Tamiya Holiday Buggy / ORV Hodgepodge

[morrisey0]

I have to be honest here; I never saw a Holiday Buggy until about 6 months ago. Back in the day, the only Tamiyas I paid attention to were trucks, and I was out of RC when the Re-Res came out, so yea, just never knew they existed. Then I saw one, and had to have it! Looked into the originals as they were the look I wanted, but $$$ and the joke of a chassis put an end to that. I figured I would get a Re-Re and fix that abomination of a front suspension, and all would be well. I luckily found a deal on a newly built / never ran unit, and grabbed it. Got it home and started really taking a look at it, and realized just how bad Tami messed this up IMO. The front suspension is obvious. The wheelbase is too long, and the wheeltracks are too wide. Heck, the front tires aren’t even under the fenders! The rear wheels have a super positive offset, so if you manage to get some older style wheels under there, the track would be even wider. There are two holes in the front of the body left over from how the original mounted, and Tami couldn’t be bothered with to eliminate for the new release! They figured that a decal went over them, so why bother. I got so frustrated with it that I stuck it in a box and basically forgot about it.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I ran in to a local deal for a pair of OG Frogs with extras, and I picked them up simply because I thought the price was right. I figured I would put them away for a future project. Then, I got them home and as soon as I placed one on my table, it clicked; this would be my HB platform. The WB is shorter, the WTs are narrower, and there aren’t any vertical shocks in the front to get in the way. It already has 3-piece wheels on it, albeit 5-spoke instead of three. Close enough! With a little test fitting I was optimistic. The biggest issue I saw was there were chassis parts in the interior, and I would have to figure a way around them.

Rainy Saturday meant great day to dive into this. First attack was the body. I am not a modeler, so I don’t know the best method for filling in holes on plastic bodies, but fiberglass backed Bondo glazing putty sounded like an okay idea. Plan was to eliminate the huge triangles, plus the front body post hole, the two worthless holes in the front, and all of the mounting holes on the back. I have no idea how any of this is going to mount at this point, so fill them all. I knew the front body post hole would always be obvious, as there was no way I was going to perfectly sand the Bondo to match the body line of the front hood (or bonnet?). It isn’t done at this point, but done to the point where I am pretty confident it will work and I can start on some of the other parts of the project.

[morrisey0]

In between waiting for Bondo to dry, and then primer to dry, and then removing primer and re-Bondo’ing, then re-primering, and rinsing and repeating, I did a quick refresh of the Frog. I have never worked on a Frog before so had no idea the difference between the originals and Re-Res. From assembly, I got shocks, MSC mounting plate, and driveshafts. Everything else seems about the same outside of some finishes are different. Nice to be able to order cheap new parts that will work on old cars. Not going old school on the electronics on this one; cheap and modern stuff.

I did modify the chassis plates just a little. The universal ORV rear body post tower mounts were simply too much in the way of the interior, so away they went.

Time for 1st test fitting. Overall happy, but it sits a little too high. The pescky motor is getting in the way, so I have to get super creative or be okay with it being a bit high. I am thinking the latter. This is how she sits today. Now I just need to figure out everything else.

[morrisey0]

One complete fail of the weekend was trying to get Tamiya white plastic to take dye. Apparently, trying to dye with Water/Acetone mix with various grey dyes produces all kinds of colors, just none grey. I really don't want to end up painting the wheels, so I will keep trying. These are old school wheels, so not sure if they are the same as the new wheels. Don't want to start sacrificing new stuff to find out just yet.

[XLR8]

I agree completely, the DT-02 is the wrong chassis for the HB and for all the reasons you've mentioned.
Anyway, that's some excellent body work on the bonnet. I read somewhere that paint won't adhere to the type of plastic Tamiya used to mold the HB body but you've just proven that wrong. Great work!!

[Dadio]

The Holiday Buggy would have been my first car but they were sold out so I got the Sand Rover , got a bit of love for both , not enough to buy any original at today's prices and the Re Re is an abortion .
I like your idea a lot , have you thought about a smaller can BL motor to help lower the body ? , there are a fair number that can easily out perform an old silver can 540 but are more 380 in size .

[morrisey0]

I read somewhere that paint won't adhere to the type of plastic Tamiya used to mold the HB body

To my surprise, I will agree with this statement! I have had good success with Tamiya primer sticking to many unprepped plastic bodies (3-speeds, Blackfoot, Clod), but it peeled right off of sections of this body that I had taped over. I wasn't expecting this so I sprayed primer all over it thinking it wouldn't matter. Good news is that it seems to stick fine to sanded surfaces, so I just have to take the time to sand the whole thing when I get back to bodywork.

have you thought about a smaller can BL motor to help lower the body ?

