How I enhanced the Cada C55018W Initial D AE86 Trueno (started out as a review)

 

*the above picture is not mine.  I found it on the internet.

Hello brick fans!  Just wanted to let you know that I recently won an Initial D prize pack that was part of a Cada contest on Facebook.  The prize pack included two small sets from Cada, the Fujiwara Tofu Shop C61033W and this Toyota AE86 C55018W.   

If you are interested in these sets, be sure to check out my Cada discount code at the end of this post!

Thank you Cada!

In this post I'll do a quick review of the Toyota AE86 set, a black and white drift car featured in the very popular anime series called Initial D by manga author Shuichi Shigeno.  The owner of a Tofu shop uses the car to make deliveries and ultimately it becomes a race car.

Here's some pictures I found on the internet of the featured vehicle.

Shuichi Shigeno standing next to his real AE86.

You can read more about it on the Initial D wiki page which can be found here: https://initiald.fandom.com/wiki/Initial_D_Wiki

After the short set review, I will detail the enhancements I made to my AE86 model.

Set Details

Brand: Cada

Set: C55018W Initial D Toyota AE86 Trueno

Piece count: 72pcs

Numbered bags? No

Stickers or printed parts? Both

Missing or deformed pieces: No

Extra parts: No

Minifigures: No

Lighting kit: No

Brick Quality and Clutch: Great

Measurements (approx): 1/35 scale

Age Rating: 8+

Unboxing

The Toyota AE86 set came in it's own box, but packaged together with the Tofu shop set.  Initial D artwork is featured on the cover of the box.  On the back of the box is the name of the Fujiwara Tofu Shop.

Inside the box, you get a thin booklet for the instructions, two sticker sheets and four bags of parts.  According to the Cada website there are a total of 72 pieces.

Unpacked, I counted a total of 75 pieces, 3 more than what Cada indicated.  Thr body panels, front and rear bumpers have printed details, but the fine details such as badging, lighting and license plates are added via the included stickers.

Assembling the AE86

As you can imagine, with only 75 parts, this is a very easy set to put together, great for kids.  

* not my pic, I forgot to take a shot like this.  Basically this is the original interior.

The Cada set is sort of a hybrid between a Lego style set and a plastic model kit with the pre-molded body panels, hood and bumpers.  The entire roof attached to the window panel but the rear window is blacked out.  You can even open the hood to display the engine block.  Other features include the side mirrors and the pop up headlights.

On the downside of this set, you can't open the doors or access the trunk, since there is no interior to speak of.  The car is supposed to be 1/35 scale which makes it slightly larger than minifigure scale which is estimated to be around 1/45 scale.  As such, no minifigures are provided with this set either.  But as we find out later, we can still put one inside.

So, I don't know why, but I got really distracted by the size of the wheels on the AE86. When I put them on the car, they look like giant marshmallows or steamrollers, to me anyways.  

At this point, I stopped taking pictures of the model and started rummaging through my parts bin to see if I could find some smaller wheels.  That's why you don't see any pictures of my finished original model, it's because I had already started to modify it.

Enhancing the AE86

Pictured above left are the original wheels and technic attachment axles used by Cada for the AE86.  On the right is the smaller diameter wheel and brick axle I decided to use instead.  It's a simple part swap that can be done by anyone if you have the parts.  

These are the same wheels used for the Lego caravan set 60182.

There's a lot more clearance in the wheel wells with the smaller tires.

I like that the new wheels actually lowers the stance of the car.  It actually looks more proportionate in my opinion.  So did anyone notice anything else what else looks different with the car?   There's actually two other things!

Did you guess the headlights?  Good for you!  So I also discovered that by replacing the headlights with a curved 1x1 brick, it puts the AE86 headlights into daytime driving mode.

Before.

After.  And I can swap the bricks anytime depending on how I want to display the AE86.

Here's a few more pictures.

I don't normally apply stickers to my building block sets, but the AE86 just wouldn't be the same without the Fujiwara Tofu Shop logo.

Are you wondering what's under the hood?  Oh yes, that may or may not be my minifigure representation of Bunta Fujiwara.  He was the best I could cobble together with the minifig pieces I had.  My answer on whether the Cada AE86 is minifigure compatible or not is Yes!

