Revell Miata Mk1

[peteski]

I like what I see here!

My GF owned the M-Edition, Merlot Mica paint, BBS RG wheels and leather interior.  That was shortly before I met her. She had photos and I promised her that I would build her a model (using  the Tamiya kit).  I got the correct paint for it, right wheels from Aoshima, and started some assemblies. I even designed and photoetched all the badges and emblems for it (including a metal peace symbol she had hanging off the rear view mirror. That was about 20 years ago and the model is still in pieces!  One of these days I'll finish it . . .  I'm so bad!

[CabDriver]

On 5/6/2019 at 4:21 AM, peteski said:

I like what I see here!

My GF owned the M-Edition, Merlot Mica paint, BBS RG wheels and leather interior.  That was shortly before I met her. She had photos and I promised her that I would build her a model (using  the Tamiya kit).  I got the correct paint for it, right wheels from Aoshima, and started some assemblies. I even designed and photoetched all the badges and emblems for it (including a metal peace symbol she had hanging off the rear view mirror. That was about 20 years ago and the model is still in pieces!  One of these days I'll finish it . . .  I'm so bad!

Ohh, I'd LOVE to see the photo etched bits!  Very cool!  I'd like to make some photoetch parts for one of these too - but if I do some searching I'm sure there's a set commercially available.

Just a small update - got the body color on! 

I used Createx opaque red - I shot some on a spoon over a few different bases and compared to a red Miata that lives down the block from me and went from there.  This paint dries flat, so it'll need clear, but I don't mind having clear coat to polish rather than 'bare' paint anyway - makes it a little easier to not cut through the edges to the base, even if it's not how the 1:1s are painted.  More soon!

[dublin boy]

That is looking good Jim.

[Ahajmano]

Super curious: any particular reason you chose the revel kit over the Tamiya kit? Looking great so far! 

[peteski]

7 minutes ago, Ahajmano said:

Super curious: any particular reason you chose the revel kit over the Tamiya kit? Looking great so far! 

If I was to make a guess, it is because Tamiya is curbside (no engine) and Revell has full engine detail.  But I do like the overall look of the Tamiya model better.  I think they captured the shape of the car better than Revell.

[peteski]

7 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Ohh, I'd LOVE to see the photo etched bits!  Very cool!  I'd like to make some photoetch parts for one of these too - but if I do some searching I'm sure there's a set commercially available.

I'll see if I can post a photo of them - I have to dig them out first (long stalled project).

[Ahajmano]

1 minute ago, peteski said:

If I was to make a guess, it is because Tamiya is curbside (no engine) and Revell has full engine detail.  But I do like the overall look of the Tamiya model better.  I think they captured the shape of the car better than Revell.

I clearly have a bias, as I always buy the Tamiya kit when available. Since I find the good-removal process annoying (fingerprints), I’m pretty happy with just curbside kids for the most part. I build enough kits with a full engine detail to get my fill. 

The more I struggle with pour molds, the more my preference for quality increases.

with that said, I feel the Original author is doing a great job. 

[CabDriver]

18 hours ago, dublin boy said:

That is looking good Jim.

Thanks buddy! 

12 hours ago, Ahajmano said:

Super curious: any particular reason you chose the revel kit over the Tamiya kit? Looking great so far! 

Good question!  I agree with the others who say that the Tamiya kit is a little nicer, but I wanted to do a build with an engine!  I'm planning a Tamiya one next, and then try kitbashing the two together!  I figured it would be a good exercise to build one of these box-stock (ish) first though to get an idea of how it goes together and anything to watch out for.  I'd really like a display of all the colors of original-genration Miata, so a blue NA with the Tamiya kit will probably be my next build.

Just a tiny update, seeing as I'm posting anyway...got some clear coat on there!  Looks SHINY! 

A couple of little specs of dust that I'll need to polish out (which is almost impossible to avoid seeing as I'm spraying this in my apartment), but not a bad base for a polishing job in a few days!

[maltsr]

Looking good Jim!

[Scalper]

wow that red paint job looks perfect 

[Dann Tier]

On ‎5‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 8:38 AM, CabDriver said:

I'd LOVE to see what you'd do with one of these Dann!  ?

LOL, looks like a fun, decent kit actually, but your touch is DEFFINITELY making it better, bud!!!

[CabDriver]

On 5/10/2019 at 10:27 AM, Dann Tier said:

LOL, looks like a fun, decent kit actually, but your touch is DEFFINITELY making it better, bud!!!

Thanks buddy!

Small update for today - starting to think of the proper order to paint the engine - the block, trans, chassis brace, driveshaft and part of the rear axle are all molded in two convenient pieces, so it's going to take a little thinking about to get these painted properly:

More soon!

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by CabDriver

[dublin boy]

Any use?

 

[CabDriver]

On 5/12/2019 at 2:36 PM, dublin boy said:

Any use?

That's a big help, thanks buddy!  Just strap a seat to it and I'd drive it just like that

Had some 'fun' with masking today...first up was the trans tunnel which needed to be a semi-gloss dark-grey kinda color:

Not the most interesting job - but I wanted to keep the floors matt-finish so that the flocking will stick better when I get to that stage.

With that done, next job was to mask up for the black bottles and hoses and whatnot in the engine bay:

Tada!

You'll notice that I ignored some of the molded-in hoses...I replaced those with some wire rather than try and paint them:

Now that's mostly wrapped up, next job is the firewall.  That too has some molded-in stuff that I want to replace...but the shape of this part is MUCH more condusive to just sanding them flat.  Before:

And after:

More on that soon!

