My Wild Willy 2 when it arrived

As mentioned at the beginning, this model is new, entirely built, painted and decorated. Good thing too, it is already fully equipped with ball bearings (16 type 1150).

So, there's nothing to do on this model except one detail: for aesthetics, I chose to replace the aluminum hydraulic dampers already mounted with Tamiya 50519 dampers which are black. On motor side, the 540 Mabuchi is powerful enough: the goal with Willy is not to drive it fast but to drive it "artistically" 

There's not much to do on this model that was perfectly built, painted and decorated. For obvious protection reason during transportation, some parts need to be rebuilt. Willy's arm got loose but glue will give it back its both hands.

Even at rest, the front drivetrain is seriously lower than the rear drivetrain as if it was already anticipating a very hot start. By the way, do not forget to glue the tires on the rims, especially at the rear (the front wheels won't be used that much anyway ). 

Every cable is tied, the electronics is set up, the battery is filled with electrons: now it's time to let Willy go wild.

First runs

More than a real first run, I mainly made a test run to check that Willy was in good shape and also to shoot it before any stunt. At the first throttle hit, Willy immediately checked if the sky was there above its head: a few meters further, the wheelie bar couldn't handle its fury anymore and the rear fake spare wheel received its first scratches  

That's Willy, he's ardent, impatient and nervous: you'd better take photos before plugging electrons or you'll never be able to say "believe me, it does not come out of the box with scratches, I can prove it"  

So Willy replaces Vanessa in my collection and I don't have any regret. Anytime, I could push throttle to make my Lunch Box go wheeling, but without even realizing, I soon tried to make it handle better as the different chassis modifications I made can attest. With Willy, you just can't go serious: this model was not designed for that. Even when it just stands quiet, you can't believe it can be serious and once driving it, you are sure it can't be: Willy is a crazy driver and the goal is to try to have control over it while you are laughing. Compared to the Lunch Box, the Wild Willy II is much quicker, more uncontrollable but with a less erratic handling. In the end, I have tons more fun driving it artistically because I never had any intention at any moment to drive it more seriously. I believe this is Tamiya true brilliant idea behind Willy: fun, more fun and nothing else but pure fun.

Related article

• The interview of Willy by BaraToZ