My Baja: Parts are here

[FASTBACK340]

This is the start of me building a replica of a `68 Baja I owned back in the early 80's. The body itself is a beautiful Replicas & Miniatures resin piece. Whomever did the master did a superb job getting the proportions correct. As far as which kit I was going to use, I had looked at the Tamiya kit and though it looked really good. But since I wanted to see for myself if the "new" Revell `68, or whatever year it is… Beetle kit would work, I bought one. Wow, the Tamiya kit has a reasonably accurate VW twin beam front axle, which is visible with a narrow nose Baja. The Revell has a lump that glues to another lump with tiny little trailing arms for the spindles. Not to mention it looks like a Ghia or Type III floorpan shape. All incredibly wrong, especially for a Baja where so much is going to be visible. On the brighter side, that mess of a `68 will be easy to convert to my old `67 Cal Look sedan.

Hopefully this will roll along once I obtain the wheels & tires. Then I can fool with the ride height and alter the suspension. Aside from detailing, there shouldn't be too much insanity building this one. As far as fitment of the Tamiya kit pieces, here's a few shots of the interior quickly mocked-up.

The dash contours to the body nicely.

The interior builds up piece by piece, lending itself to easier detailing.

The floorpan is beautiful! This is going to drop on once the leading edges are trimmed just a slight wedge…..

:UPDATE:

Board members Bill (GTX6970) & Jeff (Jeffs396) have stepped-up and offered some help with the rolling stock. Thank you guys for the help!

Once I get rims & tires we can really get into it.

Edited November 17, 2014 by FASTBACK340

[Snake45]

Very cool! I always wanted to own one of these (real, I mean). I'll be watching your progress on this. Looks like a fun build!

[crazyjim]

How will the headlights be mounted? Wide on the fenders or narrow under the hood? I have a 1:1 '68 baja that I'm building up and have the wide lights. I'd like to get a body and build a replica.

[jeffs396]

I'll be watching this with great interest John!

Glad to help, hope the tires work for ya!

[DrKerry]

good start on it!!!!

[FASTBACK340]

Thanks guys! This is the narrow headlight version, which was technically illegal in N.Y.S. I had a pair of Bosch fog lights on the front bumper and a single 100w fog lamp as a reverse light mounted on the right side of the engine cage. I gotta find more pictures…...

[jbwelda]

its really hard to beat Tamiya when it comes to type 1s. this will be a nice build and its more interesting due to the new body from rmm.

jb

[FASTBACK340]

I went over the Tamiya chassis and suspension and must say it's going to look good! The interior, once fitted, is all paint. The engine was relatively simple and the body basic. While the 1:1 was one of my favorite cars from my youth, it's no where near the epic project my Barracuda was last winter.

Maybe I'll get more done this season!

[slusher]

Awesome project..

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I like the NFE Bajas. This should be nice.

[Chromecop]

Following this thread with great interest as I'm building a narrow nose Baja in 1/24 myself right now.

[hjracing]

Nice start! I'll keep an eye on this one!

[Chromecop]

I'm quite convinced that the "master" for the Replicas resin Baja was/is the Kyosho RC-body as it has the exact same holes in the body where lights, crashbars and such should be mounted! It may have been slightly modified thou....???

Edited November 4, 2014 by Chromecop

[FASTBACK340]

I'm quite convinced that the "master" for the Replicas resin Baja was/is the Kyosho RC-body as it has the exact same holes in the body where lights, crashbars and such should be mounted! It may have been slightly modified thou....???

I'm with you on that. In your thread using the Kyosho body is identical, except cast in black plastic. What did that one cost?

Edited November 4, 2014 by FASTBACK340

[440 Dakota]

^{very cool project. would love to build a replica of my real 69 so how hard do you think it would be to convert to a wide eye? or are the fenders cut to high ? my scratch building skills are pretty poor, do the Revell and Tamiya kits both have swing axle rears and king pin fronts ? thanks}

[Chromecop]

I'm with you on that. In your thread using the Kyosho body is identical, except cast in black plastic. What did that one cost?

IIRC the RC body cost me about $80 total, incl shipping to Sweden. I know, that's more than 2 resin bodies, but I've never liked working with resin.....

[PatW]

I sent an email to Replicas & Miniatures about 10 days ago about buying one of these kits and sending to me in the UK but no answer as yet.

[jbwelda]

hey Patrick, if you don't hear back from him by Wednesday or so, PM me as I am going to call him and order myself one of these Baja bug kits. I can get one for you and then ship it to you if you like, at cost.

jb

[PatW]

OK William thanks very much.

[om617]

Good start,looks to be a nice cast. Tamiya as a donor is a good choice,i felt bad after chopping mine up lol

[FASTBACK340]

Just waiting on the wheels so I can mount the tires and start setting the chassis up. That's where the time will be spent, modifying the suspension. The rest is pretty much straight-forward.

Thanks again to JEFFS396 for suppling me with the off-road tires. I appreciate your help!

[Zarana-X]

Nice start. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[tooltime-fan]

an interesting project. Can't wait to see some prgogress

[Tonioseven]

Looks like a cool project so far!~!~

[hjracing]

Any updates on this cool project?