Tamiya Subaru BRZ

[heptoman]

So, after looking a bit on this forum, I'm a little bit hesitant to put this up since it's bone stock, but I would welcome some pointers. Anyway, my wife and I bought the real version of the car and it's the most fun car I have ever driven. So we decided to "clone" a second one.

This is her first model and my first after about a 13 year dark age. I used to build lots but never really paid attention to details and worked too fast, but this time I'm forcing myself to take time on it. So, here we go from start to finish.





Washing:

And drying:

Don't worry - the blow dryer has a "cool" setting so no warpage of elements.

More soon.

[heptoman]

Here is the rear suspension, sans brake rotors. It also needs a coat of semi gloss black on everything except the silver transfer case cap. Level of detail is very solid with this kit.

Next night:

Brakes assembled and ready for painting.

Hubs painted. Hard to see, sorry - I thought my phone camera was good?

Brake rotors painted.

Calipers done (yes, three separate colors...very tedious).

First coat of body color on underbody. Will need multiple coats, and the body will be primed - the model is case in silica bluish.

[heptoman]

Anyway, here's the exhaust and complete rear suspension painted and ready to install:





Here is the time hold up - three coats of body color and two coats of Mr. Super Clear sealant. Doing the last coat of sealant tonight, and then tomorrow night will be masking and painting the actual color.





Original color (reverse side of part):

I want to get a head start with priming this night. Color will be Dark Grey Metallic.

[heptoman]

Light load tonight. First primer coat (didn't want to overspray) and last coat of Mr. Super Clear on underbody. Tomorrow night will be more - we'll be painting the front suspension and details on underbody. Tuesday night should be assembly.

[heptoman]

BTW I'm trying to catch up to the BRZ/GT86 forum that I have also posted this on.

[heptoman]

"Daily" update! Lots of painting last night.


Second coat of primer on all but the exterior body (that will be tonight).





Final painting of underbody, complete with cool drip pan. Also, the front suspension is painted (still needs a touchup on the inside).





Close-up of front suspension:





And, the other side of the underbody, now black.





Tonight is assembly of rear suspension and exhaust, touching up of front brakes, final priming of exterior, and probably a bit more painting for the engine area.

[heptoman]

Update 14.08.2013

"Daily" update! Lots of painting last night.


Second coat of primer on all but the exterior body (that will be tonight).





Final painting of underbody, complete with cool drip pan. Also, the front suspension is painted (still needs a touchup on the inside).





Close-up of front suspension:





And, the other side of the underbody, now black.





Tonight is assembly of rear suspension and exhaust, touching up of front brakes, final priming of exterior, and probably a bit more painting for the engine area.

[heptoman]

Double post - ctrl+C didn't work.

[heptoman]

Update 14.08.2013

Hey everyone, quick update but we didn't get everything done last night because of storm/traffic delay in DFW. But here's what we were able to do:


Assemble driveshaft and rear suspension.









Exhaust:





That's it for a couple of days. Student trip to baseball game tonight, so it will be a late one. More updates on Thursday.

[heptoman]

Update 16.08.2013

Rangers won Wednesday!


More updates, not much though.

Body is finished priming. Probably going to jump ahead and do assembly tonight.




Front suspension finished painting (inside of calipers) and preliminary assembly.





And front wheel well with final coat of body paint last night. Just using one coat of Mr. Super Clear, and that went on this morning. Probably going to paint details tonight.





More to come!

[heptoman]

Update 17.08.2013

Good morning everyone!


Did some painting yesterday, assembly and more painting tonight.


Front wheel well/engine base. Can't tell from the pic but the wheel well is base color in front and semi gloss black in back. (BTW I have no idea why my pictures keep getting washed out. It's a camera phone but it's supposed to be one of the best. I'll investigate further...)





First coat of body. I must say I'm a bit disappointed in the color. Tamiya says to use TS-64 Dark Mica Blue to match the factory Dark Grey Metallic. I was a bit skeptical but I got it anyway, well, my skepticism was well founded. We'll see once I get the final coat and Mr. Super Clear on it.





Front and rear bumper. I was going to assemble the body tonight but realized there's a lot more sub assembly to the bumpers. Oh well.

