Spottedlaurel

That looks excellent, you've done a great job there.

Thanks everyone! Thank you David. I use thinned enamel, usually a dark matt grey rather than straight black as that can look a bit harsh. I used brown recently on a gold model. I apply it after I've resin polished the car, being enamel it seems to cover OK but it's easy to wipe off any overpaint from the surrounding panel.

A very good start there, look forward to seeing your progress on it. I'm sure you've already done a chassis trial-fit into the body and that fits OK. If so, get the interior nicely detailed and you're set for a tidy looking little display piece.

Weather was pretty rubbish today, so it was a good excuse to spend time out in the shed beavering away on the Skyline 4-door. My wife was working on a painting in the studio nextdoor and my son was rooting around through all the stuff I've accumulated (including playing around with a microfiche reader), so it ended up being a pleasant bit of family time. 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Always enjoy this moment of working out what I've got done and I have left to assemble. 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Main task of the day was detailing the wheels and painting the body/bumper trim. For the latter I did it freehand by brush - with the well-defined recesses that worked out OK, saving me from the tedium of masking-up. Did a few other bits of final work and painting that leave me with little more to do than BMF window trims and final assembly.

Thanks Anton! Been working on the third one of them today, the 4-door Skyline. Didn't start off too well though...... 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Prepped the first wheel by sawing off the thick edge on the back of the rim, then removed that big drive cog off the axle which would be used if I motorized it (as an early issue my kit has the motor, I shan't be using it). 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Pushed the wheel onto the axle, and this happened as the skinny spokes snapped away from the rim. Bit of a shame, I got these wheels in a Fujimi Starion kit some years ago and I'd been looking forward to using them here. Ah well, a chance to root through the boxes and see what else might work....... 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Decided on these Fujimi Shadow Spokes, but I've changed the tyres to a set of Pirellis. Interior also in progress. 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Suspension being lowered, effectively chopping a few coils out of the front struts. At the back I've redrilled the metal axle holes. 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Nissan Skyline 4dr R30 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr As it now sits on the bench, with the wheel centres painted bronze and awaiting further detailing. The wheel plating has a good low-shine finish but unfortunately it hasn't covered very well so I've got a bit of rectification work to do there. With all the BMF work to do around the windows it's probably optimistic to think I'll get it finished this weekend, but I shouldn't be far off.

Another completion in the series of builds covered by my WIP here: 1:24 Tamiya Honda City GG kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City GG kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I was happy with the look of my original build so I replicated it pretty closely. The wheels had been used on another project, but I liberated them and fitted the other model with something else. 1:24 Tamiya Honda City GG kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City GG kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City GG kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City GG kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Tamiya TS-18 Metallic Red and TS-13 clear, Aoshima Advan A3A accessory wheel set, chassis redrilled and rear inner arches cut and moved inwards to lower it. It's a snap-fix kit so it was quick and easy to put together, painting the window trims inside and out was the most difficult/tedious job. Good to have it back on display. We didn't get this generation of City in the UK, I believe they sit between the kei cars and larger Civic. Thanks for looking.

Thanks all! If you see one at a good price grab it! Same applies to the hatchback Corolla they also offered.

What a great tribute, fantastic work.

That's really nice, has a great look to it. I'd go for the steel wheels and hubcaps.

Great to see this, excellent work on the engine - it looks very effective. Painted body looks really good. I have one of these kits, looks like it has potential to build up nicely. Must put it on the 'to-do' list for 2021.....

This one arrived in the week from a seller that I've had a few things from, they seem to have an interesting selection of kits for sale. Got to admit I looked at this Beretta in a different light after I saw how @Plowboy did his, although I'm not sure I'd go as far as calling it alluring and aggressive. Different whels, ease off on the bodykit parts, good colour and lowering should serve it well. Got to find some better mirrors though......

Super-clean build, and what a colour! It has so much depth.

Great progress Dann, with your usual considered approach to adding some effective details and modifications. Certainly has a purposeful stance.

Thanks Alex. The series of fantastic Tamiya builds that you did earlier this year often come to mind when I'm working on mine (not that I'm saying mine are anywhere near the same quality!). Weren't yours being built for a contest? How did you get on if so?

A great start, I look forward to seeing it come together. Going to be a relief to build this one as a slammer after the the level of detail on the Anglia?

I look forward to seeing you work your magic on this one. I have one to do someday, it looks such a delicate little kit which Tamiya do so well. I also have a Gunze Sangyo version which has a slightly chunkier feel to it. Still a shock as to how small these are when seen amongst modern traffic. When I was a teenager and used to hitch lifts to get around and avoid paying bus fares I got picked up in one, I recall it being a bit cosy....

I built a Nissan Cherry in the same range. I think the quality of them can vary depending on who originally designed and manufactured the kit, this is certainly the case with the other unbuilt ones I have. Scaling on some of them, but not all, seems to be larger than 1:24. I think they all have a shallow interior, but with a bit of parts box raiding and/or scratchbuilding that wouldn't be too difficult to rectify? Some of mine (maybe all) have smoked glass.

Really interesting to see and hear about it Tom, it's stood the test of time very well.

Thanks! Hadn't expected to see this one back on the first page. I wish I had another set or two of those wheels, they were with an unlikely car and I don't know if Aoshima released them with any other kits or as an accessory pack. It's possible they did in this set, but I can't immediately see if they are as wide: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10150909

Toyota got finished last weekend, Honda completed yesterday: 1:24 Tamiya Toyota and Honda kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Toyota and Honda kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Gave my new varifocals a bit of a workout by handpainting the external window surrounds - as I was painting them on a darker colour I thought I could get away with it, and it seemed to work OK. Still had to mask-up for the dark surrounds inside the glass, which was tedious. Silver Skyline took a step backwards, the window trims on that one are mix of chrome and black. I'd used some spare black BMF as a mask for the black painting, which has worked OK previously, but removing it took a little bit of the clear with it. Then my chrome BMF work didn't go well, so I've decided to take a step back from it. Looking to wet sand it , give it another coat or two of paint and try again.

1:24 Monogram 1994 Ford Mustang Indy Pace Car kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Cheap, another engine donor. 1:24 Italeri Renault 5 Alpine Rally kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Purchased from someone on a 1:1 car forum, I have an older Esci issue of this kit. I have a soft spot for the 5 from one my mum had when I was in my teens, and also seeing them on French holidays.

Difficult to add anything that hasn't already been said - an amazing integration of parts and scratchbuilding, great paintwork and the finished result looks just so 'right'.

Nice one Gareth. If I built one I'd be doing it in beige or similar, as the kind of generic car seen in the background of any '70s American detective programme/movie.

Looks great! Going on from what Gareth says, it doesn't take much to give these a purposeful look - as standard they were saddled with skinny wheels and tyres set too far in, bring them out, maybe drop the ride height a touch and it transforms them, as here. Must get on with mine someday.....

I enjoyed watching it come together on the WIP thread, great to see it finished - looks fantastic! As several of us mentioned there, the Anglia/Popular is a significant one in the UK rod and custom world and it's really good to see this example built with such great attention to detail.