Spottedlaurel

That bodywork looks excellent, what a save! My BOYD entry is done:

Thanks Gary, that's very kind of you to say so. Have any C2s been fitted with the LT5 at 1:1? I have to say that working on this kit has made me appreciate them more than I had done previously. It's now finished and "Under Glass".

My entry in the latest round of Snake's BOYD, WIP thread here: Finished it up today and managed to grab some outdoor shots Quick summary: Mid-late '80s issue of the 1965 Corvette "Street Machine" kit complete with smoked glass and other clear parts, started by a friend in the early '90s but not completed. I stripped the red Humbrol brush paint finish a few years ago and redid it this summer in Tamiya TS-11 Maroon (no clearcoat). The engine had gone, so I took the LT5 from the Monogram '92 ZR-1. Wide and nicely detailed Cragar S/S wheels from an Aoshima Nissan Cedric kit but with different tyres and slightly narrowed at the rear to keep them within the stock arches. Highback seats from the Monogram Datsun 280Z. Suspension stock front and rear, as built by my friend. No lowering, but the lower profile tyres gave it a more aggressive stance. The kit builds up pretty well, I don't recall any fitment issues and if it's not an accurate representation of a '65 Corvette I wouldn't have a clue! Looks decent enough to me. Beyond the extra clean-up I had to do on previously painted components, the challenge of dealing with missing pieces and fitting a different engine, the biggest issue I had was polishing that complex bodywork with all its high points. Twice I polished through the front wing tops necessitating a partial repaint, and even now I can see I'm very close to doing it again in a few places. A 1:1 LT5 conversion would probably be rather better-engineered than my conversion, hopefully with some suspension and brake upgrades! I'm happy with how it looks under the bonnet and the subtle finished appearance, and doing this taught me some useful skills which I can use on a future project. 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr LT5 engine from the ZR-1. I didn't detail it, but I tried to keep the installation vaguely plausible. Shortened the stock air cleaner snorkel, fitted the '92's radiator and electric fan set-up. There was plenty of room in the engine bay but I did have to sit it very low to ensure the bonnet closed. 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Don't give the exhaust system more than a passing glance! At least I made an attempt this time, unlike Maserati I recently finished. The gearbox crossmember had to be fabricated from what I had left of the original item, for some reason it'd snapped and not all of it was there. Sump pan had to be notched. 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Interior largely as done by my friend back in the early '90s, I just added the Datsun 280Z highback seats. Thanks for looking.

Wow, that's rather stunning! Looks fantastic in the sunshine.

Very nice, there's a lot of detailing here to work on and you've nailed it.

This JDM Cedric. It's not uncommon to see older models with them fitted, but a bit unusual for them to be seen on something from the '80s like this. Aoshima 1:24 Nissan Cedric V30 Turbo Brougham VIP (Y30) kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I've just come in from the shed to grab a celebratory cup of tea, as the Corvette is now good as finished, all bar finding a registration plate decal.

After a day of no modelling whatsoever on Thursday, had a really good day yesterday on this and my other WIPs. I reckon this will be my last update on the Corvette, should finish it off today. 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Completed radiator and fan set-up as taken from the '92 Corvette. I find this little assembly very pleasing, it was lightly modified for the '65 but I've retained the twin electric fans and full depth radiator core. Once fitted almost none of it will be seen...... 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr What was left to detail and fit near the beginning of yesterday. I need to find a brake servo and the '92's A/C set-up isn't yet definite, I'll see how it fits in the engine bay of the '65. 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Where I was at the end of the day. Pretty much everything fitted onto the body, foilwork all done and panel lines given a wash of thinned matt black. 1:24 Monogram 1965 Corvette kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I managed to keep the original suspension with the LT5 fitted (glad it's not a 1:1!). The back end is as my friend built it back in the early '90s - I don't want to redo everything for the sake of it. Only thing I really need to do under is get the gearbox crossmember repaired, modified and installed and work out something for the exhaust - this will probably be rather basic, depending on what I can use of the original parts and what else I can concoct. It was a busy day in the shed, as I was also progressing three other kits (and doing a bit of spraying on a Skyline my son is building). At one point I had two pigeons fly in and join me, which caused a moment of concern as they flew awfully close to the bench.....

Good luck both of you!

Thanks Anthony, yes those Cragars work on so many things, and look great here with the more modern, lower profile tyres as here (although still a bit of an odd choice on the Japanese kit they came with). I made good progress on the Corvette yesterday, just about to update my WIP thread and I think it could see completion today.

Left or middle pair of wheels for me.

That looks excellent, the 1:1s are great inspiration.

Very good, classic 1970s British workmen pose.....

That's excellent, a lot going on and it's come together very nicely.

That's bright! Looks to have gone down nicely.

For a lot of 'black' plastic or rubber items I like using Revell No. 9 enamel in a tin, it brushes on very smoothly and isn't too shiny at all. Admittedly I'm not much a one for adding Armor-All etc to the plastic and rubber on my 1:1s, but when I look out at them the black pieces of trim aren't pure black at all.

I like where this is going, the Halibrands look great on it.

That looks rather nice, looks like a fine way of getting yourself back into it.

