Jalopy Buys A New Car – RC Tamiya 2CV

Tamiya Citroen 2CV RC

Ok, Jalopy sort of buys a new car, an RC Tamiya Citroen 2CV. New Year new car perhaps. It seemed like a good idea at the time and still does. This thing is great. 

What is it? Well, if you’re not familiar with the world of radio control cars then I think you should be. You can get your classic fix in a variety of shapes and scales. From 1/36 to 1/4 if you need to, but here with Tamiya we have 1/10. This can sometimes be described as true ten, as this more accurately represents the cars proportions. A typical 1/10 scale buggy is far too wide and a car like the 2CV which is inherently narrow would look rather comical if built to fit that.

Ok, Jalopy sort of buys a new car, an RC Tamiya Citroen 2CV. New Year new car perhaps. It seemed like a good idea at the time and still does. This thing is great. 

What is it? Well, if you’re not familiar with the world of radio control cars then I think you should be. You can get your classic fix in a variety of shapes and scales. From 1/36 to 1/4 if you need to, but here with Tamiya we have 1/10. This can sometimes be described as true ten, as this more accurately represents the cars proportions. A typical 1/10 scale buggy is far too wide and a car like the 2CV which is inherently narrow would look rather comical if built to fit that.

The Tamiya 2CV is based on their M-05 chassis, a front wheel drive on road car. Yes, that’s correct FWD. Tamiya have been doing this for close to twenty years or so and know what they are doing. They are model makers by profession, so the level of detail in their kits is high. Plenty of additional bits to fit and the quality of the bodyshells is impressive.

The 2CV is a longer wheelbase than some of the other offerings, but the good news is you can build three different wheelbases. The original Mini has the 210mm wheelbase and is hilarious fun, if a little twitchy. The mid length is 225mm and the long is 239, so quite a difference. This will tame the handling a little, some say that the midpoint offers the best compromise. Best buy some more kits and find out, but first I really should get on with building this one.

The Tamiya 2CV is based on their M-05 chassis, a front wheel drive on road car. Yes, that’s correct FWD. Tamiya have been doing this for close to twenty years or so and know what they are doing. They are model makers by profession, so the level of detail in their kits is high. Plenty of additional bits to fit and the quality of the bodyshells is impressive.

The 2CV is a longer wheelbase than some of the other offerings, but the good news is you can build three different wheelbases. The original Mini has the 210mm wheelbase and is hilarious fun, if a little twitchy. The mid length is 225mm and the long is 239, so quite a difference. This will tame the handling a little, some say that the midpoint offers the best compromise. Best buy some more kits and find out, but first I really should get on with building this one.

Tamiya M05 Citroen 2CV

Tamiya Citroen 2CV Unboxing

What do you actually get inside one of these? The box is quite compact, looking like something a very large pair of shoes might come in. The bodyshell is on top with everything packed neatly under it in multiple labelled bags. There is a comprehensive instruction sheet that gives you a clue as to what all the parts do and where they go. I highly recommend reading the instructions as unless you have done one of these before then you’ll need them.

Pretty much everything comes on plastic injection moulded sprues. So, you’ll need a good knife and preferably a cutting board. A fair amount of pressure is needed to get through some of the thicker joints.

Time to clear the Jalopy workstation so it doubles as a workbench. Complete with poor interior lighting and limited space, it’s a fair reflection of how these often get built.

Tamiya M05 Citroen 2CV
Tamiya M05 Citroen 2CV Unboxing
Tamiya M05 Citroen 2CV Unboxing 2
Tamiya M05 Citroen 2CV Unboxing 3

Tamiya Citroen 2CV Unboxing Build

The thick plastic of the main chassis feels quite nicely done and pretty substantial. The main chassis is in two halves and contains the gearbox and differential.

One word of advice, buy a ball bearing kit (ball races). For the extra £7 – 9 they cost they make a huge difference. You can do away with the nasty plastic bushes which do little for friction and reduce your battery run time.

