Italianhorses

Thanks! No, the flocking is detail master grey. Had is for years. Its a bit darker in person than'd like, but ok overall. As far as buckles- I just couldn't find 4 of the same ones in my spares box - so had to improvise!

Thanks! I guess its like riding a bicycle, you know?

With engine and chassis shaping up, I turned my attention to the interior. Very typical for 90’s kits from Japan, it’s a simplified interior tub, with almost no detail on the sides/door cards, one piece, with separate dash and front seats. Decided to go with regular Skyline grey color. It was painted light grey, masked: Then sprayed with a bit darker grey, and then flocked. Missed the color on the base coat a bit for the flocking, but it is close enough. Flocked rear shelf too. And then I decided it was too bland and too grey. It was time to spice it up. Dashboard was painted and decaled, seats fitted with seatbelt latches. Then I realized that I misplaced the shifter, and it was gone. Looked in my spares box for something similar, but all were ill fitting. So, I decided to make one. So, if you scratch building something – make it as real as possible, right? Measured the opening, made a plastic base for the shifter just the right side. Skived some black leather, made a rough template for the boot. Then I tried to make a knob from a plastic rod, but then I thought, how about some polished aluminum knob? Solid aluminum rod was slightly re-worked with metal files into a GT-R knob shape, and then I clamped into my Dremel and polished it – turned out quite nice. Shifter was assembled, and boot glued to the base, and the knob – turned out quite nice, and best part – it moves too, so if you are so inclined, you can imitate shifting! Then I switched my attention to the seatbelts – it would have been crazy not to make then now that I’ve made a working shifter, right? Front belts on the real car are mounted on the side of the car (b-pillar) but since R32 does not really have a pillar as such (frameless door windows) it has this tiny strip of blacked out glass where the assembly can be hidden. To make it work on a model, I made these strips of plastic slightly narrower than the window part, glued a wire loop to put the belt through to the top: Painted them black, made some belt buckles. Looked in my spares for photoetched pieces, but then remembered recent conversation how a lot of PE parts look flat and not lifelike, and decided to go with a bit more 3D version. Decided to go with Motorsport red belts to break down the monotony of the black-grey boring interior. Glad I did. Front belts assembled. Rear belts were easy – just glued to the back seat. I later made little belt retainers and glued them to the rear seat (seen later in completed interior pictures) Next I needed to glue the fronts so they would line up properly to the side window strip. Constantly checking for correct placement and incline, I glued the belts to the interior tub: This is how it looks from the outside: Finally, I couldn’t stand bare door cards, but didn’t want to redo the whole thing at this point I simply didn’t have it in me! So, I made some door handles and little door pulls to make it look a bit more realistic. Everything was put together, test fitted, touched up – interior is now ready to go.

Fujimi, sorry - pet peeve. Means Immortality.

Good start!

Italeri is a GREAT kit. Except for one thing - tires.

Tamiya 24009 Mazda RX-7

Gerry, looking at your pictures is like looking at my stash. Feels really weird. Might be even sitting on the shelf in the same order.

Very cool, love these little Panteras. Excellent finished build, especially knowing the quality of that kit.

Great build of a car that is not often seen and a model kit that is not often built. Looks superb!

The mighty P4. One of my favorite racing Ferraris. Unforgettable shape! Looks good, definitely need some lowering in the back. []

Sacrilege! Just kidding, great start. Enthusiast kits are ill fitting, so doing a conversion at the same time - you are a brave man. Good luck to you, you'll need it!

Very cool, really like these old Fords. They had a very purposeful design to them. Excellent model!

Haha, nice.

Cool paintjobs!

Yeah, soda really works best for filling large gaps, like bubbles in resin castings, etc. It dries almost instantly, which is a great advantage over fillers and putty for this kind of work.

Probably my favorite color for R33. Turned out great, wheels look just right!

Looks great! I just got one of these kits (Original-Teile livery in blue), they are so nice. Yours turned out terrific! So much detail straight out of the box. The money you spent on paint is saved on not having to buy detail set!

Love Panteras. Great color on this one too - shame about the glass, it does look a bit thick. Very clean build!

You can also use baking soda as a filler. It dries super quick with superglue.

Have this in my stash as well. This is a nice kit, though looking at several builds done by others, some areas are quite problematic, mostly bad parts fit. Looking forward to your buildup.

Geez, you all sound like bitter old folks full of regret. Just kidding! I regret not having enough time to spend with my family. I regret having to go to work and spend hours every day at the office instead of traveling or doing something fun. Model related - nothing really. Its all been fun and awesome so far!

Thats awesome!

Sharp! At first I thought 1/2 was the scale and was like huh?

Like it! Weathering looks great, but I think you should not have clear-coated (or whatever sealant was used) it. It looks a bit off because its shiney, and rusty cars are never shiny! These are terrific kits from Tamiya, and yours turned out awesome!