Boolean21's Tamiya MF01X Suzuki Jimny

Love the Suzuki Jimny and went to grab one during the Great Singapore Sale last month!

It had been some time since I built my last kit...

Good thing is that I manage to find some time today to kick start the build... Miss building RC!


The manual....



The Suzuki Jimny lexan body...


Starting the build..... Bag A


As usual, i'll try to sort out the hardware prior to starting the build... but this kit looks really simple.... so didn't really sort out all the stuffs....


The rear gearbox done....



Using one of the spare Hobbyking waterproof servos for this car...


Setting up another model in my usual GT3B radio...



the linkages for the servo...


mounted onto the servo





Starting out with Bag B....


the contents looks almost the same as bag A, both having the gear differentials.



I had locked both the front and rear differentials for this car as i'll be using it for some light trails instead of bashing...


marine greased the gears.....
 

done for the front gearbox...



the chassis is formed up by 3 sections, the rear gearbox, middle section and the front gearbox...


fixed up the shaft....


Marine greased the gears...
 


and that's all for today!
thanks for looking!

Thats all?

cant wait to see it finished!

Marpek wrote:Thats all?

Soon soon!

Alright man! I have my eye on that kit as well (4WD Rally M-chassis!).

The drive line is mostly made from the old TL01 parts.
Way too much grease on the gears btw .

The suspension parts are straight from the M05ra. I love that Tamiya reuses bits and pieces all over the range; helps parts availability in the long-run.

They are using the normal 1/10 scale rally tires, not the M-chassis one. Good match for body shells depicting modern cars where 55/60mm tires look small. To compensate for the larger tires, the gear ratio is very high compared to the other Tamiya M chassis.

The chassis can be built with 210, 225 and 237 mm wheel base just like all the other M-chassis kits, but the MF-01X kit only contains the metal drive shaft length for the wheel base that fits the kit body; other sizes require a separate purchase (few bucks only).

The kit still comes with pogo-sticks instead of stocks, requiring an upgrade out of the box. Ball bearings are needed as well.

As all new kits the TBLE-02s ESC is included, which supports brushed and sensored brushless motors. Great value for money there.

I like the generous recesses on top of the chassis to mount the ESC and receiver.

The chassis can hold square shaped batteries, just like the M05-v2. .

The motor is way out in the back like on the M06; I wonder how tail heavy the final car will be.

Did you check for play in the servo saver? The plastic kit ones usually have a lot of play that negatively affects driving precision and ability for the car to run straight.
The cheapest way to solve this issue is to "tighten" the servo saver with a small cable tie. The cable tie removes the slack, yet it is still relatively soft to give some protection for the servo.

Speaking about servo: you forgot to post the full review of the HK servo you are using, with detailed photos of the electronics, motor and gear train

Thanks for posting, looking forward to build updates!

Nice. Finally building RC. Hope to see it on the track.

laneboysrc wrote:Alright man! I have my eye on that kit as well (4WD Rally M-chassis!).

The drive line is mostly made from the old TL01 parts.
Way too much grease on the gears btw .

The suspension parts are straight from the M05ra. I love that Tamiya reuses bits and pieces all over the range; helps parts availability in the long-run.

They are using the normal 1/10 scale rally tires, not the M-chassis one. Good match for body shells depicting modern cars where 55/60mm tires look small. To compensate for the larger tires, the gear ratio is very high compared to the other Tamiya M chassis.

The chassis can be built with 210, 225 and 237 mm wheel base just like all the other M-chassis kits, but the MF-01X kit only contains the metal drive shaft length for the wheel base that fits the kit body; other sizes require a separate purchase (few bucks only).

The kit still comes with pogo-sticks instead of stocks, requiring an upgrade out of the box. Ball bearings are needed as well.

As all new kits the TBLE-02s ESC is included, which supports brushed and sensored brushless motors. Great value for money there.

I like the generous recesses on top of the chassis to mount the ESC and receiver.

The chassis can hold square shaped batteries, just like the M05-v2. .

The motor is way out in the back like on the M06; I wonder how tail heavy the final car will be.

Did you check for play in the servo saver? The plastic kit ones usually have a lot of play that negatively affects driving precision and ability for the car to run straight.
The cheapest way to solve this issue is to "tighten" the servo saver with a small cable tie. The cable tie removes the slack, yet it is still relatively soft to give some protection for the servo.

Speaking about servo: you forgot to post the full review of the HK servo you are using, with detailed photos of the electronics, motor and gear train

Thanks for posting, looking forward to build updates!

Nice and detailed info here!
Yeah man... very worth for the price!

Will leave the review to you too...

Quick ! Quick! Quick! Built ! Built! Built! I want to see the finish product.

burning the second barrel of midnight oil tonight!

continued with Bag C....
simple and straight forward....
   

and the rear dampers...
   


done up the rear axles....



