Tamiya Bruiser 2012 Build Log

[HobbyGuyMod]

Hey guys havent been on the board on a few. But to force me to finish a project I am starting a build log for my Tamiya Bruiser. Since this truck is so damn expensive out of the box I decided to use parts that were available to me in my shop already instead of buying stuff just for it. So this is what I am doing

Radio - My MX11 I have worked the dial on Aux3 to move a servo that shifts gears

Servos - Pair of Traxxas Water Proof Digital Hi Torq Gears

Motor- I shoved a Titan 12T brushed into it I had around

ESC Novak Goat

Battery - A Venom 2s Lipo

Paint - I am going box art style this time. At least for a while. So it will be Tamiya X-4

PROBLEMS

I am pretty sure that everyone knows that the transmission on this thing is a monster. So it took me 3 tries to get everything going. I had it on blocks the whole time. Switched smooth through all gears using the radio. But when I put it on the ground it turns out that in 4x4 mode the front wheels go backward! Luckily I just had the axles reversed

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Tamiya Bruiser 2012

Ok so here are some pics from the beginning body work. Like I said prior I am working on it full box art style so I am going to be laying the paint down with an Airbrush.

Painting Gear
Paint: Tamiya X-4 Blue
Tamiya Thinner
Airbrush Medium
Iwata Airbrush
Paasche Compressor with Tank
Green Modeling Filler

I assembled the body as per the instructions with the screws. Not a big fan of that look so I am going to be filling in the wholes to give the body a seamless look. Also I am debating on using a rare earth magnet mounting system for the body. That way I can have an entirely hole free mount.

To start a begin with a light base coat of the X-4

I do this to help me find imperfections in the mold. Some people say use a gray primer to do this but the body was already white. The base white color will keep the X-4 pretty bright. Always start by airbrushing the grooves first. It will allow you too keep coverage complete in those spots but not overpaint the high points. Which would make your paint color strat to look one dimensional (flat).

Like I said before I hate the exposed screws. So I am grinding them down

[video]http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/295490_268025849965409_220137003_n.jpg[/video]

Then use the green filler to fill in the hole

Now with the light paint layer it makes other blemishes like mold lines pretty apparent.

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Ok since I am filling in all of the post holes I have to use a magnet mounting system, I am using rare earth magnets that I am cutting down to size.

Then I mounted them in side of the body

I removed the rear posts so I could mount magnets to them

I did that by actually mounting screws into the original holes. The top mount of the screw made it easy for glue to hold the magnets to the metal and allowed me to adjust the height

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

So I got a bit distracted because I realized how much the stock Tamiya tires really stank. So I went and replaced them with a set of proline mashers. They still keep the truck looking close to the box art. But the improved rubber will make the truck actually drive better. The stock Tamiya ones are just too hard to get good traction.

For now I kept the stock wheels because I don't want to upgrade any axle components to switch the hubs over to something that can handle a standard hex. Not saying I won't. Also if I do it is going to really skyrocket how much this truck is costing to build and I havent even looked at the overall performance. I am sure some mods will have to be done and parts purchased to make it handle better and I don't want to waste more than 200 bucks to add nice wheels. This truck is already pretty pricy

Love the look of the new tires and they actually bend

After I got that out of the way I finished up the body work.

Ok so here is a pic of the body after it has been completely finished with screw holes all filled in.

The body has also had multiple wet sandings done and multiple aluminum undercoats. Each one slightly buffed to give the under coat a metalic look. If you are not familiar with this painting technique, by applying a shiny metallic basecoat to a plastic body it will show through the upper color coats and make the color coat look more metallic.

I don't think this technique will work if you are using rattle cans (spray paint) because I think the paint will go on to thick.

In the above pic the last thing I have to do is rescribe the bottom door panel line because it is a bit off from the putt fillers.

But hey no screw and post holes is awesome

 

[slowngreen]

Filled the holes nicely, good job.

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Thanks man! Might have a pic up of the final paint stage with decals tonight. Its looking real nice so far

 

[robmob]

Nice job so far.

One of these days I will have a Bruiser re-issue.

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

ok so I finished the base coat and wet sanded and sealed the main body color. The I added 1 clear coat then wet sanded it again then 1 more clear coat so I would have a really smooth surface for the vinyle decalso to get put on.

I cut the vinyl as close as I could to the graphics with a razor knife then layed them on. I used a small flat metal tool to make sure there were no bubbles. Any that I found were released with a super thin insulin needle to lower the graphic.

I have a few more vinyl graphics to add then I will apply 3 more clear coats wet sanding with basically a buffing cloth between each.

This is how it looks

And here it is with mounted on the body connected with the magnet system. Looks great and you don't get that rattle of the body when it is moving around.

 

[hamz9561]

Really clean paint job with great graphics! Love the overall 70's style paint job.

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Thanks! right now the build is so close but so far. Always tempting to just hurry up and put the final pieces on before all the detailing I want to do is done. But in the end I know I would be upset with my self. So I use the build logs to keep me honest

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Ok so I got some quality time on the Bruiser build this weekend. I started by working on the sleeper cab. Didn't really see anything that I could modify or add to it to make the cab more detailed without taking away the overall box art look of the truck. Which would have made me miss the goal of this build.

