The Incredible Custom Tamiya Beetle Builds Of Bruno Lopes

SPONSORED ARTICLE

We at RC Driver enjoy featuring extraordinary homebuilt RC vehicles as a way to acknowledge someone’s creative abilities and to inspire others to create their own special one-offs. Making distinctive homebuilt vehicles is just one of the many cool aspects of this hobby and a master of this facet is Bruno Lopes. We have featured his exceptional builds over a year ago and since then he has been quite busy creating many new ones. Once we saw the latest round of buggies he created, we knew instantly that we had to share them with you. Get ready for the incredible custom Tamiya beetle builds of Bruno Lopes.

Clearly Bruno has a strong affinity for the Volkswagen Beetle based on the fact that the majority of his builds are topped with Tamiya’s 1/10-scale Beetle body. Specifically, the ABS plastic body that is found on the Tamiya Sand Scorcher as well as a couple other Tamiya kits. This has led him to become a master at creating exclusive and distinctive Beetle builds. One of the aspects that he changes up is the chassis he uses underneath the body. The collection of custom buggies featured here utilize three different Tamiya chassis; including the Tamiya Blitzer Beetle chassis which is essentially the Tamiya Falcon, the Tamiya CC-02 4WD chassis and the Tamiya Sand Scorcher.

Tamiya kits that came with the ABS plastic Beetle body.

The main theme in this round of incredible custom Tamiya Beetle builds of Bruno Lopes is Formula 1 racing. Bruno’s passion for F1 inspired him to fuse the iconic Tamiya Beetle body with legendary Formula 1 liveries that you would find in the late 80’s and early 90’s, like the Ferrari 643, Benetton Ford and Williams FW14. This was such an awesome time period in F1 where the racecars were insanely powerful and had minimal driver aids thus making driver skill paramount. This is also the time where there was an explosive mix of legendary drivers by the likes of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen.

Some examples of Bruno’s F1 inspiration for his builds.

TAMIYA BLITZER BEETLE BASED BUILDS

Bruno takes full advantage of his 3D printer and makes his own scale parts that takes his builds to the next level in coolness. The parts he makes include: multi-spoke wheel covers, rear diffuser, roof scoop, rear spoiler, front bumper, side view mirrors, side window scoops, and rear window louvers. His current 3D printer is an ANYCUBIC M3 Plus and does a beautiful job based on the parts he has shared with us.

 

 

Each of the 3D printed parts are designed by Bruno and some he sells online. There was a time he had a store on eBay USA, but the increase in taxes made it impossible to ship affordably to the USA. Therefore, Bruno created a website named, bolimrccustoms.com and created a Facebook page named “bolim rc customs” where people can acquire his products. Unfortunately, at the time of this article, he is unable to ship to the USA. He is hoping that things will change soon to be able to reach the US hobbyist again.

TAMIYA SAND SCORCHER BASED BUILDS

Bruno tells us that his goal is to never make two exactly the same. Each and every one is touched with his own personal creative touch to keep them always unique. That is easier said than done, but obviously Bruno has a lot of creative juices flowing. Depending on his inspiration that day is where he draws his distinguishing personal touch for the vehicle in front of him.

Bruno likes to play with contrasts—adding realistic wear and weathering and then combining it with fresh shiny details.

As you look over all these custom Beetles, you will find that not only full-size F1 cars inspired Bruno since there are some old-school rally and endurance racing liveries here as well.

 

 

The entire process takes quite a bit of time with each vehicle requiring many hours of work. From deciding on the livery, choosing the decals, designing and manufacturing the 3D parts, prepping the body and laying down the paint. And these are not a single coat paint job. There are several light coats of paint sprayed onto the body with time allotted for each coat to dry completely. The last and final coat is always a varnish.

FOLLOWING ARE BRUNO’S DYSTOPIC INSPIRED BUILDS

 

The gnarly looking machine guns used on a couple of these post-apocalyptic builds were designed and printed by Bruno.

TAMIYA CC-02 BASED BUILDS

Following is an example Bruno created for the Tamiya CC-02 4WD truck chassis. It features a cool Shell livery with off-road baja theme complete with roof rack and lightbar.

 

BRUNO LOPES…THE MAN BEHIND THE PAINT

Bruno Lopes (aka Bolim) is the man behind all of the incredible custom Tamiya Beetle builds featured in this article. This Portuguese artisan was drawn to cars at an early age much like the rest of us RC fanatics yet the seed of his passion was planted under truly unique circumstances.

Growing up in Portugal, Bruno’s hometown was a prime viewing spot for the Rally de Portugal. This gave him an unparalleled, front-row seat as the iconic Group B Rally Cars screamed right past his home. He made a point of never missing these events, even admitting to skipping school when necessary to witness the action. This high-octane inspiration eventually led him into the world of RC cars, offering a quick way to get a taste of a thrilling off-road racer, albeit in 1/10-scale.

His RC journey began properly at 22 with his first nitro-powered car. A decade-long break ensued, a common story for many hobbyists, until the birth of his first son brought him back to the fold—permanently. His renewed involvement began with restoring vintage nitro vehicles, but quickly evolved into a drive for extreme custom creations. Bruno expresses a clear preference away from box art. Instead, he thrives on the process of formulating custom-made color combinations by mixing paints and applying personal, special details. This drive to make each vehicle unlike any other is how he has honed the methods necessary to produce this stunning, highly personalized collection of Tamiya buggies.

For more information about Tamiya products, visit: TAMIYA

SPONSORED ARTICLE