Dakar, Super Deformed Style

You might have seen the SD Gundams or similar mecha or characters, well vehicles are not immune to the SD treatment either.

Oniya, a Japanese paper model designer has recreated various rally, sportscars and even the record breaking Suzuki Grand Vitara of Monster Nakajima, representing the record breaking car from the 2007 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, in the Super Deformed style.

He even recreated the 2007 and 2008 entries from Hino Team Sugawara.

Oniya posted on his website both team trucks, driven by Teru and Yoshi Sugawara.

One of the interesting things about Team Sugawara, at least to me, they have the distinction of being recognized by the Guinness World Records, as the only team with 25 consecutive appearances in the Dakar rally, from 1983 to 2007.

Oniya released the models in pepakura's pdo format, for my own sanity, I printed the files though Acrobat Distiller, and created the pdf files in order for me to print them easily.
One of the things I lucked out on was the placement of the parts, they all fell within the bounds of a Letter size sheet of cardstock.

The model itself is pretty easy, nothing that will trip up anyone with experience.
I can do it, so can you.....

I have waiting in the on deck file, both of Yoshi's trucks, so when the mood strikes me to finish the team, it will also add nicely to my growing Japanese Dakar contingent.

Bowling for the Bowler?

This is definitely not Oddjob's Bowler....... I first encountered this beast, and there is no other word to describe it, and you will see why, in some of the TV highlights of the Dakar. I also fell in love with the vehicle when Discovery started to air some of the Top Gear episodes here in the States. Richard "The Hamster" Hammond gets to test drive the truck, and then he gets to the real bite of the Wildcat in the passenger seat.

Lets just say, The Hamster is impressed. You could spend the 50 thousand quid they mention in the clip for the real thing, or pop over to Bowler-Offroad and take a tour through the pages of History(hint). You can download 8 different colored versions of the Wildcat, and even the fast support truck. You can also visit my friend Volker over on Racepaper.de and click through to his Dakar tab, and on the second page download the number 333 Bowler Wildcat driven by Freddy Loix in the 2006 Dakar. A new Bowler is in the works, the Nemesis, based off the Range Rover Sport platform. It is set to make its Dakar debut this year.