Tamiya Honda Takata Dome NSX

[Nacho Z]

Up next on my workbench is Tamiya's 2005 Honda Takata Dome NSX.  This will not be a pure box stock build nor will it be a super detailed build, somewhere in the middle I guess.  I will be using Tamiya's PE set for this car and Gravity Colors - Spain Takata Green.  This is one of the models that Tamiya decided to use a metal/diecast chassis plate.  I have never built one of these before so we'll see how it goes.

Here is what I am starting with.

 

The Gravity Colors - Spain paint is absolutely beautiful in my opinion.  I took it to work to show some of my coworkers how nice it was.  I was giving it a shake as we were talking about it and it slipped out of my hand.  Sigh.  My shop smelled good for awhile...lol.  I've already placed another order.

While I wait for my new bottle of paint to arrive I went ahead and started work on the other bits.  Another new one for me is how Tamiya has you make their racing harness.  There are decals but I did not want to use them.  The PE set has all of the required pieces and this weird vinyl material that you need to cut to 2.4mm wide.  I used my Infini cutting mat for this.  It took several attempts because this material stretches as it is being cut.

Next up will be more interior updates and wheels/rotors.

[Mattilacken]

Looks really good so far! To bad that tamiya started with that type of chassis, and they kept it for a long time. 
 

Belts looks super! Would like some takata stickers for belts, like the green in contrast to other things

[Nacho Z]

6 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Looks really good so far! To bad that tamiya started with that type of chassis, and they kept it for a long time. 
 

Belts looks super! Would like some takata stickers for belts, like the green in contrast to other things

Thanks, Anton!  I guess I can understand why they did it but I'm still not sure if I am a fan of this type of chassis plate.  As for the belts, it took me a while to realize that this Takata is the same Takata as the airbag debacle and it was the harness decals that made the light bulb come on...lol.

[Nacho Z]

Time for the first update.  This will bring me up to nearly real time in this build.  I have been working on the rotors, wheels and tires as well as the interior tub and various bits that go in it.  I have struggled trying to find any photos of the interior of this car or even its sister cars.  For this reason I am pretty much following Tamiya's paint guide.

The dash is fairly simple but looks good when completed.

The rotors and wheels are done as well as one tire.  I had a little trouble with the tire decals.  I think because of their age they are not adhering as well as they should.  At least this was the case with the first one.

 

For the next update I hope to have all 4 tires mounted to the wheels and to have both wheels and tires decaled.  I also hope to have the interior tub completed.  Thanks for looking!

[Mattilacken]

Nice progress 👍🏾

[Nacho Z]

Another small update.  So far everything is going very well.  I was able to complete the interior this weekend.

 

[Venom]

Dang well done so far!

[Rich Chernosky]

John, this is a wonderful kit to build and so far you have done an outstanding job.  Two things I have noticed in your build.  When I did my seatbelts I  used the same material. I cut mine with a heavy metal straight edge and a new razor blade. Hold it down very tight. The way you did it worked so it doesn't matter and they look very good...soooo next time. Decals stick to very shiny glossy surfaces the best. Metallic paint is porous so there is not enough surface area  for them to stick.  I put a dab of waterbase varnish where the decal goes and that solves that problem.  Liquitex Gloss polymer medium is my weapon of choice.  Its made by Binney & Smith (the same people who make crayons) and sold in craft stores in the art supply section. Keep up the good work....Rich

[Nacho Z]

On 11/28/2021 at 1:19 PM, Mattilacken said:

Nice progress 👍🏾

Thanks again, Anton!

17 hours ago, Venom said:

Dang well done so far!

Thank you, Josh!

