Just built my 3rd one and noticed tamiya have updated the decals they are now precut and they have separated the rec parts from the blue so the back part is made up of one ref and two blue same for the front also the bottom of the window line is now part of the red decals so much easier worked a treat without the need for soap or heat
this was my first ever foray into RC kit building and I used the water method, got on fine. Helped using a hairdryer to warm the decals up at times too.
Awesome job! Learnt a few tips so I'll share one in return, you can you a fine whiteboard marker to the exterior to do a center line and any other marks you may need.
Just a quick little tip. You can paint over polycarbonate paint with ordinary acrylic paint. If you don’t use the Tamiya PS paint first the acrylic paint will just crack and peel off..
Another highlight of your career. My reference for difficult decals. EDIT: Its more than a year ago, but maybe you would do more of this in the future, its amazing.
Thanks, Gavin. I've got a re-release Ultima on the way, and YOUR CHANNEL is responsible for igniting the fire to get some retro kits and build them, just for fun. It's 1986 all over again!
Just got back into RC after having my Tamiya MINI cooper parked for so long. Good video, the heat gun really does the trick around compound curves. I used that technique on my new Tamiya Subaru Impreza. I am now subscribe and rang that bell!
Love the video! Getting back into the hobby after a few years. I especially love the lap time bit, reminds me of Top Gear when Wilman was still at the helm.
Welcome back to RC Austin 👍🏻👍🏻 Your going to be blown away with what cars are available these days and as for brushless motors and Lipo batteries, you are going to be shocked at the power
I love my XV-01! I cheated a bit and got mine second hand with all the hop-ups pre-installed 😁. The Lancia body was already beat up unfortunately so I slapped on an Evo VII rally body and it looks fantastic!
Fantastic! Really gets me wanting to kit build again, the honing in on the centre point is great and I love just seeing the best place and boom :) Really nice work no RTR stuff going on here.
Nice job the Integrale looks very cool when done. Agree Ithought the the front ones were hardest as well due to the curves. Done as my second body, perhaps a mistake, but it turned out OK. Iam tempted to get a second cheap body as a runner and leave this one the shelf especially now I have completed the cockpit kit.
You forgot to use the hairdryer once in position & for complex curves. I don’t use a spray bottle either, a quick dunk in a bowl or saucer of soapy water works for me!
@@carstenlamping8515 I’ve not used it for this particular purpose, but Nilglass is amazing as a glass cleaner and for cleaning things where you don’t want any residue, so I use it for cleaning bits of my RC car and inside laptops, PC components etc.
The decals on that looked more like a 10 to me! Although I struggled putting the number 5's on my astute, LOL. Awesome job, looks like those decals are painted on.
Little tip for the number 5 on the Astute. Paint the white sticker part when you paint up the body and then cut the black number out of the sticker and apply it in the centre of the white painted area. That way it looks like the normal sticker but you don’t have all the issues. Even if you get the original sticker on, after a year or so it lifts off due to the big curve and the flex taking the body on and off.
Have you seen the guy on The Hobby Model Maniac's channel, Mike who's got a whole video on how to put deacls on? The key is to use not too much washing up liquid and a hairdryer to help the stickers mold to the curves beautifully.
Hey Gavin. Great job on the Lancia. I'm about to do the decals on the MK2 Escort (non box art) and the Audi Quattro Rally A2 (box art) Is there a certain mix of water and soap to do the water technique?
You can do this another way if you want to cheat. You could just buy the "KillerBodies" version of this body. The "KillerBodies" does fit the XV01 chassis. I did this. The hardest part was getting the body posts correct. Also the "KilleBodies" Lancia also has light buckets too. Thoughts?
Yep I did see that body on Banggood and its a great way to have this look if you don't fancy all the effort. You could sell the unused body set to make a few $$ back as well so it's not even an expensive option.
@@RCKickschannel Yes, I did get the body from Banggood and I even got it on sale too. I never thought about selling the Tamiya body. That is a good idea. If you want to install LEDs I think the "Killerbodies" Lancia might be an easier choice. Thoughts?
