Happy Hachi Roku Day!
A very busy day this year too.
Today is August 6, which many refer to as "Hachi Roku" Day in celebration of the classic Toyota AE86. Regardless of if it is a coup or hatchback, has the Levin's fixed or the Trueno's pop-up headlights, these cars are definitely some of my favorite, with my personal favorite being the Trueno hatchback. For those who didn't know, Levin and Trueno are not Japanese words,
but rather are the Middle English and Spanish words for "lighting" and
"thunder", respectively.
I painted a Yokomo Trueno street-version hatchback shell not too long ago (featured in an earlier post) and I thought purchasing the opposite style, a D1GP Levin coup with T&E body kit, as a celebratory body kit but decided against it as I had already purchased several bodies last week. However, one body I would like to eventually purchase would be a modern 86/BRZ/FR-2 and Yokomo makes several D1GP replicas:
The HKS Racing Performer 86*
The Up Garage Falken 86*
The Drive M7 Advan Max Orido Racing 86*
Of the three, I like the HKS and the Up Garage the best due to the nature of their body kits. The Drive M7, while it has the increasingly popular rear-mounted wing that I like, has a rather busy front bumper. The HKS, with its rather simple single-opening for the intercooler is rather fierce and the Up Garage's #-pattern flows well into the front fenders. However, which shell do you like the best?
Overdose and Tamiya also make some rather nice body shells, though the Overdose shell is of the Scion FR-S and the Tamiya shells are more often than not subjected to an Addiction Rocket Bunny body kit, which would add to the overall cost and complexity.
*Images courtesy of Yokomo.com.
to remove the part. Then I use a standard X-acto knife to clean up the remaining seam line and left-over excess plastic. This is something I've always done when working with injection-molded plastic parts, whether it be for a 1/35 Tamiya tank, a 1/100 Master Grade Gunpla, or a 1/10 Overdose XEX chassis. Depending on the plastic, I'll use my special Tamiya Sharp Pointed Side Cutter NO.123 (74123)
but this is only for ball-end caps as I prefer to save these side-cutters for Gunpla.
, and the Wera Kraftform Micro 2054 1.5mm. I first was introduced to these screwdrivers at my local hardware store, which had some extra-long, serrated Phillips-head screwdrivers. They are made in Europe and depending on the size, have either the hex or Hex-Plus heads, which are very similar to a hex but have slightly rotated sides so that more or the tool contacts the fastener. I don't know if this really makes a difference, but I've yet to round out any fastener using them. However, Wera screwdrivers are a bit pricey for some at ~$10 each, but given that chassis average ~$300, spending maybe a tenth of that on a set of tools that you'll have for the life of the chassis is well worth it in my opinion.
" or "BriteGuard" finish,these tools feature a ball-end hex that allows you to angle the L-wrench around 20-degrees, which helps get around things that might get in your way. This really isn't a feature that helps during construction, but it does help immensely during maintenance and disassembly.
, which make those pliers for Tamiya and are several dollars less. Having the Tamiya name will not make your car three-times faster or drive three-times better, and they're not red.