It's hard to see with the tinted windows, but you can definitely put a minifigure inside.

C'mon, you didn't really think I could enhance the exterior, yet leave the interior alone did you?  

There wasn't any interior in the kit, but I managed to squeeze as much detail as I could into the AE86.  This includes, a dashboard and steering wheel, a cup of water, and a stick shifter.   Initial D fans will understand the meaning of the cup.

My interpretation of tofu for delivery, lol.

Due to headroom constraints with minifigure added to the interior, I couldn't also add in a seat, so this was all I could do.  Can it be made better?  Let me know.

Some final thoughts.  Fit and finish were pretty good.  Some minor smudges on my roof panel which you might not notice if you don't look too closely.  All the parts fit together well and nothing fell off when handled.  The car rolls both well with the original and the retrofitted wheels.  I'm going to give this set a 4 out of 5 ,with points deducted for the large wheels, the lack of interior, the lack of minifigures and all of the stickers.  But it displays really well, if you just swap out the wheels.

Anyways, I hope you've had as much fun looking at the pictures, as I've had taking them.   Thanks again to Cada for the contest!

All three of the Initial D sets are available for purchase on the Cada website. Use my coupon code ITSNOTLEGO to save 5% at checkout.

Initial D AE86 Trueno C55018W

Initial D Fujiwara Tofu Shop Facade C61033W

Initial D Fujiwara Tofu Shop Modular Building C61031W

See ya next time, bye!

I completely rebuilt the Cada C66007 Japanese Summer Breeze Coffee Shop (not Lego MOC)

 

Hey guys, I'm back to show you another set of mods I made to my Lego compatible Cada Japanese shops.  Today, we will be looking at my major revision to the Summer Breeze Coffee Shop C66007 building block set.  

I have been updating my Cada Japanese shops to conform to the standard baseplate dimensions of 16x32 studs, and the summer breeze coffee shop is the last building to get the treatment.  I use the MILS system to strengthen the baseplate for easy handling and rigidity.

In case you are new here, or are unfamiliar with the Cada Summer Breeze Coffee Shop, here are a few pictures I took earlier this year.  It's a smallish building with an even smaller baseplate.

It's a very unique design from designer exesandbox, however I found it too small to display with my minifigures.

And it was really cramped behind the counter!

For this modification, I plan to enlarge the building to make the inside roomier.  Here was my initial idea after disassembling the coffee shop.  I pretty much deconstructed the entire building and rebuilt it from the ground up.  

Here's a complete list of the modifications I made:

• convert to standard size baseplate
• convert to MILS system
• widen front sidewalk
• add rear patio
• increase the interior space
• change the floor tiles
• reduce the height, and shorten the serving counter
• improve distance between counter and back wall
• add separate counter for seating and relocate stools
• add a clock
• move the service entrance from the side to rear of building
• move the shelf to the side wall
• add a shelf and coffee cups
• add a standard door for service entrance
• change the front window glass to turquoise
• add an extra chair and table
• add two removable glass panel walls to side of the shop
• remove two display cases
• remove the side awning
• retain as much roof detail as possible
• modify the rear wall exterior detail
• add barista and customer minifigures

Now, just enjoy the picture tour and see if you can find all of the modifications I listed above.

Of all of the Cada shop mods I have done, this one was the most challenging, because I had to pretty much reconstruct everything including the floor and the  walls.  But I still wanted to retain the essence of the exesandbox design as much as possible.  The only major item I had to discard from the original design was the slide-out awning on the side of the building.

With the expanded interior and the removable side wall, coffee shop patrons can truly take advantage of those summer breezes.

Here's my other Cada shop modification posts:

Cada Japanese Tea Shop C66010 mods

Cada Japanese Steamed Bun Shop C66006 mods

And here are my reviews of the original sets, designed by exesandbox:

Cada C66006 Japanese Steamed Bun Shop Set Review

Cada C66007 Japanese Summer Breeze Coffee Shop set review

Cada C66010 Japanese Tea Shop Set Review

Want this set?  Get it from Afobrick.com, and don't forget to get an extra 5% off using code itsnotlego.

My project to completely convert every Cada modular building is now complete!

Thanks for looking, bye for now!