Tamiya RC Radio Control Car 1/10 Electric Wild Willy 2 Jeep Kit

Product Information

With the exception of a few screw and bearing dimensions, the chassis of the "M38" and "2" generations of the Wild Willy have no parts in common. the slats run horizontal rather than vertically. That grill looks like it’ll be a pain to paint so because you get the original grille.

With the sturdy Wild Dagger gearbox within a ladder frame with even an indication of a V8 engine and the TL01 suspension arms and chromed Mad Bull wheels, Tamiya has a winner. Top this chassis with the Wild Willy body, and you have a future classic.BTW, the rubber plug for the SWB resistor wiring is a 3-speed gearbox bung, now easily available with the Bruiser and Mountaineer re-releases. I also came across HPI Wheelie King rims and the tires on the net and they have the look I'm after. They look closer to the WW2 tires, but bigger. And I like the chevron look better as of the Traxxas ones. Conclusion: Like the original Wild Willy a very "unserious" model, but with the masses of fun that made the original a legend. A must for any collector. The trailing arm ball pivots and rear spring mounts were weak points which failed regularly, but both were moulded integrally with the chassis tub and the only repair was a new chassis rebuild. Did a few of those.

This is a remote control kit that requires assembly. The Styrene body of the kit comes as a Military Green Colour, so it does not necessarily require painting. If you do decide to repaint the body, Hard Plastic Spray Paint (TS) is appropriate. The driver figure comes blank so requires painting, either by using the suggested paint schemes or however else you would like! Take a close look at the Wild Willy 2 chassis and you will find an all new design featuring a gear box neatly secured in a monocoque frame. Side support bars have been added to the frame to heighten the overall rigidity and enhance Willy's "stunt vehicle" realism. The gearbox comes pre-assembled, allowing the user to easily remove it for maintenance, without taking apart the frame. The running battery is positioned lengthwise toward the rear of the chassis, providing the ideal balance for outstanding wheelie action. The steering servo is mounted centrally on the chassis and holds two steering tie rods of equal length, which control the left/right steering, ensuring reliable handling. Four wheel independent suspension and oversize tires enable high traction and stability. The original Wild Willy released in 1982 was purposely designed with its weight center in the rear. The motor was positioned behind the rear axle and the battery placed toward the rear of the chassis, giving rise to dynamic wheelie potential. The original Willy was equipped with an independent spring axle suspension on the front and a sturdy trailing link, coil spring on the rear. These mechanics allowed for highly effective off-road performance. The chassis is after all a direct 4WD conversion of the Wild Willy 2 chassis (WR.02), and from what I understand the kits comes with Wild Willy body mounts included. The Wild Willy 2 kit and IBIFTKH pretty much sumed it up already, but now I know first hand from actually having built the chassis...

Specifications

Sorry if this is out of place but I love to share my builds and I hope you’ll indulge me as I’m planning on doing some sweet paint action on this beautiful beast. I can’t imagine it’ll take long to build and I hope if you do follow along you’ll find it interesting. Having built models on the CW-01 wheelie chassis before and being unimpressed with the ability to hold a wheelie, my expectations of the WR-02 were not high. I was pleasantly surprised. This model holds a wheelie much longer than something like the Midnight Pumpkin. My addition of heavier wheels moderated that a bit, but I still love the way it drives. It is even reasonably capable in the grass. It’s been 36 years since The 10 year old me drooled over the Tamiya catalogue dreaming about owning a Wild Willy, the most fun RC car ever. Over the past few years I have indulged myself in our beautiful hobby trying to recreate images I saw as a kid in those oh so wonderful catalogues. Building mostly aircraft but some cars and tanks, sometimes even a robotic suit thing has given me great pleasure and sharing on BM has re kindled a long lost hobby. LWB tub has slots for the antenna wire, resistor & battery leads (these correspond to slots in the Mechanism Box Lid);

This is a subtle difference, but if you look at the bumper mounting points on the LWB bulkhead you'll see the holes are much deeper. the hole in the front of the tub for the steering ("Servo Saver Shaft") is larger on the LWB tub, with a simple metal sleeve acting as a bearing; I keep my fingers crossed, and hope if this is released, that Tamiya take their time to update with some cool new details, like jeep wheels and new tires for it, to make it a new release, rather than just a GF-01 Willy release with the same parts that have been available for almost 15 years now.I tried fitting one to a GF01 and there are a few fit issues that can be overcome by modellers but would not really be acceptable to be sold as such. Thanks for the interest in this build. It sounds like a few of you have similar love for Tamika RC. 😍 I don't own either of these so no photographs, but fundamentally the chassis are the same as the Willy's Wheeler but with different tyres, and an extended chassis tub and mechanism box lid. Neither have a wheelie bar.

The new Wild Willy has an all new chassis and larger tires allowing it to tread over rough terrain. Of course, the Wild Willys trade mark is the animated wheelie capability thanks to an all new wheelie bar.The front arches do not line up with the body-posts well enough, the chassis bars need cutting up and shortening and the batter means that you have to fit the body higher than I wanted. I had to chop the driver's feet just like BMT said. But it's worth noting that we both removed the 'lump' that protrudes on the underside of the body (the bit that fits around the switch on a Wild Willy M38). The driver's feet would be unscathed if the body was left standard, but the body would have to sit noticeably higher.