sunRISE mercury levin

So its been over a year since I started this project and took 9 months off from doing anything to it whatsoever, its finally complete! well there is just 1 thing left to do :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: and that is to find a way of mounting the bonnet to keep it shut. That is something I will have to think about for a while as it is now complete in full glory!

Lots of pics! :unsure: :rolleyes:
Outside shots.

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As you can see here it still sits up and needs to be kept down tight for action!!!
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:blink:

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Looking in!
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open bonnet!
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Engine bay!
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Night shots!
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All feedback and comments welcome!!

ENJOY!!! :wink:

November Drifter Central "Body Of The Month"

Thanks to all who voted! It's quite an honor to get this recognition! Thanks again!

-Marq

DIY Sticker Tutorial

Hey All!

Well, I finally got around to doing a tutorial for the DIY stickers that I always do. I hope that this will help some people with their creations and benefit our RC Drifting community! Anyway, a lot of credit has to go to Mac Cruz of Team Touge Knights. He's the one who first showed me this technique of doing these types of stickers. Also, credit also has to go to Jon Lawrence of Team Arai for discovering the use of the laminate sheets. That tip solved the problems of bigger stickers. So, here goes the tutorial, hope you guys enjoy.


First things first. I can't stress enough how much research goes a long way. I spend more than half my time researching all the different stickers, sponsors, and paint schemes of a certain car while doing a replica. Although I might not go as far as to make custom body work for my shells, I do like to make sure that all the paint and decaling is as close to the original as possible. After all, i'm a graphic designer, not a fabricator. =) But this tutorial is about making the sticker, not making replicas. So, find a decal you want and go with it.





This next step is where some people may find a road block, or find it difficult to do. If you have a program like Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, you can trace and/or draw out your decals on the computer. I find Ai (or Adobe Illustrator) the most proficient, because since the drawing is not pixel based (using Adobe Photoshop for example), it is rather based on vector points and shapes which are mathematical equations in the program that basically let you shrink and enlarge an object without losing resolution. In a nut shell, you can make your drawing bigger or smaller as many times as you want without it getting blurry. This is good for testing and resizing when making your decals.

If you don't have these programs, you can simply research decals on the internet or your favorite forum, and just print these out as you get them.



Here is an example of a completed and completely drawn from scratch window and door banners for the Red Bull Drifting Championship presented by Formula D. A very key important thing to mention when drawing your decals or finding them on the internet, is that you want to have the background of the decal be the same color as your car. That way, you won't have to worry about cutting out those small pieces in-between letters or objects. But, since these decals can just be cut around the edge like normal decals, we won't have to worry about that.



Now it's time to print. You want to get as many decals on one sheet as you can. That way, you won't have to waste decal paper or any other materials that cost a lot of money.



Make sure to give your prints ample time to dry. Be extra careful that you don't touch the ink on Avery Brand paper. It will easily smudge and you'll have to print all over again. I'm not sure about other brands of sticker paper, but this does happen with Avery, so BE CAREFUL!!!



Here is a shot of the Avery Sticker Paper and GBC Laminate which we'll be using in a couple of seconds.



For this next step, your going to need white vinyl. Since the Avery sticker paper is somewhat transparent, you need to use white vinyl or white sticker (I like using vinyl, it sicks better), so that the sticker won't show through on the body color.



Now your going to stick on the clear laminate on top of the sticker you just assembled in the previous step. This is so you can handle your sticker as much as you want now and will somewhat protect it from bashing from use. The laminate is thick, so curved surfaces might be hard to get smooth or stick to the body, so just be mindful of that. If it's that big and complex, you might want to consider just painting that large portion. Also, be very careful in this step as well, b/c air bubbles are really easy to get. You don't want those, and they are almost impossible to get rid of (even if you do cut a slit in the sticker and try to push out the air). I like to start from one side of the sticker and smooth out and press as I go along to the other side of the sticker.



Here's what your sticker should look like so far.



Now it's time to trim around the edges. Try to get as close to the edge as possible. I even tend to cut a little bit inside the edge, just so you don't get a nasty white outline of your sticker. Also, if you've tried to color match the background of your sticker to the body, it's still a good idea to cut as close to the edge as possible. It looks a lot cleaner. Plus, that step was meant more for the little spots in-between letters.



