Gumball

just some updates, found some matching superchargers, and the engine still needs alot of work.

another small update

Still needs a whole heck of alot of work, and paint touch ups, far from what i would like to see as the final product. However it is starting to take some shape. hopefully i can find some matching superchargers, or matching tunnel ram intakes and really start to get this show on the road!

Small update. These engines happen to be Chevy engines out of a AMT dragster kit, however these engines are poorly detailed and in this case should pass as ford blocks.

This is another kit i picked up at the beginning of this year. I couldn't get my hands on the Maverick, but this is just as cool regardless. i swear this kit was complete, but seems to be missing one of the cylinder heads. So what do you do with a relatively rare kit (from what i hear) missing a detrimental part? My answer is to replace the original with something better, in this case putting two engines side by side, between the front wheels. Im not sure yet if Im going to completely scratch build the two engines from polystyrene, or use some of my old miscellaneous engines, however im unsure if id be able to find anything ford related.

Thanks guys

Thanks! I seem to be delving deep into mismatched body panels, and multiple tone paint jobs for the past few projects now. I really do enjoy doing them up with multiple colours, it really makes them pop with an added realism to it. I dont put any of my kits in any shows, let alone see any multi coloured stuff at shows either, so i guess you can call me the odd one out!

I also have some progress already on the front body work, however it seems really off. Im thinking i should make the front less flat and more pointy, however if that doesn't fix it, ill be redoing much of what iv already completed with the grill and everything. Im just thinking its looks a little too American.

So this is my second Tamiya 240 kit in all its half built glory! This is on my quite literal "crazy model car project ideas I really want to do, but I will probably only do half of them" list, this one being at the top because i just completed my cursed 240Z, all the pieces are already out, and im not looking forward to loosing any parts. My inspiration to do something like this came a few years ago when when i stumbled across a certain S15 Nissan Silvia Rocket Bunny kit, with a front end that more resembles the classic Datsun front ends (73 GTR, 1200, sunny etc), or you could compare it to a Plymouth Cuda. I thought the idea was awesome, it gave the car that weird 70s Japanese "muscle car" look that i immediately fell in love with. The only thing i found lacking was that although the front end was completely overhauled, the rear end remained mostly stock. Originally my idea was to take any 90s Japanese sports car, and overhauling both the front and the rear end in a similar style to the S15. Recently after diving into my Tamiya 240zg kit, i became disappointed to find out that the ZG kit came only with the more pointy ZG, and in my opinion, less appealing front end than a more common 240z front end. So my current idea consists of creating a whole new front end to this 240zg, geared more towards the classic 70s american muscle cars, as well as adding a crazy "Super GT" (whatever you call it) wide body kit, turning this ZG into a crazy track beast. Needless to say this thing is going to be the farthest thing from a stock 240ZG you can get! This is going to take alot of work! Current progress: : S14 Reference: Super Gt Reference:

Thanks!

Thanks! im not sure how rare they are, haven't seen any rally ones for sale anywhere, however iv seen quite a few 240ZGs for sale online. Perhaps they all ended up in Ontario?

Its officially complete!

So my dad over the years has owned many super cool cars one of which was a 72 Datsun 240Z, one of his dream cars he wanted ever since they first came out. The story goes that the first owner purchased the vehicle brand new from the dealer. The car was enjoyed for a number of years before at some point the original owner got t-boned at an intersection. The car was then sold to the second owner whom proceeded to fix it up, repairing the car and adding some triple Weber carbs, and Brembo brakes. The car was once again enjoyed for a few years before getting t-boned at an intersection. The car was then sold to my dad. My dad proceeded to add a stiffer rear end, an aftermarket stereo, and the beefy rear tires. My dad got in about 5 accidents in about 2 years, each time getting t-boned in an intersection. He got into so many accidents he gave up repainting the front fenders, with the final accident sending the radiator into the fan cutting a perfectly circular hole in the rad. At that point he gave up and scraped the car. The 1970-72 Datsun 240z has been a favorite of his since the day it came out, so for fun I thought id rebuild the car he remembers having. Throughout building this my dad got increasingly exited over the progress i was making over it, constantly asking me when it would be done. According to him, if you discount the right hand drive, I practically nailed it, with the cherry of top being the recreation of his screwdriver on the passenger seat. The original kit was a garage sale purchase of a half built 1/12 Tamiya Datsun 240ZG and a 1/12 Tamiya 240Z rally car. Considering this was a already built and broken kit, i guess you can consider this a model car restore. Sadly many of the parts where broken by the time i got my hands on them, resulting in me fixing the front steering in place, although the suspension still works just fine, and a couple more problems like the sunroof glass (i couldn't find any blue tint glass) and the missing panel behind/under the grill. A few other things however worked out in my favor, like the primer getting peeled off by the tape on the front fenders, and the brown paint looking bad. But regardless of me massively missing the mark to give this to him for fathers day, it made him really happy, he wont stop talking about it! Mission successful! Build Link:

Thanks! I couldn't agree with you more when it came to eyeing up some of the extra kits my dad has lying around. He could never get rid of them, and sadly he lost the time to build them anymore. Because I personally own very few kits compared to him, and some of his kits are far more interesting, we agreed that we would "share", so hopefully that means there will be more restorations like this in the future!

