200 replies to this topic

[Prostreet]

Nice work Greg, i missed this somehow.

[Romell R]

Hey Bro is good to see you back on this one (any chance we can get a peek at that RB26DETT ???)

[stump]

hey stump, I hope you enjoyed your time off from building! now its time to get back to work on these bad boys! we missed ya man!! beautiful work brother!!

Thanks Bill. Yes, a break doesn't hurt none now and again I guess....think I'm here for a good while this time.

Joe, it's been lurking in hibernation for a good while, so you have a good excuse.

Rom, only an early mock up of the RB engine at this time....the turbo was a very early item from Tim @ TDR. It's a little on the large size, but was the smallest available at that time.
Sitting on a custom fabricated tubular exhaust manifold, it sits way too high.


A smaller, more to scale turbo will be on the way shortly. Will run a 3inch mandrel bent system from the turbo back.
It should look right at home sitting in here.....


Ok, well...with just having had a 3 day weekend, you may be excused for expecting more..... Amazing how "other" things always need to be taken care of, before modelling time...
Anyways.....
As this build is to be as close to "stock" as possible, keeping a few creature comforts was going to be a given.
The basis for the interior will be from the ZG, mainly seats.....or seat. The Safari kit shares a good deal of interior pieces, but seating is not one of them.
The passenger seat is the typical tilting/reclining bucket seat.
Also required, was going to be a "stock" seat-belt arrangement....something not even supplied in either kit.

So.....I made a pretty basic one from masking tape and painted it black. It is only a temporary thing, till I find something more suitable.
I also started making the stalk to click the belt into, as well as the retractor unit for the belt.




And a trial run, to see how things may look once painted and installed....




Also started on a basic 4/6 point cage. The car I'm basing the build on has a cage installed, otherwise I wouldn't bother....
Driver seat is from a GTR (doner for the RB26) and will have a full race style harness.


This photo I borrowed from Speedhunters.com
The guy that built this car was so generous and helpful with anything I asked of him. He sent some excellent in progress shots.
Hence the reason for my change in direction....


Well, that's all for now guys.....stay tuned for a bit more soon.......
Cheers
Greg

[Nicolas]

i am so glad you're back at it!
i bought one myself on late August, can't wait to begin this awesome kit!

keep us updated!

[Jdurg]

For seatbelts, I've found that using first aid tape (the white stuff used when taping up a busted ankle) works great. Instead of painting it, I use a Sharpie marker as the ink will soak into the paper or fabric of the tape and still allow the belt to be fully flexible. If you plan on having the belt parts "fixed" in position on the seat, you just need to ink up one side of it and apply the tape to the seat in the position that you want.

Take a look at my 1/12 1967 Corvette Coupe thread in here. I believe, amongst my novels of posts, I have some photos in there of the seatbelts I made for the Vette. At first I tried using masking tape and painting it, but if the tape moved at all the paint would crack and fall off. Plus, the tape was too "stiff" for what I wanted. I then found the first aid tape at the grocery store and there are so many varieties with different types of thread patterns on there. I tried painting them, but again, once the paint dried the belts got too stiff and unwilling to move. That's when I figured I'd give the black Sharpie a try (since my interior is black) and the ink soaked into the tape material and made it nice and dark while allowing the "pattern" on the tape to still show through and remain flexible.

If you aren't going to "fix" the belts into position, you can just take a piece of tape, affix it to itself by bending it in half, mark up both sides with the Sharpie, cut the length and thickness you desire, then use the Sharpie to touch up the edges where the cuts were made. My roommate, who isn't into model building, took a look at the seatbelts and mentioned how real they looked.

The tape costs about $4.00 for a roll that will last a long time, and the Sharpie markers are nice and cheap and available in many colors.

[stump]

Thank you so much Nicolas.

Justin, thank you too mate, that idea for the seat belts is just what I've been wishing for man. I'll drop into my local Chemist/drug store tomorrow afternoon. I have some Sharpies.

Ok, well this is kind of a special update for Rom. More work on the RB motor.....
I figured, seeing as I'm working on 2 of these at present, with #3 lurking in the wings, I should keep all 3 in the same thread....no sense making duplicates.

So yes, this new RB motor will be finding residence in the bay of the blue car, the original build.
The motor is from a Fujimi 1/12 GTR, and while it does exhibit nice detail, it's not in the game compared to Tamiya.
The twin turbo set up was discarded soon after I opened the box, that's how distraught I was when I laid eyes on it. So the plan was always going to be, BIG single......

Now, over the weekend a decision was also made to go the "not quite stock" route regarding the motor....
Found some great pics of race type set ups, which included some kool cam covers. So I'm making two single cam covers to replace the stock molded cover.
While looking, I also found great reference for this next item......
Each cam gear is made of several pieces, mostly all the tiny sprocket teeth.....didn't count them, but it seemed like a lot.....
The gray cam electronic component is from the kit.




Also made modifications to a Revell (?) alternator, as the Fujimi piece looks absolutely horrible.
I cut the fan/pulley from the front, detailed them a little, then reattached it with a bolt. New brackets (non-existent..) will also be made.
Been working on the inlet plenum as well.....Here's a group shot of the weekends work.


