Tokyo Marui Big Bear was my first proper RC car, back in 1984 or whenever. Sadly my car is lost, probably got sold as my parents moved around after I grew up. I decided to collect all the cars I had as a kid now so I bought this one from someone on Ebay. It was in ok shape, but the tires were pretty rotten and the body was terrible. Cracks and chips, and with the worst paintjob I have ever seen. It was all red, and it looked like the paint was first drunk, then vomited onto the car. It's in good shape mechanically though, and pretty complete, so I'm happy with it.
Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the car before I started work on it, but the paint was really bad. I glued all the cracks and filled in the chips with epoxy, and then stripped the paint with several caustic soda baths, which was pretty expensive.
The tires were repaired with some thin CA, which worked great. There was a ~6 cm tear in the front left tire, and I repaired it by cutting a piece from a bicycle tube and then glued it inside the tire with CA.
I just finished painting the body, and am pretty chuffed with how it turned out. I used Tamiya blue metallic (TS-19), which looks incredible, and then I did all the detail work with a paintbrush. I tried to replicate the box art colors in the headlights for a faux chrome effect. I'm surprised at how effective an illusion it is.
It's only missing the roll bar and lights. If anyone has them for sale let me know, but I guess it's like asking for unicorn droppings. I don't think I will get them unless I buy a complete car or body off Ebay.
The first picture shows what it looked like when I picked up the Big Bear from the post office. Pretty funny.
01-11-2014
Marui Big bear project.
Linear Mode
