Technics

A few goodies. The lotus happened to come with two complete kits!

The decals had months to dry. I layed down two coats of TS clear last week and play the wait game again until I begin to mask to paint the black areas. I have experienced so many paint errors over the years with masking I had to do a quick test with masking on a spare parts tree Vallejo Matt black paint / primer. The mask worked nicely the line is crisp and sharp. The other paint tested purely for its colour is Tamiya rubber black. The Nunu kit lacks 100% accuracy, fit and complete instructions there’s items visible on the box photos then not on the parts tree nor instructions. In any case it’s still very good. From a thin sheet of plastic I attempted to make the dual black diffusers. They’re not perfect but will look decent I feel. I decided to include LED’s to this project. As I am coming from the 1:10 rc hobby I thought it would be really neat to have a remotely controlled led system to turn on the fog lamps and brake lamps. I have never attempted something in this scale so it’s a learning curve with volts, ohms, ultimately batteries I have not once used. I mocked up a 1:10 version of a remotely controlled light kit that is powered by dual AA batteries. I combined components readily available online and it worked. So once I was satisfied I am now beginning to dive into how to make it small, really small. Here are are 0.5mm LED’s I just received connected to a 3V button battery. I am really impressed by their stength and dumbfounded by their size…. These were not the smallest available either ! I am very inspired. I am thinking of having this finished in time for a local IPMS exhibit ( I haven’t entered a competition in 22 years! I will try to weather it as well. Thanks for reading.

Hasegawa Lancia Stratos 1:24 + GP modeling 24V engine / rear frame transkit This is my first “new model” I aquired when thoughts started circulating about returning into the hobby.. right about 2020 (a year many introverts thrived ) At the time the incredible GP modeling transkit didn’t exist. I bought a Reji engine and detail up set which has now been far overshadowed by what the GP modeling kit offers. I do feel like I’m overstepping a bit into a complex project with modifying of kits with the entire rear frame and engine to be made to fit. Playing with the idea of having both clamshells hinged. The subject car is so exciting to me it might just be the thing that pulls me through to succeed or at least finish. And that’s something I’ve decided is the most important thing to do is to conclude projects. I have a few stratos which I will build but I am starting with the first which was bought chronologically. I like the thought of peppering in lighter projects such as road cars and curbsides when necessary to get the completion satisfaction buzz in parallel to more complex builds which I’ve done the past decade with my 1:10 builds. I had a moment for documentation of parts as I slowly descend into the journey of cutting, cleaning and fusing parts. Project direction is to make a blank slate white Lister Bell type group 4 build. I’m open to a vibrant a yellow colour or others as well.. The wonderful box art livery would be great too. It will be alot of obstacles to overcome before any paint will be applied. Let’s have some fun! Unboxed group b alien species

The back of the front seat I painted and hastily weathered. The seat lacked cutouts for the side harness straps so made cutouts for those. I then proceeded to flock the seat painting it first in a humbrol enamel paint then sprinkling on the flocking powder. I will let it dry and shake off any loose fibres. It’s not perfect but it’s far nicer than a painted seat in my opinion. Next up will be the safety harness which I will use a scale production detail set for.

Interior For the interior I cut down some spru into small circular pieces to mimick the warning lamps on the instrument panel better as they were tiny molded in nibs. I then gave them a large dab of Tamiya clear aryclic paint. Afterwards I gave all dials a large dab of transparent gloss acrylic to simulate a lens / glass better instead of just having a raw decal in there. The RPM gauge is definitely on an angle as I’ve seen most race cars especially Porsches have the top end redline area more centered in view then lower down if they were to sit in standard rotation. Always having a reference of reality up it helped me try to match the colour of the warning lamps I mixed various clear paints to try to get the right hue and shades. I added a few aftermarket details and flocked the top of the instrument panel. The fire extinguisher got chrome tape applied mimicking metal fasteners. Added a simple hose to the extinguisher and brake lines to the bias booster, I tried for the first time using tiny zip ties from a aftermarket truck detailing company. They were really fun to apply securing the two hoses together I thought they look convincing enough. On the interior I glued things in their place and added a bit of detail by adding a brake bias knob and extending the shifter linkage to pass through the rear firewall. Not sure the angles are correct but I adjust them to work. Ultimately many details will be not seen but the overall impression is what matters. I also added some simple hoses.

