Road to Vintage Nats: Tamiya Avante 2011 Build Up

 

Tamiya Avante build 210

The driver figure all assembled. I chose not to paint him and let that job go to the winner of the raffle. 🙂

Tamiya Avante build 211

Here is how he sits.

Tamiya Avante build 212

Held on by one screw.

Tamiya Avante build 213

Time to cut out the lexan body and prep it for paint.

Tamiya Avante build 214

The main body all cut out.

Tamiya Avante build 215

I set it on the car just to get an idea.

Tamiya Avante build 216

The rear wing is next up for some trimming.

Tamiya Avante build 217

All trimmed up.

Tamiya Avante build 218

The Avante comes with an under tray that also needs to be trimmed.

Tamiya Avante build 219

Trimmed and ready to go.

Tamiya Avante build 220

Here it is mounted.

Tamiya Avante build 221

More tie rods? Yup..these are shock tower braces.

Tamiya Avante build 222

They snap onto the ball end screws. This is the front.

Tamiya Avante build 223And the rear.

Tamiya Avante build 224

Here we have the wing mount parts.

Tamiya Avante build 225

Screw the two pieces together with the hardware for this step.

Tamiya Avante build 226

The mount attaches to the rear of the car with two shafts and some body clips. Notice the amount of adjustability you have.

Tamiya Avante build 227

The lexan wing is secured with two screws and a large beveled washer.

Tamiya Avante build 228Here we have the wing on.

Tamiya Avante build 229

This is a bumper add on. I am guessing this is an added piece for the Avante 2011 kit.

Tamiya Avante build 230Installed.

Tamiya Avante build 231

After thoroughly cleaning the body with soap and water its time to mask out the window.

Tamiya Avante build 232

I chose a nice sky blue from Tamiya’s line of paints.

Tamiya Avante build 233

Now its time to add some decals.

Tamiya Avante build 234

Love the odd sayings on older tamiya kits! Ya its NEAT 😉

Tamiya Avante build 235

Here are the packs we will be using for this car. Venom’s 4000 20c 7.4v 2s lipo packs. We chose these packs because they are shaped like the old NIMH/NICD packs some of us older racers used back in the day. Most of all the Tamiya kits were designed to use this shape of a battery. Another cool feature of these packs are that they come with 4 adapters for most popular plugs out there. YAAA! I don’t have to solder!

Tamiya Avante build 236Here are the adapters.

Tamiya Avante build 237Time to program the radio and ESC

Tamiya Avante build 238

A nice looking radio. This should work great with this kit.

Tamiya Avante build 241

I checked the voltage of the Venom packs right out of the pack. They were balanced and at a good storage voltage.

Tamiya Avante build 242

I use deans on all my race stuff including my chargers. So I needed an adapter that will would allow me to charge the pack on my charger. It was in that bag.

Tamiya Avante build 243

Getting my charge on!

Tamiya Avante build 244

Here is  where the battery fits. Nice and snug but I do believe you could get a 2s standard pack in the chassis.

Tamiya Avante build 245

Here we have a shot with all the electronics installed and set.

Tamiya Avante build 246

Finished! This car looks so cool

Tamiya Avante build 247

Side view.

Tamiya Avante build 248

Top view.

Below is video of us running it in the yard. This is with the stock esc/motor. Our servo saver we chose was a bit weak and didn’t center well, so we will be upgrading to an aluminum horn in the very near future.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP4NqkbZQ-4[/youtube]

 

So far its a fun vintage beast. The tires are insane. The car will wheelie on short grass. They’d be a bit much on a track though, so that is why we’re going to modern tires before we attempt to race it. Sadly Kevin forgot the radar gun for this video, but we’d guess it probably does around 19-20MPH stock. The video gives you a pretty good idea how it handles. It’s perfect for bombing around your yard and reliving your childhood with a classic Tamiya ride.

Look for our upgrade article coming very soon where we will be installing the Avante’s modern sized wheels with Pro-Line Holeshots tires, as well as a Novak Pulse ESC and Vulcan 13.5 Brushless motor. That should really wake this car up, and get us into a competitive level for the Vintage Off-Road Nationals in just 10 days.

avante-hop-ups

 

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One Response to “Road to Vintage Nats: Tamiya Avante 2011 Build Up”

  1. Tom says:

    Were you able to run this even though it was a re-release?

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