Yea, I took a last look at it last night and decided the body had to come down some. TBH, a silver can may be just enough to make it happen. The couple of silvers I have sitting around appear to be a hair shallower at the outer edge than the open endbell that is on there. I have a cheap Tamiya silver can coming in same day so will check it out tonight. I have a feeling that between these two cheap motors and a grinder, I can make something happen.

[morrisey0]

I made the HB faster tonight because now it has a "Sport Tuned" motor. Don't know what this means, but it must mean sportier somehow. The can is ground at the edges, and it is up against the body, but it fits! The body actually centers, although as seen, literally resting on the motor. The motor is steel, the body is plastic, I will let them figure out their own tolerances.

The body sat just about like this with the motor installed, and then I realized that the battery hold down bracket screw holes lined up just about perfectly with the body jerry can screw holes. It was destiny the body should end up here. The rear body mounts will be here and covered up by the jerry cans. In this position, I like the back but think the front is a bit high visually. TBH though, front the susp arms hit the body at about half travel, so the whole front may need to come up another 3/16-1/4". I think it will be okay though. This pic is at full side view so it looks bad, but from a higher perspective, it still all looks great.

And then progress on the wheels. I am figuring out this grey Tamiya plastic dying thing. Still tweaking the formula, but the wheel piece closet to the camera is probably just about what I will end up with. Again, this is on older yellowed plastic. I still have no idea how new white plastic will end up.

[XLR8]

I made the HB faster tonight because now it has a "Sport Tuned" motor. Don't know what this means, but it must mean sportier somehow.

I believe the silver can motor is good for around 16 MPH while the Sport Tuned could exceed 16 1/2 MPH. It's meant for experienced RC drivers.
Both motors are much too fast for me so I'm sticking with the kit-supplied 380 motor.

[morrisey0]

No update on the HB as of this evening, as everything doesn't seem to be working out, but I will work them out.

Just a history lesson here that I learned recently. When I first looked into the HB, I figured it was a British thing, or a take on something from across the pond. I figured "Holiday" to be like we use vacation here in the US, and the driver looks like he is wearing an Australian bush hat, and the car looks like nothing I have seen American made ........................ but it is based on a US rig! It is based on the Corsair Stripper; a small So-Cal buggy builder that only produced 150-160 of the things. They are air cooled VW flat-four based dune buggies, but on a steel tube chassis instead of VW pan. How does Japan-based Tamiya end up making a scale version of this car? And to be honest, outside of the fact that I haven't found a 1:1 version that had lights mounted to the hood (I can now say hood instead of bonnet although it is a one piece body), they did a pretty good job of it.
https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=96951&id=23692

[morrisey0]

Double post. Internet issues.

[XLR8]

Wow, that's interesting. I did not know how Tamiya arrived at this model but I also assumed it was British.

[morrisey0]

Nice day today, so good day to open a window and get some airbrushing done.

The wheel dying did not work out at all, so they are now painted. Interior plate is complete. Dude man feels the interior is now way too tight at this point, but sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort for performance.

Still have quite a few details to work out, but I can at least now see an end in sight.

[Dadio]

It's funny that you guys thought it was based on a British car , I never thought that , always considered it a California style , we had beach buggy's mostly and a few sand rails that were all influenced by the Funco designs , nothing quite like the HB , guess I never considered your more common use of Vacation over holiday , vacation buggy just doesn't run off the tongue like Holiday Buggy , recon even Tamiya felt that way .

[XLR8]

It's funny that you guys thought it was based on a British car , I never thought that , always considered it a California style , we had beach buggy's mostly and a few sand rails that were all influenced by the Funco designs , nothing quite like the HB , guess I never considered your more common use of Vacation over holiday , vacation buggy just doesn't run off the tongue like Holiday Buggy , recon even Tamiya felt that way .

Like Robb, I was unfamiliar with this Tamiya model until just recently. The moment I first looked at the HB, it reminded me of this -- which I see is called a "Caterham" (I had to look it up). Apparently this is a British kit car and perhaps it was influenced by the California beach buggy scene - or maybe it was the other way around?
Anyway, British or American, we're all family so does it really matter?

[Dadio]

Now that I know is ours , originally the Lotus 7 from the 1960's and it was sold in kit form by Lotus , when it went out of production Caterham bought the licence to build them and they are still in production today , absolute classic cars