Anyone watching this please don’t use washing up liquid. Use window cleaner and shake the bottle so you don’t end up with blobs of liquid,you only need a very fine mist . Mr muscle window cleaner makes the job super easy as the alcohol evaporates very quickly once the decal is in place and wiped over , then go over with a heat gun to stretch the decal round curves.
What's wrong with washing up liquid? I've never had an issue with it myself and I must have painted 50+ bodies in the last few years with no reactions or issues. It works as a good degreaser to remove fingerprint oil and fixing agents, it's readily available in everyone's homes and easy to use. Yep, you can use window clearer like you say and some use break cleaner but Iv'e never had anyone say don't use washing up liquid.
Love this car as something different in the rc car quiver and what a great runner......but the decals...oh christ, the decals....i recon i went through half a bottle of whiskey in stress relief.
Do these tamiya's take a lipo setup ok on 3s? Stock motor and ESC or dedicated lipo ESC and motor? Which works? I'm not new to the hobby but thinking about going into the world of tamiya and using lipo for power. Would love to hear some feedback. Ps which chassis is best for all round use of all the body shells?
Nice. Yes those martini decals can be tricky. Not done the delta but I did the Lancia 037 quite successfully with plenty time & care & a hair drier & trimmed the overlaps. But have you tried the Alpha Romeo 155? These are impossible! They are all too short to meet at both ends of the car & end up with gaps. I gave up in frustration & need to get round to trying againby stretching them as much as I dare with the hair drier. 😖
nice. just wow! since you have driven tt02 rally, xv01 and mf01x , which one would you say is the most capable rally car out of box? If you can do comparison episodes that would be nice.
You think that was difficult for my very first rc car i got at Christmas I went all out and got the TT02 Gazoo Yaris the decals were unbelievably hard so time consuming.
You can make baby squeegies with flat polycarbonate and electrical tape i got the tip from youtube a few years ago does help to express the liguid and get the decals to stick.
have you seen the Hyper go knock off? dude i bought it and i never knew what it really was cause its just numbers but i just guessed it was a lancia lol im from the states so we dont have this car i cant believe i guessed the exact name of it lol
I am thinking to swap the motor for a brushless on my xv01 because I tried fewer turn brushed motors on other cars and they just get too hot too quickly even after gearing down. Seems to be a problem particularly with off road vehicles. On touring cars the car moves faster and can get called better I think.
Hi Matt, Body colour first and then if its a light colour I back in white to help the paint pop. No point backing white with white obviously so I use silver when backing white. After the backing white or silver, I then finish in black to make the wheel arches and inside look darker. if you just back the lighter colours with black the colour goes really dark.
I'd don't think it's in ta grawl ee. I think it's... in teg rawl....ie the e at the end is silent? I could be wrong, but that is the way that car was pronounced to me in my youth. I hate decal work lol
While I'm not saying it's easy, that isn't hard for a touring car. The Celica GT4 is much worse, as every surface is a compound curve, and many others have the full wrap-around decals.
As others have said, try using a hairdrier on some of the compound corners, it helps remove the water and promote the sticking and allows the vinyl to hug/fit the curves. It can make your fingers quite sore though but I have baby soft skin lol. Ah I paused the video to comment, as soon as I un paused you said about a hairdrier, doh.
Just built my 3rd one and noticed tamiya have updated the decals they are now precut and they have separated the rec parts from the blue so the back part is made up of one ref and two blue same for the front also the bottom of the window line is now part of the red decals so much easier worked a treat without the need for soap or heat
this was my first ever foray into RC kit building and I used the water method, got on fine. Helped using a hairdryer to warm the decals up at times too.
The decals are a right arse. The top of the front winds is a nightmare. Such a great looking car good job.
Awesome job! Learnt a few tips so I'll share one in return, you can you a fine whiteboard marker to the exterior to do a center line and any other marks you may need.
Beautiful work on the decals Gav. The tips and tricks are very useful for me
Worth the patience, came out great!
You pretty much prove its doable. I couldn't imagine doing it without the water.
Those look like a real challenge to complete, well done!
