Datsun 240z BRE - Barn Find

 This Revell Datsun 240Z did not start as a planned "barn find" build.  I was going to build a nice, shiny racecar... but had some issues with the decals tearing.  My next thought was we'll strip it back down, and just make a "race inspired" street car.

After a first dip in the Isopropyl Alcohol that I use as a stripper... it only took half the decals off. After letting it sit on the work bench a couple of days... I started to think that's a pretty cool look.

Since I had already put the chassis together I decided to just finish it "as is".

I little extra grime, some rust, and a fine mist of flat tan made it look nice and dusty. Just like it had been pushed in to a barn and forgotten for years.

   

I had considered going for flat tires, and even more rust... but liked the way this one worked out.

Not totally rotted to where it was completely forgotten... just put away for storage, and took on some patina over time.

Still a "driver" with a little TLC ,and a definite candidate for restoration is where the look wound up. Sometimes a "happy accident" can lead to something fun and different.

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.

Some of my favorite modeling tools

 There are lots of different tools that can be put to use to help with building and detailing small cars.

Aside from the usual ones that most people start with like a good Exacto or hobby knife, masking tape (I prefer Tamiya brand tape) here are a couple that I like.

The first is a set of Carbide Micro Drill bits.  The 10 piece set that I bought ranges from 0.3mm to 1.2mm in size.

These are great for making small holes in plastic (they are tiny and I haven't tried them on diecast metal for fear of breaking them).  I use them for things like wires for spark plugs, opening exhaust pipes, and things like that.

Another one that I like is simply called "Ultra Fine Saw Blades".

They are about the size of a double razor blade, but instead of a single blade they have a micro size saw-tooth edge on both sides.

The picture shows the the blade in a handle for ease of cutting, but I sometimes use it without.

They are thin a flexible but do a great job of cutting. Again I have mostly used these on plastic for jobs like removing parts from the mold trees, cutting open doors and hoods, and they work really well for cleaning out, and deepening panel lines.

I use them for anything that I think is a little too shallow and looks not quite right. A slightly deeper panel line, and light wash of dark paint will go a long way to make things look more realistic.

Next is a handy item I picked up called a "Utility Tools Hobby Masking Tape Cutting Pads Two Sides Digital Camouflage".  I found it on Ebay, and knew it would come in handy.

It's a guide for cutting all sorts of shapes in masking tape.

There are two sides.

There is an etched "depression" on all of the shapes. So you put your masking tape down, and then run your sharp hobby knife along in the depressions and it cuts the shape.

Great for making straight lines for pinstripes!

Or hexagons, squares, stars... even some numbers and shapes.

 This has some shapes cut in the masking tape.

 This came in HUGE when creating the paint job for this one.

 I didn't even try to count the number of tiny squares of masking tape that went down before the fade paint was applied.

Got lots more tool, tricks, and tips I'm planning to share.. so stay tuned!

Zakspeed Mustang

 Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about this car or series, but I was very excited by the overall shape and look of the car.

It is definitely an 80's car, and ran in the IMSA using a 1.7Liter 4-Cylinder turbo engine, and later a 2.1Liter 4-Cylinder turbo engine.

The cars were super-lightweight machines with wild aerodynamics and ground effect bodies.

Underneath all that we started with a tube chassis, and safety cage.

Here it is a little farther along.

You can see the 4 cylinder engine, and stripped interior... it hardly looks like a Mustang.

But when you add on the body, wheels, tires, and aero parts... it really does resemble a really WIDE Mustang Fox body from the 80's.

There is no mistaking that this one is built to go racing. Even with the 4 Cylinder engine in the car...

The later 2.1L Cosworth engine is said to have produced around 600 horsepower. That's about twice the power of your average commuter even now!

Tamiya Ferrari 360 Spyder

 So looking back and finding my blog again, I didn't realize it has been 5 years since my last post, and decided that I have plenty that I have built and might be time to work at sharing some of my builds again.

This is a Tamiya Ferrari 360 Spyder.

I love the looks of a Ferrari, but decided I wanted to do this one in something other than RED.

 

 

This is a bit older kit, but still shows all the great attention to detail that you would come to expect in a kit from Tamiya.

I had a can of the light blue paint, and thought it would look nice on the curvy shape of the Italian exotic.

The top is a separate piece and can be removed to show off the interior. I painted the top with a dark blue... but didn't like the way it turned out.  So I used a can of Tamiya "Smoke" which is a transparent grey color (think a window tint) and sprayed that from a distance. It gave a speckled or mottled effect which looks more convincing as a cloth top, than just plain dark blue.

 

 

From the rear you get a good view of the nice looking Ferrari V8 in the back under the clear cover.

I was very happy with the way that this one turned out, and would gladly consider doing another one of these for the collection.

Stay tuned, I have lots more that I have finished in the past 5 years, and hope to be inspired to show some more soon!

Mustang-GT Super Boss Funny Car

So I had planned to do a full write up on this kit, and took pictures along the way, but just never got it down in the computer....

Had some great looking box art, and figured it could be a relatively quick build, that would look good on the display shelf.

Decided I liked the orange paint, and would just build it basically like it appeared in the art.

Here's the chassis coming together and some of the various pieces as they all get ready to come together. Love the long tube intake on the engine. Took a good bit of work to get them to all line up right, and be firmly attached to the intake.

And as I typically do, I managed to finish it all up before I remembered to get the camera out again.
This one has actually been finished for a couple of months now, but just decided to do a small update on what I am working on.

Looks good to me, and has that "too tall" stance typical of a gasser/funny car suspension set up.
I didn't use all the decals, and didn't quite follow the box art, but definitely looks angry, and ready to go racing.

And the one thing I have never seen in a model kit before, was a model of the packaging that it all came in. Only took about 10 minutes to cut it all out and folded up.

I guess by definition, it is a scale model...