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Got a package today from a quite legendary mechanical engineer from the RC history... Content is supposed to be worth 3000 Yens, in fact less than it cost to ship to me

Opening up and starting with an added present from the Master himself

AWESOME!

Hello!

Wow!!

Sore wa hijō ni kūrudesu David!

Translation - That's very cool David!

Congrats to the 2016 Build of the Year Winner!

I wonder if Masami is going to wish he had all of his cars back in 20 years, just like the rest of us did.

Thanks guys, I'm really stocked to say the least and I feel incredibly lucky indeed as I would never have dared to dream I would own one of the Master's machines one day. My '91 Stealth replica looks pale next to this.

Overall the car is in fair condition and I would date it around 88-89, mainly because of the shocks he used, the 6 gear tranny (I'll open one day it to see what kind of mods could be in there) and the prototype Graphite chassis cut according to the shape of the TQ10 buggy. Note that the nose is really small and not as extended as an OE Graphite one.

The car is missing the front shock cups and rear spring tensioners but is otherwise complete. I love how the rear shock tower was moved behind the bulkhead to perfectly align the shocks with the arm travel. It's something that has always bugged me on the RC10. The tranny brace is made from thick lexan.

The wing mounts look to be custom made and probably inspired the later Yokomo systems that are technically very similar on the Works and later series.

The front end is stock except for the steering rack that uses Yokomo and custom parts. All cups are Yokomo ones (a usual Masami mod). All pins have an end with one strong clip at one end and a stock one at the other end to prevent losing one in a race while still allowing to service the car without using special tools to remove the pins.

Also note the use of a front sway bar that is attached to the outside holes in the front a-arms.

The body is a tad rough but is a beautiful example of the early work of Takatani that ultimately became what we know on the later cars. Very 80's for sure in terms of design The gold signature of Masami was recently added, in fact just before being shipped to me. I just wonder why he used a MIP sticker on the wing as I couldn't spot a single MIP part on there.

Now the million dollar question is whether I should clean and service the car or not. Some parts have started rusting, rear shocks have been leaking on the arms etc. I would be pleased to hear your views.

Here are some more pictures and details.

Interestingly enough the car has wheel dots only on one side:

























Note the use of Yokomo wheels to RC10 plastic adapters:

Leave it as is.

wow

1989 would probably be the correct year. Masami had a couple of other cars that were very similar to this one.

One he raced at the '89 Reedy Invitational, which had the same steering, battery brace, and rear bulkhead/tower setup but laydown delta front shocks, Andy's arms. MIP trans, and probably a one-off custom cut uni-graphite chassis.

Then there's this one, also from '89, that had most of the same stuff as the Reedy car but a woven carbon fiber chassis like the one on the car you bought from him.

Excessively awesome!

Leave it, shelf it in a sealed, controlled environment bubble