Tamiya Porsche Carrera GT

 Up next in the completed a while ago list....

Tamiya's beautiful Porsche Carrera GT. This German masterpiece is powered by a mid-mounted, 5.7Liter V-10 engine.

 

Offered originally in only 5 colors, I went a bit off script and chose a British racing green shade, with a maroon color for the interior. The multi-piece interior helped with all the small pieces that needed to be different colors.

The kit also came with metal transfers for the script on the rear end, and the mirror reflecting surfaces.

This is one more that went together without any major issues of flaws. Exactly what you would expect of a Tamiya kit.

They are definitely worth the price in my opinion!

Thanks for looking, and keep watching for even more to come!

Accurate Miniatures - 1964 Corvette Grand Sport - Sebring

 Had picked this kit up at a sale, and held on to it for years. I had seen pictures of other builders who had finished this kit, and was a little intimidated by the level of detail... wasn't sure I was up to the task of doing it justice.

Until one I day I decided to dig in, give it the time it needed, and see what came out in the end.

The kit starts as a highly detailed chassis (just like the real car).

Here it is, pretty far along in the process... Already has the engine, suspension, and tires fitted up. 

Took my time to detail things, and used several shades of black, grey, and silver to make everything look like they were separate parts, and not just lumps of plastic.

If you look close you can even see the tops of the battery sections and a rear shock peeking out that are painted yellow to stand out.

The car that ran at Sebring in 1964 featured a dark blue paint with large white stripe and sported the number 2 on the doors.

Here it is with the body painted, and mocked up on the chassis for a test fit.

At this point, it looks to be pretty far along, but still has lots of little bits to go.

Things like the "glass", windshield wipers, door handles, exhaust pipes, and a few other details to be painted on.

So here she is! All finished up. You can see the parts I mentioned above have all been added.

Things like the glass pieces, rear differential cooler sticking up there in the back... and the hood vents.

Oh those hood vents.  If you compare the last two pictures, you can see the vertical fins now in the hood vents. This was one of those parts I was scared of. Each of those little holes has a series of tiny brass plates, that all have to get glued together, and then placed in the hood openings.

 And on top of that.... they needed to have the stripe painted on them.

As I said I went full out on this one... no decal for the big white stripe...that is all masked and painted two colors! There are also fins in the vents along the side of the hood, though they are a little harder to see.

 

 And here's the Chevy racing, all aluminum 373 cubic inch V8, complete with 4 - 2 barrel carbs ready to convert air and fuel to raw power.

And finally, the view that most of the competition saw that day at the track!

Revell 69' Shelby GT500 - oldie but goody

 Here's another one that has been completed a while ago.

A Revell branded 1969 Shelby GT500.

It's been a long while, and I believe this was a Motor-City Muscle 2-n-1 kit that I did a while ago.

I always loved the shape of the 69s with the swept rear window, and the hood with all the ducts to feed that massive V-8 under the hood.

This one was finished in a metallic pewter color that has a little bit of brown to it, so it isn't just a straight silver.

The black Shelby stripes down the side contrast nicely.

I also used the larger diameter Cragar style wheels that make it look a little more modern and aggressive, but still have a nod to that classic look.

The interior on these old Shelby's is pretty basic.

Just black bucket seats, doors and carpet. Attempted a wood grain steering wheel and dash to add just a little contrast the all black interior. Also painted some of the smaller chrome details in the center console.

Still think this a great looking body style for the Mustangs, and  this one built up to make a good looking representation without any major issues from the manufacturer or hiccups from my building skills.

Stay tuned... lots more to come.

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!

1969 Chevy Nova and Ferrari La Ferrari

Two models that I have completed since my last post of the Mustang Gasser Funny car.

The first is Revell's 1969 Chevy Nova SS.

 This is a 2 in 1 kit, so it comes with all of the extra parts to create a stock version or a drag race version.
I chose to go a little closer to the drag race version, but more of a "weekend racer" as opposed to a full on, dedicated drag car a pictured on the box.

I chose to use a nice Chevy green color that I had left over from a Z28 kit that I did a while ago.
Big drag slicks on the back, Custom wheels. Sponsor decals.

Looks more like something you could drive to the track and then make some passes, instead of a "trailer car" that only sees racing duty.

The kit even came with a very convincing decal that looks like melted rubber on the quarter panels behind the tires.