Here's some finished door banner's for my Super Autobacs R34 driven by Takatori. All that's left now is to peel and stick. Make sure though, that you only peel off the backing of the vinyl otherwise you're sticker won't have a backing!



And there you have it. A finished product ready to go.



Here's Takatori san with the replica. He was really happy to see something like it!



Here's myself with the real 1:1 car and my R/C.
Thanks for reading, good luck with all your future projects!

Team GDD Interviewed on Rice Boy TV!

http://www.riceboytv.com/watch-shows/event-coverage/U.S.-RC-DRIFT-NATIONALS.html

Hey all! Just wanted to share some coverage of Team GDD on Rice Boy T.V. The footage was taken at the Groovy Drift Nationals. They previously heard of and saw (from some photos that I emailed to Antonio Alvendia), the {TK/GDD} Rice Boy S14 that was provided by Genki! After seeing it, they wanted to take some footage and ask a couple of questions. Hope you guys like it! Till next time... =D

D1RC Round 4 colchester

Hi all,

Well its been a while since the eurocup event nearly 2 month's ago to be precise, and with that in mind i guess everyone was getting withdraw symptoms of track action.

With the great british weather promising to become wet and stormy the weekend was not looking promising at all, so we all made it to the track and the the weather seemed to be on our side so with without further time wasteing a track was designed by myself and fellow drifting partner Steve Davies and what a track once the direction had been reversed, it proved to be quite a stinker (before it had been reversed it was almost undrivable)! It followed an old classic Colchester drift circuit at first, a longish drag off the line down to the first 180 degree hairpin, then back through a right/left kink into a 90 left, 90 right then a left kink, 90 right and 140 left to the finish line. The 90 right, kink, 90 right was the problem because to score points you had to hold a drift off the first 90 through to the next and the kink in between placed a kerb right where the rear half of your car needed to be to accomplish the feat!

Well the qualifying started and proved to be a little tuff on everyone due to the complex track layout, the club class started and driver Adam McEwen who posted a best qualifying score of 95 points, matching the best the Pro Drivers could muster. Adam was followed by Ben Moore on 89, Pete Gray 87, Robert Papworth 85 and Richard Lincoln Smith bringing up the top five on 78.

And the Pro Class Stu Cave managed to match Adam's high 95 score with Phil Warner chasing with 93, Yumeda following on 92, then Michael Fryett on 90 and Steve Davies on 88

Best body went to myself, with my kyosho KPGC10

And best chassis went to the man himself John Turner with his XRay rever

well the club drivers got down to the semi-finals for it was Adam McEwen and Robert Papworth who set off first, Rob taking the first run 6/4 but on the second run Adam spun and gave Rob a 10/0 victory. then it was Pete Gray to take on Ben Moore, the first run being judged a 5/5 but this time it was Ben’s turn to drop a 10/0 infringement and Pete was through. Ben stayed on the rostrum to battle Adam for 3rd place, Ben running off road on the first run giving Adam the trophy 10/0, 5/5. The final then was between Rob and Pete. Rob secured a 7/3 lead on the first run as Pete struggled to drift a good line but it was Pete, showing his greater experience, that took the Club first place by pressuring Rob into a 0/10 off road error on the second.

Rob and Pete in the final

In the Pro finals it was Stu Cave, Steve Davies, Maz Yumeda and myself who made it into the semis. Unfortunately the scores for the Pro finals were mislaid in the tidying up session but Steve beat Stu and Phil beat Maz in the semis and Stu saw off Maz in the 3rd place battle. This left myself and Steve to battle for the Pro Class victory and It was a very close battle indeed as they posted a 6/4, 4/6 which lead to a “one more time” from the crowd and another two runs, this time Phil taking the win.

Steve and myself

The winners!

A big Thanks to Genki Dori Dori for all his support!

Drift Nutz Area-D Competition

Hello All,

It's been a busy month for the SoCal RC Drift scene. Just last week was the Drift Nutz Area D competition held at Speedtech RC in San Gabriel, CA and this past weekend was the Groovy Drift Nationals Competition. The Area D event was really fun, just because it was so lax. Some say that drivers tend to do better when they're relaxed and don't put so much pressure on themselves. I guess they're right because the result couldn't have been better. I ended up taking home 1st place in the Area D competition, so it was pretty cool! After coming off of last month's victory at Red Line Time Attack, it felt pretty good keeping the momentum going for this one. The car felt pretty stable at first, but I ran into some problems with the steering while accelerating. Sort of a chunky grinding sound. Came to find out from Jeff, the owner of Speedtech RC, that I installed my "c hubs" on my front end on the wrong sides. So left was supposed to be right, and vise versa. Oh well, that late night build prior to Red Line was pretty late, go figure. So, I ended up switching them and managed to finish off pretty strong.