Assembling some of this is fiddly and the multitude of screws which look mostly the same can make it hard to tell which one goes where. Use something to measure them as getting it wrong isn’t advisable. Most of these are self-tapping screws that form threads in the plastic, so you don’t want to make a hole the wrong size. The good news is that being a hobby grade produce, all spares are available. Of course, many, many upgrade parts are too. This could get expensive.

The front end will represent the biggest challenge, but once this is done the rest will seem more straightforward.

Tamiya M05 2CV Gearbox Assembly
Tamiya M05 2CV Chassis Assembly
Tamiya M05 2CV Front Suspension Assembly
Tamiya M05 2CV Front Assembly

The friction dampers, or shocks as they get called are pretty basic. No oil filled parts here, just a spring and some plastic surfaces that rub together. Nice oil filled units can be bought, but the official ones cost as much as the whole kit.

 

There is a neat tool to help align the motor pinion, otherwise that could prove to be an expensive mistake when you strip the gears inside the chassis. The axle shafts poke through to allow the wheels to be fitted, and simply push through the bearings. The wheels stop them moving.

The rear end, in its longest length, pushes the suspension inboard to allow the wheels to be as far back as the chassis allows.

Tamiya M05 2CV Front Shocks
Tamiya M05 2CV Front End
Tamiya M05 2CV Motor
Tamiya M05 2CV Rear Chassis Assembly

Painting the body is a bit of a pain. I obviously need practice as trying to mask off the areas is quite time consuming. A good tip might be to paint it one colour…

The wheels were pained too, I might do them again with a brush and roughen up the surface to help the paint bite first. The tyres are nice, they come with foam inserts and seem to be nice and soft. Should grip pretty well, maybe wear out quickly too, who knows. I didn’t glue them; I’ve not had much experience with that, and it hasn’t always worked out so well. Besides, I’m not racing.

But if the painting wasn’t bad enough the stickers were even worse. Very fiddly to fit, especially the large ones on each side and they all need cutting out. That’s right, you need to trace round each one to get them off the sheet. There’s nothing wrong with the quality of what is printed, it just doesn’t feel very 21st century.

So, after much time I managed to get the car to a near finished state and was ready for the test drive. You could probably build the kits in around 6 hours, and probably paint a body in an hour too, if you’re not so fussy. You will need polycarbonate, or lexan, paints. The bodies are flexible and if you use regular car paint on one of these it will just flake off.

Tamiya M05 2CV Wheels
Tamiya Paints
Tamiya 2CV Bodyshell
Tamiya 2CV Bodyshell Painting
Tamiya 2CV Bodyshell Painting

You’ll need a few other bits. Most of the kits come with the basic Tamiya electronic speed controller. But you’ll need a radio transmitter, receiver, steering servo, battery and charger. 

This can mount up, but there is some really good cheap stuff out there. I have listed the parts I bought and links to who I got them from.

Time Tunnel Models supplied the Tamiya 2CV kit. Lots of great stuff on there and they deliver fast.

Overlander 3300 Mah NiMH 7.2V stick battery

Logic Variable Output AC/DC Delta Peak NiMH Charger NX86

FlySky FS-GT5 2.4G 6CH AFHDS RC Transmitter For RC Car Boat With Receiver O4H

Steering Servo

The radio was slightly more than some alternatives, but I think I’ll have some more use for it with other things. Steering servos aren’t too difficult to source so alternatives are everywhere.

Tamiya Citroen 2CV RC Electronics Install

Was it worth it, yes, definitely? Do I want to buy another, yes I do, and I think I might just do that. There are many different bodies that will fit, but there are loads of classic RC cars out there.

So how does it drive? It’s fun. Ok, I have tried to be careful not to damage the body, even though I’m still going to have to do more to it. The perfectionist in me has come out. But it really does perform just as you’d expect. But it’s also faster too, it accelerates well and seems to have a fair turn of speed.

The FWD handling characteristics are present. Plenty of wheelspin if you want, understeer and lift off oversteer too. The longer wheelbase taming that somewhat, but there is great potential in the car. You can really throw it around and it behaves really well. A huge amount of fun for how much it cost. Now for somewhere good to drive it…

Tamiya Citroen 2CV RC

RC Tamiya 2CV Test Drive

There’s a bit of shakedown test video below to give you an idea.

Simon

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