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Note: This build log is excerpted from my web site . You can check there for larger versions of every photo or further reading.

This is the first touring car I ever built. I acquired it as an impulse buy at my local hobby store because it was so cheap and I didn't have any open projects at the time. I didn't really know what to expect, but wasn't expecting much based on the low price. I was very pleasantly surprised with the performance, and especially the appearance. This thing is gorgeous.

The TT series are Tamiya's entry level touring car chassis. The TT-01 was produced from 2003-2012, with the TT-02 being introduced in 2013. The very first model was the 58560 Ferrari 458, and this chassis went on to be used for dozens more models becoming the most commonly used touring car chassis type of the modern era. The Acura NSX that I bought came out in 2016. This is a one piece bathtub style chassis with shaft drive and four wheel double wishbone independent suspension. Out of the box it uses plastic CVA shocks and a "torque tuned" motor. The difference between this and a standard silver can is 25 turns versus 27 turns which makes it a bit faster. For just over $100, it actually came with both the motor and ESC!

The real star of the show is the beautifully sculpted body. With 100+ stickers to install, it really has a lot of detail including faux carbon fiber and headlight lenses which sit behind the polycarbonate body shell.

As my first touring car, I was amazed at how much differently it handled compared to a truck. Only later did I realize how simple it was compared with more advanced touring cars. The stock motor is plenty, but the box stock steering is pretty bad with a lot of slop which makes it difficult to go straight. I actually tried a brushless motor but found it to be too much for the capabilities of the chassis so I reverted. In a moment of weakness I made a huge number of aluminum upgrades to this one which you can read about below.

I took very few pictures of this model during assembly because I built it with my daughter and I was concentrating on teaching her how things work. Still, I got a couple of good shots. Here is the simple and small box.
Pretty much everything in this model is plastic including the gears and drive shafts. This image shows the plastic gear differential which cannot be locked or filled. You just add grease. The suspension does not have any metal pins and the model uses plastic bushings rather than bearings (which I immediately replaced). It was fun to explain to my daughter why bearings are better than bushings and I knew I was successful when she asked "why would anyone use plastic bushings?".
Now we jump straight to the end and take a look at the suspension and steering. The left hand image shows the front suspension. The upper and lower suspension links and steering links are all fixed length so there is no adjustability. The receiver needs to be mounted on top of the steering servo. The Traxxas receiver you see here was just a placeholder until I got my Spektrum. The right hand image shows the rear suspension. The arms are basically the same. You can see the motor mount which includes a scoop to funnel air to the motor. The motor never gets even remotely warm anyway. The fixed size battery compartment locks with cotter pins. The tires look really nice but do not include foams.
The completed chassis looks pretty clean. From the bottom view you can see the one piece bathtub that makes the whole thing so strong. The wires are a bit of a mess since the ESC is directly next to the motor but the wires are pretty long. I had to coil them up. I didn't want to clip them in case I end up stealing this brushless capable controller for a different model some day.
Finishing the body with two colors and a huge number of stickers took longer than the build, but it sure does look nice. In fact, I was motivated to add trim tape to add all the seams to the body which turned out great. The wheels are also a perfect match for this model. The model can be finished in either Acura livery for North America or Honda livery for everywhere else. The second image shows the model next to another NSX which I happened to build the same week but is quite different inside.

The very first thing I did was to add some foams to the insides of the tires for additional support. This made it handle my rough road a lot better.
When I saw this aluminum conversion kit from Yeah racing I was sorely tempted. I knew that adding a bunch of aluminum parts to this simple chassis probably wouldn't make it much better, but it looks so cool! So I tool the plunge and spent more on an upgrade set than the original kit. The image on the right shows the huge pile of stuff that comes in the box. Besides the aluminum parts it also comes with a full set of ball bearings and a fan. This upgrade pretty much entailed tearing the whole model back down into kit form and rebuilding from scratch.
Wow, look at this crazy thing! The left hand picture shows the front suspension. You can see the new upper and lower arms, the steering hubs, the wheel hexes and nuts, the shock tower, and the bumper support. The shocks also came with the upgrade kit and they are really nice. They are quite similar to TRF shocks in assembly and detail. I was impressed for the price. They even came with multiple sets of springs in different rates. The right hand image shows the rear suspension which has a similar list of parts. The weak point in the upgrade is the upper links. They are turnbuckle type so you can adjust camber, but the threaded turnbuckle part is very weak. I buckled one the first time I hit a bump. Since the part is retained with set screws, I was able to substitute a fixed length of smooth stainless steel rod which has worked fine. The set screws hold it at a set length.
A few more views of the upgraded chassis. In the left image you can see the battery retainer and the center drive shaft. The outdrives are nice CVD units. There is also a little heat sink. It is intended to be used in a pair to support the included fan, but the fan was so loud I couldn't stand to use it and reverted to the original plastic scoop. In the second image you can see the nice steering linkage supported by ball bearings. It helped a lot with the steering slop. I did not use the spool that came with the upgrade kit since I prefer an open differential.
This was an experiment with insanity. Since the chassis looked so nice and I already had a brushless capable ESC, I though I would try swapping out the stock Torque Tuned motor for a 10.5 turn brushless. It was certainly a lot faster, but the suspension couldn't really handle the speed on my bumpy road. I took the motor back out and used it in another model. The reverted NSX is now one of the most expensive versions of an entry level car with a stock power system you could ask for! I still gasp at the beauty every time I take the body off though, so it was worth it. In the right hand image you can see the aluminum motor mount with the gear cover removed. It is hidden in the left hand image.

Sadly I took these pictures after the front bumper had already received a bit of battle damage.
When I chose the color for this car I picked metallic red only because I thought it was a good color. The box shows the car in white. It was only later when I was searching for photos of the real thing that I found out Honda's prototype was this same color! These photos show you how accurate the model is.

Amazing rednessix

Red it was, Red it is.
tamiyabase.com/...8094-58094

I learned that not every touring car is the same.

I'm a big fan of the old NSX, and quite excited about the new one as well.
The red Prototype pictures are just amazing and shows, like you say, the fine details of the Tamiya model.

In addition you've made that insane chassis with all the red bits. It's looking GREAT!