Another funny thing about the event was having to battle Veje, the "National Champ". Our tandems were pretty damn fun, not to mention pretty damn close! I also ended up being crowned the new Drift Nutz National Champion. Twas an exciting and memorable run.

Group Photo!


The BRS Widebody Supra in competition for the second competition win in a row!


The Drift Nutz!


This guy is seriously that famous: James Revilla of RC Driftclub/Xtreme RC Magazine signing an autograph for HPI's Andrew Hilman. James had a whole Drift King spread on Drift RC Magazine, nice!


The expression on my face sums up the whole day in general. Coming soon: Designer TougeKnights star boardshorts... just kidding =P


Thanks to Drift Nutz for throwing their first of many official competitions, Jeff of Speedtech for the tech help and donating the Team Orion Li-Po for the 1st place prize, Andy and HPI Racing for supporting the event, Falken Tire and Spektrum for donating prizes, TK for representing (congrats on 3rd Place Mac!), and last but not least Genki for all his support!

Here's the official coverage from HPI Racing's site: www.hpiracing.com/news/2008081102/

Till Next Time!

California Speedway, Fontana, California, 95ºF: The setting of the the 2008 Redline Time Attack. This event was just awesome. Being around the atmosphere of loud cars, hot girls, and RC Drift AND Time Attack. What more could you ask for!!! Well, maybe an air conditioner, but that's beside the point.



The season finale of RC Driftclub in conjunction with HPI Racing was a great event. The event was split up into two days. The first day consisted of qualifying for both time attack and drift. The second day had one more additional qualifying rounds for both classes and the final brackets for each as well.




Pre Race Day:
Preparation for this day was pretty much no different from any other event for me. It usually consists of (this time being no exception) staying up all night, working on a body to use for the event. I sort of have an inner rule to myself. I always like to compete or run with a body that I'm proud to use. I very rarely compete with a basher or something I don't care about. For me it's just one of the quirks about me. Not to say that I won't re-use a body, it just has to be something that I'd want to run at the time, or enjoy looking at while driving. After all, that's what makes drifting (along with many other motor-sports) so great. It's not only is it about the action, it's about looking good at the same time! I dunno, call me weird, but that's what I do. Thus, I was prepping my custom wide-body BRS Supra for the competition ahead of me the night before, working on only 3 hours of sleep. Like I said, that's usually what happens the day before, no sleep b/c of working on a body. And to be honest, I was actually working on this project for 2 weeks on and off a little here and there, but the grunt of it was done at the last moment! I knew we'd have some time at the event before it started, so I just finished the body there and sticke'rd up the body the morning of the event.



Day 1:
Getting there around 7:00 am wasn't easy. Well, at least with the amount of sleep I had. California Speedway isn't too far from my house so it took me around 35 min. to get there. Many of the teams and drivers sprung for a hotel, which wasn't too bad of an idea, considering gas prices nowadays. Annnnyywayyy.... I started off the day with helping with track set up. Then after a small break, open practice and qualifying for time attack was up. I initially thought that drift was on Saturday and time attack was on Sunday. But I was wrong, thus some quick wrenching and swapping of setup had to be made. Thanks to Mac of TK and Val, I was able to get my car ready in time. The setup I use for drift consists of a ball diff in the front and a spool in the rear. But apparently, for "grip" it's a spool in the front and a ball diff in the rear! I came to find out that if you use the drift setup for grip, you tend to over steer and it's a lot easier to spin out. So good thing the Cyclone is a pretty easy and convenient car to wrench on. Also, I came to find out that the two classes were going to be alternating throughout the weekend so if you had one car for the weekend, you were doing ALOT of swapping and wrenching. Kinda wish that was different, but I made due. Anyway, on my first qualifier for time attack, I posted a 19.90 sec. run. Not too bad considering it was my first time running a car competitively like this. And to be honest, I like it! It's a good change of pace and was really fun! During the second qualifier, I ended up breaking a front left "C-Hub", so I received a DNF.



