I have had a bit of a radio-controlled hobby going on for many years, I have raced a front-drive Tamiya FF01 based touring car for a few years for 'fun', this thing currently has a short wheelbase chassis and a Renault Clio shell.



Recently I bought my first truck and after bashing around my house and the parking lot, realized just how much fun it was.

After a week or so I went from 4wd/2ws to 4wd 4ws.

Then on to a locked center differential.

At which stage it looked like this



The next thing was a carbon fiber chassis.





This made it even more fun.

After a fairly large number of breakages, mainly caused by the combination of an extremely powerful motor, super short wheelbase and low-grip tires, I replaced many of the plastic pieces with alloy.

This weekend I added a Mini Cooper Shell !







I still need to trim the shell a little, the firmed-up shocks till allow the tires to hit the bodywork.

I need to remove the window-masks and add the decals to make it look more like a Mini, plus I need to extend the wheelbase about 3/4 inch or so, but I am pretty happy with it at the moment.

Also added this weekend was a 3-channel radio system with a mixer for the rear steering servo hopefully this will make it a little less twitchy.

I intend to take it to the track one weekend to race against the touring cars

 

That's prety awsome. I've always wanted a street R/C car myself. I've seen one other raised Mini somewhere and I think that the look really cool. Nice job.

 

your making me want to get my toys out for the season think i can find a mini shell for it?

 

Depends on the wheelbase - the Clio (top) is slightly too long even in Short-Wheelbase form (adjustable) and has way too much overhang with the front-mounted motor, to fit a Mini shell.

Measure your wheelbase and check out tower hobbies etc.

Last night I started on the shell again - trimmed about 1/4" off the bottom, adjusted the fit on the chassis and peeled out the window masking - hopefully by the weekend I will have the windows tinted and the chrome bits painted on !

More updates to follow, no doubt......

 

Couple of updates






I bought the parts to extend the wheelbase by 30mm (back) at lunch, so hopefully I will get this done in the next few days.

I also need to add a few small pieces of trim....

 

Hey that looks sweet, I have a mini LST that I would like to find a mini body to put on it. Any ideas on where to locate a body/shell to modify?
Thanks-Kelly

 

Tomer Hobbies have a decent selection, but I tend to buy from my local shop.

Yet more updates







Family portrait



I just got yet another kit - silly buy-it-now

Pics of that to follow when I get it

 

Wow your collection looks great. The mini is looking good. Here is a pic of my mini LST, I will have to get a better close up later. It is electric, is it ok to blow off the dust with an air compressor?
Thanks