TamiyaBase.com - Peugeot 306 Maxi WRC

For more details of my builds, see this article: Taking Tamiya bodies to the next level

I think this is my favourite of the Tamiya rally cars. Even though it’s been discontinued for years I managed to bag the last couple of bodies from Tamico. Unfortunately even as a spare part the post holes are drilled so I was unable to do my preferred stealth mounting. The shark fin GPS antennas aren’t period correct but look better than holes in the roof. There’s also an extra Esso sticker covering up the hole in the rear screen.

Like most of the earlier shells this has stickers for lights rather than plastic buckets, so for a more realistic look I used the buckets from the R34 GTR. These needed trimming a little but are a surprisingly good fit. The stickers on this body is a bit of a pain due to the compound curves and I found that the precise sizing of them meant there was no overlap so it was easy to get gaps. A few strips of the same blue vinyl solved the problem though.

Interior wise it has the rally cockpit set rather than the blacked out windows, with home made decals. I couldn’t find any good reference photos for the driver suits and I realise they should probably be white, but I had a spare cockpit tray where the white of the drivers was ruined by a failed liquid mask experiment so I was able to salvage this by painting over with blue. The roll cage is a close replica of the real one, with a couple of changes needed as it’s only half height.

I did my usual details - towing eyes, matt window frames and cut out grille. The rear lights are painted translucent red and smoke with vinyl for the black trim. For long roof aerials I’ve previously used bits of the metal SRB antenna, but this time I got some 1mm styrene rod. This is easier to work with and a lot cheaper too. I wasn’t able to locate the correct wheels in white, but the same design in grey proved no problem to find so I painted a set of those.

I deviated from the box art slightly with the sunstrip, making a deeper version with my own Kuhfarben logos rather than the standard “La Provence” and “La Corse” ones.
Most of my builds have a basic TT-0x or similar chassis but like the Golf I did recently I wanted this to be both special and technically accurate FWD so I picked up an FF-03 Pro. It soon transpired that this wouldn’t work as the 306 shell has too short a front overhang and there is no space for the bumper mounted body posts. The solution came in one of the just released limited edition FF-04 Evo Black Edition chassis. This has the same body post positions as the XV-01 so fits great. It did require the front bumper removing though.

I replaced the rear suspension mount with another 1XD to remove the toe in, and fitted the realistic looking brake discs and callipers. The electrics are all Tamiya, with the latest TBLE-03s ESC and TBLM-02s motor, along with the low profile TSU-06 servo and TRU-07 receiver.