Nice job, defenitly worth the time on the decals. Turned out really good.
Just a quick little tip.
You can paint over polycarbonate paint with ordinary acrylic paint. If you don’t use the Tamiya PS paint first the acrylic paint will just crack and peel off..
Also you can use a hairdryer on a cool heat to reactivate the glue on the decal…
Great Tutorial - Very Helpful
Another highlight of your career. My reference for difficult decals. EDIT: Its more than a year ago, but maybe you would do more of this in the future, its amazing.
The Celica video I'm currently doing has more painting and body details.
Thanks, Gavin.
I've got a re-release Ultima on the way, and YOUR CHANNEL is responsible for igniting the fire to get some retro kits and build them, just for fun. It's 1986 all over again!
Fantastic!
You did good cutting the stickers is such a pain 👍🏻
ON the air bubbles. Small pin prick, then just use a soft rag to let the air out of the hole. Great vid.
AMAZING BROTHER..!!!!
Yes. Clearly confirmed there is no way on earth I could apply these decals whatever the method 😆
Just got back into RC after having my Tamiya MINI cooper parked for so long. Good video, the heat gun really does the trick around compound curves. I used that technique on my new Tamiya Subaru Impreza. I am now subscribe and rang that bell!
Love the video! Getting back into the hobby after a few years. I especially love the lap time bit, reminds me of Top Gear when Wilman was still at the helm.
Welcome back to RC Austin 👍🏻👍🏻 Your going to be blown away with what cars are available these days and as for brushless motors and Lipo batteries, you are going to be shocked at the power
Great job. I really enjoyed your video.
Thanks for the tips on the Water technique
Absolutely brilliant video, very informative and detailed, it will be very helpful for newbies wanting to work on their skills.
Glad it was helpful!
I love my XV-01! I cheated a bit and got mine second hand with all the hop-ups pre-installed 😁. The Lancia body was already beat up unfortunately so I slapped on an Evo VII rally body and it looks fantastic!
Fantastic! Really gets me wanting to kit build again, the honing in on the centre point is great and I love just seeing the best place and boom :) Really nice work no RTR stuff going on here.
I wish I had known about the wet method before I did mine last December... what a royal pain! Know for next time.
Great job gav well done 👍
A surgeon would be impressed by your work.
LOL
Amazing vídeo!!
Nice job the Integrale looks very cool when done. Agree Ithought the the front ones were hardest as well due to the curves. Done as my second body, perhaps a mistake, but it turned out OK. Iam tempted to get a second cheap body as a runner and leave this one the shelf especially now I have completed the cockpit kit.
That sounds like a good plan Mark 👍🏻
Soooo....is that a 959 Porsche up on the wall? Is it the Tamiya 1/12th scale? If so...holy cow.
You forgot to use the hairdryer once in position & for complex curves. I don’t use a spray bottle either, a quick dunk in a bowl or saucer of soapy water works for me!
Gav, now you have got the water tech tried you need to try the heat gun method on the compound curves etc
The car looks beautifu!
I use window cleaner on the back of the stickers and it works like a charm.
Good idea ! What brand ?
@@carstenlamping8515 I’ve not used it for this particular purpose, but Nilglass is amazing as a glass cleaner and for cleaning things where you don’t want any residue, so I use it for cleaning bits of my RC car and inside laptops, PC components etc.
@@jadc Thank you very much ! Happy easter
The decals on that looked more like a 10 to me! Although I struggled putting the number 5's on my astute, LOL. Awesome job, looks like those decals are painted on.
Little tip for the number 5 on the Astute. Paint the white sticker part when you paint up the body and then cut the black number out of the sticker and apply it in the centre of the white painted area. That way it looks like the normal sticker but you don’t have all the issues. Even if you get the original sticker on, after a year or so it lifts off due to the big curve and the flex taking the body on and off.
Have you seen the guy on The Hobby Model Maniac's channel, Mike who's got a whole video on how to put deacls on?
The key is to use not too much washing up liquid and a hairdryer to help the stickers mold to the curves beautifully.