[Nacho Z]

14 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

John, this is a wonderful kit to build and so far you have done an outstanding job.  Two things I have noticed in your build.  When I did my seatbelts I  used the same material. I cut mine with a heavy metal straight edge and a new razor blade. Hold it down very tight. The way you did it worked so it doesn't matter and they look very good...soooo next time. Decals stick to very shiny glossy surfaces the best. Metallic paint is porous so there is not enough surface area  for them to stick.  I put a dab of waterbase varnish where the decal goes and that solves that problem.  Liquitex Gloss polymer medium is my weapon of choice.  Its made by Binney & Smith (the same people who make crayons) and sold in craft stores in the art supply section. Keep up the good work....Rich

Thanks, Rich! There are some great tips in your post and I appreciate them.  Yeah, that was the first time seeing that harness material.  It stretched ever so slightly on me while I was cutting it and that caused the strips to not be a uniform width.  Tamiya spec’d 2.4mm wide.  The longer shoulder belts were the ones that gave me trouble.  
 

I received my Gravity Colors Spain shipment yesterday and shot a test spoon tonight.  I am using their Dark Primer for the first time.  It laid down so smooooooth!  I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

[Rich Chernosky]

8 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

Thanks, Rich! There are some great tips in your post and I appreciate them.  Yeah, that was the first time seeing that harness material.  It stretched ever so slightly on me while I was cutting it and that caused the strips to not be a uniform width.  Tamiya spec’d 2.4mm wide.  The longer shoulder belts were the ones that gave me trouble.  
 

I received my Gravity Colors Spain shipment yesterday and shot a test spoon tonight.  I am using their Dark Primer for the first time.  It laid down so smooooooth!  I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

You are welcome John.  I very rarely give advice like that.  But I have finished that kit and noticed you had some difficulty that I was able to overcome. Your project is coming along so well (better than mine) that I didn't want to see you struggle.  I have used Gravity Colors and they rock.  The Splash line is very similar and work almost exactly the same way and are distributed in the US. 

[Nacho Z]

I have been making good progress on this.  Wheels and tires are done.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the tire decals / transfers did not want to stick very well.  I believe that due to their age they have lost some of their adhesiveness.  I had what I had and did the best with what I had.  Actually, to the naked eye they look fine.

 

A first for me was to use a Sharpie to highlight seam lines on the body.  The seams are barely existent on the Tamiya body and I thought it would be easy to miss some of them.  It worked out nicely.

 

My shipment from Gravity Colors Spain came in.  I bought a bottle of their Dark Primer which is a very slight dark shade of gray.  It laid down so smooth.  I then shot the Honda Takata Green.  It also laid down as smooth as butter.  The first pic is just paint and the second picture it has been cleared with Tamiya TS-13.

 

One last thing for this update.  Again, something new for me.  I shot the body pieces that needed to be semi-gloss black with Tamiya's LP line.  I used Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and holy BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, I couldn't have asked for better results!  If you haven't tried these lacquers I can't recommend them enough.

[Nacho Z]

It has been a few days since the last update.  The body was prepped by drilling holes, sanding seams, re-scribing all panel lines, sanding down the entire body with some well used piece of sanding sponge and then washing the whole thing.  I primed everything with Gravity Colors Spain - Dark Surface Primer.  It laid down very smooth.  Next I shot the bottom half of the body with Zero Paints Pure Brilliant White.  After that had cured for a few days I masked the lower half and shot 5 coats of Gravity Colors Spain Honda Takata Effect Green.  Once again, everything laid down nicely.  This is how she sits at the moment.  The back "window" will be painted black and then I will clear the entire thing and apply decals.

Thanks for looking!  Comments, critiques, and advice are always welcome.

 

[Mattilacken]

Looks beautiful! That green is so nice!

[Nacho Z]

4 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Looks beautiful! That green is so nice!

Thanks, Anton!  Green wouldn’t be my first choice on a car but this shade sure is gorgeous.  

[Rich Chernosky]

Thanks for the update John.  Everything you have done so far is spot on. I have the entire line of Tamiya bottle laquers (hobby shop owner is my best friend)  but have not tried the semi black.  I have gone through a lot of TS29 in my day so I spray a lot of this color. So the paint report is encouraging. 

[Mattilacken]

Will get a bottle of the lp at next opportunity but not sure if I get hold of that leveling thinner. 

[Nacho Z]

Update time!  The back "window" was painted Tamiya LP-5 - Semi-Gloss Black.  As before, it laid down very well.  I used Tamiya's tape for curves and it did a wonderful job.  Does Tamiya make anything that isn't rock solid?  

