[MOC] RC Daihatsu Hijet S110P

[syclone]

Good Day!
Today I present to you a small-ish 1/11 scale MOC: Daihatsu Hijet S110P

Introduction about the real thing:
This truck belong to a japanese "kei" car category, and the 8th generation (which this model represents) was made between 1994 to 1999.
It features a 660cc inline 3, 31kW EF-NS engine. 

LEGO model:

-Scale: 1/11
-Power: CaDA conroller
-Drive: L-motor, 4x4
-Steering: Servo motor, working steering wheel
-Working headlamps
-Openable doors with locks
-Front strut suspension
-Rear "leaf spring" suspension (flexaxles)
-Openable glovebox
-Openable rear hatch and bed side walls

Wanted to build one of these for quite some time, but the wheel choice was tight - either too wide or just too big. Having made the custom 49.5x14 tyres back in April, they seemed a perfect choice, and now that they're official parts, even better.
The finished build is quite front heavy, as it is to expect, but as a result of this, the suspension is an abolute delight to play with, and is quite responsive. The front axle is a reworked version of the one I made in "Desert Rally car" several years ago. Unfortuntaly, LEGO CV joints are prone to popping out, and the new ones are useless due to how big they are. This means that every now and then the truck becomes wither 3x4 or RWD, but the truck pulls through without much issue.

For control, I ended up using CaDA block, as it has a physical remote and it's much more fun that way. Nonetheless, it is mounted using the anti-studs on the bottom, so BuWizz is a drop-in replacement. PF AAA battery box can also be used with minor mods.

Front bumper posed major challenge to me, as I'm not very well-versed in bricking. Technic solutions looked ugly, and using a brickbuilt grille didn't look good either. Had to use the 1x2 grille tile as a solution, which ended up frowing on me in the end. There's a little SNOT to get everything to allign, but mostly it's just plates&tiles.

Video and more photos below, PDF instructions available on Rebrickable: 
https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-83476/syclone/rc-daihatsu-hijet-s110p/#details

Brickshelf gallery: https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=583241

Thanks for reading!

[amorti]

Looks great, and that's a lot of functionality for something so small.

I guess you also like mighty car mods? They have a pickup kei car in their fleet of modified cars and it looks good fun.

[Gray Gear]

Very cute 

Awd in such a small truck is pretty awesome, but I doubt it has to be really off road capable. After all, these small kei trucks are best suited for urban environments, right?

+respect for the correct Japanese Plates in yellow color, looks so cool. I think I will finally  have to get some printed license plates for my JDM cars as well 

[syclone]

8 hours ago, amorti said:

Looks great, and that's a lot of functionality for something so small.

I guess you also like mighty car mods? They have a pickup kei car in their fleet of modified cars and it looks good fun.

Thanks! Indeed love that channel, lots of fun cars. Also quite a fan of the tuned "sexspec" ones they show, reminds me of "Pimp my Ride" episodes. Their episode on their 10th gen turbocharged Hijet was a fun watch))) Also have a WIP of another generally "unconventional"/rare vehicle they featured... 

8 hours ago, Gray Gear said:

Very cute 

Awd in such a small truck is pretty awesome, but I doubt it has to be really off road capable. After all, these small kei trucks are best suited for urban environments, right?

+respect for the correct Japanese Plates in yellow color, looks so cool. I think I will finally  have to get some printed license plates for my JDM cars as well 

Thanks! A japanese builder on instagram said they're very popular in rural areas, so 4x4 seems to come in handy. Although on the real machine it's only partial, the usual configuration is FWD.

Thanks for the realism points, also made sure to indicate the "480" since it's a small freight vehicle))) Would need a lot of luck in the lottery to get a 33-33 though! Unfortunately screwed up the size, since real plates are 330x165mm, which is a 1:2 aspect ratio - at 1/11 scale a tad smaller than a 2x4 tile... but for some reason 2x3 looked better 

Managed to sneak in two anime references in the kanji and hiragana as well (might be a bit far fetched though) 

Looked into printing them too, but it cost 2-3€ per piece +S&H, ended up printing a laser copy and making a tape transfer, not that good looking up close, but much cheaper for certain.

[Gray Gear]

Very nice. Printing is expensive for sure, but I think if I get plates for all my cars at once it might be worth the cost.

I'd like to get a temporary plate (yellow with red stripe across) for my Widebody RX-7 because I read it is often used to drive tuner cars on the street that wouldn't get a normal plate 

[Hrafn]

Nicely done.

Is that a Panhard bar in the back?