Spottedlaurel

The first of my Datsun/Nissan Z builds off the bench, before I get on with the more detailed Tamiya kit. WIP thread here: Built largely OOB, with Aoshima Bilbo wheels fitted with tyres off another kit (possibly Fujimi). Suspension lowered and a lot of fettling done to get the different wheels sitting in the arches (more or less anyway). I deleted the engine and 'box, as there isn't really any other underbonnet detail and opening the bonnet up would have been a chore. Window trims done with BMF, and on the wipers and headlight fairing surrounds I used a Gundam chrome marker. Paint was where I wanted to get a little experimental, and it's certainly not a stock 1:1 colour. I used Tamiya TS-37 lavender, then their pearl clear and topped it off with my first use of Mr Hobby gloss clearcoat. After the clear was applied I then did some tedious masking and painted the moulded-in arch flares, rear panel, bumpers, spoiler etc with un-cleared Tamiya dark metallic grey. I do enough black interiors so I thought I'd have some fun this time. I used TS-59 pearl light red, finished with flat clear to tone it down. Accents were brush-painted light grey enamel, with felt used for carpeted areas - a little overscale perhaps, but it gave a bit of texture when seen through the glass or buried down in the footwells. Compare and contrast with the Monogram 280Z I built back in 2020: The Fujimi kit is probably more accurate, but it has one or two shortcomings and I'm still fond of the basic Monogram version. I'm pleased with how the paint turned out. The pearl catches natural light nicely and the Mr Hobby gave it a good shine without being too thick. I attempted to capture it here, but we're not seeing much sun at the moment: Doing this has been a good exercise in learning a bit more about the Z, which will be useful to me when I buld the more detailed Tamiya kit as my CBR entry this year. Thanks for looking.

I bought this built kit off eBay recently, thinking it would be something I could strip and rebuild (eventually). As purchased: Built completely OOB, brush-painted enamel bodywork, some parts loose, but glass clear of glue. The paint was at a similar level to what I'd have been doing in the mid '80s, and it was dusty from years of display/storage. But, it was intact and I wondered if there was a chance of salvaging it and getting it on display rather sitting in a box awaiting its turn. Engine neatly done. Minimal detailing on the interior. It had been built with the motor - I popped in a couple of AA batteries, switched it on and it scooted across the garage floor with a fair turn of speed! Good job I'd set it heading for something soft.... I spent a couple of weekends on it while I was finishing off another build. I removed the body and gave it a wash and resin polish. The glass wasn't going to come out, so I worked around that. I applied BMF to the window trims, replaced the wheels and tyres with those from a different Tamiya issue of the 280ZX, located the missing rear light inside the body and painted the lenses with clear red and orange, then put it all back together. After: Applying foil with the glass in place was an interesting experience, but I manged to do it without any collateral damage. I'm pleased with how it turned out, a nice testament to the original builder. It looks good on the shelf and with the worn pinstripes it has the look of a slightly timeworn 1:1 survivor. Makes for a neat comparison with the 240ZG I completed the same day: I still have an unstarted version in the stash for when I want to build one my own way: Thanks for looking!

Very nice Justin. I can just imagine the delicacy of some of those components and being able to appreciate how Tamiya have engineered the kit - you've certainly done it justice.

Nice update! The boot install looks great.

Was cheap. Looks like the chassis will fit nicely under a '69 Nova, maybe other things too.

A fantastic build Michael, and great colour choice. I would never have believed that so little masking was required.

Interesting to see a little more about the real event. Great that the RX4 they used was a wagon. Still waiting to finish another project (hopefully today?!) before I start this year's entry.....

This week's arrivals: Celica has loose parts and is lightly started, but appears to be complete. Always good to get a 4-door verion of something sporty like a Skyline. Cheap, not fully complete parts donors. The Supra has a full engine and 'box which would be a great transplant into a lesser Toyota, and the Skyline's cage and chassis would go nicely with the R34 saloon above or a Tamiya road car coupe to create a time attack/drift weapon.

At last! It was so obvious the kit was engineered with different versions in mind. With some components from the ZG there's scope to create a few different versions. Going to be interesting to see what other parts they include, that sprue above is completely different to anything in the ZG kit. The slight challenge I can see in creating a more stock Z is the front spoiler, which looks to be moulded-in with the headlight surrounds - it doesn't just attach to a stock valance under the bumper. Still might be a need to rob the nosecone from a Hasegawa Z if that's the way you want to go.

UK seller had a few built-up Tamiya and other kits - I placed bids on several, ended up with just this one: The rarer fixed-head model, most of the Tamiya ZXs came with the T-top. Shame about the missing light, but the chrome backing piece is loose inside. Might be able to do something one that'll be spare from a Fujimi kit. Rear bumper needs reattaching. Engine bay has been fairly neatly done. It's been brush-painted but quite well, I'm thinking of just giving it a polish, BMF-ing the window trims and giving it a gentle refurb, maybe with some more attractive wheels. The JDM wing mirros are still present, just fallen-off. I have a boxed one that I can now build with more mod's.

