Spottedlaurel

Interesting to see a little more about the real event. Great that the RX4 they used was a wagon. Still waiting to finish another project (hopefully today?!) before I start this year's entry.....

This week's arrivals: Celica has loose parts and is lightly started, but appears to be complete. Always good to get a 4-door verion of something sporty like a Skyline. Cheap, not fully complete parts donors. The Supra has a full engine and 'box which would be a great transplant into a lesser Toyota, and the Skyline's cage and chassis would go nicely with the R34 saloon above or a Tamiya road car coupe to create a time attack/drift weapon.

At last! It was so obvious the kit was engineered with different versions in mind. With some components from the ZG there's scope to create a few different versions. Going to be interesting to see what other parts they include, that sprue above is completely different to anything in the ZG kit. The slight challenge I can see in creating a more stock Z is the front spoiler, which looks to be moulded-in with the headlight surrounds - it doesn't just attach to a stock valance under the bumper. Still might be a need to rob the nosecone from a Hasegawa Z if that's the way you want to go.

UK seller had a few built-up Tamiya and other kits - I placed bids on several, ended up with just this one: The rarer fixed-head model, most of the Tamiya ZXs came with the T-top. Shame about the missing light, but the chrome backing piece is loose inside. Might be able to do something one that'll be spare from a Fujimi kit. Rear bumper needs reattaching. Engine bay has been fairly neatly done. It's been brush-painted but quite well, I'm thinking of just giving it a polish, BMF-ing the window trims and giving it a gentle refurb, maybe with some more attractive wheels. The JDM wing mirros are still present, just fallen-off. I have a boxed one that I can now build with more mod's.

After a break of a week or two I managed to get back onto the 240ZG build. First up came some tedious masking (one of my least favourite jobs), as the moulded-in arch flares and front valance (pan?) needed painting in the dark metallic grey. Finished result was worth it: Rest of the exterior got another going over with resin polish, as much as anything to get rid of the BMF residue (I'd used the black stuff for the first pass around the arches, as it's of little use otherwise). Then the interior received more attention: Those decals for the three central dials are really small - it was only when I looked at my photo I realised two of them are upsidedown ? As I'm experimenting with a few things on this build I thought I'd get hold of some felt and give that a try for carpeted areas. Obviously the scale is significantly out, but when viewed through the glass or seen buried in the footwells it seems to work well. Still need to find some speakers to mount on the stupidly large rear strut towers. Oddly it came with no pedals, so I liberated a set from the Hasegawa version of the same car - they get replaced by PE parts in a detail-up set, so would have become surplus to requirements. Not too many parts left in the box now, the above are all ready to fit or in progress. Mock-up time: This is still without any suspension. A quick trial fit shows that it needs to be lowered, which I'll probably do by cutting the tops of the struts and fitting spacer blocks at the bottom. Hoping to get this first Z build finished next weekend, it's been useful practice for the more detailed Tamiya kit I want to do for this year's CBR group build.

Excellent concept and execution, it works really well!

Yup, certainly seen a few USAF cars in East Anglia over the years. They also bring some interesting Japanese stuff if they've come from Okinawa.

An odd thing to see here in the UK, and maybe not that common now in its homeland? '93 Daytona 2.2, first registered here in 2003 and off the road since 2014.

Nicely done,good colour match. I'm building a slightly different version of the Fujimi kit, it's going together nicely.

I was pleased to see the Kia Brisa kit start turning up at UK stockists at reasonable prices: It doesn't show them on the box but there are alternative grilles, headlights and tail panels to create different versions, including the Mazda 1300 that it was derived from. My preference is to go for the latter. It only comes as LHD, but it should look good built as a Euro-spec model with German or Dutch plates like some of the images I found. Looks like a nicely detailed curbside kit. Same seller had the Fujimi mufflers on special offer, and buying them meant I'd just spent enough for free postage - they'll suit one of my Japanese car builds.

Great to see another one being built. Seeing the body in two halves reminds me of what I spent 25+ years looking at before I finally got on and finished it: You've made a better start than me by using the AMT kit, I just went with a Monogram that was readily available here in the UK. Finished result. Not particularly authentic - when I started it I was relying on paused images off my recorded-from-TV video!

Those caps would be perfect! Now to find that kit a sensible price..... It's nowhere near the top of the list at present, and maybe I'll build it with some other hub caps until the XK-120 comes along?

If it's a less shiny look to the chrome you're after then a coat of semi-gloss or flat clear as required does the job nicely. I used the engine from a slightly later version of AMT's ZR-1 in another build, then built the Corvette as a curbside. Went together nicely as I recall, I just lowered the suspension a little. I don't recall as much flash as yu're having to contend with. The hood on mine was fractionally warped, but not enough to worry about.