[dublin boy]

I had to look at my real one, the brake servo/master cylinder is where the washer bottle is on the kit, but then my one is RHD, so it makes sense they were changed over for left hand drive.

Looking good Jim.

[CabDriver]

1 hour ago, dublin boy said:

I had to look at my real one, the brake servo/master cylinder is where the washer bottle is on the kit, but then my one is RHD, so it makes sense they were changed over for left hand drive.

Looking good Jim.

Thanks buddy!

Interesting about the master cylinder - makes sense!  I'l have to remember that if I ever make one with the wheel on the other side!

[peteski]

Here are couple of scans form the 1995 brochure. Hopefully they will help in detailing your model.

 

[peteski]

On 5/8/2019 at 2:32 PM, CabDriver said:

Ohh, I'd LOVE to see the photo etched bits!  Very cool!  I'd like to make some photoetch parts for one of these too - but if I do some searching I'm sure there's a set commercially available.

Here you go Jim:

This was the car my GF used to own (unfortunately, before I met her).

I will model it using the Tamiya kit with Aoshima BBS RG wheels. The are a bit large, but I think they will look ok.

These are the photoetched emblems I designed and etched.  The 1:24 scale ones are on the right. I also etched some 1:18 and 1:10 scale emblems for a guy who helped me out finding the wheels.  This was back in 1997 - like I said, this is one of my longest in-progress (if I can call it "in-progress") projects.  My GF is still waiting for her model . . .  Log time relationship.

Here are some emblems removed from the fret, polished and painted.

 

[CabDriver]

On 5/13/2019 at 10:42 PM, peteski said:

Here are couple of scans form the 1995 brochure. Hopefully they will help in detailing your model

Those are super helpful, thanks buddy!

On 5/15/2019 at 9:50 PM, peteski said:

Here you go Jim:

This was the car my GF used to own (unfortunately, before I met her).

I will model it using the Tamiya kit with Aoshima BBS RG wheels. The are a bit large, but I think they will look ok.

These are the photoetched emblems I designed and etched.  The 1:24 scale ones are on the right. I also etched some 1:18 and 1:10 scale emblems for a guy who helped me out finding the wheels.  This was back in 1997 - like I said, this is one of my longest in-progress (if I can call it "in-progress") projects.  My GF is still waiting for her model . . .  Log time relationship.

What a great looking project!  Those BBS wheels look great on a Miata, whatever the scale!  And I LOVE the photo etch parts that you've made!  I wish I had the skill to make those too!  VERY cool! 

Just a small update seeing as I'm replying anyway...shot the seats with some Tamiya Nato Black, then dry brushed them with a lighter pastel to give them a little bit more of a cloth-look:

The one on the left has been done already here, and the one on the right is just the bare paint...it's a subtle effect but it adds a little to the look of them I think!

I did a little detailing on the dash - added the kit decal for the gauges, added a little photoetch key slot and gave the vents a light wash with some black...I still need to put some Future over the gauges to give them some depth:

The interiors of these cars are a sea of black and dark grey so it's a little hard to know what to do to improve the look of these parts...but when I mocked up all the interior pieces it sure looked like a Miata, so...

And in backwards-step-taking news, there were a couple of imperfections in the paint that I couldn't see very easily until I polished it all out last weekend.  The finish was GORGEOUS...except for a couple of little imperfections that I've looked at for the last week and finally decided I couldn't ignore.  So...into the pond went the body ???

I HATE moving backwards...but I hate not being satisfied with an end result either, so...back to the paint booth I guess!

[kelson]

I feel for you on the body! nothing worse than the paint gods giving the thumbs down on your efforts.

[CabDriver]

57 minutes ago, kelson said:

I feel for you on the body! nothing worse than the paint gods giving the thumbs down on your efforts.

It was only a couple of minor imperfections - an imperfection in the mould that I didn’t spot when the car was in primer or the flat red but that REALLY bothered me when I started polishing it, plus a little spot where I burned through when polishing.  I touched it in afterwards, but this red paint is so thin it was easy to spot...so, no biggie, an hour in the pond, some clean-up and I can give it another shot!

[Stef]

Hello, CabDriver

Sick build; nice attention to detail. It may just be the lighting in this shot; the panel gaps seem a bit shallow, filling in with paint.

If it's not too late, maybe you can scribe them a bit deeper before repainting?

Hope this helps, thanks.

[Dann Tier]

I cant wait to see this little bugger done!!…..Love your work here, bud!!!......by the way, the wheels/tyres in the photo of your GF car look undersized to me, so that set that you will be using, will actually look better!!

[CabDriver]

20 hours ago, Stef said:

Hello, CabDriver

Sick build; nice attention to detail. It may just be the lighting in this shot; the panel gaps seem a bit shallow, filling in with paint.

If it's not too late, maybe you can scribe them a bit deeper before repainting?

Hope this helps, thanks.

I agree totally Stef!  That Rustoleum clear I used really made those lines look shallow.  I gave them a good scribin' this morning...

Before hitting the whole shebang with Createx sealer again ready for another crack at color coats that I'm satisfied with:

Whilst that's drying I flocked the interior, using Elmers...

...and embossing powder.

Worked great!

More soon!

[Eric Macleod]

I have owned three of these cars in 1:1 scale including a '95 M Edition in Merlot Mica. You really are doing a fine job here. The car obviously has a ton of underhood plumbing which could complicate a full detail job. I like the middle of the road path you are taking. I will continue to watch this with interest.