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Classic Japanese sports GT duo, Hasegawa 1/24


Matt Bacon

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A pair of the finest Japanese sports cars -- either one you'd love to own, but only one costs the best part of a million dollars. Both excellent-looking curbside Hasegawa kits. Tamiya spray for the bodies: Racing White and Maroon (actually chestnut brown...)
two-bodies-2-XL.jpg
240Z-XL.jpg
2000GT-XL.jpg
They're quite hard to photograph together, since the camera likes to assume that the Toyota is white (it's actually pale cream), and exposing for both dark brown and almost white in the same image is taxing, especially in artificial light.
wheels-XL.jpg
Wheels in Zero Paints graphite grey with bright silver highlights. The tyre tread diameter is the same, but the 240Z has much smaller wheels/deeper tyres...
The interiors are under way, but they are both a symphony in blacks... though the 2000GT has some rather cool rosewood veneer highlights...
bestest,
M.
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Thanks, guys...yep, they'll both be "totally stock", Julen. The ZG is badass enough as it is, and for the 2000GT, frankly every pimped one I've ever seen online looks far worse than the elegant, curvy original... Even the one Mike Zumbrunn photographed for "Auto Legends" looks the worse for it's otherwise funky black wheels and oversize knockoff hubs...

bestest,

M.

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Thanks, gentlemen! My friend Duncan had a properly "breathed on" Samuri 240Z for a few years after university, and he was forever heading up to somewhere near Silverstone to get the cylinder head ported and polished, or hotter cams, or some other esoteric fine-tuning. Fantastic car, and my word, did it go quick... I wonder where it is now?

Anyway, back in the miniature world, more stuff that's not so easy to photograph...
interiors-under-way-X2.jpg
Did I mention that there's lots of black? ;-P I'm trying to get some variety using different "shades" of black and very dark grey, and different degrees of shiny, to represent the various black leather/plastic/fabrics in the cabins. There's a lot of vinyl in the Z. In the 2000GT there's some leather and that rather nice "birds-eye maple" (so they say...). But the seat ribs are breathable fabric, hence the "NATO Black" matt finish.
2000GT-dash-XL.jpg
Getting the decal to sit over all the switches, knobs and holes was a bit of a "wing and a prayer" job, but at least it's tough and responds well to setting solutions. The instruments were applied to some plastic card, and then punched out, so that I had something controllable to try to get into the bottom of the deep recesses. On the 240Z, I just punched them out of the decal sheet, having learned that the decals don't adhere too well to bare plastic the hard way...
steering-wheels-X2.jpg
Two wooden steering wheels -- Vallejo "Dark Flesh" overpainted with Tamiya Clear Orange for the (vaguely) natural wood effect.
body-kit-XL.jpg
...meanwhile, the Z is getting its distinctive body kit fitted while the 2000GT is drying in the paint shop after the black trim around the "greenhouse" has been applied.
Slow progress, but moving forward, at least!
bestest,
M.
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Thanks, guys -- yep, the wood on the 2000GT dash is a decal, Tulio. I think if I had $968,000 to spend on a car, I'd get something other than a 2000GT. But a bit over £25K for a well-tuned Z -- that's a different story.
There's lots of detail work going on on chassis parts, so progress is rather slow...
toyota-dash-XL.jpg
That's the 2000GT dash complete
z-dash-XL.jpg
...and this is the Zs
both-together-XL.jpg
And finally a bit of "compare and contrast"
It shouldn't be long now before the two interiors go together...
bestest,
M.
Edited by Matt Bacon
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Fond memories of the 240Z! Traded in my '69 Mustang for a '72 Z when I graduated from college in 72. Both six cylinders but oh what a difference in the performance. Two years later I traded the Z for the 74 911. Boy those were the days. Been hooked on six or less cylinders ever since.

By the way, just a minor nit to pick. The Z didn't get a wooden steering wheel until they came out with the 260 in 73 at least in the USA. Before that it was a black plastic. Very nice job on the interior.

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By the way, just a minor nit to pick. The Z didn't get a wooden steering wheel until they came out with the 260 in 73 at least in the USA. Before that it was a black plastic.

Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm not sure I agree with the above, though. Maybe it's true for the US (Are there any ZGs in the US?), but there are plenty of pictures online of "very original" '70, '71 and '73 240Z interiors online that have the wooden rim; the Hasegawa instructions call it out as wooden coloured; and the article in Octane about a completely original ZG (the only one in the UK) that I have at my side as reference clearly shows THAT 240ZG has a wooden wheel. Plus it looks more interesting in that black cabin...

bestest,

M.

Edited by Matt Bacon
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According to Wikipedia:

Fairlady ZG

The Japan-only HS30-H Nissan Fairlady ZG was released in Japan in October 1971 to homologate the 240Z for Group 4 racing. Differences between the Fairlady ZG and an export market Datsun 240Z include an extended fiberglass ‘aero-dyna’ nose, wider over-fenders riveted to the body, a rear spoiler, acrylic glass headlight covers and fender-mounted rear-view mirrors. The Fairlady ZG was available in three colours: Grande Prix Red, Grande Prix White and Grande Prix Maroon. The "G" in Fairlady ZG stands for "Grande." Although the ZG was not sold in the USA and was never sold outside Japan, in order for it to be eligible for competition in the U.S., Nissan sold the nose kit as a dealer's option which is known as the "G-nose". With the nose added, these 240Zs are often referred to as 240ZGs, outside of Japan.

I don't care for that color, but it is beautifully done, and looks just like the one used in Gran Tourismo.

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I went back through my old photos and you are right. The steering wheel was wood color. I think I was thinking of my 911(I still have the steering wheel from that but that is another story). However it was not wood. It was, as was typical for the era, a fake plastic wood grain. The US spec models did not have the extended noses. As I recall the only true Datsun dealer installed options were the front and rear bumper guards, rear window shade which came with a pair of sport mirrors and A/C. The nose and headlight covers were sold at a very limited number of dealers as they were only legal in a very few states. Mine was a horrible light green and I had the mirrors and rear window shade painted to match the car(they were flat black from the factory) when I picked it up from the dealer(in Sterling Colorado). I was headed to Texas and wanted to make sure the sun was not a real problem. I also had the front bumper guard and A/C installed from the factory.

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I don't care for that color, but it is beautifully done, and looks just like the one used in Gran Tourismo.

Thanks! I'm pretty sure that the Tamiya "Maroon" acrylic spray paint was colour matched to the ZG "Grand Prix Maroon" (actually a mistranslation of the French "Marron", chestnut brown) when they launched the 1/12 scale "big boy" 240ZG...

bestest,

M.

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Slow, but steady, progress is beginning to pay off, now...
2000GT-cockpit-1-XL.jpg
2000GT-cockpit-2-XL.jpg
2000GT-chassis-XL.jpg
That's the 2000GT chassis completed. In this one, they have you build the running gear and then the cabin on top...
240Z-cockpit-XL.jpg
240Z-dash-closeup-2-XL.jpg
240Z-dash-closeup-3-XL.jpg
...whereas the 240Z gets the cabin built first, and the running gear after that.
test-run-1-XL.jpg
test-run-2-XL.jpg
I couldn't resist a trial run...
The slightly wobbly edges on the black are all going to be covered by BMF, have no fear...
bestest,
M.
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