive if I get the urge , the Sand Rover probably won't get driven hard or much and I do worry about the bodywork that I have planned , might get a Holiday Buggy body to ruin it ...

I'm genuinely dyslexic so it took a few seconds lol.