Nacho Z

Thank you, Ken, and a big Amen Brother! ? Everyone needs a kit like this every now and then to appreciate Tamiya kits! Thanks, Bruce! This was, and probably will be, my only Heller model…lol.

Pierre, you are far too kind! I wasn’t fishing for compliments and truly am embarrassed with the final product. I suppose it is true what they say; we are our own worst critic. I guess it is kits like this that make us appreciate good kits. ? Thank you, Bob, I appreciate it! This is my favorite reply! Thank you, Bill, you made my day! Before I start any model, I research it to see what others have done with it, what they have ran into, and what extras there are for it in the aftermarket. I Google it, I check here, I check FB, and I check YouTube. All I wanted to do with this was to be a resource for someone else. I would normally post a bit more of my WIP, but this thing deflated my enthusiasm so much that I just wanted to be done with it.

Thank you, Robert! The guy that I built this for just loves this car. He was a college student at the time and talked about how they would tear around town in this thing. He said it handled like a go cart. Thanks, Chris! Thank you, Helmut!

Thank you, Mathias! This was a tough kit for me. I appreciate it, Dave! Thanks, Jim!

I decided to pull the trigger and build this model. It is LeMans Miniatures' Audi R8 in the famous Crocodile Dundee livery. I will not do a rundown of this car's pedigree, a quick Google search will tell you everything you want to know about this car. The terms "rare" and "expensive" are relative, but this kit, as of today, is relatively rare and if you can find one, expensive. I have had mine for many years. After that doggone Heller Renault Gordini R8 nearly made me quit modeling, I thought I would build something that I liked. A slight departure from how I normally do my WIP threads, this time I am going to post current progress pics and ask for opinions, advice and comments. I normally post my updates weeks after the work is already done. I am hoping that you guys with a lot of resin experience will follow along and chime in often. This introductory post will just be pictures of the kit contents. I am really going to take my time with this one, not so much that it is particularly difficult, but because I will only get one shot at it. I will post more closeup pictures of the other bits and pieces as I get to them. I will source some tire decals. I may already have some in my stash. Again, anyone that can give me pointers and advice, I'm all ears! Thanks for checking in.

Rich, I’m so impressed with not only the quality, but the speed at which you are building this kit! I am loving all of these updates and the narratives with each photo. Thank you for sharing your work with us!

Ian, I just now had the opportunity to check out this entire build thread. I think that I may have seen it before, but never went through all of your posts. You are doing a fantastic job on this! I have all of the Top Studio items as well as the Thunder Valley items. I will be following your build with great interest. I wish you all the best on this project!

That is a great looking Ferrari, Germán! You did a wonderful job on it.

Very nice, Matt!

She is absolutely beautiful, Jason! You are doing a great job on it!

Only because I said I would, I am going to post the completed model of the Heller Renault R8 Gordini. I truly am a bit embarrassed to post it. It just isn't a good looking model. I have added a link to the WIP thread. If you want to know what a pain in the rear this kit is, please read the WIP thread. There are detail pictures there. You will also see why I built it, (it was for a friend). Here she is. Go easy on me!

Thank you, Carl! Thanks, Ed! Thank you, Alex, but you are far too kind. I know that I've said it several times, but these Hasegawa 962C kits really are among my favorites. I like to build them in between more detailed projects. I'll be keeping my eye out for your next one!

I think that this will be the last update. As I have stated before, this kit fought me all the way. If it were not for the fact that I was building this for a friend, I would have just put it back in the box and then put the box in the garbage can. The chrome trim that runs down the sides of the car came like this. I cut the bits off, stripped the chrome, cleaned up the parts the best that I could and painted them with Green Stuff World Chrome. In, what has been for me, typical Heller fashion, this is an example of Heller's work. This part, #12, came off the parts tree. When I went to install it, I quickly realized that the part wasn't going to fit. Yes, a simple thing to figure out, but also a simple thing to get right in the first place. One bright spot was the Tamiya paint came out like this straight out of the can. The re-popped kit has the same issue as the original and that is the tulip panel is terribly bowed. This messes up the fit of the boot lid and the rear glass. Please go back to the beginning of this WIP thread to see why I didn't attempt to fix it. The final insult was the rear glass from the re-pop. It was literally flat and not curved. Thank the Good Lord that I still had the original kit's parts. I had to use it to finish the kit. For fun, I laid the bad kit glass on the body, (see 2nd picture). Lastly, The carrier film on the decals was atrocious. I took all of the stripes and cut them out so that they were individual stripes. I had to be very careful with the spacing and how straight I laid them. Thanks for putting up with all of my complaining about the kit. In my defense, it is a steaming pile of ?. I will post a few pics of the finished model in the Under Glass section. I did not get very good pictures of it due to time constraints. Thanks again for following along.

Just fantastic, Rich!

Very, very cool! Both models are great! The group photo is too cool!

Michael, I really do appreciate all of your input. I hope you continue to comment in this thread. I did post on Sept. 23rd that the model is done and it is with its new owner. I built it the way he said to although I readily admit that he did not give me a ton of details about the car.

Monday nights are when I seem to do my updates, so let's get to it. Because it has been over a year in real time since I've updated this build, I will do a quick overview. The truth of the matter is that I really, really dislike this model. I'm not a fan of the real car either. If you ever have a chance to build this kit, don't. Run. Run fast and run far. The fact that I don't like the real car and the fact that the model sucks is why it has taken me over a year to build it. I kept finding excuses to stick it back in the box. I do appreciate all of the advice that I was given earlier in this build thread. My honest hope is that if someone else is building this kit, they will come across this thread and glean the information herein. OK, on to the build. A lot of the interior pieces as well as the roll cage was cast in a weird rubber / vinyl material. I cleaned the pieces up as best as I could and installed them. As pointed out in my previous posts, I killed the body of the original kit and had to buy a re-pop. Upon inspection, I thought the plastic was weird, or at the very least, different than what I am used to. Here is the body being backlit with a lamp. I did all of the bodywork that I had done on the original kit. I went ahead a shot primer on the body. Just plain ol' Tamiya White Surface Primer straight out of the can. I want to point out the track width of both the front wheels and the rear wheels. This will bite me in the backside later on. I also worked on the interior door panels. Once again, in true Heller fashion, the panel lines were non-existent. I did my best to mask off the various panels and painted it per the kit instructions. Here is a quick shot of the quality of the decals. These are the new ones. The carrier film on all of the decals was atrocious. I'll stop there for this update. There is plenty more heartbreak to come. Thanks for checking in!

What a beautiful ride!

I have always loved this kit! I still have my original build from way back in the late ‘60s or early’70s (?). I really, really like your build. The paint looks great!

She is really coming together, Rich! I’m enjoying the regular updates, keep ‘em coming!

Very nice looking model!

Very nice, Greg!

Absolutely gorgeous! This may very well be the nicest example of this kit that I have ever seen. Outstanding build and the photos make it that much better.

I absolutely love these Hasegawa Porsches! I just posted the Super Cad / Penthouse version. I really like your three models. You have done a nice job on them.

Hi, guys and gals. It has been a while since I updated this thread, over one year actually. This is just a quick post to let you all know that the little Gordini is done and in the hands of its new owner. I am going to continue with this WIP thread and finish it before posting anything in the Under Glass section. This little car fought me tooth and nail the entire way and I am truly happy to have it off of my bench. I will try to get a few more updates in the next few days. Thanks to all of you who commented and offered suggestions.