[heptoman]

Update - 20.08.2013

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates over the weekend - it was a busy one, therefore we didn't get a whole lot done.


Here is the front suspension pre-assembled onto the body. There are a few blue spots from sanding for glue. I hate that part. Anyone know of a glue or cement that will not attack paint?





Front wheel well assembled.





Engine and interior parts prepped for painting tonight. I really wanted to do it last night but it was too late. Plus, the cement for some of those parts needed to fully cure. Patience strikes again!

[heptoman]

Update 20.08.2013 #2

Hey everyone, two updates in one day to make up for the weekend.


Body assembly connection points all sanded away and taped for final coat and Super Clear.





Coat #2 of body color on auxiliary parts (bonnet, rear view mirrors, spoiler, firewall, hood brackets).





And two shots of the interior after the coat of semi gloss. Painting details tomorrow - red stitching!








My wife is painting the engine and radiator right now, so I'll have pictures of that in the morning.

[heptoman]

Update 21.08.2013

Daily update!

Engine front and radiator.




More detail painting tonight.

[heptoman]

Update - 22.08.2013

Hey everyone, lots of painting work done last night.


Air intake details. (First coat of semi gloss black was two nights ago). That decal was a major PITA.





Another shot:





Center console:





Another view (need to go back in and detail the traction control buttons):





One of the seats. Hard to tell but the areas that would be the Alcantara are painted a flat black, and the leather is semi. Maybe should have gone for the gloss for a bigger contrast.





Belt assembly.







I know we took more pictures, especially of the radiator and engine top but I don't have time to look and/or upload. More updates later.

[heptoman]

Update 23.08.2013

Hey everyone, update time.


Engine front and radiator detailing.





Backside:





Front of engine installed:





Belts/pulleys added:





Forgot to take a picture of just the intake after install but you get the point. (Blue sprue leftover will be taken care of tonight, plus any touch-up that's needed elsewhere). Complete engine:





I don't know if there will be an update tomorrow morning - taking the real one in for an oil change. I painted the interior but I REALLY didn't like the work so I have to redo it. I also finished the exterior but it was getting late and the clear coat needed to dry, so I'll at least have pictures of that tomorrow.

[heptoman]

Update 24.08.2013

Update time! Lots done last night.

Red stitching detail painting:

Center console:

Center console cemented in:

And couches:

Another view:

You can see the bad painting on the rear deck. That's AFTER fixing it too! Might go over with a second coat, depends on how bad you can see it through the rear glass once that's done.

I also spray painted the rest of the interior but I didn't take a pic of the masking required - that's what took the bulk of the time yesterday. Maybe after school tailgate party and before the DFW mini-meet I'll take some pics. But we'll be detail painting those tonight and finishing the interior up tomorrow!

[heptoman]

Update 25.08.2013

Here is a shot of the interior after spray painting the base coat of semi gloss black. I masked off where I will be gluing - I hate sanding, and would rather spend the time to mask.





Mask removed:





Rear brake decal applied. Hard to see, I know...but it's there. (Sorry about the messy workspace in the background...)





Dashboard after detail painting:





Assembled and decaled dashboard. I had applied the decals before the Dallas FT86 mini-meet, but when we returned the gas pedal decal was gone! (I blame the cat).... and then as I was applying the front speakers, I lost the brake pedal decal too. Which is INCREDIBLY frustrating because I made a huge point to apply lots of decal setting solution to those things.





And side panels, with paint detailing and decals. Sorry about the glare from one of the decals - they were still wet when I took the pic.




Final cockpit assembly tonight.


My wife is taking a nap so that means MLB 2k12!!!!

[heptoman]

Update 26.08.2013

Hello everyone!


Update time.


I was able to get a lot done yesterday.


Here is the cockpit with doors assembled. I forgot to snap a picture of the doors alone for the red stitching detail, but you can see it nonetheless in this pic.





Another view:





And cockpit installed on lower body:





Firewall and bumper masked off, ready for spray painting:





Battery, masked for painting - different color.







Firewall components after painting (I had trouble with the battery posts, as you can see. The bloody thing is so small! I'll touch it up after I assemble the whole battery):





Brake fluid reservoir:





Reverse taillights painted (still needs a coat of silver).





