Category: Automotive

Today I went off-roading with some friends. First in our real cars and then in our radio controlled ones. We had three Tamiya FJ Cruisers, my Tamiya Lunchbox and my Tamiya Frog. It was extremely fun, I bashed the hell out of my Lunchbox and it now needs a major paint job but I don’t care. I took a ton of pictures and so did my brother but I couldn’t put all of them here. There are a few more pictures below though if you hit continue.

Update: My brother just uploaded some photos to his flickr account [Here]

Oh my God why didn’t anyone tell me about these!! It seems there is a whole line of Tamiya radio controlled construction trucks! I am soooo going to get these. [YouTube]

Spotted this Fiat 500 outside Shamiya Coop today. Although I love the car I don’t think it looks that good in Kuwait.

I took my Tamiya Lunchbox out for the first time today. After all the hard work with the paint job I ironically managed to scratch it while it was still in the trunk of my Wrangler. If that wasn’t bad enough, 10 minutes into my run the Lunchbox lost died on me. It was performing really well, taking some great jumps while my dog was busy trying to catch it when suddenly it just stopped moving. When I got closer I realized the motor was working but the wheels weren’t spinning which meant something was wrong with the gears.

I got home, took apart the car again and turned out it was a problem with one of the gears, the pinion gear which is the one thats connected to the motor was loose. I tightened it back again and used some blue thread locker and its now working perfectly again. I think I am going to spend most of my time breaking my cars and then try and fix them… I love that.

If anyone is wondering where the place is in the pictures above its the huge park off the first ring road.

It actually doesn’t look that bad surprisingly. [Pictures]

Although I got my Tamiya Lunch Box truck early in the month I had a faster motor and metal ball bearings I still hadn’t received from eBay so I couldn’t start the build until today. Aramex dropped off my parts in the morning and once I got home I started work on the Lunch Box right away. Five hours later it was done. I only managed to drive the truck for a few minutes under my building in the dark but it was great. Tomorrow I need to pick up a white spray can so I could stencil in some type on the side. Will post more pictures once I am done, I love how its turned out so far.

I was watching Bruno Senna (late F1 champion Ayrton Senna’s nephew) racing his Mercedes SLR 722 on TV when I noticed a Kuwaiti flag on the side pillar and “Kuwait One” written on the front hood and rear bumper. I tried to google what Kuwait One was or who they were but I couldn’t find any information whatsoever. The video above isn’t of the actual race I was watching but you clearly see the Kuwaiti flag on the side pillar. Anyone know who they are? [YouTube]

Guys closing highways to make donuts, it never gets boring to watch. I love the army of white pickups (wanayts) parked on the side. [YouTube]

I picked up my Tamiya Lunch Box kit today. The Lunch Box is based on an old dodge van and was originally released I think in 1988. Recently though Tamiya has been re-releasing some of their “greater hits” and the Lunch Box is one of them.

Sadly I won’t be building this truck yet since I’ve ordered some parts off eBay (metal bearings / a faster motor) and they still haven’t arrived. For now I’ve started with the painting. Originally the Lunch Box is supposed to be painted yellow but I saw a guy online who had his painted military green and I decided to basically copy him. Its my first time painting and I think I’m doing good for a beginner.

I was a bit heavy handed with the spray paint at first and I am not too patient waiting for the different coats to dry but I’m still learning so I should be better the next time. I think I need to pass by the dealer later in the evening and pick up another can of paint just to be safe.

Beautiful weather today so I took my Tamiya car to a parking lot across the street from my house to play around with. I even tried shooting a video (below) which didn’t come out as I planned! Its a really cool car but I keep wishing I had the real version instead. I am going to get soooo much more Tamiya cars though, its like I finally found myself a hobby! [YouTube]

The new Patrol is so ugly that it makes the new Land Cruiser look good. [Link]

via Buzberry

I read somewhere online about the latest Ford Fiesta review on the show Top Gear being the best car review ever and I just watched it and would have to agree. I am not going to give any spoilers just watch the clip above. [YouTube]

I didn’t know the new Challenger was already in Kuwait but it looks like its here (imported) and someone is selling it on q8car. Asking price… KD19,500. It costs around KD12,000 on eBay so if you’re interested just import one yourself and save a few thousand dinars. [Link]

While out playing with my Tamiya Frog today I hit this big rock and ended up dislocating the drive shaft from the rear axle and ripping up the joint boot. Its not a problem though since I already took apart the rear of the Frog and will fix it and put it back together again tonight. Just need to pass by the My Toy workshop in Muthana and pick up some grease and a new joint boot. This is what I love about these RC cars, you can take them apart and put them back together or swap out parts when something goes wrong just like real cars.

Dunning in a Bentley GT convertible, only in the UAE… [YouTube]