So to make the sleeper windows I used some silly putty and airbrushed it a Tamiya Flat black. I usually use flat colors when I know I will be over spraying the entire truck with a lacquer. I find that glossy colors can make the lacquer orange peel while everything stick better to the flat ones

After removing the mask if there are any spots that need a touch up I will use a 00 brush or a sharpy to fix them. No matter how hard I try there is always something that needs to be touched up after. Not really anything that someone would see in photos but I see it when I hold the model so it annoys me.

Now most people will know that the Tamiya Bruiser is actually modeled after the Toyota Hilux RN36 that truck was a small utility truck and was low on the bling. I figured if someone had customized a truck like the Tamiya Bruiser they were looking for a show truck so they would have spruced it up a bit. So even though a stock RN36 had a completely black out grill I decided to high light it in silver to make it pop a bit more.

To do this I don't use a brush I find it way to difficult to make sure I only hit the raised portions. So I tightly roll up some napkin and lock it into a pair of forceps.

You can also use a good paint parking to do it as well. Just make sure to use a very light pressure with the paint sufficiently thinned. This is a Tamiya Acrylic Chrome which looks great. Arguably you could get a much nicer Aluminum effect with an oil based paint because you can buff it. If I using this effect on something with a large surface area like a model plane i would but a grill this should work just fine.

Here the grill is done after some minor touch ups and I also put the decal Hilux logo in. Man the logo is ugly. I tried to trim as much clear vinyl away as possible but it still showed up. I have metal badges on the way but for the mean time I will touch up the vinyl decal so I can keep working on the truck until they get here. More pics to come later

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Ok so now that I finished the front grill I have to move on to the lighting. I am going to mount the lights at the very end because then I will know the best way for me to run the wires and the LED control. I can already see some spacing issues because my lip battery plugs stick up vertical. Might have to adapt some 90 degree connectors. But now I am getting ahead of my self.

So first up are the tail lights, they are the most complex and will require some masking so I can create the 3 color light setup that I want. I am looking for Black edges, then a brake light, the turn light and a clear spot that would normally popup for reverse. i won't be enabling all of those lighting features but I want the lenses to look like they would.

So I mask the lenses first and only expose some parts of the borders

That gives me a solid border. Then I use a small space heater to dry it real good. If not when I add any other colors it woil reactivate the paint and cause it to run.

Next I have to tint the lenses. Tamiya makes some tint colors like Tamiya smoke that I have used to tint windows on kits before, but in this case I want other colors. So I grab my trusty future floor wax which is really a semi gloss acrylic

Then I put that in my air brush with just a few dabs of the the color in this case orange for the turn signals.

Basically I repeat that processs for each one of the colors for the rear tail lights until the color coverage is adequate.

Then after I retouch some of the black with a sharpy to clean it up. This gives the lights a semi transparent coloring.

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Ok so here are some more pics.

I used the same technique with the future floor polish to also add the yellow to the other turn signals

It takes a good eye and alot of patience to make sure that they don't run and a ton of very light coats. The biggest thing to remember is we want them to look transparent even when lights shine through them

Then I start to glue them on to the silver bases and you can already see how nice they look

In the above picture you can see I also put a silver base where the rear light will go. It doesn't have to be perfect since they will get covered up.

I also did the same thing for the front lights which even on the real Hilux are also clear instead of yellow

Then I started adding them to the bumper and then mounting it too

Exterior is almost complete!

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

Guys the exterior is now finished last thing is the metal decals which came in today. Ebay guy did an amazing job on them.

Also after taking the picks I realized I didnt mount the wind shield wipers

This build is not done!

Whats left

1. Detailed Interior
2. Wire lighting system
3. Performance upgrades

Rear Toyota was painted free hand not a decal

These are the new metal decals! So Much nicer

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

ok so the exterior is done so on to the interior. Same basic deal I want to keep most of the stock vibe but still make it better.

So this is what it looked like after giving it my carpet flooring

Now I want to make the dashboard less one dimensional so I am going to recess the main dash board and gauges

Straight edge out where the cuts are going to be

Then I drill out the corners to help with the cutting

Then I start cutting it out to open up the dash

Now just a bunch of sanding.

 

[WoodiE]

I LOVE build threads and this Bruiser looks awesome. Incredible skill man!

 

[hamz9561]

Have you made the scale empty beer cans for the floor board, yet? lol

Great looking scale build!

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

I LOVE build threads and this Bruiser looks awesome. Incredible skill man!

Thanks man I am going to keep putting pics up so glad people are reading

Have you made the scale empty beer cans for the floor board, yet? lol

Great looking scale build!

Ha ha, I might, I made some decals, definitely going to do a small gps unit and probably a pack of reds for the dash

 

[HobbyGuyMod]

More pics of dash work tonight, also wondering if anyone knows a good set of shocks for this guy, the oem ones I don't think are going to cut it.

 

[hamz9561]

Have you looked at RC4WD.com? They have some great scale stuff on there including some better 'Yota axles for the Bruiser.