Mister 4x4 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 (edited) OK - so I got a bunch of cool stuff to establish a proper workbench, and decided on using half of my computer desk that was just holding up a bunch of old junk anyway. Went to Hobby Lobby and Michael's for supplies, and wound up scoring a nice desktop Ott Lamp (for half off at Michael's). It really is a lot brighter in the room... but my old 3.2MP HP camera (next thing on the list) did its best: Here's the kit: a Hasegawa 1:24 I scored from ebay several years ago when I had my '95 Civic VX. And finally, here's the plan - my old 1995 Honda Civic VX. I picked it up for $800 during the $4.00/gallon days with a blown engine (head gasket and clogged radiator was all that was wrong with it). Rebuilt it and drove it like I stole it for 3.5 years. I'm one of those weirdos that can't leave anything alone, so after I got it running, I tossed on some cool wheels, dumped in a 1000 watt stereo system, and tinted the windows. Every Ricer in town wanted to race me... but the weenie little VTEC-E engine only put out 95hp... but got 40mpg all day with the A/C running! A total blast to drive, but I sold it to a buddy when I first bought my '71 Mach 1 over 4 years ago (it just wasn't cool anymore after getting my childhood dream car - even though it was a major pile that didn't even run at the time). Here's the plan: It's just a "curbside" model kit with RH drive, but I figure I can get it "close enough" to my old car once I tint the windows... just to get back into the groove, if nothing else. I swiped some 7-spoke wheels and 30-series tires from another kit that will be "close enough" as well, but if I can score some of these rims, that would be much better. Anybody know if they make 'em (or at least something similar) aftermarket? Wish me luck - should be fairly easy and straight-forward... and Fun, too. Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twokidsnosleep Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I like it a lot, been looking for a kit of the gen before Had an '89 Civic Si for 11 years; it got me through my university days and almost up to the birth of first child Loved that car, must have moved a dozen times in it Will follow along on your build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar - D Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 There's nothing like building your 1:1 car either past or present. I have a project for 2015 to build my 83 Rx7 I had back in the day. Looking forward to seeing some progress pictures. By the way I find that my phone camera works good for posting pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dublin boy Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 My Mom had one if those in silver back in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyboy Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 For years (and many cars) I always wanted to build one of my 1:1 cars.......this year got a Tamiya S2000 kit to build like one of my favorite 1:1's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 I love building 1:1 replicas - probably because I love the TV/Movie cars so much. I had built one of my first car, 1982 Mustang GL hatchback, using an '84 Silver Anniversary Edition kit and some wheels kit-bashed from an old D-50 kit... but it's only "close." I just scored a '79 Mustang Cobra kit and found the proper chrome modular wheels in a sale lot on ebay - so I should be able to get it almost perfect this time around. I've also got a Jeep CJ-7 I started SO long ago, and never quite finished - which will be fun, since I'll need to back up and redo a few things. I also plan on building the rest of my 'fleet' and have the kits for just about everything else as well, including: '78 K5 Blazer, '85 Nissan 4x4, the other '85 Nissan 4x4 King Cab, and several '71 Mach 1s. The hard work will be my '97 Ram Club Cab 4x4... but I'm saving that for when I get my scratch building skills more up to snuff. I hope someone releases a current generation Dodge Ram crew cab... otherwise, I'll have to figure out how to mold resin from a die cast or something. OK - gotta get busy on it. Lots of trimming and flashing/seam smoothing before I can do anything meaningful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 This year I built two replicas from my past life and it was a blast! First up was finishing a Dodge A100 Van that I had started many years ago to be a replica of a van a friend drove back in the late 1970s. I got it right enough that I posted pictures of it on my FaceBook group for my town, and two people identified it within a half hour. That was fun. Second one was creating my sister in law's old 1977 Chevette. I had helped her buy this lime green beauty back when she was 17 and she drove it 10 years. I built it down to the last detail of her fuzzy seat covers and college stickers. She loved it! So I let her keep it. A lot of fun to see the look on her face when I put it on the table in front of her. Next up? I bought the yellow paint to build the '74 Mustang II coupe my wife was driving when I met her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelmikey Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) Good luck on build, those VX's are popular for engine swaps as they were the lightest civic. XS tuning had wheels that are very close to the 17's in the picture. I had a 1995 civic Si coupe (Ex in the USA). I want to build a model of it, but the Revell '93 coupe only had cheesy bumpers, no stock body option. Edited January 1, 2015 by Modelmikey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) The rims on the real car were 16" MB Seven X rims from Discount Tire with Nitto NeoGen 215/40R16s all around. Kept the overall wheel diameter the same as the Honda 13" rims with 195/70R13s - so it didn't mess up the gear ratio (and steal a few of the 95 ponies the VTEC-E was putting out). I've had literally Zero luck finding any scale sized rims even close online. But when I bought the kit so many years ago, I also snagged this Revell Civic Si Coupe kit... the wheels are at least 7-spokes and should pass for "close enough" once I clean 'em up and paint the spokes. Plus, the Revell kit comes with 3 other sets of rims, so I can still build it as well. Edited January 1, 2015 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Count me in on watching this one. Man I hear you on the camera blues dude! I had a Nikon CoolPix S550 camera for a couple of years and while it was better than my phone, there was only so much I could do with it. I recently smacked down a few bones and bought a Nikon CoolPix S9700 a couple of months ago and