Rich Chernosky

This project evoked a lot of memories for me. This is a model of one of my favorite cars to own and drive. I had a lot of adventures with this one that included 4 class championships in SCCA Solo II competition. I modeled this car the way I would have wanted to keep it, if I still owned it. Fixed all the rust, dents, scrapes and gave it a nice shiny coat of paint using Mr Color Character Red with 2k clear. Had to scratch build the rear wing as no model existed of it. Fujimi supplied the aftermarket BBS wheels and tires I had fitted to the car. Had to use two Fujimi kits and there were enough parts to complete the 1985 Supercharged version. Mine was a 1988 as that was the only year with t-tops. Find the rest of the description under the pictures. Thanks for looking. My 1988 Toyota MR2 just before I sold it. Note the rust under the rear. There was a lot more under the unibody and it was nearing the end of its useful life.....sigh!!! The model...all nice and cleaned up and shiny. The other MR2, 1985 vintage and supercharged plus a rear veiw mine. The Penna plate came out of the spares box. It was the only one. This one is painted in Testors laquer #1831 Fiery Orange. The 1/64 diecast was also painted and these two match the 1/20 version in the next pic. My collection of MR2's. Most of these kits are Fujimi. Four MK I's, three MK II's and an MR3 Rear wing detail. I was fortunate enough to have taken several detail shots of this before the car was sold. There was still a pile of discarded parts that didn't look right until I was happy. Such is the way with scratch building. I now have two cars in my collection that I owned the real thing of. Both were a blast to won and drive. Just sorry they are gone but I will always have these and the memories.

Very Nice job Bruce...what did you use for red paint? Looks good.

Dave...really looking forward to this one. The MkII is probably one of the most recognizable of the Shadows and I am surprised no one has ever made a kit of it. Keep up the good work.

Dave..that is one smokin build. The kits are similar but not the same. The wing,nose vents, mirrors, window surround, hood attachment, side aero panels roll bar and probably some others are different. Is this a Tamiya kit. Must be an earlier version. Thanks for posting it. You did a great job.

That's a great little kit and your friend did a super (pun intended) on it. Looks good in blue too.

Dave..I am a huge fan of Tamiya. Probably 40% of the some 800+ finished pieces in my collection are Tamiya. Since this is a revisit of the same kit I was able to correct some of the issues I had with the first one. I do sorta agree that it was a well engineered kit and the issues were few...but there were still issues. I recently finished a 1/24 GR Supra (it was in the model cars section) and I might pick that one for fit and finish. It was a recent release and Tamiya just keeps getting better and better. Thank for the compliment BTW..I appreciate it.

Thank you, it was a lot of work but very rewarding Thank you Appreciate the compliment Steve, I ave a very small, (about 500watts) desk top heater that i work in front of. Use a wet nylon brush and solvent to slowly shrink those decals down. The heat really helps as sometimes they shrink right before your eyes. That makes it sorta fun. Tedious too, but still fun.. Keep at it and one day you will master it too.

Nice build, lots of exterior detail, well done. Cool car

Carl.....I had the same problem with Tamiya X-13. I decant and airbrush. Knowing the delicate nature of this finish I went several mist coats at high pressure but to no avail. It still turned grey. 2K clear did the same thing only worse. Then I switched to Vallejo Polyurethane clear. Its a water base acrylic. That did not distort the base coat and looked great wet. After a month and a half I started to polish it out and noticed it has started to separate from the metallic. I was able to pull the clear finish off in large sheets. Back to the stripper a third time. I finally fell back on something I had success with over Alclad in the past. This was a latex clear made by Krylon. It was made under their Greater Living line which is now discontinued. I have some old stock. I believe it is now made under their Lo Odor clear line. It still has to be decanted and airbrushed. Tamiya thinner thins it and it has to be applied in several thin layers but it builds up nicely. Looks a little milky in the wet coat stage but it dries crystal clear. Gotta let it sit a month or so for it to cure though. Longer if its real humid where you are. When cured its rock hard. This has been my experience and I hope it helps you out.

