i have now received the full rb7 kit and cant wait to get stuck in. thanks to all that join me along the way with this build diary. ive built RC motors before from kits so this should go quite well. there are however a few firsts for me too - ive not done much in the way of painting, and water transfers are my enemy, so i hope it all goes well there. Im really looking forward to this as i love tinkering with nitro engines etc.

ive not made a start as yet, but here are all the parts ready and waiting to go. This probably wont be the fastest build on the planet, more of a winter project and have her ready and running in the spring/summer next year

a bit more work today on the car. added the servo saver, front knuckle arms, front suspension push rods, built up the front suspension and set it to the neutral 8mm. filled them up with shock oil, left to stand for half hour, and kept pumping the piston to ensure all the air was removed. whilst they were settling i set about sanding the grooves on the wheels so i could fit the tires. it was at this point today started to go downhill. the paint all flaked off one of the wheels so i has do re spray it, it was literally coming off just by lightly brushing it. gave it 2 coats of plastic primer and some silver that i had kicking around (not quite the right paint as its for a car, vauxhall lightning silver). its not a 100% perfect match, but good enough for me, i just hope it doesn't cause any issues. you can barely tell the difference, and once its all got a bit dirty and dusty you really wouldn't know. so pretty happy with the outcome. so, wheel all sorted out, i set about fitting and gluing the tires in place. i then set them aside to set and went back to the shocks, pumped the pistons some more, topped up with oil ensuring all air had been removed and left to stand whilst i had a cuppa. i finally fully assembled them including adding the 5mm spacers. i was surprised at how stiff the springs are on these! set them aside and applied the OZracing stickers to the wheels, fitted the bearings and fitted them to the axles. the front end is beginning to take shape now! i assembled up the track rod ends and set them to 4.9mm although the 2nd one i couldn't get quite right, it was either 4.7mm or 5.1mm for the ends to be in the correct position, so i tweaked them both so they were as close to the same length as possible (around 4.85mm was the happy medium, slightly toe in, but hopefully not too much of a big issue, i can always make further adjustments once i start running it) then fitted them in place. then came a bit of messing about with the instructions as it told me to unscrew the nose that was fitted earlier. i soon discovered that this one was for the display body, and as i am not yet fitting this and opting for the running body first, i had to trawl through to find what was what, what screws needed to be used where etc, as the stiffening brace for the nose attached onto where we already have screws, and these were no longer long enough so had to find which was correct.. got there in the end though. that was it for today, a bit more progression tomorrow

thanks. it was a close call with the issue with the wheel. im pretty chuffed how it came out in the end. added a bit of extra time, but thats modelling for you. enjoyed building the suspension, and the push rod set up is quite funky. just really surprised how stiff the suspension actually is

Next up i got to a point in the build where i was to fit the display rear spoiler, as i am starting with the running gear, i built up the running spoiler, added the livery stickers and got it fitted.

After that i made a start on the rear suspension and wheels. i followed a similar method to before. i set the strut length, filled with oil and pumped the ram to expel all the air. whilst they sat waiting for the air to escape i set about prepping the wheels, sanding out the grooves to glue the tyres to. i periodically went back to the suspension pistons, pumped them a few times and left to sit a bit longer. once the wheels were all glued up and waiting to dry, i filled the pistons to the top, fitted the diaphragm, and built the rest up. then i applied the stickers to the wheels. i then installed the suspension in place.

finally, it was getting to the end of the day and i just had time to make a start on the main drive chain. built up the main spur gear, fitted the disc brake and installed the assembly into place.

really taking shape now, and almost time to make a start on the engine.

Really coming along now, nice work....

Regards

Alan

small update today, but lots of pictures. im working night shift this week, so wont get much time to work on the model.

built up the main power plant, and the star of the show, the Kyosho GX21 engine. really enjoyable to do, understanding how everything fits together and works is great, and one of the reasons i bought the kit. so she is now ready to be mounted and set up at a later date.

i also fitted the rear wheels to the car.

next up i set about building up the air filter helmet, applied all the stickers and mounted it to the carb, really happy with how it turned out for my 1st time! the throttle/brake servo was also installed. then i fitted the fuel tank and plumbed it up.

well, i was going to spend Sunday afternoon running the engine in, but the weather was pretty awful, so i built up and fitted the front running wing, added some more livery to the rear wing and front wing, added a few of the aero parts such as the front brake cooling ducts, barge boards and turning vanes. it was here where i hit a small snag - the instructions say to screw one of the aero parts underneath the rear wishbones, except the screws are too small, they just fall out so i gave up with these parts. i may try and glue them in place in the future. i also upgraded the front suspension with the longer eye ends to give a bit more ground clearance.

Woah, you didn't hang around getting this built, great job