Chassis I like the idea of having the exterior done to a nice level or completely finished before getting into the chassis or interior so I don’t feel everything was done in vain if it doesn’t turn out. In any case I simply glued the chassis together and painted the key components, began to dry brush and dust on some weathering. I am happy with the result so far.

@Pierre Rivard I appreciate your input. Maybe MAYBE if I can weather a the rear a bit full of exhaust soot and grime I will keep it white. I have time to think about it still. Tamiya white from the can went on as mist coats at first to two final wet coats. I gave ample dry time between each coat once I felt the paint job was finished before the application of decals started. I took my time and applied all decals. For complex surfaces I used Micro SOL / SET for the first time. I’m sure I could have been more efficient or careful but it worked far better then I imagined and much nicer then I remembered how decals have been without help of solutions. For the high level surface deviation fuel filler caps on the hood I cut the decals into three parts to have a nicer result. These heights are higher then they should be so in retrospect they should have been sanded down to be more realistically scale and deviate less. I accidentally applied two corner blisten decals to the front of the body instead of bosch. I have not decided if I will correct it. I will not be applying the same decals to the rear as the box suggests as the plan is to have the entire area painted black as I like how it looks on these cars. The decals have been setting and drying / curing for weeks, it will be months really before I have the chance to begin to mist the Tamiya clear on in order to have them sealed before moving onto the black trim areas. I have yet to spray clear over decals so I’m taking no chances of rushing between layers of paint, chemicals, materials, my sloppy fingers prints, off gassing paint etc. I am happy how it is looking as this is the furthest I have taken a race car build without large decal mishaps. The project is being shared chronically as it happened. The exterior site curing for now as life logistics of the summer have taken over till the autumn.

Awesome stuff, welcome back!

For my permanent return into the 1:24 scale I promised myself to allow myself to do something not elaborate and simply box stock. Ease into the difficulty levels and allow lots of dry time, overkill long really. There’s no worse feeling then having paint lift with masking tape or gumming up while sanding etc etc. since the 80s I have built 50-60 models. A handful of them didn’t traumatize me, the rest have. I had this one in the stash for a while and thought it would be a good candidate to continue my journey. The main goal is a nice box stock build and an attempt at light weathering if I can stomach it. Been wanting to try for 30 years it’s time. I started by clipping the exterior bits and gluing them in place. There is many glues to use today or maybe there always was but this is a first for me, using super glue. I really don’t like holding items in place to wait to dry so I am trying another method to what I am normally used to doing. I am no historian so I am going for gut feeling and visual excitement. Roughly 95% box stock? I sanded away the hood pins and cut in where I’d like the tow hook to stick out of. I am using aftermarket parts for both. I have a plan to paint the rear section of the 935 black as I always liked how it looked on the wide body race cars. The body sits in Tamiya primer.

Hi! Forum reader since early internet days, been ruining scale models since late 80s, after kids, career and reaching middle age it’s now time I feel I can begin to contribute and start posting. Permanently based in Sweden however I have lived on 3 continents and built up a resistance to follow through with everything I start which includes sharing, here I am! I been in and out of the hobby like many, collected purged and re collected. The past ten years I’ve dove into 1:10 rc building but with a realistic scale model approach which I post on the appropriate Tamiyaclub forums. I have a solid stash of both 1:24 and 1:10 scale kits mostly race and rally cars 90s and earlier. I have a 1:24 project in the pipeline and a second one which I will start on holiday. I will begin making threads for them. For those interested I’ve added images of some recent 1:10 builds below. These are fully functioning rc cars with functioning rear brake lamps, “one off” livery decals and paint schemes which I self draw and outsource for professional printing. Other details such as custom tape masking, painting all trim avoiding most of the kit decals and adding details to make it look realistic, multi media etc. I’ve also included some links below to threads and showrooms, I look forward to learning and staying inspired here. Colin McRae Subaru Legacy RS 1,000 Lakes rally Lancia Stratos Pirelli Monte Carlo rally Volkswagen Golf MK2 GTI quad lamp Toyota GR Yaris Recce rally car https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom.asp?id=52033 https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/profile/51091-technics/content/&type=forums_topic&change_section=1 https://www.instagram.com/scale_technics