Bag D....
 

broke a wrench!
i think this was the same wrench i had been using since i got my first RTR Honcho...
time to retire it!

  

front done as well...




didn't use the torque tuned motor that came with the kit... wanted to put in a 80T motor, but think i should keep it for the CC01 Land Freeder... so i used a 35T RC4WD motor instead...
 



done!



electronics installed and tested....
nice and easy kit..... good for people with limited midnight oil supply....
just 2 small barrels and the chassis is done...

 


that's all for now...
thanks for looking!

Nice! Quite chunky for an M-chassis. Will be interesting to see how it drives.

One thing that may need taking care of is the servo wire exiting right where the drive shaft is.

Wiring-wise the layout is not so great. It would have been better if Tamiya had swapped the ESC and the receiver positions. Then the wires feeding the motor would be way shorter, and also the connections to the receiver would be easier to route.
There is also no space foreseen for the on/off switch, Tamiya wants you to stick it on with double-sided tape next to the ESC.

But lets not forget that this is a budget kit that can be found for USD 90 online.

And of course the big question: what color will the body be?

Looking forward to see it running!

Yeah bro, totally agree on the ESC and Servo location..
But for this price.... no complaints.

Too slow the built for an rc kit... more more more!

No progress?

busy leh sir.... hopefully can cut and paint this or next week sir!

Bring to Night Beach Trail.

Hopefully ready by then!

Some progress on the little SUV....

washed and masked the body...

  


it's gonna be a two toned Jimny... so masked off the upper part first....
and sprayed the first color.... Bright Silver...

    



removed the masks and ready for the second color...
 


Metallic Red!

  


backed with a coat of white before tearing off the window masks...
cos this time... i tried to use lesser paint... i used to coat the lexan bodies with lots of layers of paint to make them opaque.... first time using only 2 coats for both the silver and red paint....

  


love the Metallic Red....




Sticker time!



done!
 


can see that some of the red got into the silver.... i should have backed the silver with a layer of white first before spraying the red....
 


sprayed TS Black for the side mirrors and added a coat of matte clear...



added lights to the little SUV as well....



wired up and ready to run!



DIY-ed body brackets to velcro the body onto the chassis...




completed!
ready to hit the dirt!



Thanks for looking!

You sure you want to hit the dirt?

Loved your multicolor masking tapes...

Brilliant idea for the velcro stand...

Quick bash it up and give review!

RTECH wrote: You sure you want to hit the dirt?

yeah yeah! light trails it shall be!

Marpek wrote:Loved your multicolor masking tapes...

Brilliant idea for the velcro stand...

Quick bash it up and give review!

soon soon!

Great job on the dual-color paint. It makes the rather dull body look interesting!

Wah...... masking in multicolor masking. Nice color combo. No smoke for the window?

laneboysrc wrote:Great job on the dual-color paint. It makes the rather dull body look interesting!

thanks bro!

babyboy wrote:Wah...... masking in multicolor masking. Nice color combo. No smoke for the window?

thanks!

no smoke... smoking is bad for health!
quit today!

hello friend! May I ask, how is the off-road capability of the MF-01X chassis?

kimiandmatt wrote:hello friend! May I ask, how is the off-road capability of the MF-01X chassis?

Hi,
It's not a real crawler per se... but for light trails... it's fine... just don't expect it to perform like a trail truck.

boolean21 wrote:

kimiandmatt wrote:hello friend! May I ask, how is the off-road capability of the MF-01X chassis?

Hi,
It's not a real crawler per se... but for light trails... it's fine... just don't expect it to perform like a trail truck.

Yes, I see, that's for sure.
recently I am considering about whether buy a MF-01X chassis or a M-05Ra chassis. They are just looked not so different. And I want to juet buy a RC car, which I can take it to the park on weekend. It have no problem to go cross some lawn, maybe a little mud area. And I am a RC beginner, so many Tamiya chassis to choose. Dear God!!!!

kimiandmatt wrote:

boolean21 wrote:

kimiandmatt wrote:hello friend! May I ask, how is the off-road capability of the MF-01X chassis?

Hi,
It's not a real crawler per se... but for light trails... it's fine... just don't expect it to perform like a trail truck.

Yes, I see, that's for sure.
recently I am considering about whether buy a MF-01X chassis or a M-05Ra chassis. They are just looked not so different. And I want to juet buy a RC car, which I can take it to the park on weekend. It have no problem to go cross some lawn, maybe a little  mud area. And I am a RC beginner, so many Tamiya chassis to choose. Dear God!!!!

If mud and trails is what you want, would suggest you get an Axial SCX10 instead.

Performs well out of the box.

Hmmmm...Never seen your Jimny before. BTW, nice two-tone color.