I wanna see the phantom on the track ;) Great vid mate, the stickers look like a pain!
Try a 10.5 turn brushless. That's what I run in mine. Probably would be good with an 8.5.
Please make a comparison video of XV1 vs Rlaarlo new rally.
About to build the shell and throw it on a nitro car. Thanks for the tips
I really love belt driven rc cars as they are very unique and you really dont see many of them about.
Use a heat gun after. It flattens out the decals. Works every time. Just be careful not to apply too much heat etc.
That turned out great 👍 a track comparison between this and the tt-02 would be interesting 🤔
Stock the XV01 is a much better chassis. You can mod the TT02 to improve it mind to bring it closer to the XV01.
Hey Gavin. Great job on the Lancia. I'm about to do the decals on the MK2 Escort (non box art) and the Audi Quattro Rally A2 (box art) Is there a certain mix of water and soap to do the water technique?
You can do this another way if you want to cheat. You could just buy the "KillerBodies" version of this body. The "KillerBodies" does fit the XV01 chassis. I did this. The hardest part was getting the body posts correct. Also the "KilleBodies" Lancia also has light buckets too. Thoughts?
Yep I did see that body on Banggood and its a great way to have this look if you don't fancy all the effort. You could sell the unused body set to make a few $$ back as well so it's not even an expensive option.
@@RCKickschannel Yes, I did get the body from Banggood and I even got it on sale too. I never thought about selling the Tamiya body. That is a good idea. If you want to install LEDs I think the "Killerbodies" Lancia might be an easier choice. Thoughts?
Anyone watching this please don’t use washing up liquid. Use window cleaner and shake the bottle so you don’t end up with blobs of liquid,you only need a very fine mist . Mr muscle window cleaner makes the job super easy as the alcohol evaporates very quickly once the decal is in place and wiped over , then go over with a heat gun to stretch the decal round curves.
What's wrong with washing up liquid? I've never had an issue with it myself and I must have painted 50+ bodies in the last few years with no reactions or issues. It works as a good degreaser to remove fingerprint oil and fixing agents, it's readily available in everyone's homes and easy to use. Yep, you can use window clearer like you say and some use break cleaner but Iv'e never had anyone say don't use washing up liquid.
Love this car as something different in the rc car quiver and what a great runner......but the decals...oh christ, the decals....i recon i went through half a bottle of whiskey in stress relief.
LOL yep it can test you that’s for sure heheh
Thank you so much for your video, I'm preparing the decals at the moment. What is your mixture of the liquid you are using?
You can use just water or put a few drops of washing up liquid in.
Do these tamiya's take a lipo setup ok on 3s?
Stock motor and ESC or dedicated lipo ESC and motor?
Which works?
I'm not new to the hobby but thinking about going into the world of tamiya and using lipo for power.
Would love to hear some feedback.
Ps which chassis is best for all round use of all the body shells?
Track dimensions please. Its getting to that time of year where driving is going to take pole position over building....
Nice. Yes those martini decals can be tricky. Not done the delta but I did the Lancia 037 quite successfully with plenty time & care & a hair drier & trimmed the overlaps. But have you tried the Alpha Romeo 155? These are impossible! They are all too short to meet at both ends of the car & end up with gaps. I gave up in frustration & need to get round to trying againby stretching them as much as I dare with the hair drier. 😖
Water and hot air are the only way for me.
Decal-tastic! Nice job and now makes me want one 🤦♂️
Go on, you know you want one. 😈 It’s only money 💰 hehehe
nice. just wow! since you have driven tt02 rally, xv01 and mf01x , which one would you say is the most capable rally car out of box? If you can do comparison episodes that would be nice.
You think that was difficult for my very first rc car i got at Christmas I went all out and got the TT02 Gazoo Yaris the decals were unbelievably hard so time consuming.
You can make baby squeegies with flat polycarbonate and electrical tape i got the tip from youtube a few years ago does help to express the liguid and get the decals to stick.
Such an iconic scheme. Now we need a Porsche 936 in those colours thats not uber rare.
Nice work there. But I am concerned that this water-method will affect the glue on the stickers and they may lift or loosen after some time?