After a break of a week or two I managed to get back onto the 240ZG build. First up came some tedious masking (one of my least favourite jobs), as the moulded-in arch flares and front valance (pan?) needed painting in the dark metallic grey. Finished result was worth it: Rest of the exterior got another going over with resin polish, as much as anything to get rid of the BMF residue (I'd used the black stuff for the first pass around the arches, as it's of little use otherwise). Then the interior received more attention: Those decals for the three central dials are really small - it was only when I looked at my photo I realised two of them are upsidedown 🙃 As I'm experimenting with a few things on this build I thought I'd get hold of some felt and give that a try for carpeted areas. Obviously the scale is significantly out, but when viewed through the glass or seen buried in the footwells it seems to work well. Still need to find some speakers to mount on the stupidly large rear strut towers. Oddly it came with no pedals, so I liberated a set from the Hasegawa version of the same car - they get replaced by PE parts in a detail-up set, so would have become surplus to requirements. Not too many parts left in the box now, the above are all ready to fit or in progress. Mock-up time: This is still without any suspension. A quick trial fit shows that it needs to be lowered, which I'll probably do by cutting the tops of the struts and fitting spacer blocks at the bottom. Hoping to get this first Z build finished next weekend, it's been useful practice for the more detailed Tamiya kit I want to do for this year's CBR group build.

Excellent concept and execution, it works really well!

Yup, certainly seen a few USAF cars in East Anglia over the years. They also bring some interesting Japanese stuff if they've come from Okinawa.

An odd thing to see here in the UK, and maybe not that common now in its homeland? '93 Daytona 2.2, first registered here in 2003 and off the road since 2014.

Nicely done,good colour match. I'm building a slightly different version of the Fujimi kit, it's going together nicely.

I was pleased to see the Kia Brisa kit start turning up at UK stockists at reasonable prices: It doesn't show them on the box but there are alternative grilles, headlights and tail panels to create different versions, including the Mazda 1300 that it was derived from. My preference is to go for the latter. It only comes as LHD, but it should look good built as a Euro-spec model with German or Dutch plates like some of the images I found. Looks like a nicely detailed curbside kit. Same seller had the Fujimi mufflers on special offer, and buying them meant I'd just spent enough for free postage - they'll suit one of my Japanese car builds.

Great to see another one being built. Seeing the body in two halves reminds me of what I spent 25+ years looking at before I finally got on and finished it: You've made a better start than me by using the AMT kit, I just went with a Monogram that was readily available here in the UK. Finished result. Not particularly authentic - when I started it I was relying on paused images off my recorded-from-TV video!

Those caps would be perfect! Now to find that kit a sensible price..... It's nowhere near the top of the list at present, and maybe I'll build it with some other hub caps until the XK-120 comes along?

If it's a less shiny look to the chrome you're after then a coat of semi-gloss or flat clear as required does the job nicely. I used the engine from a slightly later version of AMT's ZR-1 in another build, then built the Corvette as a curbside. Went together nicely as I recall, I just lowered the suspension a little. I don't recall as much flash as yu're having to contend with. The hood on mine was fractionally warped, but not enough to worry about.

Thanks Steve and Les, very rare to pick up a bargain like this. Tried bidding online on the odd started example without success, they went for more than I paid for this one. If I can find some suitable wheels and hub caps I'd like to build it as a loose replica of this one owned by my grandparents back in the '70s:

Rare to find car kits at the local toy and train fairs here, but I found this today at one I went to and couldn't resist at £18.

A super-clean build, it looks great!

Really nicely done, looks very effective.

I don't want this first Z build hanging around too long, so I've been making a bit of progress since the weekend: The gunmetal spoiler, bumpers and arch flares are a key part of the look of the ZG. I wasn't quite sure whether I had something suitable, but I found a can of TS-94 Metallic Gray and it looks about right to me. So far I've just done the separate components that I could paint without needing to mask anything. Trimmed wheels now fit better and give scope for adjustment. My favourite view of the Z/ZG. As it'd been a few days since the Mr Hobby gloss clear I wanted to get polishing. Micromesh 3600 - 12000 then a quick bit of resin polish on the roof and bonnet/hood sees it looking like this: Happy with that. I don't want to do the sides yet as I've got to mask-up for spraying the flares. I don't have to worry about this on the Tamiya or Hasegawa Zs as they're moulded separately on their versions (and even some other Fujimi Zs have them separate too). I decided not to try T-Cut or a similar polishing compound if I could get away with it, to avoid battling with the residue in the panel lines. I look forward to getting it outside for photos, in the meantime: This is the best I can get to show the pearl clear effect. Photos don't really show it properly, it needs a bit of movement for it to catch the light.

Very nicely done, and a great example of the TS-50 colour. That's exactly the shade of blue I had in mind for one of my builds, now I know what to use!