Thanks Steve and Les, very rare to pick up a bargain like this. Tried bidding online on the odd started example without success, they went for more than I paid for this one. If I can find some suitable wheels and hub caps I'd like to build it as a loose replica of this one owned by my grandparents back in the '70s:

Rare to find car kits at the local toy and train fairs here, but I found this today at one I went to and couldn't resist at £18.

A super-clean build, it looks great!

Really nicely done, looks very effective.

I don't want this first Z build hanging around too long, so I've been making a bit of progress since the weekend: The gunmetal spoiler, bumpers and arch flares are a key part of the look of the ZG. I wasn't quite sure whether I had something suitable, but I found a can of TS-94 Metallic Gray and it looks about right to me. So far I've just done the separate components that I could paint without needing to mask anything. Trimmed wheels now fit better and give scope for adjustment. My favourite view of the Z/ZG. As it'd been a few days since the Mr Hobby gloss clear I wanted to get polishing. Micromesh 3600 - 12000 then a quick bit of resin polish on the roof and bonnet/hood sees it looking like this: Happy with that. I don't want to do the sides yet as I've got to mask-up for spraying the flares. I don't have to worry about this on the Tamiya or Hasegawa Zs as they're moulded separately on their versions (and even some other Fujimi Zs have them separate too). I decided not to try T-Cut or a similar polishing compound if I could get away with it, to avoid battling with the residue in the panel lines. I look forward to getting it outside for photos, in the meantime: This is the best I can get to show the pearl clear effect. Photos don't really show it properly, it needs a bit of movement for it to catch the light.

Very nicely done, and a great example of the TS-50 colour. That's exactly the shade of blue I had in mind for one of my builds, now I know what to use!

Another great build from you Michael.

Wonderful work Steve. I could never do something with that level of detail, but I've picked up one or two tips there. There are going to be so many things to look at and take pleasure from, that first moment he gets it is going to be very special.

Thanks Steve. I have the paint and thought I should see what it looked like on a not-too-serious project - I'm using it as a bit of testbed for several things. Couldn't think what interior colour would go with lavender and black or grey seemed a bit too sensible. I tried semi-gloss clear first of all over the pearl light red, but that still had too much of a sheen so I went over it with flat clear and you can see the results below. As well as knocking back the shine I think it's given it a slightly darker, richer tone. Nice pair of 1:1s! I particularly like the 300ZX. I had a slightly detuned non-turbo version of the V6 engine in a couple of 300C sedans and a wagon that I owned 20+ years ago (A.K.A. Cedric in Japan). I was slightly nervous about the colour combination too, and I went into it thinking that I could go over the interior with black if I had to, but see what you think below.... Thanks Mike, good to hear you had happy memories of your 1:1. Thanks. It's helped me work out the 1:1s a bit better too, so when I do the more detailed kits I can (hopefully) make the best of them. Made some useful progress this weekend..... Interior parts all coated with flat clear. Now got detailing and the fabric areas to do, perhaps adding some 'carpet' in the loadbay as it's quite visible through the rear tailgate window. Which brings me onto those rather basic, overlarge shapes around the rear strut towers - they look like upturned buckets! The Tamiya kit makes a much better job of them, as does the Monogram Z. I might have to mount some speakers there, just to hide their bulk a little. Mock-up with some of it in place, also showing the lavender coated with pearl clear. I think it will work, and I'd like something a bit different to have on my little stand when I try and sell kits at the occasional 1:1 Japanese car show. I take a few built kits as a talking point and example of what can be done. I really like what the pearl has done, that's definitely something I will do again in the future. This is before I gave it the final coat of clear seen below. In this shot the wheels haven't been trimmed, so..... That's better. The chunky inner rim must have added 1-2mm of unnecessary width, and I need all the room I can get to ensure the wheels can sit just right in the arches. It shouldn't be so critical on the fronts, but it won't look good leaving that rim in place. Haven't yet decided on the colour of the wheel centre, probably gold. I was nervous about polishing the pearl clear, so I added some Mr Hobby gloss clear to give plenty of thickness for polishing. With a final wet coat it doesn't look like it will need too much. My first time using the Mr Hobby clear, having read good reports here and seen a nicely built kit on display in the LHS where he'd used it. Look forward to seeing the finished result once it's dried and polished.

A shame you've had to take a step or two back Les, but it looks like an interesting and unusual subject and I'm sure the end result will be worthwhile.

Yup, that works! Would look great at 1/24.

Another Z?! This one is a good source of parts, with two engines and various other bits that will be 'useful'. The box is so well-stocked that the lid barely closes. The accessory packs were on special offer, as was the detail-up set for the Beemax Toyota Corona.