After building a couple of Tamiya TT-02 radio-controlled cars recently, I wanted to try something different and perhaps harder.

Cool Toys in Napier had a very cool looking Kyosho Turbo Optima on display for some time. It had brass and metal parts and, being Kyosho, was known for high quality Japanese production.

I had seen a couple YouTube videos of the kit being put together, which sealed the deal – When I had some spare disposable income I bit the bullet, well brass bits at least, and bought it.

The kitset sat in my garage for almost a year, as I needed the time, desk space and will to build it because, once opened, the kit seemed quite formidable (and not just because half the sizeable instruction manual was written in Japanese Kanji.)

Fortunately all I had to do was follow what was written in typical, locigal Japanese efficiency on the cover of the manual:

“Before beginning assembly please read these instructions thoroughly”

I was made redundant from my job of 21 years in November, so suddenly.had a lot of spare time.

Just not immediately.

After helping out at school camp, umpiring a Cenrral Districts age group cricket tournament and getting through Christmas, I opened the first parts packet and put the first sections (drive belt and differentials) together on New Year’s Eve, 2025

Purposefully plodding through the pages saw the sleek steel buggy slowly come together.

I had a few moments of blind panic, where it turned out I had bolted bits together in the wrong order, or around the wrong way.

On one occasion a screw decided it did not like the idea of being un-screwed and allowing me to turn one of the main chassis frame braces 90 degrees into its correct position. I ended up having to undo the parts around the brace, pull it out and spin the brace around the screw to undo it.

The offending screw then went happily into its right-angled home without protest.

<SIGH!>

It was very easy to feel overwhelmed doing this build – It was so much more advanced than anything I had previously built. There were so many small parts, so much that could go wrong.

I had a couple of moments when tiny metal “C-clips” when flying. Fortunately the Model Fates were smiling upon me, as they either landed back on the work surface, or fell straight down to my feet.

In all other situations it was a case of:

“Before beginning assembly please read these instructions thoroughly”

I swear that is basically Haiku (with a few spare syllables)!

Building your own oil-filled, pneumatic shock absorbers was a new experience, too.

After the stress of errant airborne C-clips, it didn’t seem so hard taking a couple of attempts to get the right amount of oil in each tube to ensure a flat, level buggy and easier steering once it got running.

As the car got bigger and the pile of parts bags got smaller building continued to be unexpectedly easy – With much of the chassis built, other parts needed to be added internally, but preset holes and spaces made for easy access to add the final bits and pieces.

With the chassis as complete as I needed it was time to start painting the body.

The Optima actually came with a driver, so I started with that to reaquaint myself with painting clear polycarbonate inside out.

It also gave me a good use for the spray paint left over from painting my precious Tamiya RC cars – At least one of the cans ran dry on the last driver coat!

With the driver painted and decaled it was onto the body. After cleaning it with warm water and dishwashing liquid then drying thoroughly to get rid of any casting residue and ensure the pain would adhere properly, it was time to mask the body.

And mask.

And mask.

The box art had the car in only two colors – Red and White, but making sure the lines were crisp and defined, without any colour bleed was essential, hence the truckload of masking tape.

Fortunately Kyosho provides several sheets of pre-cut masking for windows and side pods.

With the Optima’s body successfully painted and the wheel arches cut out, the last stage involved lots of decals, giving the buggy an authentic racing look:

Overall, the build was a great experience once I got over the enormity and complexity of a multi-paged, kanji-filled instruction manual.

All I had to do was work slowly and read the instructions thoroughly!