Carl, that was my post you saw that colour on. I used Tamiya TS55 dark blue as the base. Yours looks like much brighter over a silver base. Alcad Holomatic Spectral chrome is really an amazing finish. I did not try Alclad clear over mine so I will be interested to see how that works. Several of the clears I used ate into the finish so I wound up using something I have been for years that I know wouldn't affect the Alclad metallic. Good luck with that , I hope it turns out amazing.

Rex...really like the paint. Much of the artistry in modeling is in the paint. You did well.

Chaz...Testors can take as much as a month to cure. In other words it it will be soft until then and handling it can leave fingerprints. It depends on the humidity and the heaviness of the coat. A better investment for you would be a spray booth. That way you can paint year round in any weather. Maker sure its vented to the outside. It gets cold here in Pa.

Nice job on this one. I see you chose to not use the kit stripe. I did similar on mine although in blue and white. .Yours looks good in yellow. Thanks for sharing.

Really looking forward to this one.

Chaz...most of the artistry in modeling is in the paint. You will get tons of advice from all of us. And we will all tell you what works for us. I would be no different. You have to figure out what is going to work for you. Its a lot of experimentation and a lot of failure but with persistence you will eventually achieve results you are happy with. There is no quick or easy fix but by all means keep at it and welcome to the forum.

Interesting car, I have built this one but I like your take. You might consider a finer mesh screen on the hood.

Nice looking diecast Gary....this is one of those cars you just can't have enough of.

Thank you Dan...about 10yrs seperate those builds. Thanks As always Gary, your comments and compliments are greatly appreciated. Thanks Bruce.

Turned out great Dave, well worth the effort.

I have this kit and your's is certainly inspiration to dig mine out. Very nice. Paint is exceptional.

That is a very sharp build. Nice and clean. The masking and decals are top notch. Good job.

Kurt..thank you for the kind words, but I am not the only one, I have seen lots of yours too. I have lots of extras if you ever decide to do yours. Thank you. Lots of time in front of the heater with a soft brush and solvent. Thank you Thank you.

Bruce...that is one mean kit and you are probably not the only one to have problems. I think you salvaged that project very well. Looks good.

I bought this kit thinking I didn't have it. Then I found it completed, lurking in the back of my display case. Rather than sell it I hunted down an alternate set of decals to do a different livery although it is still a Martini in keeping with my theme. While I was at it, might as well get the carbon fibre set for it too. Below are the results of some intensive decal and detail work. See captions under the pictures for add details. It was fun to re-visit this kit. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. Completed engine and front suspension. That carb tray was 7 seperate decals. All the carbon fibre work done and most of the detail painting. Colour on the body is Gravity Colors Ferrari Nuovo Rosso (GC294mc) 2k clear was used over this. Interior complete, I added some wires the rest is stock with carbon detailing and painting. Completed model on its wheels. Those Martini stripes down the side had to go over a lot of contours. St27 decals are great and respond well to solvent and heat. It was almost fun to do even though it took 3 days. Rear veiw of the car shows its aggreessive nature. Side view. I chose to use magnets to hold the hood in place. The hood clip is a piece of electronic wire from a resistor. Its functional. Front clip fit the chassis well but there is still an annoying gap where the hood fits. At least it doesn't fall off every time you pick it up thanks to the magnets. Decided to take a shot of the undertray since there was some nice detail there. I left it clear. Note the four jeweler screws. These were necessary as the tray wouldn't stay in place other wise. Had to take a photo of both of them. Now to figure out a way to display them together in the case. Its kinda full.

Howard...considering the time involved and the running around, I think you did very well. Congrats on a nice job on an iconic car. I have been involved in a 24hr build and its fun plus you get to spend time with other modelers doing what you like to do best. Can't beat that.