- YR-4 Special with Porsche 934 RSR Vaillant-Kremer body -

[Asso_man!]

I've been willing to build a Porsche 934 RSR with a Vaillant-Kremer livery for years and this is now slowly getting real since I bought a Tamiya Porsche shell recently. I bought the body separately and it is the one that was supplied with the 30th Anniversary Porsche kit.
Like most young boys, I fell in love with the Porsche lines at an early age and still today one of my dreams would be to buy a real old timer Porsche 911. Until this is feasible (probably when I'll be retired ) I can only dream or... build a 1/10 version.
The Vaillant-Kremer version of the 934 is extremely iconic for several reasons: it was Tamiya's first ever rc kit, there is a real example in a car museum near my office (see pictures below) that I will try to mimic up to the very last details, and last but not least the car curves and the Vaillant-Kremer are simply super sexy!
Here are some pictures from the car that is at the Autoworld museum in Brussels, Belgium, and that will be used a reference (note that the tires are Yokohama and should be Goodyear as it was the official sponsor of the Vaillant-Kremer team:

[NomadRacer]

Brilliant!

I"ll be following along.

[Asso_man!]

And here is a collection of historic pictures. Two of them are showing the French racing legend Bob Wollek aka "Brilliant Bob" who was killed on 16 March 2001 at age 57 in a road accident in Florida while riding a bicycle back to his accommodation after the day's practice sessions for the following day's race, the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Here are all of his race results: http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Bob-Wollek-F.html?page=2

[Asso_man!]

When looking to obtain a Tamiya Porsche 934 RSR with a Vaillant-Kremer livery, I quickly realised I had basically two options: buy a complete Tamiya 30th anniversary kit which value is insane for what it is, or look for a vintage 1/12 Tamiya kit which again is totally insane in terms of value.
None of these options were working for me, especially considering the fact that the Tamiya 30th anniversary kit doesn't even have the correct wheelbase: the chassis is actually a tad too long for the body and the wheel wells can never be centered properly (see pictures below). I also read that the wheels were of a very poor design. To top it off, the Tamiya kit wheels do not have a larger offset on the rear, all of them being the same. But one of the distinctive aspect of the 934 is a deeper offset in the back wheels... That was enough for me to look for another alternative which eventually turned into buying a spare Tamiya body with green wing, light buckets and decal sheet and a bundle of proper BBS wheels with a 3mm front offset and 6mm rear offset. They also look and feel much stronger than the Tamiya wheels other than looking more real too.

[Asso_man!]

The only thing left was to find a cheap vintage chassis that would have a rear or at least a mid motor, be 2wd and a 230mm wheelbase.
Of course I could have gone the easy way and buy a TA02SW chassis like this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-84431-1-10-Porsche-934-Jagermeister-TA02SW-4WD-On-Road/292521405905?epid=1787790806&hash=item441ba26dd1:g:To0AAOSwxTdaz4u4 but I never liked the Tamiya plastic chassies.
Of course no existing car was fitting my bill, so I decided to buy a cheap Yokomo YR4, make it 2wd and design my own chassis. An initial design is already born but needs to be refined. Once ready I'll send it to Jeff so that he can cut it out of carbon!

[NomadRacer]

Looking forward to seeing your chassis plate design and how the Yokomo components will be installed. I was looking in my stash... would Tamiya PS -54 Cobalt Green be the right color?

[Asso_man!]

Looking forward to seeing your chassis plate design and how the Yokomo components will be installed. I was looking in my stash... would Tamiya PS -54 Cobalt Green be the right color?

Yes! The PS-54 was actually developed to match the Vaillant-Kremer cobalt green!

[Asso_man!]

Here are the wheels with the 3 and 6mm offset. They already received Tamiya slick tires and foam inserts, and extra Goodyear decals!

[NomadRacer]

The Cobalt Green is a stunning color. I had gotten a can some time ago.

[Lonestar]

That's an awesome story!

Here are the wheels with the 3 and 6mm offset. They already received Tamiya slick tires and foam inserts, and extra Goodyear decals!

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Who makes these gorgeous wheels btw?

[Asso_man!]

Who makes these gorgeous wheels btw?

Hey Paul, they're available from China on eBay. Very cheap, free (but slooooow) shipping. The good thing is that they're available in 3, 6 or 9mm offset! https://www.ebay.com/itm/4pcs-1-10-Touring-Drift-Nylon-Wheel-Rim-Y12CG-3-6-9mm-Offset-1-10-Wheel-10043-/182665000972?var=&hash=item70f9366c25

[Lonestar]

Thanks - that's a great project, I was wondering what you'd have under that shell

[shodog]

That looks great so far. It will be interesting to see how your chassis turns out. I too fell in love with the body and bought a 30th anniversary kit but it’s so beautifully packaged in the box I couldn’t motivate myself to build it. I bought a few spare bodies and planned to have Jeff cut me a Trf415 chassis that’s 30mm shorter but that’s where the project stalled. I’ll be looking forward to seeing how your turns out.

[Asso_man!]

That looks great so far. It will be interesting to see how your chassis turns out. I too fell in love with the body and bought a 30th anniversary kit but it’s so beautifully packaged in the box I couldn’t motivate myself to build it. I bought a few spare bodies and planned to have Jeff cut me a Trf415 chassis that’s 30mm shorter but that’s where the project stalled. I’ll be looking forward to seeing how your turns out.

Thanks Jim! The beautiful package is also something that convinced me to build something from scratch, I would never have been brave enough to tear it open.
The chassis design needs to be refined, I would like to add a tab on the top deck to attach a Tamiya driver figure, and provide more room on the chassis for the electronics.
Small step forward today as I received the hex wheel mounts!

[Lonestar]

That looks great so far. It will be interesting to see how your chassis turns out. I too fell in love with the body and bought a 30th anniversary kit but it’s so beautifully packaged in the box I couldn’t motivate myself to build it.

Thanks Jim! The beautiful package is also something that convinced me to build something from scratch, I would never have been brave enough to tear it open.

I thought I was the only one! I've had a NiB one for a few years too... and never got the courage to undo that sublime package