Tamiya - Toyota Celica GT-Four 1993 Monte Carlo Rally Winner

 And we're back to another 1/24 scale kit... This time a Toyota Celica GT-Four that won the 1993 Monte Carlo Rally.

This one had been in the "stash" for a long while, and I decided one day that it was time to build it.

I don't know a lot about the car, other than the Gt-Four designation is a limited production, turbo charged, all-wheel-drive chassis. I know the GT-Fours are very limited so my guess would be that they were built in limited numbers to qualify as a "production car" and be able to race in the series.

About the only other thing I know, is that the Monte Carlo Rally must be a road coarse, as it has nearly slick, track style tires.

Might be time for a little google searching to find out a little more....

I loved the bright paint scheme, and the giant set of night driving lights mounted to front of the car.

And I wasn't disappointed.

I don't have any build pictures... but typical of Tamiya, it went together without any issues, and everything fit just about perfectly, and with a minimum of clean-up.

Any issues I had were more likely caused by me, and not Tamiya's engineering.

Here's a finished shot of all the lights on the front end of the car (note it looks like this might be a build progress photo - there appears to be the lens missing from the rectangular "pop-up" light at this stage).

A good looking car from just about any angle.

An attempt at an interior shot... just to show the detail that comes in this kit. From the fire bottle, to the seat belts, and even the hand brake for those sliding turns are all there.

Always looking forward to the next Tamiya kit, and need to do some looking for some more of their rally car kits.... this one came out great!

A couple more custom Hotwheels - Porsche 911 Targa and VW Drag Bus

 Just a short post today of two customs that I finished up.

The first is a Volkswagen Drag bus.

This was a relatively quick custom that turned out to be a little more "Christmas" themed than I had intended.

The drag bus started life and a Premium line, which means it already came with the metal base, and rubber "Real Riders" wheels and tires... so all I had to do was the paint.

After a quick dip in the stripper, I had a nice and clean casting... so I decided to try something a little different. Rather than straight paint, I had a can of clear green... and I thought why not.. let's see what happens.

Give it kind of a Candy green color... you can still see some of the sanding marks from where I cleaned it up after the stripper.

I also have some candy red that I tried to apply a "scallop" flame design to the side.

If you look close, you can see what looks like an outline on the scallops... this is actually where the red and green overlap.

As a relatively quick custom, the graphics were hand painted, along with headlights, taillights, rivets...

And some engine detailing on the base... just to make it look a little less toy-like.

Engine block, valve covers, fuel tanks were all painted, and I even added a little "heat staining" to the exhaust pipe.

The other custom I completed was a little more involved.

This one started as a Porsche 911 Carrera, and I decided to make a Targa out of it.

So out come the saw, and removed the center section of the roof.

With the interior a little more exposed, I though a nice hoop rollbar would be a nice addition.

So a small hoop made of bent brass rod was shaped and fit to be just behind the seats, and still be low enough to fit under the roofline.

A little selective painting brings out the details like headlights, taillights, exhaust tips, door handles... Again all in an attempt to make everything look a little less toy-like.

A set of resin 3D printed "FUCHS" style wheels completed this Porsche Outlaw looking creations.

I even modified where the axle fits on the base to "lower" the ride height of the car. With the lower profile tires, and raised axle location... this finished piece just barely still rolls without the tires getting hung-up.

Hasegawa Lamborghini Miura P400 SV

 Time for a 1/24 scale kit that I finished up a little while ago.

The Lamborghini Miura is considered the world's first supercar to feature a mid-mounted engine and rear wheel drive. The prototype, revealed at the 1966 Geneva Motor show and was loved by show-goers for it's impressive engineering and beautiful styling alike.

The mid-engine layout placed the engine between the driver and the rear axle, for optimum weight distribution. A layout that had been seen in the highest performance racing levels like Formula 1.

Coupled with a 3.9Liter V-12 engine and a 5 speed gear-box, it claimed the highest top speed for any production road car.

What we have here is the last, and probably most famous evolution of the Miura... The P400SV.

Introduced in 1971, the SV featured a number of small upgrades over the previous models (P400, and P400S) with 4x3 Webber carbs, and different cam timing... you got an extra 15 horsepower.

Up to a total of 380 Horsepower, which may not seem like a lot...but that was as much as a big-block Chevy corvette, with nearly twice the engine size.

The box features nice art, and I really liked the color scheme, so I decided on a deep red with gold accents.

It is hard to photograph, but the red I chose is actually a candy with a very small amount of pearl in the finish. My feeling was that just "red" was a little to plain for something as special as this Lamborghini.

Unfortunately, this is what is known as a "curb-side" kit, and has only the basic engine and drivetrain detail... but you wouldn't be able to see much of it anyways through the louvers over the engine cover on the back of the car.

The kit did come with some beautiful metal transfers for the badges on the back of the car. And my own custom license plate as a reminder that this one was built during the COVID scare.

Hope you enjoy! This was one I had been wanting to build for a long time as part of my Supercars collection.

Custom Hotwheels - Datsun 240Z - OFFROADER

 Here is yet another custom car from the local challenge.

This time it was Datun's iconic Z-car... the 240Z.

I don't have any before pictures... but decided to go with an off-road safari look.

This one was rather extensive in the changes I made.

Raised the suspension and added some big off-road wheels and tires from a Matchbox I had torn apart.

And even added a spare on the roof.

 There was an attempt made at a roof rack from bent brass rod.  I ran out of time, and it wound up more like a small ring... but it gave me a spot to mount all the "Daylighter" style offroad lights with their little yellow smiling faces.

Next up was the "snorkle" to make sure the engine can get fresh air while crossing rivers and streams.

A light misting of tan acrylic paint made it look nice and dusty... A careful brushing of two different colors of brown and tan behind the wheels and along the bottom looks like even more dirt, and some mud splattered there.

The last touch.. .which shows up a little better in this picture as to cut a mask for the windshield in the shape of where the wipers would have cleared the dust and mud off the windscreen.

This one was a lot of fun, and really liked the finished look.

Lots more to come!