A superb paint JOHN VARLEY reviews apm this 4o scale saloon ofthis ecing bodied racer from Marui | r me Wier is Maru Nino not a Nina? answer, when it is a “Melling Ford Thunderbird i's Why s0 one may ask? in my opinion itis like of which most Europeans have never 4 very neat job of revitalising an existing seen, with the exception of the home built a kit without the high cost of re-tooling in- Volkswagen based kit cars volved with bringing out a completely new In the USA, the range of racing for Vth design of car. scale cars far oxcoeds that catered for in the A compact monocoque holds all of the Thunderbird together giving & fished package that is easy to work on and strong in use. 38UK. This Melling Thunder resentative of America’s St racing. Meroly 2 “sithouette” of will se in the showroom, having internals removed, and 8 very worked ‘engine block allowing average speeds in ‘excess of 200 mph on America’s banked oval tracks. ‘They have therefore taken that style of Above and lett, Clearly shown in these photos the suspension vide helght adjustment system. Left the Thunderbird comes complete with two sets of tyres, on and off road. racing and brought it down to Voth scale sponsors products included on ‘on dirt ortarmac oval tracks, with the choice I Eliot's full size car of tyre and suspension setting coupled with few opening comments b the fully envelolping scale lexan body. hhind us, let's look at what this kit offers the Personally speaking the very charm of potential buyer. this kit is generated by the high quality Marui have boxed clever by continuing driver figure, excollently scaled Ford body, this kit with full adaptability, from just ready for a custom paint job, and the flat circuit use, to off-road use by supplying alstic high quality set of decals covering a choice of sponge and rubber tyres, with Imagine eight of these around a tarmac circuit, now that would be worth seeing.Marui Thunderbird ‘simple chassis ride height features. The car can be run indoors on carpet by Using the foam tyre supplied, orby adapting to any of the th range of foam tyre on the market Moving outdoors on to tarmac circuits, popular with some clubs in the winter ‘months, when the off-road areas logged, thecar ean be and raced very succosstully Come the summer, whon off-road realises its popularity, the car has a change ‘of wheel and tyre to the rubber spiked supplied, the ride height is altered dramat- to clear the new tyre, and you now ‘The Melling Thunderbird car comes in ready to assomblo kt form and builds into 4 full independent suspension, four whoo! drive, racing scale car, ‘The front and rear drives through beve! differentials, both of moulded plastic and diecast alloy construction, both. neat housed in moulded plastic’ centrally s housings. Allinternal and output shafts run- ‘hing in greased nylon bushings, which would be best replaced by balraces forlong term racing use. ‘The four-wheel drive is achieved simply by connecting the front and ear drive hous- ing with a pre-formed spring stool shaft, neatly held in place to each differential out. put shaft, with a nylon shroud around each shaft. ‘The chassis monocoque is @ one-piece very narrow in design but incorporat ing facilities for all the necessary equip. ‘ment, comp servo, the si , and finally Marui's very smi ‘eat fully enclosed proportional speed can: woller. Operated by push-pull linkage from the ‘servo it offers effective slow speeds with ‘manageable mid range st speed, without any noticea 2 single full speed reverse o Further mouldings are sup ‘to marry the assembled gearbox and diffe. ential housings on to the main chassis, Front_and rear housings supports are ‘supplied, along with suspensioniwishbone ‘mounts and body/suspension mounts, None of these mouldings when in situ distract from the car's narrow de ‘which is brought about by the orating the main bs ‘compartment is via 9 snap on cover in the base of the chassis. ‘The fully independent suspension is by ower wishbone with adjustable “upper links. Castor on the front is preset at what would appear to be somewhere between 32-18". The adjustable “upper links all ‘ound, offering changes to camber to s different types of