RPS13-180sx - Colour

Pandora Andromeda 180sx

Is it ready... Almost. Its been a long journey.

As always mask and paint takes time. But there was some extra time here. The base coats for the colour and backing paint needs a long time. 

And as it turns out it could have had even longer. I would recommend leaving this Show Up PC Binder process for Days. Even though the recommended hours were observed. 

It just doesn't dry long enough to stick.  

The Andromeda II colour is amazing. 

Its got soo much fleck in there. Deep Montego Blue / Green + Purple + Orange and Gold   

The gold and orange are really at eye level. 

Mostly its Blue Green / Purple. 

First Peel. 

Different light directions. 

Waiting to dry and trying wheels. 

Then some attachments. Shoo goo doesn't like this either. even after a week of drying.  some paint lift already. Just don't crash.  

So on to the shelf. 

Ganador and Assembly - Wing to come. 

Now it is mounted. so it's not long now. 

Wheelbase is short and body is narrow. so lots of camber and tuck. 

 

Back to 1998 - The 180sx

 

New Build Start. Pandora RPS13 - 180sx - Tohoku Style.

What's Tohoku Style.

Basically a 180sc with a Type X style body kit made by Hot Road Japan. The lights sit 3 fingers high possible to set with a pivot light controller. I had one of these for my real FD.   

Cut is done. Lights already cut also for the sleepy eye effect. 

So what colour will match these rims.

Colour will be Show Up Maziora Andromeda II. If you know you know. Popular with Signal auto Cars in the late 90's and early 2000's

Andromeda II is a Blue base wth Gold and Pink Flip Paint. 

I used to live not far from a Show Up paint shop in Urayasu, so it was always a dream to paint something in real Maziora Paint. Now that's possible.  

https://www.showup.jp/aerosolE.html

https://www.showup-japan.com/blog/product/185654

the start is the start. When does it end? 

Wheel Tripping

 

Wheels really do make an impression. 

A recent trip snagged me some now ones. 

There is a plan for these Buzz Break Overdose items that you'll see in another post.

These are for the Yaris and Evo X

Evo looks cool, needs a splitter though. 

Ive followed RC for a long time so when Masami teamed up with Topline. These were the result. 

I like my other topline high Traction Wheels so these should be good to. Just a slightly differnt spoke to the old N-Model so named N-Type. These are also 27mm wide so the outer lip is fatter also. 

Look great on the FD. 

RC Drift QLD Session

 

Blast out at RC Drift QLD with the Red Man.

The YD2 RX is pretty capable these days. I can even loan it out without people complaining about the high power beast being "Hard to Drive"

FD was fun, but the Supra does handle better though. 

RC Drift QLD - May

Supra back on form. 

 

Rips and Rips. 

Some more friends with 1/24.

RC Drift QLD is not really the place. Speed is too fast. 

Same as 1/10 which means over twice as fast as comparable scale speed.  Try somewhere else soon. 

RC Drift QLD

 

Last trip to RCDQ was just a small session. Dialled in the Comp spec YD2 even more. grip a plenty. 

Even removed the driver OM!!

So now its simply fast. Is that a good thing? or does it restrict. 

The Sakura D6 is also running well, even though it's slower its now stable and repeatable. 

1/5 Test

 

Finally got some parts installed and some pieces in place to retest. 

this has been sitting for a good couple of years with a broken "Custom" steering knuckle. I need to get 3 printing again to buckle everything up. 

If anyone want to take on/over this project, let me know. It's a monster.

See Video...  below. 

  

RC Drift QLD March

 

A fun session at RC Drift QLD. only the second this year. 

Invites to some long time old battle partners. 

Ken Block Tribute Monster Supra was trying some setting for grip. High traction everything. 

Drift Line  in the house. 

Fail crew also in effect. 

Still some settings to dial in, but the Sakura D6 much better than before, just needs to be consistently good rather than sometimes good.  

Fun short session. 

2026 Spec

 

2026 Spec.. For these machines, 2026 is just maintenance and refinement. 

As the electrical components are now more than 15 years old the 7.5T Luxon KG Keyence motors need replacing and the Sanwa BLX Servos are just End of Life. I'd hate to think how many steering inputs those tiny motors have endured.

Everything else seems ok, but there's the odd glitch in there and things have come a long way in that time.  

The $120 Sakura chassis has got a minor upgrades just to get suspension working with more droop and allow the knuckles to turn properly. Basically this chassis should come with a set of 20x2mm spacers as it simply wasn't checked for clearance and tollerance.  And the plastics seem to strip threads easily as the assembly process wasn't great. Steering is good, but it is a very fast ratio so needs some adjustment as it is easy to get understeer from the speed of the front steering. 

I think it will turn out well, just needs patience. 

This old hack body seems to handle ok in its current form. I'm a big fan of the low pressure rear end. allowing most of the air trapped inside to escape and the wing makes a difference. 

Some things you remember from on-road racing over 40 years ago still apply. The rear window may need some tweaks. 

The Supra is on the YD-2RX. 

This chassis is now "hooked up" to the point where it's a noticeable change from it's peak setup widow on full charge then it looses the ability to generate the wheelspin it needs to hold line with the ackerman setting that's dialed in.   I am only using 3000mah so the weight is low but the full charge window is also narrow.

Again the rear is stripped of drag educing activity, an while it will benefit from a splitter. that's yet to be added as the RC Drift QLD track allows me to get the body hanging over the fence. 

I still run a driver on here, but actually it would be heaps better without the weight. 

Even so... 

It's currently a bit quick for social tandem.  So I'll focus on the D6 for that. 

Fun times ahead.