And a nicely detailed engine straight out of the box!
I didn't add any extra wires, hoses or details... just a straight forward, no frills drag car.

And the next one I finished was Revell's La Ferrari Kit....

A fairly complicated kit, of a very complex car. The extra parts (141 total) were necessary to re-create all of the fancy shapes, ducts, and engine parts.

It was going to be a nice metallic blue... but after the basecoat of paint, and before the clear-coat... I kind of liked the satin blue the way it came out... so  I went with it.

It looks now, in the bright sun, like it could have used a second coat of blue... but the sun hasn't been out in weeks, and the my new table location is down the basement, so I probably didn't notice.

Overall a great kit, with lots of detail. A few of the parts locations were a little vague, and required a couple of test fittings... but nothing out of the ordinary.

Some extra detail painting, and contrasting colors, and it really comes to life.
My biggest "oops" moment is the ducts on the engine cover... The instructions say to paint them red... Well, I think was supposed to be if you are painting the car red....
I always like when they call out a color as "body color" rather than a specific color.
I rarely build a kit the color on the box.

I have one other one finished that was a bit of a "slump buster" that was done in-between these two, and yet one more on the workbench, but I'll do more on them 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...

Working with old kits - Flash

So I recently started a model that is a re-issue of an older kit.
I love the subject matter, and am quite excited, but have come across a problem common with these re-issued kits.

Flash

No, not like that....
Flash is a common name for the thin layer of plastic that squeezes out between the two halves of a mold when creating the overall runner of parts.


On a newer tooled kit, you may hardly even notice the "parting line"... The small seam of extra material from where the two halves of the mold were placed together.
Most noticeable on round pieces... there will be a small raised ridge.

On older kits, as time goes by, and thousands of reproductions are made, the gap starts to get bigger, and more material is able to ooze out between the mold halves.

Usually it is a very thin piece, and is easily removed with a sharp knife and some sandpaper....
But I just thought I would share, as this kit shows a great example of "flashing".

More on what this kit is going to be coming soon!

Revell Corvette ZR1

My latest project was the Revell Corvette ZR1 in 1/25 Scale.

This represents the newer C6 body style.

Featuring a clear panel in the hood so you can see the supercharged engine lurking underneath.

 



The contents of the box are well done, and there was no flash anywhere to be removed, as you would expect from a newer tooling. Parting lines were minimal and required little clean-up.

One that I did miss was this little beauty on the underside of the chassis pan. Yes, I know it was a Revell kit molded in China.

A little work with some sandpaper, and quick re-spray, and it's gone!

Or at least well enough for this one.

I wasn't planning a completely detailed kit. Just wanted it to fill a spot on a shelf next to all it's other brothers from Chevrolet.

A few steps later, and the engine is mostly in, along with the driveline and interior.

Again I left off the seat decals, and a few other small parts, as they will hardly be visible through the small windows.

Still missing here is the radiator and supercharger shroud. But it's starting to look mean!

For the body I chose a darker metallic red that I like. While not entirely a correct "factory" color for the ZR1, I think it shows well here.

A quick test fit of the body on the chassis just to make sure everything lines up, and sits where I want it to.

So several steps later, and lots of little bits and pieces added, it's complete.

Still a little dusty as I took the pictures in a hurry.

It's middle of winter here, and got a quick afternoon with some sunlight coming in, so I grabbed a few quick pictures while I had the chance.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this kit, and felt that it went together pretty well, with only 1 real problem.

The supercharger sits where it should in the hood opening (I had heard it may sit too low). I am more than pleased with the final results of my "not too serious build."

 

The one problem that I did encounter was the windshield.

I am not sure if I was fitting it wrong, or if it came warped in the box...

But as you can see, it didn't fit the frame quite right. The driver's side, and top of the windshield fit just fine. I tried several different ways, and could never get all 4 corners to fit where I needed at the same time.

So I tried something I knew I shouldn't.... I tried to flex it back.

Regular styrene has some "give" and can be bent.

NOT CLEAR PLASTIC.

I even tried heating it some to make it more pliable....

Nope...

 

So now it fits flush, but it is in two pieces.

I may be looking for a windshield in future, but for now.... It will be good enough.

 

Not sure what is next....

But I do have a Hotwheels Porsche 356 Custom, for the local trade/swap day this weekend yet to unveil...