1963 Honda T360 Pick Up

This low cost ARII Owner’s Club model kit found its way to my hobby bench and was adapted/upgraded into a ‘low power’ track utility vehicle for The Ring. Background on the box reads:

Honda was established in 1948, and since then, it kept introducing a lot of famous motor bikes. The model “Honda T360” was the first car that Honda produced. It was called “Sport Truck” rather than “Light Truck”. It was mounted with a 354 cc, 4-carb HOHC engine, and could make the maximum 30 hp. Two months later, “Honda Sport 500” was marketed.

It is tiny (but tall):

• body measures approx. 92mm x 40mm;
• front and rear track of 39mm;
• wheelbase of approx. 63mm with guide post set approx. 66mm from rear axle; and
• weighs approx. 61.2mm (complete).

I kept it cheap by using a DArt guide, BWMS050 motor, 8T BWA pinion, scavenged Scalextric 28T crown gear, piano wire for axles and 1/8″ brass tubing in place of bushings. In its finished form it is smooth and quiet but for my taste would still benefit with a 10T pinion – which it may get yet – time will tell…

Since pictures are ‘worth a 1000 words’ here are some pictures of this build. You will note I first planned to use styrene clamps to fix the rear of the body to the rear axle sleeves but bailed on that plan for a more reliable method. A rear frame made from piano wire covered by tissue paper soaked in a solution of H2O and white glue (as suggested by f1nutz) plus DArt fog lamps were later added to this model. Several parts were extensively modified as the pictures indicate. I used navy blue tent repair tape to cover the sides of exposed motor and some scrap patio umbrella fabric (painted with a dark wash) courtesy of Porsche911 as mud flaps to cover the crown gear.

It is fun building something that isn’t meant to race… Cheers!