Tip for lowering vehicles

[Andy]

I know this is a big military community, but I'm glad to be a part of the few that build civilian sedans and sports cars. I usually build them up to how I would picture myself having them in real life. I have a huge like for slammed cars, and not a lot of help is offered to do this on model cars.

I came up(well I'm sure it's been done before!) with a way to lower the cars while still saving the turning function that some models offer. I'll show this on a Fujimi Lexus IS350.

Fujimi and Tamiya models can be especially hard to modify because of their intricate way of building up suspensions. Revell models are usually a bit easier, and consist of just cutting the spindle and moving it up some, like on this VW Golf MK2




And look something like this when in position




I had started with the rear suspension prior to coming up with the idea to document it, but I'll try my best to write up how I did it.



This is the top view. I cut out the wheel wells so the wheels have a place to sit in, otherwise the wheels will hit the wells and won't match up to the spindle. The wheels used for this build are Fujimi's 20 inch BBS no. 57.

The spring and spindle were molded into one piece, so I cut the spindle part off and made some spacers out of styrene. This measured out to a little more than 1/16'' I reinforced the spring with some more styrene.


This is what it looks like when it's positioned


It's very simple and quite easy with some creativity, patience, and accuracy. ALWAYS DRY FIT!

The front suspension was the fun part. These were a bit more difficult.


Again, the spring is attached to the spindle, so I cut the spindle off using a dremel tool


The same 1/16'' measurement of styrene for spacers. This CAN be eyeballed, but you run the risk of ruining the alignment. Take that extra 5 minutes and measure. This saves some massive headaches later.




The wheel was hitting the spring when it was mounted due to too much sanding, so a bit of styrene hallow tubing was place over the spindle to give the wheel space. Here is one completed.


Both spindles completed


As you can see, the turning is still functioning. In theory, the wheels can also spin, but due to the size of the wheels, they just barely have enough room on the inside of the car. So they'll be fixed.


Excuse the blurriness


And that's all there is to it.







This is usually the first step when I build, so no paint has gone on yet, and I have yet to dechrome the rims.

I hope this helped you or at least sparked an idea! I would've loved to come across some tutorials or tips for this, but there aren't many out there.

[coladito1]

Amazing Andy! yes if you can write step by step that would be great!! Thank you so much for sharing this!

[Lee]

Nothing like a slammed car