Real Deal '64 truly is the beginning of a
new era in the world of lowrider model
cars.
This 1/24 scale 1964 Chevy Impala
lowrider model car bridges the gap
between static model building and
workin radio controlled lowrider model cars. Capturing all the details inc. original chromed suspension, chromed engine, full interior, pumps in the trunk and fully functional features by radio control.
The detailling and paintjob on Real Real
are done by my homie Ryan from
Scale Lows custom lowrider model car
parts make sure to check out his website with the coolest lowrider parts out there.

was a long and difficult process.
I had to do lot's of redesigning,
refiguring and installs to get it right.
The idea of having a 1/25 scale model
lowrider with real working suspension
I had from the day I started out building
lowrider model cars back in '92.
I simply knew that one day it would be possible to create such a ride but never realised that it would be radio controlled as well.
Because I really wanted to put all my
attention on creating and building the
working setup on this model car I teamed up with Ryan Happe from Scalelows in Indiana. I know Ryan for many years now thru Lay it Low forums and was really
impressed by the way he detailled and
painted his lowrider model cars

with a Revell 1/25 Chevy Impala model kit since it has a lot of details like
seperate suspension parts and opened
hood and trunk lit.
I wanted the car to be a convertible to get maximum exposure on the interior so that people will see that no working parts are
placed inside the interior.
The chassis with this model kit also comes
as a seperate item which makes it is a lot
easier to work with.
To get a more dramatic lift effect on the
front I extended the original upper A-arms
so that it can travel a bit further
downwards. The lower A-arms I
kept original. I tried several ways of
attaching the spindle to the A-arms and
the best way is to use one needle pin
with cushions to gain enough flexibillity.
I created nuts by stripping electrical wire
and used the isolation cutting tiny pieces
from it.
Because the upper A-arms are extended
you notice the wheels crawling inside.
This is called butterflying and is commonly seen on lowrider cars that have extended
A-arms. I used a ballpoint spring that's
mounted between the lower A-arm and cylinder. Since the car is light it won't have
any real effect but it looks cool when you see the spring being compressed when the model car lifts.

Cylinders I created out of allu tubing and
chrome rivets that act as cups they hold the springs in place on the cylinders.
I choose to go for a coil over setup having the spring sit over the cylinder compressed
against the model cars chassis.
The rear trailing arms are made of brass
and covered with pvc chrome tape to
give it that bit of bling.
I had a good idea on how the front suspension was going to work but the
rear setup gave me lot's of headaches
and it was far from ready when I send
the kit out to Ryan. It took another year
to come up with the best solution to make
the rear lift like as I had envisioned starting
out with this model car project.
Unfortunatly at this point I can't reveal
too much on the way this setup works
because of business reasons.
Ryan took great care of the model car by
removing the top and painting the car a
blend of orange candies over pearl white.
The interior was painted Tamiya sand in
combo with the candy orange gives it a sunny feel.
Ryan used lot's of photo etched parts to
add more realism to the model car
like the grill and emblems. Parts were send out to be chromed to give it a rich finish but
we didn't want the car to be a trailer queen
but more of a classy street ride without
graphics and too much bling.

After I got the model car back from Ryan I started working on having all
the moving parts installed. I tried several setups for the rear and finally come up with one that works like the real thing and is relialable enough.
The front setup was a paint to get right both cylinders need to extend to the
same height so I had to do a lot of
adjusting to get right stroke.
The steering linkage was also a pain
in the rear and it still isn't perfect.
To create the individual linkage parts
I used paperclips flatenned the ends
using a hammer and than drilled a tiny
hole. It's the smallest working part I
ever had to construct but it looks
awesome.
To adjust the length of the steering rods I used allu tubing and slid them
on the rod, adjust and glued.
I used the electronics of a cheap radio
control micro car and tweaked the
PCB on both the transmitter and
receiver so that it had enough
functionality to control all four corners.
I managed to hide all the working
components even the trunk area is
empty although under the "battery"
covers I placed small pieces of lead to
make the car slide into 3 wheel motion more easilly.
the car is juiced by a 3,7V lipoly
battery that delivers enough power for
the radio control receiver and motors
for at least an hour of operation.
Operating this ride takes some
practise since it has a continious
motion setup. By pushing the switch
the motors begin to run making the car
go up and down in one continous
motion. Newer versions of this setup
will feature radio controlled up and down limiters so that the motors cuts off when the model car is raised or lowered.
Real Deal definitly gets an episode two
so keep an eye open!