Turbo Optima Mid SP
 

I have been collecting pieces for my three Optima Mid builds for a while now.
Two of the builds are waiting on custom parts from Fibrelyte so I may as well start with the Turbo Optima Mid SP replica. I am pretty sure I have all the required parts now, everything is new including the bits that aren't in the original packets. The belt covers and gear cover are the genuine Kyosho items, however I will be using a Marwan body, I do have a genuine undertray but its a tight fit in the repro body.
So far all I have done is trim the belt covers and assemble the shocks. Once I build the ball diffs I can get stuck into putting it all together. I'll try to take progress pics of each step

Thanks in advance to Oli4ke for help with sourcing some of the rarer parts for this project

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...1020122834.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...1020122836.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...1020122835.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...1020122839.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...1020122838.jpg

Damn, that's a lot of sweetness. I'll be following this for sure! :drool:

Brilliant! I'll be following too :)

All parts together looks really nice:wub
My pleasure mate;)

I've haven't had a chance to start assembly as such but I did manage to build the ball diffs. I used the following bits to make them up, this isn't strictly period correct for the Turbo Optima Mid SP as the parts I used make ball diffs equivalent to the later revised units rather than the original diffs, I remember the ones in my new Turbo Optima Mid SE having a different centre screw and no spring or plastic dust cover.
I'm hoping to get the gearboxes assembled and bolted to the chassis on the weekend, which would get me to the state of assembly that the SP was in when one purchased a NIB kit

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...1020122857.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...1020122860.jpg

Don't worry about the diffs being revised. This build will be a killer!

I'm so jealous that you got that chassis N.I.P. That is the only part I need to start my build... :bored:

That OTW5 chassis NIP is as rare as a nice looking grandma :woot::D

I got the chassis from Oli4KE and that was the catalyst for this build going from being a modified LWB Mid to the SP replica. I am still building a very modified LWB Mid, that will be the next project along with a friends LWB Mid, the last build will be a SWB Mid with a few tweaks and somewhere along the line I will give my Lazer ZX a makeover now that I have decided what I am doing with it

Lol so true, I don't think I have seen another NIP OTW5 though there have been a couple nice secondhand ones on eBay

Ouch! Did not realize it was that rare. This build just got even better and I'm looking forward to see the progress :)

amazing, optima mid is very popular car but hard to get more and more,I still wait my SWB parts car to rebuild mine.

Do you have everything else for the build? The other parts that are hard to find are the rear wheels, the fronts you can find on eBay at the moment but they are a brighter yellow than the original SP wheels which are more of a dull yellow, and you can't get new rears anyway. The other thing that is hard to find is the rear tyres. The new kit came with two sets of yellow wheels, one set had W-5033 fronts and OT-66 on the rear, these are both pretty hard to find and rather expensive. The other set had W-5034 fronts and W-5031 rears, the W-5034 like the newer front yellow wheels are easy to find and the rears are really hard to find, I have only seen two pairs on eBay since I started looking for parts for these builds

I have a real soft spot for the Mid because when I was in school the Mid was the car I always wanted and eventually I managed to get one, a brand new Turbo Optima Mid SE, so as part of my collection there will be an SE but more details on that when I start building it

Yes, I think I have the rest of the parts. I got the wheels from a local forum member and the tyres I got from Ebay this summer. Someone sold a complete set like new without robbing me :)

The difference to your build is that I don't have the parts in original bags.

This is probably a stupid question but its been such a long time and I can't make it out from the instructions, when assembling the ot-88 clutch on the spur gear are the black pads glued to the metal plates or to the spur gear?

I believe it's the metal plates, but please don't rush in until someone else answers

? I didn't know you had to glue those to anything

Well when I got a few mids I noted that the black pad was glued to the plate...easy enough to get off though

You can see it on this page of the manual

What would I use to glue the pad to the metal plate? Just super glue or something?

http://www.retromodelisme.com/scan_p...ho-page-6.html

Hmm...I am not too sure.

Maybe something not too adhesive as if you want to remove later on during maintenance then you can do so relatively easily?

I suppose this beauty will become a shelf queen? Then you always have the option to skip gluing parts and just make a note about it. I have skipped the glue on my mid shelfers and also not using Loctite on screws or super glue between wheels/tires.

There may be other opinions about this... :)

Cheers

This will indeed become a shelf queen. I did already glue the yellow parts for the ball diffs and the idler belt pulley.
I did think about skipping all the glue and its not such a bad idea, I most likely will skop the loktite where it can look a little messy however for the black pads the glue is only mean to be applied lightly so if I can do it with no mess I will just for the sake of it. Also my OCD has now kicked in and I just HAVE to know where the pads should be glued too

I agree 100% about not glueing the wheels, my Lazer ZX had the wheels glued on and while I mananged to save the wheels (they came up mint) the tyres were ruined in places and the tread on them was great, total waste of a pair of OT-66 and W-5033, though they don't look that bad when on rims so I gave them to a very good friend of mine whom I am helping build a LWB Mid which I will do a thread for on here when that gets underway