The Tyrrell P34 is one of the most unusual Formula One cars ever made for the track with its 6 wheels. For Tamiya to make an RC version, it has certainly gone down well with Formula One RC enthusiasts and is something very different to the other Formula One RC cars available. So what do you get in the box for your money? Let's find out.
Opening the box
The first thing you’ll notice when you open the box is the Tyrell P34 body. While it does look like it is painted, they are actually just coloured plastic that requires painting. I’m sure a number of people will just put the decals on and put a layer of clear coat over and that should look nice enough, but for those who are like me and one for attention to detail, then it does list in the manual the Tamiya TS spray cans required for the body as well as the other Tamiya paints required for the other items in the kit.
The main plastic body comes in 2 parts, the main body (in blue) and the top body (in white) and they are secured together by tape for now, until you decide to either paint before putting decals on, or just putting the decals on before a layer of clear coat. The one thing I like is there is a couple of bits on the blue part of the body that allows you to easily hold it while you are spraying your coat of Tamiya TS paint. It sounds silly to some, but it does help!
One of the other things you notice straight away when you open the box is the big, chunky foam tyres. It’s certainly strange seeing the 6 tyres in there! The front tyres are quite a bit more narrow and smaller in size compared to the huge rear tyres, which are accurate to the real life Tyrrell P34.
The other thing that is in the box when you open it is the ESC, which is a standard Carrson ESC that comes in a number of Tamiya kits nowadays.
There is then the product manual and the decal sheets. The decal is of the Tyrrell P34 from the 1977 Argentine GP and you can choose whether to do the livery of the number 3 car driven by Ronnie Peterson, or the number 4 car driven by Patrick Depailler, the decal sheet even includes the decals to do either of the drivers helmet too which is little bits of attention to detail I like.
What else is in the box?
When you take everything out of the box, it includes all the items in the image above. Bag number 1 features the blue plastic parts for the rear spoiler on the car. Bag number 2 includes all your bags to include screws, bearings, washers, springs etc to get your Tyrrell P34 up and running. Bag number 3 is the cockpit and drivers helmet, which will require painting before installing. The paints required are listed in the manual and they do vary for the helmet colour depending on which drivers helmet you are looking at painting. Bag number 4 is the plastic radiator parts for the main body that require painting before being glued into the body. Bag number 5 includes your plastic parts that will be used for the chassis which include body posts and rear wheel centres etc. Bag number 6 is your plastic wheels that you fit your foam tyres to. The only criticism I have of this is that it requires the included double sided tape to secure the foam tyres to the wheel, and believe me they are quite a pain to fit and I would definitely recommend watching a youtube video to see how people have fitted them before attempting it yourself. I would also recommend getting some spare sets of tyres as I can’t imagine them being in stock all the time too. Bag number 7 is of the chassis which is split into several parts, but it is really high quality and extremely light when all built up.
The other items that would be required to get your Tamiya F103 Tyrrell P34 six wheeler ready to go (except your paint for the body and cockpit etc) are listed below:
