Kyosho Turbo Optima Legendary series - 30619

[silvertriple]

I had only 3 cars in the eighties.

One was the Marui Hunter, my first car, and the two others were Kyoshos. One was a Chevy 4x4 which came mostly assembled. It was mostly metal, and it was rock solid. And the second one was a kit, a joy to build: It was a Fantom EP 4WD 1/12 and once built I understood I had no chance to really run it properly because the road was improper for that where we were living. I sold it to one of my mates who had the chance to run sometime in a club where they were having a space for that... I dreamt about the Turbo Scorpion, Javelin and Optima for quite a while... And this idea vanished when the first motorbike (real size) came.

At some point I bought another Kyosho, about 20 years later. That was a Mini-Z. I had nothing to compare for the quality. But the bodyshell was just plain quality...

Then the Mini-Z got me back in the RC in December 2020. My wife found it in a box and asked me if it was to bin. My response was "Never. I'm going to restore it and our son could have it for Xmas". I spent the next days searching for parts on internet... And then found out what I was not searching for . My dreamt cars for my teenager times were back on sale... I did not start directly with a Kyosho but a DT03 in January. When my two kids saw the thing running, they both wanted one... And I put a Turbo Scorpion on order with one of the kids DT03 for February. All of this is probably because of Kyosho!

And I love the quality of the kits. This is something I can't really put words on... Not something I experience when I build a Tamiya...

[Coelacanth]

Great post, thanks for that...it's always fun to read how one of us got sucked back into the hobby after many years' hiatus.

[silvertriple]

After a week of work, affairs are restarting.

I replaced the sway bar attachments.

I also scan the stickers page to prepare my paintjob. Once the scan are done, I import them into Silhouette studio, to prepare the cutting activity. I have my plans, but this is probably going to take time. (It won't be painted this week-end, although I may trim the body shell during the week-end). I also have a  Javelin black wing and a Javelin wing stay on order. I'm still asking myself if I want a wing on this car or not... I'm undecided. That is one of the reason I won't do the paint this week... (although I may want to add the wing later anyway)



The driver will be painted similarly to the Javelin driver, but I may consider different color and schema for the Helmet. I may have to prepare masks for this as well.

I plan to finalise the electronics installation this week-end. ESC should find its new home within the Turbo Optima (it was initially in the Turbo Scorpion). The Brushless spur gear should come soon as it is back in inventory at Kyosho Europe, which means both both Turbo Optima and Javelin could be running properly (for the time being, the Javelin tends to mimic a Wild Willy when I pull the trigger ).

[silvertriple]

Here are the masking sheets from the kit of the Turbo Optima


It puzzles me. They are supposed to be applied before cutting the body shell as per the instruction manual. I'm not really sure what I'll do. Usually I do the cutting of the body before applying masking, and I do all the cutting with a scalpel I apply on the cutting line. This won't work with the masks.

My conclusion is that I will not follow the instructions and  I will use some of the Kyosho masks applied after the cutting, and will complete with some old fashion masking tape to complete those...

Color schema intention as of today is :

• Red of the box art to be replaced by translucent blue backed silver and black.

• White to be replaced by Gun metal (backed white and black).

The number on the number plate will be 9 as usual. I'm still undecided on what I'm doing with the number plates...

[silvertriple]

Some scans, a bit of work within Silhouette Studio, and I have modified some of the masks and added some. I will use the some of the original masks as well...

 
And if you are asking yourself why the writings are reverse, it is because we need that as they would be paint from under the body shell)

Let's work on the electronics now...

[XLR8]

Well, based upon your very detailed description, I think this car is going to look spectacular.

For what it's worth, I went total box art with my TO and completely ignored the painting guide included with the instructions. I don't think I even used the included paint masks. Taking some advise from Frank Sinatra, I did it my way.

For the window slats over the rear window area, I've applied paint to the outside so they look matte black. For masks in this area, I simply used the overspray protective film applied to the outside of the body shell. It worked great.

Since you are designing custom paint masks, can we assume that you have access to a vinyl cutter? If so then can you tell us about it?? I've been giving some thought to purchasing a small hobby-grade vinyl cutter for making masks and custom decals so I'm very curious.

Anyway, thanks for posting an update.

[silvertriple]

Well, based upon your very detailed description, I think this car is going to look spectacular.

For what it's worth, I went total box art with my TO and completely ignored the painting guide included with the instructions. I don't think I even used the included paint masks. Taking some advise from Frank Sinatra, I did it my way.

For the window slats over the rear window area, I've applied paint to the outside so they look matte black. For masks in this area, I simply used the overspray protective film applied to the outside of the body shell. It worked great.

Since you are designing custom paint masks, can we assume that you have access to a vinyl cutter? If so then can you tell us about it?? I've been giving some thought to purchasing a small hobby-grade vinyl cutter for making masks and custom decals so I'm very curious.

Anyway, thanks for posting an update.

