Man, that looks like it means business.
I've not owned a pan car since 1997 or so. I've been itching to own one, and all of the dedicated pan pan cars out there tend to be pretty expensive. Spending $300 on a pan car doesn't feel so hot when $300 will get you most of a 4wd buggy.
I was cruising Rctech.net, and someone in the F103 thread mentioned that the Wolf WR1, was for sale for a stupidly low price. I suspect that means it's about to be discontinued, but that also means, I'm buying one. Uh.. two. Yeah, I bought two.
A Little History
Tamiya has been making F1 r/c cars almost from the begining. Their first F1 chassis was released in 1978. And was a litteral pan car. An aluminum pan, with foam tires, a metal direct drive rear axle, and suspension-less kingpins up front.
RJ Speed sells a car with "similar" configuration today. The Digger, and Legends chassis. But that's another story.
The "F100" series cars had their birth in 1986 as the Road Wizard. That car lead to the car that eventually earned the name F101. That car contributed greatly to the parking lot racing boom. The F100 series cars were never "entry level" cars, but also were not aimed at serious racers, at least at first.
As pan cars evolved, with springs to carry most of the chassis weight, and then damper pads. The F102 was an evolution of the F101, with better chassis stiffness, and fittings for damper pads.
The F103 was more or less a new car. The front end mounts changed, the car switched to a complete two deck chassis. It had a strut type front suspension. And it came, even in the lowest spec, with a spring and a damper pad. The F103 was the last F1 car from Tamiya to have transverse battery mounting.
This brings us to the F104. It shares a lot of parts with the F103. The front suspensions, the rear axles, things like damper pads are all about the same. And, from what I've read, their road performance is pretty similar.
Tamiya didn't stop development there, and TRF took over the F1 car development. Which, if I get there, will be the subject of it's own article. Much like the high end touring car market, the high end F1 car market all really converged on one design, and it's hard to really make sharp distinctions about the different cars.
About the F104w
The F104w is one of Tamiya's attempts at taking a platform they already build, and make a scale chassis of it. In this case, the "w" is a wider setup, to accommodate the older style F1 bodies. In the process, the front suspension changed quite a bit, and you lose the aerodynamic front wing. In trade, you get awesome bodies, like the WR1, Lotus 79, and other famous aero era F1 cars.
I was cruising Rctech.net, and someone in the F103 thread mentioned that the Wolf WR1, was for sale for a stupidly low price. I suspect that means it's about to be discontinued, but that also means, I'm buying one. Uh.. two. Yeah, I bought two.
A Little History
Tamiya has been making F1 r/c cars almost from the begining. Their first F1 chassis was released in 1978. And was a litteral pan car. An aluminum pan, with foam tires, a metal direct drive rear axle, and suspension-less kingpins up front.
RJ Speed sells a car with "similar" configuration today. The Digger, and Legends chassis. But that's another story.
The "F100" series cars had their birth in 1986 as the Road Wizard. That car lead to the car that eventually earned the name F101. That car contributed greatly to the parking lot racing boom. The F100 series cars were never "entry level" cars, but also were not aimed at serious racers, at least at first.
As pan cars evolved, with springs to carry most of the chassis weight, and then damper pads. The F102 was an evolution of the F101, with better chassis stiffness, and fittings for damper pads.
The F103 was more or less a new car. The front end mounts changed, the car switched to a complete two deck chassis. It had a strut type front suspension. And it came, even in the lowest spec, with a spring and a damper pad. The F103 was the last F1 car from Tamiya to have transverse battery mounting.
This brings us to the F104. It shares a lot of parts with the F103. The front suspensions, the rear axles, things like damper pads are all about the same. And, from what I've read, their road performance is pretty similar.
Tamiya didn't stop development there, and TRF took over the F1 car development. Which, if I get there, will be the subject of it's own article. Much like the high end touring car market, the high end F1 car market all really converged on one design, and it's hard to really make sharp distinctions about the different cars.
About the F104w
The F104w is one of Tamiya's attempts at taking a platform they already build, and make a scale chassis of it. In this case, the "w" is a wider setup, to accommodate the older style F1 bodies. In the process, the front suspension changed quite a bit, and you lose the aerodynamic front wing. In trade, you get awesome bodies, like the WR1, Lotus 79, and other famous aero era F1 cars.
The high points:
- Fiberglass top and bottom decks
- Tamiya Hard Plastic everywhere
- Centered steering servo
- Longitudinal battery mount
- Easy radio tray layout
- A fully floating damper pad assembly
- Highly detailed body
- Many bearings in the rear axle.
- One piece thrust bearing!
- Ball Diff
- Rear load carrying spring
The low points:
- The rear pod is tight, making motor installation tricky.
- The battery pocket really only accepts roundside packs.
- Sliding kingpin front suspension (on the 104w...)
- No rear spring damper.
- Removing the right rear wheel resets the ball diff setting.
- The body is very challenging to assemble properly
- You need glues that aren't mentioned on the box. CA, and rubber cement.
Photographing black parts, on black parts, nets you a black image. ... go figure.
