Turbo Optima Mid SE-X

[oli4ke]

Nice Job Dan!!

[HKS_TRD]

Originally Posted by Naushad

That carbon build with gold wheels is seriously hot! Looks nicer than the original!

Well done!

Thanks, I'm glad it turned out as well as I pictured it in my mind, hoping to have it all finished before too long so I can move on to my next project

Originally Posted by DanB4

Dan that looks brilliant!

Im buying some of the A&L yellow steering bellcranks for my TOMS runner.

Dan

Those bellcranks are great I was surprised they were available again

Originally Posted by oli4ke

Nice Job Dan!!

Thanks Oli

[HKS_TRD]

So I have a few decisions to make for the last few parts of this build, all opinions welcome.

My SE was painted yellow however I had seen a write up on the SE in a magazine which had the standard stickers but was painted gold and it looked awesome, even with the SE wheels, so I'm thinking thats what color I am going to paint the wing and body on this project.

Keen eyes may have noticed the chassis posts are missing, the plan is for these to be anodised gold, but I'm not sure what if anything else to have anodised gold. I'm thinking the ball joints on the end of the rear stabiliser bar and maybe the plate that sits on the spur gear, though thats not all that visible.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

I don't want to ovedo it with the gold so I can put other wheels on it and not have them look out of place

[ducatikid]

Looks amazing, i stripped my Turbo Optima Mid down a few years ago and went to see Steve at Fibre Lyte who reproduced all the Mid parts in carbon. I never got round to fitting it as i found a lot of new old stock parts and rebuilt it back to standard. Now i've seen yours in carbon i may look for another to do, cue divorce!!

[HKS_TRD]

Originally Posted by ducatikid

Looks amazing, i stripped my Turbo Optima Mid down a few years ago and went to see Steve at Fibre Lyte who reproduced all the Mid parts in carbon. I never got round to fitting it as i found a lot of new old stock parts and rebuilt it back to standard. Now i've seen yours in carbon i may look for another to do, cue divorce!!

Thanks, thats one nice looking Mid there, the turbo looks really nice in white to my eyes. Is that body a repro or an original? I have everything to build a Turbo Mid bar the body and wing and the front sway bar

[ducatikid]

Yeah the body, decals and tires are reproductions from Marwan RC. The quality is every bit as good as the manufacturers. He supplied my Optima parts too.

http://www.marwanrc.com/

Optima here:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_m...2568&sid=22564

[HKS_TRD]

Small update

I have cut out the shell, however I tried something a little different and left the part of the shell behind the shock tower on rather than cut it off. I think it looks pretty good. I'll put a sticker on it after I paint the shell

The wing mount is from my Lazer ZX, I have a carbon one on the way though still debating if I attempt a wire wing mount.
Also the wing is from the TOMS, I think for the SE I will actually use the rear most holes on the wing to bring it closer to the body, the ZX uses these holes and when I test fitted that wing it looks better having the wing closer to the body on the short car IMHO

I plan to use the body posts from a LWB that go on the rear of the chassis, the custom chassis has the mount points for them, it also has the fronts but not sure if I need those. Using the posts just helps keep the shell low and the side pods horizontal for a sleeker look.

I am 99% decided on painting the shell gold and using the stock SE sticker scheme, but now I am wondering if I need gold shocks, or the platinums will contrast well against a gold shell and compliment the polished knuckles. You can have too much gold! I have a spare set of platinums I could tinker with but how on earth do you get the ball out of the cap?
Maybe a custom front shock tower and medium length gold velvets would be just the thing for this buggy

I'll be sending the chassis posts and rear sway bar end links along with a spur gear plate to be anodised gold shortly.

Any way enough of my rambling here are some pics.

[DanB4]

Fantastic Dan!

[Naushad]

Looking great Dan. I would get some Parma shell hole strengtheners for what you've done on the rear. It will just help to reinforce that small area where it would be vulnerable to cracks or tears.

I wouldn't paint the shell gold. You've got enough gold going on there with anodizing. How a out a black with gold striping?

[HKS_TRD]

Originally Posted by DanB4

Fantastic Dan!

Thanks Dan

Originally Posted by Naushad

Looking great Dan. I would get some Parma shell hole strengtheners for what you've done on the rear. It will just help to reinforce that small area where it would be vulnerable to cracks or tears.

I wouldn't paint the shell gold. You've got enough gold going on there with anodizing. How a out a black with gold striping?

I know what you mean but I just want to try it. I saw one painted gold with the standard SE stickers in a magazine and always wished mine was gold. I have other wheels that will go on it from time to time so it won't always be a gold overload

That being said I had a magazine with a four way shootout with the SE against the CAT XL, Dogfighter and Avante, and the car was painted black in that review, with some custom silver decals. It looked pretty good

I can always paint a second shell

Or a third ......

[oli4ke]

Originally Posted by HKS_TRD

I can always paint a second shell

Or a third ......

LOL

[HKS_TRD]

Now I'm considering getting a spare motor plate gold plated, along with a rear wishbone plate and then running a clear gear cover

Or should I stick with the carbon bits

What I would really love is if Pargu made CNC copy of the OT-93 and we could have it anodised in any color we like

[Welshy40]

Dan,

Youve got this in your blood more than me. Has it arrived yet?

[HKS_TRD]

What can I say, even back when I had my first SE I was always trying to think of things to do to it, but I didn't know all that much back then

That reminds me, another mod for the Mid was to turn the rear wishbones around and mount the shock to the rear of the tower, maybe I'll do that to this SE

It hasn't arrived but I know its very close from the last update, I'm anticipating Wednesday at this stage

[Welshy40]

Drum roll.........

[HKS_TRD]

One more piece to the puzzle turned up along with something you can read about in another thread ...



I didn't use the upper section at this stage as I might use them on another project plus they seem to need a slightly larger hole in the wing than the standard plastic pieces



The extension I left on the body just clears the wing mounts, though I might put a couple notches in it to make it look like its meant to be there

[KrackerG]

Awesome, just signed up (1st post), I am also re- building a kyosho optima mid. thank you for sharing!

[HKS_TRD]

Minor update

I had a batch of parts anodised recently for a number of projects and that included some pieces for this build.

I still haven't painted the shell, and now for some reason I'm thinking that maybe I should put medium length shocks on the front of this build with a custom shock tower

[DanB4]

Looks fantastic Dan!

Apologies if already mentioned but where did you get the cnc rear hinge pin brace (pivot block) from?

[j0pp3]

Originally Posted by DanB4

Looks fantastic Dan!

Apologies if already mentioned but where did you get the cnc rear hinge pin brace (pivot block) from?

Pargu perhaps?
http://www.pargustore.com/kyosho-opt...arm-mount.html