After qualifying, a repair and setup swap, drift qualifying was up. The format was the same as RC DriftClub's Round 4 qualifying format. 5 cars at a time on the track, 1 practice, 2 scored (3 continuous laps in total). This track had 2 scored zones. 1 hairpin and 1 "Max Out" zone. To be honest, this was actually not as exciting as time attack qualifying. I think I was looking forward too much to time attack and it took the concentration out of drift. But, I didn't do too bad as I qualified 3rd for that Day.



After hanging out, checking out the pits and snapping some photos of the event, I decided to re-swap my setup and practice grip some more (after most of the competitors were gone) I even did a little bit of RC drag racing! Practicing was probably both good and bad. Good because I got some good practice in, but bad because my chassis might have took too much of a beating. I ended up rolling the car and slamming into the wall. So, after looking over my chassis that night, I found some things that needed to be replaced from being broken or just not working. Instead of rebuilding, I took the Cyclone S that I won at RCX and built up a whole new car that night (using hop ups from the previous car and new hop ups that I held onto). I also converted the setup I had and made it into a Cyclone TC/S hybrid. New shock towers, new spool and ball diff, etc. This was actually a really cool experience. I felt like I was rebuilding a motor that blew at a 1:1 comp and had to pull an all niter trying to rebuild in time for competition. So it was really fun actually! After another sleepless night, I was working on building right up until I absolutely had to leave or else I'd miss the comp. So off to the comp!



Day 2:
As soon as I got to the speedway, the concours competition and group photo was on. The BRS Supra ended up being in the top 3 along with fellow TK member Mike Surinsuk and also Mac Cruz of Touge Knights taking 1st with his RX-7! After all this, I really needed to set up my car and make sure everything worked. After-all, this car never even touched the ground! So after some time on the setup board, testing on some controlled practice laps (only the drivers that were in that group are allowed to practice) went well. I ran some really really good laps! I was pretty happy with the way it felt. I was up for my time attack 3rd qualifier and ended up with a 19.00 sec. lap. It was decent, and definitely an improvement over the previous day.



After another setup swap, the top 5 drift qualifiers were up for the last qualifying round (is this enough qualifying or what?!?!). The new car proved to be a really really big improvement because I came out qualifying 1st! Since my break between time attack and drift was so short, I decided to stick with the drift setup for time attack, and take my chances at putting my emphasis at drift. After time attack controlled practice, I was up. Wow, when I said the car over steers with a drift setup on grip, I wasn't kidding! I was all over the place. On top of that, I ended up hopping a dot on the sweeper, flipping my car forward, breaking off my wing, slamming into a wall and still managed to finish my lap with no damage. I ended up with a 23.22 sec. lap. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Mac Cruz ended up taking 1st with a 16.94 lap! Wow, that was super fast!




Drift was up and the top 32 grid was up. My first opponent was Rob Rosales. We battled and I kept it clean and controlled and ended up advancing due to some wall contact on Rob's Part. Next I was up to go against HPI employee Aki W. in a rematch from a couple of rounds ago! We both kept it clean, but I was able to edge out the win due to a small mistake by Aki after the switchback. Next I was up to face fellow TK member Mike Surinsuk in the best 8. This was a tough battle as we had to go one more time! The first lap was scored 5-5 as we both kept it clean. The second lap I was chasing so I was able to stay really close to him and his line to pull away with a 6-4 to take the win. On to the best 4. The cool thing about this best 4 in this comp was that the best 4 also happened to be the top 4 qualifiers! My next opponent for the best 4 was none other than Val Hoang... again. Like I said in the previous post, I always seem to go against this guy!!!! This was also a really really close battle, but I was able to get a pretty good gap leading on the first lap and was able to close in on the second lap. Even though we both had a good max out lines, they gave me the advantage and I was able to get into the finals! In the final 2, I was to go against Bryan Agustin. Bryan is a very consistent driver and has some serious skill. After a SUPER close battle, the judges deemed that I was able to have a more stable line throughout the course and was able to barely edge out the win!!!!! This happens to be my very first 1st place win in sponsored event!








Thanks to Genki Dori Dori for all his support!!! HPI Racing and RC DriftClub for putting on such a great event! Also, to TougeKnights for holding it down at the event! Till next time readers! See you at the Groovy Drift Nationals!