Criticism of the F104w
The car itself, I don't have much to speak about. The radio trays are a bit flexible, and need to pivot on the top deck mounts.
The battery mount, while good for performance, is not good for ease of use. It requires two body pins, and won't fit rectangular batteries. To get my "square-ish" battery to fit, I had to put the friction o-rings for the radio trays under the trays instead of on top, to provide clearance for the round edges of the battery pack.
There's only one way to get battery leads out the top of the battery tray. And that's essentially under the damper pad.
Building the Wolf WR1 F104w
The battery mount, while good for performance, is not good for ease of use. It requires two body pins, and won't fit rectangular batteries. To get my "square-ish" battery to fit, I had to put the friction o-rings for the radio trays under the trays instead of on top, to provide clearance for the round edges of the battery pack.
There's only one way to get battery leads out the top of the battery tray. And that's essentially under the damper pad.
Building the Wolf WR1 F104w
I've built "one" real pan car in my life. That was a bolink 91 sport. There are other, similar cars, technically, my Kyosho Mini-Z's, and even my Tomy BitChar-G's were all "pan cars". I even had load springs, a ball diff, and a range of t-bars for my Mini-Zs.
But this was something interesting in it's own right.
Pan cars are really quite simple beasts. It's just a stack of parts that starts at the pan and goes up from there. The parts can look rather generic, so identification can be a problem.
For example, I put the damper pad springs under the kingpins when I first assembled my car. You get two sets of small coil springs... the gold ones go under the kingpins, not the silver ones!
The chassis was a relaxing build, right until it came time to fit the battery. Buy a roundcell LiPo, or else know that your battery is going to be a permanent installation into the chassis.
Tamiya is known for their bodies. This one is no exception. The Wolf WR1 body is quite the build. The Wolf WR1 needs a special edition paint. "PS Dark Blue" That paint is available from Horizon Hobby at this time. I didn't have the paint available to me, so I painted mine metallic black. At a distance i'm not sure you can tell the difference, other than mine sparkles a bit. It also saved me having to do some masking on the body.
Cutting out the body is a finger destroying project, the swingarm holes are tough, as are the creases behind the front wing, and the places where the body swings in to cover the rear pod. I'd recommend drilling small holes at each inside corner, so the body doesn't tear at those locations.
The body, if you include the helmet, is seven peices, if you don't include fasteners, or things you can't see.
More black on black photography. I need to do something about photographing these things. More lighting would help to. The body in black really made the car look good.
Tamiya is known for their bodies. This one is no exception. The Wolf WR1 body is quite the build. The Wolf WR1 needs a special edition paint. "PS Dark Blue" That paint is available from Horizon Hobby at this time. I didn't have the paint available to me, so I painted mine metallic black. At a distance i'm not sure you can tell the difference, other than mine sparkles a bit. It also saved me having to do some masking on the body.
Cutting out the body is a finger destroying project, the swingarm holes are tough, as are the creases behind the front wing, and the places where the body swings in to cover the rear pod. I'd recommend drilling small holes at each inside corner, so the body doesn't tear at those locations.
The body, if you include the helmet, is seven peices, if you don't include fasteners, or things you can't see.
More black on black photography. I need to do something about photographing these things. More lighting would help to. The body in black really made the car look good.
I found that doing the decals on the chassis was harder than doing it with just the body. That's the opposite I found with the other bodies I've done. Having the chassis frame of reference usually helps.
I still haven't painted the driver figure, but seeing the decaled body on the car for the first time, was shocking. The car came alive.
Each rear view mirror, is it's own piece, stuck on from the inside. The cockpit cutout is not a simple shape, to accommodate those mirrors, and the drivers head. The rear wing, is four pieces, three of which require painting.
I still haven't painted the driver figure, but seeing the decaled body on the car for the first time, was shocking. The car came alive.
Each rear view mirror, is it's own piece, stuck on from the inside. The cockpit cutout is not a simple shape, to accommodate those mirrors, and the drivers head. The rear wing, is four pieces, three of which require painting.
The driver is three visible pieces, six if you count everything. But adding the driver really finishes the look. Sometime, i'll paint the drivers body, but for now, he's a clear ghostly body holding up a helmet.
So how about yours?
I have a Blue SR300 reciever, some generic brushed ESC, a Turnigy 4000mah 2s pack, and ~nothing else" on the car. In the mail, I have an oil filled shock, a few t-bars, Tamiya's tuning spring set, fiber reinforced front suspension, bearings, and a spare body and tire set.
Sadly, I've not gotten to run the car yet. There's been a lot of life going on.... But there will be a followup when that happens. And when the hop up parts come.
So how about yours?
I have a Blue SR300 reciever, some generic brushed ESC, a Turnigy 4000mah 2s pack, and ~nothing else" on the car. In the mail, I have an oil filled shock, a few t-bars, Tamiya's tuning spring set, fiber reinforced front suspension, bearings, and a spare body and tire set.
Sadly, I've not gotten to run the car yet. There's been a lot of life going on.... But there will be a followup when that happens. And when the hop up parts come.
Until next time....
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