First, I confirm I have access to a vinyl cutter. I use a Silhouette Cameo 4 combined with the Silhouette Studio software they propose (free license). I actually invested in it while building my Turbo Scorpion (I will need to post its build ). I had some vinyl masks plans but the cost was somewhat a stop to my investment until my wife told me she would have some use for a vinyl cutter as well. It cost me around 300 euros, and then I did so much things with it already with plain vinyl either as stickers either as transfers (tee shirts). And yes vinyl is only one part of the use. you may also cut other stuff: balsa is possible (that would be eventually useful for aeromodelism) or other material up to a certain thickness... You may already refer to the Super Hotshot thread as the paint actually relies on vinyl masks... Now that being said, I'm only painting with spray cans from Tamiya, but some people told me I should consider an airbrush... But I've not gone this far yet... Maybe will be part of my next attemps...

Second comment about the overspray film: I know the trick but did not applied yet. I have something in mind which will require it for this build. It will come in due time

And I promise, I will update the thread as I'm moving forward on the build

[silvertriple]

The plan for the electronics did not go as per plan...


The cables were to short, I wanted to do some clean stuff. While in the Turbo Scorpion, the cables were very tight under the body shell an folded. When unsoldering those cables, some part of the cable was not coming with the rest of the cable (my initial soldering was not that bad, but with the time those folded cables would have finished broken). While trying to remove the remains of the cable, I heated the solder iron a bit more, and the tab went out... I decided to stop and to think as there is cable remains in some of the other contact tabs, and that I may need some tool in addition to those I have to solve the problem (and a brain as well ).

Before that, I had the time to trim the body shell so at least that is done.



I will get back to silhouette studio as I want to add one small detail in my masks sheet I just thought about now.

As the ESC installation is not for this week-end, I may start painting tomorrow depending of the weather...

[keithrc]

I was talking to you on Facebook regarding the body masks, now that I've seen your post here I'll keep an eye out for updates.

Keith

[silvertriple]

I was talking to you on Facebook regarding the body masks, now that I've seen your post here I'll keep an eye out for updates.

Keith

Welcome here... There was someone asking similar questions as well on TC at the same time...
In case you want to see more on the process using those masks, you may have a look to my Turbo Scorpion and Super Hotshot threads in this forum...

[keithrc]

I was talking to you on Facebook regarding the body masks, now that I've seen your post here I'll keep an eye out for updates.

Keith

Welcome here... There was someone asking similar questions as well on TC at the same time...
In case you want to see more on the process using those masks, you may have a look to my Turbo Scorpion and Super Hotshot threads in this forum...

I've been a member on here for years, I just don't get on here very much these days.


Keith

[silvertriple]

Welcome here... There was someone asking similar questions as well on TC at the same time...
In case you want to see more on the process using those masks, you may have a look to my Turbo Scorpion and Super Hotshot threads in this forum...

I've been a member on here for years, I just don't get on here very much these days.


Keith

I should have said welcome here in this thread

Marc

[silvertriple]

Problem solved, ESC has a new home...


I finally removed all the contact, for two reasons: soldering is easier this way, and this allow for more space to curb the cables when the space is constraint in height (which is the case by the way). ESC is glued under the radio plate, and the button is easy to access.

I did not solder the cables on the motor yet: this will wait for the brushless spur gear which I should get by end of the week. This should allow a different position for the motor, with more room for the contacts, in particular (those are very close to the Motor guard on the Javelin - which will change as well with a brushless spur gear)

[silvertriple]

Finally, due to the complexity and forms of the body, it's difficult to use cut masks.
I gave up and masked the body using the Kyosho supplies... And they are quite good, indeed.


The driver body have been prepared with liquid mask like I did with the Javelin. I could have used the same approach for the body shell, in fact.


That is end of masking phase A. In phase B, I'll add some details using Tamiya masking tape, and I'll use a scalpel to remove the bottom of the mask that I don't want.

[silvertriple]

After the dinner, yesterday evening, I started by adding some details with masking tape.


And prepared the driver body with liquid mask


First thing first I did this morning was to prime the helmet (no pictures)

Then used a photocopy of the sticker page to get some indications where to cut the masks at the bottom.


Then cut the mask, and added what I intended to be black.


Time for my first color : Tamiya PS-38 translucent blue. one very light coat and 2 thicker to get some homogeneous color. The white sheet was added as a way to control the work.


Next was PS12 - silver. I did 3 coats to get an homogenous finish. Then I started to remove the masks for what was intended to be black on the body shell...


Next: PS-5 black. first a very thin coat as there was part of the body shell still unpainted, then some more thicker ones. I also applied the first color for the driver body (same can)


I then removed the remaining masks at the exception of the windows. I also applied the red (PS2) for the harness and gloves on the driver body.


Had a few areas where I used the scalpel to remove overspray as it happens sometimes that the tape doesn't stick the way it should (specially in curved areas).
After the clean up, I did proceed to apply PS-63 bright gun metal on the remaining areas of the body shell.


I applied white to the driver jacket, and black to back the bright gun metal on the body shell. I the removed the windows masks, and the protective film.


Next activity was to back the driver body with black, and to remove the protective film.



I finished the morning activity by applying liquid mask to the driver head. This will be my focus of the afternoon.