It is a possibility but only time will tell.
have you seen the Hyper go knock off? dude i bought it and i never knew what it really was cause its just numbers but i just guessed it was a lancia lol im from the states so we dont have this car i cant believe i guessed the exact name of it lol
Yep I know the Hyper Go one
I am thinking to swap the motor for a brushless on my xv01 because I tried fewer turn brushed motors on other cars and they just get too hot too quickly even after gearing down. Seems to be a problem particularly with off road vehicles. On touring cars the car moves faster and can get called better I think.
XV will take brushless but just don’t go bonkers 👍🏻
Nice you use flache febreze ?
Hey doing mine at the moment! Would you clear coat or something after to protect and seal the stickers on?? Cheers
It might be worth trying a clear coat as the decals do lift over time in a few areas.
Cant you use decal solutions (softner and setter) same as used in scale modeling?
If it’s flexible it could work
Great run next job get out there with the mower 😂😂😂😂
Good advice will have a go, did the water solution has any soap in it ?
Yep a little
Waiting for my XV01 with Subaru Body
Subaru build was done on the TC-01 using a killer body and then the other was the fix and flip video series.
Hey, seriously consodering to get this car and ditching my tt01e.. is thia car any better?
Xv-01 and XV-02 are dedicated rally chassis and do it well.
That car is not what you'd call speedy, is it?! It does look fantastic though, great job on the decals!!
Yep it needs a faster motor for sure.
Hey bud I'm new to this. You mentioned you usually paint your car in this case white then silver then black? Why not just white?
Hi Matt, Body colour first and then if its a light colour I back in white to help the paint pop. No point backing white with white obviously so I use silver when backing white. After the backing white or silver, I then finish in black to make the wheel arches and inside look darker. if you just back the lighter colours with black the colour goes really dark.
Good job. Did you paint the spoiler gloss white or leave it white plastic with decal?
I didn't paint it. I didn't have any TS white and clear coat. For a shelf queen I would recommend painting it.
@@RCKickschannel just a quick question. What is the benefit of backing the white paint with silver and black as a shelf queen, is it worth it?
Awesome work! With the hairdryer, how long do you apply hot air for? I’d be worried about melting the body or decal!
Not that long. Start slowly and work up until you get the affect you want.
@@RCKickschannel Can you feel that the decal becomes more flexible or something? So you can mould it around the body curves?
100% yes. You only want a little give to help. Try practicing using some old decals or pick up a low cost set. 👍🏻
Why would you recommend this car as the 3rd or 4th car?
Because the body is extremely difficult to get right due to the complexity of the sticker design.
What wheels are those?
Kit wheels, aftermarket tyres
😂this was my first RC build ever was a pain with the stickers
I'd don't think it's in ta grawl ee. I think it's... in teg rawl....ie the e at the end is silent? I could be wrong, but that is the way that car was pronounced to me in my youth. I hate decal work lol
While I'm not saying it's easy, that isn't hard for a touring car. The Celica GT4 is much worse, as every surface is a compound curve, and many others have the full wrap-around decals.
RC Touring car collectors are sadists. That’s so going on a T-Shirt hehehe 🤪
Stickers are cool but they suck at the same time
My buddy has a real one at his shop and frankly yours looks better.
These are a nightmare to work on due to engine space but a total class. I had a 205 GTI once back in the day.
Sorry but I didn’t catch what you mixed with the water. Thanks
A little washing up liquid
@@RCKickschannel I'm Canadian; so is that soap? If so what kind? Thank you.
soapy water is an old trick ... works well for windows masks also, some bodies are not designed for large hands full of thumbs.
🚕🚕🚕👍
I think if i put this much effort into decals, i wouldn't drive it.. Shelf queen. Get a basher shell.
As others have said, try using a hairdrier on some of the compound corners, it helps remove the water and promote the sticking and allows the vinyl to hug/fit the curves. It can make your fingers quite sore though but I have baby soft skin lol.
Ah I paused the video to comment, as soon as I un paused you said about a hairdrier, doh.