Thanks Leslie, I think the wheel choice was made after seeing a photo of a 1:1 example on them from some years ago. Those from the Monogram Z were the perfect size and width. Colour of that one inspired me too, I think there was a pale blue in the range (there's a couple of other builds on here in a similar colour). I think the Bermuda Blue I used was seen here on Escort Mk2 and Cortina Mk4. Thank you Doug. Certainly a rarity here, they were never sold new in the UK but a few have ended up here over the years. A few thoughts about this kit now it's done. My build is far from perfect, and having to strip and redo it didn't help. But it looks fine sat in the cabinet. It's more accurate than a lot of Fujimi's toy-like offerings, but not as detailed as their Enthusiast series. I think a Fujimi Toyota Sports 800 I also have came out at the same time and has a similar level of detail, that would look good alongside the Datsun. Generally it fitted together well, I'd say very well with regard to chassis, engine and interior. When trial-fitted everything went together nicely, but I think the dashboard slightly fouls the glass when it's fully assembled and that meant the front end didn't sit quite as low as it should have done. The glass had minimal overlap so took a bit of fiddling and patience to get in place. The rear view mirror and central bar which runs down onto the dashboard was very fiddly, hopefully my dab of PVA keeps that in place. The bodyshell is moulded in red plastic, whether that causes me an issue remains to be seen. It hadn't bled through the original coat of paint after 12-13 years, hopefully it's time in the brake fluid and the new paint I've applied won't cause me an issue. I did put a silver base coat down between the primer and blue which I hope will act as a barrier. I hadn't used the aerosol paint before, it was an automotive Hycote Double Acrylic in the smaller can. The air pressure made it difficult to put down an even coat and it didn't like even a tiny dab of white spirit being used to clean up overpainting or BMF residue (this causes me no issue with Tamiya TS aerosols). However, being a solid colour meant I could easily brush-in some spots where minor damage occurred, including me holding the shell and realising I had a bit of superglue on my finger and thumb......

Very nicely done, a great companion to your Charger.

I think this is all the foil done on the Corvette: Looks like I have a much easier job with the glass this time than I did my the last two completions, just a well-shaped single moulding that fixes positively with plenty of overlap to glue/tape. Wasn't sure about the tint with the maroon colour, but the foil trim gives it some definition. Paintwork needs a final buffing, it's suffered from being handled today. Quick mock-up with the rolling chassis and interior, just to make sure there are no fitment issues. All good, I can now look to get the LT5 finally installed.

1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Fujimi kit, I believe bought back in the '90s and started in the summer of 2007 for a build contest on another forum. It should have been completed by November of that year as I recall, instead it took me over 13 years..... I didn't quite get it finished in the time for the deadline, then we moved house. A year or two later I was doing more on it, then my young daughter accidentally caught the box and knocked it on the floor, damaging the paintwork. I didn't start it again until this year. I tried repairing the paintwork, but the aerosol was no use after that length of time and the best thing for it was to strip it and start again. Here it is in the brake fluid, a bit gutting to lose not only the original paint but also the BMF and detail painting that I'd done. I needed to match the colour, a trip to the local car parts shop showed that Ford Bermuda Blue (a mid-late '70s colour) would be a pretty close match to the underbonnet area and floorpan that I'd carefully painted and didn't want to redo: Fujimi 1:24 Nissan Fairlady Roadster by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Finally got it finished today, basically OOB as the road car but with slotmags and P7s from the Monogram Datsun 280Z. Enough waffling, have some photos: 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Fortunately I think it was just the bodyshell that took a tumble onto the floor, the reasonably-detailed chassis, engine and interior were still intact. It was a bit of a fiddle refitting a lot of the lights etc, as things needed cleaning up, and it took more time than expected to finally get it across the line. But it's good to see it in the cabinet at last: 1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Looks good, still tempted to weather it now? I thought of you last night, when I had some paint peel off my odd-panel Datsun project which has involved a lot of masking.

Nice work there!

That particular one cost me £25 shipped, which seems to be good going for a recent Hasegawa release. The seller has at least one other on eBay, they list at £35 you can make an offer. I put it in my watch list and got a notification that they'd sell for £25. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hasegawa-1-24-Nissan-Skyline-GTS-R-R31-Damaged-Box-C29/154033187682 Haven't yet received it, so I can't say in person but the built-up photos with the listing look very good: The standard wheels aren't very flattering, some BBS RG or mesh wheels will better. Will be interesting to see whether the underbonnet area would be suitable for an RB26 swap from Tamiya's R32 GT-R. A quick look at the instructions on HobbySearch shows it have decent-looking suspension. The Fujimi versions I already have aren't too bad, certainly better than their terrible R30 Skyline, and they do 4-door versions as well which appeals to me (I rescued a South African spec 1:1 saloon from a scrapyard some years ago). You have to accept with them that the chassis detailing is very simplistic, so best regarded as a kerbside.

A package arrived yesterday containing this lot: I think the Skyline kit contains five different grille options. It was the Laurel one on the box art that I was keen to get hold of, I had a couple of 1:1 examples of the car it's taken from some years ago. I used the fine grade polishing compound last night, not quite as easy to use as I'd hoped but it seems to have done the trick. And a couple of eBay Buy it Now items that are on their way to me: I assume this is the same as the older Monogram issue? At just over £15 shipped it seemed like decent value. Was cheaper than usual due to a damaged box. Will be interesting to compare it with the Fujimi versions I have.