Not a whole lot I know, but there is a few hours tied up there....plus I was working in between watching the Bathurst 1000 on the telly.
Hope to have a bit more for you all soon guys, thanks for watching.
cheers
Greg

[Romell R]

Hey thanks Greg ol buddy for the update I sure love these "Z" cars your building , keep up the excellent and thanks for thinking of me! oh and if you check out my Daytona build there is a tutorial on seat belts that tell you which madical tape to purchase cant tell you what page it is though LOL!

Edited by Romell R, 09 October 2012 - 01:45 PM.

[datsunsss]

Unbelievable... o_O

[dadaman]

greg is a master

[stump]

Hey, thanks Rom, Jared and Raees.

Rom, cheers man, I got the medical tape sorted...it has a nice pattern which resembles seat belt webbing very closely...No pic of it yet.

Well, the last week or so has been a little hectic, both with work and at the bench.....
The turbo motor now has a nice set of custom aftermarket cam covers, and a brand new inlet plenum. The plenum I had made, has some new runners fitted.
Oh yeah....I deleted the two oil hose fittings on the top...they were too high, and will now get some RBMotion fittings plumbed straight into the tops.


New plenum taking shape, along with fitting an all new fuel rail and fittings....






Test fitting time.....


The turbo I got from Tim and Tony. It's a little large for this build though, so a smaller one is about to get ordered.
I think Raees has plans for this one.


Also re-worked the fuel delivery system...
An inline Holley style fuel filter and a Tomei style regulator were made and installed, along with a new fuel line with RBMotion fittings.






The fuel return line was also extended and mated up to the new regulator...


That wraps it up for this installment guys.
Hope to get a little more done soon, and once the new turbo arrives, work will begin on the exhaust....
Thanks for stopping by, and hope you'll like it so far...
cheers
Greg

[Jdurg]

All that work looks amazing. Trust me, once you get the belt material dyed/painted and placed on the seats, it will make you pull back and go "wow!" Happened to me on my '67 Vette. I still look in the side windows and admire how incredible the seatbelts look. What made it feel the most real to me is when my roommate took a look at the belts and the hardware I scratch-built and said "Holy <censored>. This looks just like a real seatbelt to me."

That engine you've put together looks so real it should be illegal.

[Prostreet]

Amazing work Greg, Love your attention to detail. Top notch.

[blunc]

wow...that's a LOT like building a real car except there's a lot less wrenching and a lot more gluing....I'm guessing there's probly the same amount of swearing.

[vintagedragfan]

beautiful work on this Stump!!!

[GoatGuy]

Awesome clean detail. It looks great.

[stump]

wow...that's a LOT like building a real car except there's a lot less wrenching and a lot more gluing....I'm guessing there's probly the same amount of swearing.

Hey, thanks Mike. But the swearing has been in scale too.

Thank you too Justin, Joe, Bill and Dave.

Well, after a fairly tumultuous few weeks ( I had a fortnight where I wasn't sure I still had a job, but that's now sorted..)..I'm still at the bench.
This is a hefty update, so I'll spread it over a couple of posts.

Working with the fuel system, I found that a "swirl pot, or tank" is an often fitted accessory with turbo cars. Not sure if it's really necessary, but thought I'd add one.
I punched tiny black washers from thin black sheet stock to simulate the rubber bushes supporting the tank.


Still needs all the lines fitted at this stage, and am anxiously awaiting an order from Robert @ RBMotion.


Also made twin fuel filters for the rear. Simulated Holley units, they will mount to the modified tank. (please excuse the dust.... )


I got bored the other week (waiting for the new turbo ) so figured I'd make a start on the exhaust....
Constructed from 6.5mm tube, I knew this wasn't going to be easy to bend. I made a series of saw cuts at the bend locations, heated, bent, then glued to shape.
Some putty was then used to help blend them back to correct shape.
The rear muffler is a 1/10 R/C item from a "parts pack", the tip is approx 5inch in 1:1. But it kinda suits this build.




Continues.......

[stump]

Ok....so, the NEW turbo arrived from Tim and the lads @ TDR. Middle rear of this first pic.
Also, this is what was to be, one of the most tedious jobs so far.....

Tubular exhaust headers, easy, right??? Um, NO!
First attempt I used 3.2mm solder, but could not get the bends tight enough....
Second go round, I used 3.2mm plastic rod. FAIL! Just couldn't get them all to the correct shape.
So, I eventually weakened and tried an idea I saw many years ago, an idea very much like they build real race style headers...In sections!
I heated some 3.2mm rod (running low on stock because of "throw aways") and bent numerous U's and half circles.


From that, small sections were cut and tested, tested often, as I didn't want them fouling each other....




Some putty and some blending of the pipe work, it's getting close to what I wanted....


I cut and drilled a flange, ready to accept TDR's turbo as well....


Continues............

[stump]

TDR and Shapeways sure do wonderful work. I could not be happier than what I am with their new turbo.


This is actually a "2.5inch" which I think suits the build really well. I will run a full 3inch exhaust from the outlet.




Tested in the bay, it's still snug, but fits a lot better than the larger turbo I had originally.


And I'm really hoping I can get away without the need for a hood "lump"......I will if it needs it, but indications are it will be fine.
Front view.


I hope to get onto the "down pipe" later today, so I can get the full exhaust done.
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all enjoy.
Cheers
Greg

[Prostreet]

Great work Greg, Thx. for the idea on bending the tubing for the exhaust. I did my headers the same exact way you did, worked out great.

[vintagedragfan]

awesome work Stump, its going to be close on the hood