After many projects and lots of cash spent, I wanted to see if I could restore a car on a budget. This car was the perfect starting place. It was in good condition to start with and only needed time and effort to put right. In fact, The only parts replaced were the front bumper & roof for the body. I had a few new small parts spare too.

My idea was to clean, Polish, Spray paint anything I could. Most of the alloy parts have been sprayed with some silver automotive paint, And the results are pretty good. The rest of the chassis has been polished or cleaned really well. I find polishing a pain in the @rse! But if you do it right, You can get some good results. There are many ways of polishing, But here's a few use. I don't go mad trying to make everything a mirror finish, It just don't look right. Were any of the parts shiny new? No. I used 1500 grain wet & dry paper to do the roll over bar & rear hoop around the gearbox. The fibre glass chassis parts can be cleaned up nice with the same paper, But use 400 grain around the edges to get rid of the ground in dirt & freshen the fibre glass up. Works a treat. Try it on the upper & lower decks. A wire brush can also work well.
Where ever you can, Try & use new screws/nuts. If you don't have many use them in places where they are seen the most. All wires can also be cleaned up with meths. We are now ready to begin build if everything is clean & ready.

You don't need to know this really, But just follow the manual carefully & the build is very simple with no problems. Here's a break down anyway..

Steps 1, 2 & 3
Are the gearbox build. Remember if your building a shelf queen, Don't worry too much about loads of grease & oil. And you don't need the silicon sealant & screw lock.

Steps 4, 5 & 6
You are just finishing off the gearbox & onto the rear shock. Remember not to tighten those screws up too much. It just cracks the plastic so easy.

Steps 7, 8 & 9
Finish off the rear shock build & mount everything to the gearbox. The tie wrap around the neck of the damper oil bottle needs to b very tight to try & stop oil escaping. But it will anyway!

Step 10
Fit the main chassis parts & mounts.

Step 11
My fave! Dampers.. Not!! If you have never built any SRB dampers before, Be very careful not to mark those nice soft alloy damper bodies. If you do have to use pliers to hold them, Use a thick cloth & pliers with no gripping teeth on them if possible. Again don't bother with a lot of oil if it's going on display.

Step 12
Servo saver. I had some rusty steering arms, So I cleaned them up with the wire brush & sprayed them satin black using automotive paint again. Great result! You can spray the ball end connectors too as they are black metal.

Steps 13, 14, 15 & 16
It's time to build all the front end. No problems here. But don't forget those tie wraps!

Step 17
The front bumper is always a nice thing to fit. Be careful though, Sometimes the holes are a tad too small & will take a good push over the four allen screws.

Steps 18, 19 & 20
If you are fitting radio, Now is the time. I did, But I usually don't. My radio I got with the car is illegal here in the UK (75mhz) so it stayed in there & to be honest it's better for the Champ as the chassis looks bare with no radio.

Step 21, 22, 23 & 24
Chassis upper deck time. This again is all very straight forward stuff. If you don't want to cut up a nice new switch cover to glue on the under side of the upper deck. Find an old perished one with a good top. Mine had the sides bust, So it was perfect to cut up. If your radio is not much good to look at cover it up with some nice new balloons like it says in step 22.

Steps 25 & 26
Great! Time to build & fit those wheels. Love this. Don't use any glue. Not needed anytime on any SRB wheels/tyres. Just makes a dam mess!

Steps 27, 28 & 29
The body! Oh yes, It's time for some hard work! You know you want it! Right, Well forget about using the blue plastic body of the Champ as a starting block. They need some proper paint to look good. My body was good, But needed a bit of work around the body mount holes as the clips had been digging in the plastic. I sprayed all the body first with primer after a good clean to see what I needed to work on. Primer shows everything up. Now after another coat of primer & flatted back with 1500 grain paper, We are ready for some colour. I chose a nice dark metallic Tamiya colour, TS51 Racing Blue. I just don't like the standard Tamiya blue it's soo dull! Plus the metallic brings out the decals better. Remember to start spraying the inside of the body first to get rid of the white primer overspray. Easy body to spray this one. Just don't go too mad & get those horrid runs! Oh and use something to hold it with on the inside. Make something up

After a day or so, I put just one coat of lacquer on. Then after leaving for a few days to rest, You can start flatting back the paint with 1500 grain again & polishing. Be very careful not to go through!!
Time to detail. Well, I put the decals on first as I couldn't wait! And they are simple to apply. Just be careful with those front stripes.

Not a lot of detail to do, But it's gota be done right as it's on show. Especially that red roll cage. I didn't spray any of it. I just painted some matt yellow on first as a base, Then the matt red or satin red will do. It looks nice because I used new paint & it goes on great with a soft brush. When it's dry you can fit that gorgeous new roof.

I masked up the side vents before I painted them silver. The spot light are easy to paint if they haven't been glued together. Mine had. So I just masked them up. Last as usual is the driver. Keep him/her simple if you don't like painting. I always do mine simple & maybe a bit of a design on the helmet if I'm in the mood. Always use matt paint on the driver, Looks far more realistic. Use gloss on the helmet colour only. Even the black helmet trim is matt or satin. Eyes can be easy to paint if you have a steady hand. Just pop a tiny bit of white in there & when dry all you need is one tiny drop of black paint for his pupils. Keep them both central & keep him looking forward. Always looks daft with bog eyes! Fit your driver & window meshing. If you don't have any wire for the mesh. Cut up some motor or battery wire & take out a strand of wire. Works great. Now you should be all done & looking smart! Oh, Be very careful fitting those body clips. See steps 30 &31 in the manual.

Cheers for reading, I hope it's helped in some way. Before you go have a look at the before and after shots, I'm sure you'll appreciate the improvements!