Thanks! im just glad the 1 or 2 tiny imperfections you cant see in the pictures! nothing too major, just tiny touch up areas where i should have added silver or black, drives me up the wall, but im afraid ill mess it up, so i aint touching it!

Iv been waiting for someone to hot rod a minivan! You just made a dream come true!

I tink its just in season, Both my last two kits paint reacted, one not so bad, the other was extremely bad resulting in me discarding the hood and using a spare.

So life is busy... But i managed to fit some time into completing the glorified crash magnet memorial. My dad got a little too exited and jumped the gun, taking the kit off the table and putting it in the display cabinet before i could take pictures of it. The hood ust wouldn't cooperate, so i ended up taking the hood out of the 240ZG box and using that one instead (it was also already painted the wright colour) Ill be putting it under glass soon, but for now here is the progress.

Under glass link:

The kit was first built by non other than my dad way back sometime in the early to mid 70s. This kit has been kicking around for as long as i can remember, missing almost all the parts, collecting dust. After completing both the "Sunbeam Corvette" and the turbo Datsun race truck, I became eager to build something different yet still challenging. After looking though some old boxed filled with old, somewhat together model cars my dad built when he was a kid, I happened across this strange (yet beautiful) looking body recalling memories of a young me playing with this kit as if it where some hot wheels car. Come to think of it, Little kid edition of me is probably the reason why most of the parts to this kit went MIA. Being a kit my dad built as a little kid, rebuilding it became a little more appealing to me, as well as my lack of knowledge of what exactly i was looking at making it a little more challenging. Considering that originally the only parts i had found was the body itself, my original idea was to scratch build both the chassis, engine, and interior. However after discovering what the car actually was, and discovering the chassis (partially intact, but still missing a lot of parts) leading me to change the name from "mostly scratch built" to "somewhat scratch built" as the engine, and parts of the interior being scratch built as well as considering some small-ish modifications to the chassis. Throughout building this kit i have received extensive help to not only what kind of car i was working on, but providing reference pictures, the history of the Mercedes 500k, as well as providing various parts that were previously missing, parts that would be really hard to recreate from scratch. I really do appreciate everyone's help. Original build link:

Now that just looks all kinds of good! Now i want to drive the 1:1

Well.. with a little bit of time and help from LDO, i was able to put the final touches (spare tires, fuel tank, and exhaust) on the 500k. i can now say for sure that it is 100% complete! ill put a link to the under glass as soon as possible. Now it may just be the Canadian in me, but i think i should mention that I really do appreciate everyone's help on not only sending me parts, but helping me figure out what car from what kit i was even working on, rebuilding something that i remember collecting dust for the majority of my life so far. Thankfully now it can collect dust properly in my display cabinet

Yes indeed the one you see in the pictures is a Tamiya 1/12, and it is indeed the Tamiya rally 240z. The rally 240z came with the more common 240z front end, triple Weber carbs, seats, tools, roll cage, etc. However the Tamiya 240zg you see incomplete in the box comes with all the stock 240z parts, as well as the pointy 240zg front end. The kits are patically the same and exchanging parts between them isn't a problem at all. Now im not sure what all Revell has made over the years. Im yet to come across any 1/24-25th scale 240z, although i have seen a few on this site before. Hearing the story's from my mom, any of the Nissan's my dad has owned were either full of rust or always breaking down. Really is a shame because as far as i have heard most classic Nissan's performed great, while looking sharp. I would just sum up owning one as a labour of love on par with owning any classic that may be a little less common. However i would still love to own a 73 GTR, a Sunny, or a 110 fastback.

Thanks guys! i just need to get the hood done and i can finally put this under glass. The cracked primer has been a pain to get off so far, its been stripping for a few days now, hopefully its clean. I would like to paint the door cards, but the colour i decided to use for the interior was one i custom mixed originally for my Merc 500k Kit and I don't have enough to paint the door cards, so im keeping them black. My dad mentioned that the hood in the picture was a replacement hood off his 1977-78 ish 260z, and that the brown paint on the hood did not match the rest of the car, so it looks like i need to buy some more paint.

Just got the remaining parts to complete the kit in the mail! Looking forward to completing this kit.