After everything had a day or two to cure I cleared the body.  I had planned on airbrushing Mr. Color GX-100 Super Clear III but when I opened my brand new bottle of it, it was very, very thick.  I have read others say the same thing.  I thinned it with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and tested it on a painted spoon.  I wasn't happy with the results.  I need to do some more testing of it before committing to a model body.  I ended up clearing the body with Tamiya TS-13 right out of the can.

I also did the windshield trim.  Window trim is one of my most dreaded things to do.  This was also shot with LP-5.

That is it for this time.  I notice that these foreign racecars don't always get a lot of love but I sure do think they are pretty cool.  Next up will be polishing out the body, painting the rubber trim on the window openings, painting some small areas on the body in silver and then adding decals.  See you next time!

[Mattilacken]

Looking really good! I like these JGTC cars and I have a plan to build as many as I can. They are usually really good kits as well and as you say, they are cool! I have found a store that carry the Calaonic R33 and R34, and of course The Supra, but I would Like to find the R32 and build a real representation of the cal sonic as well as the Jun. and of course I would love to find a NSX or the later resin Supra’s. 
This being the last version of the calsonic r32 before they went with the bulky R33 would be cool to build: 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Mattilacken

[Nacho Z]

On 12/15/2021 at 1:53 PM, Mattilacken said:

Looking really good! I like these JGTC cars and I have a plan to build as many as I can. They are usually really good kits as well and as you say, they are cool! I have found a store that carry the Calaonic R33 and R34, and of course The Supra, but I would Like to find the R32 and build a real representation of the cal sonic as well as the Jun. and of course I would love to find a NSX or the later resin Supra’s. 
This being the last version of the calsonic r32 before they went with the bulky R33 would be cool to build: 

Thanks, Anton!  I have almost all of the Tamiya kits of these racecars.  The ones that I don't have are ones that I didn't really care for.  As with all things Tamiya, these really do build up nice.

On to the next update.  As the clear coat was curing I worked on other bits and pieces.  One thing that always amazes me is the precision fit of Tamiya's parts.  For example, the next picture is a piece of PE for the front grill opening.  Tamiya has you bend a couple of tabs to 90 degrees.  Look at how perfectly level the part fits in the opening.  Awesome!

How they handle the taillight panel is pretty neat too.  It is a clear piece and they give you masks to keep the two lenses clear while you paint the rest.

At this stage the clear had cured and I was able to polish out the body.  Once the body was polished I masked it and painted all of the black trim around the windows and windshield as well as the leading edge of the front fenders.  This was done with Tamiya LP-5.

Next, I painted a few areas silver.  This was mostly for the taillights and headlights.  I did the panel lines and began to decal.  In the last picture the paint / metallics on the rear wing look quite stark.  They are not to the naked eye.  One thing I will mention is the finish.  I did not give this a mirror finish nor do I plan on clearing over the decals.  This is a racecar not a show car.

Let me know what you think.  Thanks for looking!

[Mattilacken]

Looking good! Looks very good with the decals on!
in contrast to you I have none of the kits at the moment. 🤪 these kits for sure builds up nicely. Built two supras lately but not as you found them in the JGTC.

[Nacho Z]

This will be the last progress update.  The next post will be in the Under Glass section.

The only nit I have to pick with this model is how Tamiya does the fade from green to white.  I will be honest and say that I don't know of a better way either.  The problem is that they have you paint green farther down the body than needs to be.  I think they also run the white decal farther down than needs to be.  What this does is creates different shades/hues/brightnesses of white.  My guess is they have you paint the green to some landmarks on the body which make it easier to mask?  Anyhow, I have looked at a number of these models and they all have the same issue with the white areas.  On to the pictures.

[Mattilacken]

Beautiful! 

[Rich Chernosky]

Turning  into a real masterpiece.

[Nacho Z]

19 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Beautiful! 

 

12 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Turning  into a real masterpiece.

Thank you, Anton and Rich, I appreciate you guys following the build.  I finished the model yesterday, Christmas Eve, and took what I call “glamour shots”.  I will post them in the Under Glass section today or tomorrow.