Following last week’s Beyond meet and a drift session with Kanji and his E10, I decided I wanted to change mine a bit.

I promptly went back to the hobby shop so that I could take on a little project over the coming weekend, and that was to paint a new shell for the E10. The tC shell was part of the reason I picked up this car in the first place, so it wasn’t because I didn’t like it. I wanted something more ‘realistic’, should I say, for drifting. Something that was RWD in real life and really used for the sport (without the heavy modifications that the real drifting tCs have seen).

I also wanted something different from the usual 240SX and AE86 bodies, so after some research I opted for an RX-8. It’s available in two widths (190 and 200mm) and I went with the wider so that I could choose from a larger range of wheels.

I also took this as a chance to make something brighter than the Cement tC. I chose Camel Yellow and backed it with some Gloss Aluminum to keep it bright. As far as I could tell this was the yellow shown in the sample pictures on HPI’s website and I liked how it looked.

Following the painting all of the standard decals went on for lights, windows, and other small details. For now I have left off most of the additional decals – there are some large MAZDASPEED and RX-8 decals among others which can be added – but over time I imagine a few more will make their way on.

In these two shots above the body is just placed on the posts, which is why it’s sitting so low. I hadn’t adjusted anything yet.

With everything ready to go I had the RX-8 shell on for last night’s meet and did some more drifting with Kanji. While I chose to go with yellow paint I wasn’t intentionally trying to match it to the Focus, although they go together pretty well!

Even after a couple of incidents last night the shell cleaned up nicely and I’m very pleased with the results of the weekend’s work. I think the chassis itself is also getting set up quite nicely and is getting better for drifting. Step by step this little car is really progressing nicely!

-Bill