while its not at the "top of the food chain" , it's still a "Bad A" camera. It was one of the best improvements I've made to my modeling experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 (edited) OK - so I left off with this kit several years ago after having painted the chassis flat black and started with the interior. I'm redoing the interior - I'd used glossy Testors water-colors (not knowing any better at the time that they'd worked the non-toxic crappy water-colors into the main-stream), and I'm planning on getting everything "flat-coated" with the colors closer to what came in the car. Since the windows will be tinted with the Tamiya Smoke, I'm not going to get exceedingly crazy trying to flock the floors or get every number on the speedo and tach. So today, I got the chassis, what there is of the engine, exhaust and suspension pretty much done. Since I'm using wheels from a different kit, I'll need to figure out some axles before I can mount up the wheels with the disc brakes. But, here we are - not too bad from not having seriously built anything since the '80s, eh? If it stays icy like today, this might get done rather quickly... although, I'll need to find a warm place to paint the body soon. Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunkypeanutbutter Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 One tip: don't paint the Tamiya Smoke on. Doesn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOYCARTEC Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I had a 1:1 1995 Honda Civic CX hatchback, white just like yours, and I put on similar rims and tires except mine were a darker shade. I'm also in the process of building the same Hasegawa kit to replicate it. I have converted the dash to left hand drive and have found a set of rims/tires closer to the real thing. You may be interested in the same set,they come in bare white plastic so all you have to do is prime them and paint them the shade of silver of your 1:1 wheels. They are made by XS Tuning. I just found another set listed on E-Bay by going to "models and kits"and then select "automotive" then entering "XS TUNING WHEELS in the search. Good luck, hope this works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 (edited) Cool! Thanks, TOYCARTEC! I found these: They're a lot closer in shape and appearance than the later-model Civic Si rims I swiped from the other kit. Someone else had mentioned the XS Wheels and the search I did earlier found only full-size wheels and 1/10th R/C wheels as well. Appreciate the tip immensely - these are on the way and should be here by next weekend. Quick question: are they post-mount wheels like the stock rims from the Hasegawa kit? Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOYCARTEC Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Mister 4x4. Yes these are the ones and they are post-mount wheels like the Hasegawa kit but you need to adjust the posts so to get it to the right stance similar to 1:1 stance. They also come with disc rotors. Awesome. Glad to be of some help. They are not exactly what we had but are the closest that I could find that worked. Looking forward to see your progress on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelmikey Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 (edited) Hey, here is a in progress I did last year of a 'Teg, the last wheel optioin picture is the XS tuning wheels I was talking about, I also have the set you pictured above, your 1:1 wheels are almost a combination of the 2.http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=84287&hl=integra Edited January 3, 2015 by Modelmikey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpitShineTommy Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Hey cool build, and back story. I plan on doing this soon with the fujimi prelude kit. I would like to convert it from the right side driver. Nice bench btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Aha! Thanks for the tip, Mike! Good lookin' 'Teg as well - the header looks perfect!! I'm thinking the XS wheels should allow me to use the painted up Si wheels for the Si kit as well (since I don't have any other imports to use them on - LOL - plus, I hate 6-spoke wheels anyway - they just look cheap to me for some reason). Any more pics of the 'Teg build? Thanks Dennis! If I wasn't afraid of mangling the dashboard altogether, I'd consider the mod - but it was already painted blue and I'm just trying to get this one done so I can move onto one of my Mach 1 kits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelmikey Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) Any more pics of the 'Teg build? I had a paint 'whoops' while trying to touch up a spot (Bleed under the masking tape), so its on hold for now, Duplicolor doesn't strip to well. Edited January 4, 2015 by Modelmikey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) OK, so the XS wheels showed up earlier this week, and during initial test-fitting, I noticed the post axles are too deep... meaning they would stick out quite far. Can't have that. So, after some trimming of the kit's disc brakes (the ones that came with the wheels were all wrong for a factory build) and drilling some holes through the hubs (which will never be seen), I managed to get 'em on there just right. This is the color the kit came as, but we haven't had a day worthy of painting to get the body sprayed, or even primered. Hopefully, tomorrow it'll be in the mid-60s as promised. Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project510 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Id be interested in that SI Coupe kit if you wanted trade or sell it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) I think I'm going to build it, James. I'll let you know first if I decide not to. So we finally got a good day to paint, and I was able to prime the body, dull-coat the interior pieces (still drying), and shot some Duplicolor Chrome on the rims. So far, so good. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the primer sanded smooth for paint next weekend (which is supposed to be nice as well) Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonioseven Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Looks good so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar - D Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Nice progress looking forward to see some paint on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project510 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Right on!. Looking good man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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