Dante77

Ok, I have been obsessed by the Tamiya Lunchbox ever since 1987. When I discovered the Re-Release on the Internet I was sold instantly.
So I bought one and began to mod it. Soon the idea of building a street version grew and some unfinished projects I saw motivated me to get this going.

I decided to make a build chronicle for all the Lunchbox enthusiasts out there.

First, I bought a pretty cheap RTR 4WD belt-drive chassis and stripped it. It's made by the german manufacturer 'Robbe'. I got the OEM version for the german Hobby-distributor 'Conrad Electronic'.
It's go full ball-bearings and has a belt driven full time AWD with ball diffs and super-cheap plastic oil-shocks. The decks are made of aluminium, most of the suspension parts are plastic and don't seem to be very rigid.

But there are many aluminium suspension hop-up parts available which I will get my hands on later.

But first things first, here's the plain chassis with the cheap stock servo and receiver still mounted:

Dante77

Here are two closeups of the main diff with motor mount and belt. The aluminium is a nice touch and comes standard:

Dante77

First test fit of my Lunchbox body on the chassis, to get the idea.

Pretty mean looking, huh?

But there are two problems:

1. The wheelbase of the chassis is about 210mm, 5mm too long for the stock body!

2. The width of the chassis is 160mm and this is also too much for the stock body! [:@]

Hmmm....

-Brian

You arn't going to leave the rear raised up like that, are you?

Dante77

Problem #1. more obvious:

Lunchboxer

With the lexan LB body, you can bend the body slightly to maybe cover the wheel!! And w/ the lexan body, you can also cut the wheel arch out your own way to make sure that it clears the wheel.. hee hee!!

Dante77

No, thats just the long body post in the rear. I plan to let the back sit a little higher than the front though.

rc monkey

Looks cool, a brushless Lunchbox would be cool Hint hint

coleholley

Looks alright so far but I think you should do what ever you got to do to get the thing to just look perfect on there and like a low rider I guess you could call it like the body pretty low to the ground. Just my opinion.

Lunchboxer

I think BL LB has been done before........ [8D]

Dante77

Again, Lunchboxer beat me to it, LOL!

Thats what I was going to say:

To solve the two problems, I got the Parma Lexan Lunchbox body on the way, which has flared fenders (body width to be measured by Lunchboxer).

Here's a pic of the lexan shell, note the fenders!

rc monkey

Onroad

Lunchboxer

So you want me to put my MM7700kv in the M-03M so I can claim the title?!?!

Dante77

It will take 3 weeks for the lexan shell to arrive, so in the meantime I thought of something else:

Custom made aluminium rims old-school style. I had them made by [link=http://www.modellbausieghard.de/rc/alufelgen-M-1-10.html]Modellbau Sieghard[/link] in Germany.

They are 1/12 scale and similar in size to the Tamiya M-chassis rims. Hopefully, the HPI M-chassis tires will fit!

I reduced the offset by 2mm on each rim, so I think the y will fit under the lexan shell. Here are the pics, bling bling!

rc monkey

Only if you take a video M-03 + MM7700 + van body[sm=bananahead.gif]

Dante77

Nooooo, don't do it! I want to do something before you do, just once!

BTW: Of course it will get a brushless system! LOL!

Lunchboxer

LOL, Dante's Boxrod will kick some serious tail.. I am not here to one up him!! I look forward to seeing the result for sure!!

In the mean time, I will work on The Frog.. hee hee..

By the way, those rims are serious bling!! NICE!!

Dante77

Pheww, thank god! I was in shock for a minute there!

I will keep you posted on the project, hopefully the rims come in tomorrow, haven't seen them in person yet.

In the meantime, I will think of a nice paintjob for the body.

Hmm... [sm=50_50.gif]

coleholley

I say stick with the original Lunchboxer colors/body. But it's always cool to be way different because I mean your already being different by making an onroad lunchbox.

Dante77

Thanks for the nice comments!

My initial plan was to use the stock body, because of the nice look and chrome details. But I would have had to dremel the hell out of it and widen the fenders in some way so I went the path of lowest resistance and ordered the lexan body.
We'll see how that fits the chassis.

And trust me, the paint-scheme I thought of will look just as good...

coleholley

Alright I bet it will come out sweet no matter what and I look on this forum and all I see are lunchboxes all over LOL. Makes me really want one but I want a lot of r/c cars so I just have to decide what's next and convince parents to let me get one.

Dante77

The Lunchbox is a must-have RC! So much fun, but not too stable onroad.

That's what I'm going to change!

Lunchboxer

You meant, "Lunchbox", not "Lunchboxer", right?!?! Sheesh!!

coleholley

Ya, don't people do that a lot? (maybe not) But I have seen you correct someone before that said that. LOL

But it still made sense, and you do have the original colors so he got it. LOL

Lunchboxer

Yes, not the first time.... [&:]