terrain the car can raced on. ‘Strangely though, upon assembly the wheels showed a tondency to slightly 108-oUt’, the reverse of thishowever would bbe moro in keeping wit (of the car in a straight line at speed. A very ‘small point to concern most people how- “The lower wishbones have provisions for the adjustment of the lower pivot on the shock absorbers, another essential when ‘setting the car for the requirements of off road racing. Shock absorbers are nylon moulded, dio Race Car, March 1988/Marui’s very clever speed controler is very smooth in use and has no noticeable| Most indoor carpet clubs. tives on sponge tyres, the Ww tyre add it using ly apply to front tyres, leaving the outer half untreated. Do this welin advance of your race in order for the additive to soak in to a suitable depth, and wipe off all excess before puting your car down to race done correctly, the Mabuchi RS640 ‘motor supplied withthe ki, will propel this lightweight kit at @ more than acceptable speed (our car weighs in at 3ib.Sozs) with all the grip and handling you require, Outdoor tarmac racing requires i ‘change to the set up. Slightly vary the ride height and damper spring tension in order to account forthe less than perfect surfaces encountered, Tyres can be left as they are, or have ad ditives applied, if your club allows it ‘Wo haven't as yet tried the car off road, but the Ninja cr that itis derived from, has proved equally at home in such surround. Ings. The only changes you require would be substantial raising of the ride height. and the raising of the body to clear the spiked off road tyres. Soften up the suspension, ‘and experiment with various damper oils 4nd the pistons supplied with the kit Imported by Amerang. Available from all leading model shops. Say you read about itin Radio Race Car magacine. supplied with twin ‘O' ring seals in their base for easy replacement when worn and 4 choice of two pistons, a single and twin port for that variance of damping effect. Damper oil is supplied, sufficient to fil four units. Oi! of course ean be varied by the user, depending upon the type of terrain and time of year (hot or co), The serew-on nylon top t0 the damper is supplied with JS Racing,,,, Radio Race Car, March 1988 The dampers appear very efficient and ‘would not be out of place if used on more exotic racing machinery. Just think how cheap they can be, and how much weight they can save you, and of course we shouldn't f to mention that they are fully adjustable coil springs. At this stage, there is litle more to do in order to complete the kit. Assemble the the track 1 rose jeints, thus ing the turning cirele of the car. A packing in the form of amm washers, to lift the rose joints clear of the wire will do the job for you. Choose your wheel and tyre for the de- sired racing, adjust the front and rear ride hheight adjuster rods, paint the body, add ‘on the kit decals, and you have yourself an ‘extremely well scaled realistic, eye catching, cat. ‘So far we have tried the car indoors on ‘carpet, where you really can't go far wrong, 2 long as you adjust everything to drive in {straight line when desired. Most problems for beginners are centered around getting the car to drive ‘straight’ under the applica tion of full power, Indoor racing will, if on carpet, require the car to be set up as low as possible, with ‘out the tyre fouling in the wheel arch of the ody. We adjusted the ride height until ap- rox. 5-6mm of thread protruded at front and rear. We stiffened the spring tension ‘on the dampers until approximately Tom of damper body showed above the adjust WITH ALL OUR YEARS’ OF EXPERIENCE IN RADIO CONTROL CAR RACING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, WE |AIM TO HELP AND ADVISE THE BEGINNER AND IN- TEREST THE EXPERT. WE FEEL SURE YOU WILL FIND OUR PRICES COM- PETITIVE. WE AIM TO PLEASE AT ALL TIMES. CONTACT PLUS MAIL. ORDER. WHATEVER YOUR PROB- LEM OR REQUIREMENT PLEASE RING: SPECIALISTS IN THE SUPPLY OF RADIO CONTROLLED EQUIPMENT OPENING HOURS: MoN, TUES, WED, THURS, SAT 0900 - 1800 hrs; FR!0900 - 1900 hrs =ARINITY DYNAMITE TEWVIAI ‘ELECTRONICS. 0902-20255 a NOVAK ELECTRONS Refoustion REMEMBER WE ARE HERE TO HELP, =e parma TAMIYA