Rear bumper assembly:





Front bumper assembly:





Some detail painting and assembly tonight, more updates tomorrow!

[Tom Geiger]

So, after looking a bit on this forum, I'm a little bit hesitant to put this up since it's bone stock, but I would welcome some pointers.

Please do post! True that you would get a lot more response if you were building a muscle car or street rod, but there are small loyal followings for all things model cars on the board. I build mostly old beaters and light commercial and I sometimes get little comment, but those who do become my friends since we have similar interests!

Your posting is well done and builds a cool story. I like the project you're working on, if I was going to buy a new car, that would be one I'd be seriously looking at to replace my '95 Celica GT convertible!

Now for the comments you request, you are working on a Tamiya kit, which usually very well done, so you shouldn't have any assembly problems. For the most parts, people don't paint things still on the sprue tree for a number of reasons. First, at minimum, you will have a bare plastic mark where it was attached. Often this will need to be sanded flat, and on some kits these are in prominent places. Also, we usually have to clean up molding process imperfections like ejector pin marks and mold seams. That's all best done off the tree. I do spray everything, so I mount the parts on toothpicks stuck into small Styrofoam blocks (taken from old electronics packaging) and spray accordingly. Also, for most kits, you will want to try out the fit of parts prior to painting them in case you need to sand / modify them to fit.

You are doing very well for your first kit in a long time! So play through! I'm happy to watch, I'm sure you'll have a fine replica of your 1:1 in the end!

[heptoman]

Update 27.08.2013

Good morning. Too freaking early...


Lots done last night.


Battery and brake master cylinder assembled:





Another view:





Battery on firewall:





Battery and brake cylinder. You can the botched battery posts:





And windshield bottom assembled. Going to let that dry before fixing battery.





Grill assembled into front bumper:





Back to battery, fixed (paint still a little wet):





Reverse light cluster and bumper assembled (three different parts):

[heptoman]

Latest update part 2 (too many pics!):

Front fog lights assembled. I botched the driver's side lights, going to need to fix that once everything is dry.





Firewall installed into main body:



Front and rear bumper taped and glued.





Hood joints:





Full body:





Side view:





Rear view:





Front view:





That's all for now. Next is the window but I need to research how to tint models. It seems pretty straight forward but I don't want to screw it up.

[Kennyboy]

I had a good time reading your build story. It is super cool that your wife is helping you with this....(keeper!)

Keep going it is looking great!!

[heptoman]

Your posting is well done and builds a cool story. I like the project you're working on, if I was going to buy a new car, that would be one I'd be seriously looking at to replace my '95 Celica GT convertible!

Thanks! I can't say enough good about the real BRZ. It isn't as fast as it looks, but the aftermarket is really ramping up. One of the forum members slapped on a supercharger. Lots of room in that engine bay!

"For the most parts, people don't paint things still on the sprue tree for a number of reasons."

This was a concern I had at the very beginning after studying the assembly directions - LOTS of tiny parts and my clumsy macro hands would have trouble with keeping prints off and etc.

"Often this will need to be sanded flat, and on some kits these are in prominent places. Also, we usually have to clean up molding process imperfections like ejector pin marks and mold seams. That's all best done off the tree."

When I have been painting on the sprue, I've been making sure to sand down and make everything look nice (I hope it looks nice!).

"I do spray everything, so I mount the parts on toothpicks stuck into small Styrofoam blocks (taken from old electronics packaging) and spray accordingly."

I can't spray everything...yet.

"Also, for most kits, you will want to try out the fit of parts prior to painting them in case you need to sand / modify them to fit."

I've also been making sure to do this, but it's a well made kit like you said and it hasn't needed anything except for the brake cylinder - I had to cut down the half circle that it mounted to - it wouldn't fit flush.

"You are doing very well for your first kit in a long time!"

Thanks! Please keep the comments coming, I love feedback. (Of course I do, I'm a musician...)

[heptoman]

I had a good time reading your build story. It is super cool that your wife is helping you with this....(keeper!)

Keep going it is looking great!!

Thanks! Yeah I think she's a good one.