Chillyb1

It is the Tamiya kit. The frame, or chassis I guess, gets added to the body/interior assembly at the end of the build, which is kind of cool because you can show it off like this. I really like this era of Honda, too. I built the Fujimi kit of the S600 and I hated it. This one is much better in every possible way. By the way, I'm auctioning this kit on eBay right now. I'm not really interested in building another one.

This is one variant of Tamiya's Porsche 956. I used the Tamiya photoetch set also. Paint is Tamiya TS-23 (light blue) and TS-26 (white). There are a couple of details yet to add but it won't change much from this. More pictures here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v230/ChillyB1/Tamiya%20Porsche%20956/?start=all

Just finished up this little racer. The color is Tamiya TS-23 light blue with a nose done in some orange/red I mixed up a long time ago. I'd originally painted this in a dark blue and I really didn't like the look. I had some light blue on hand after finishing up a paint job on a different kit and gave it a try. I love it on this car. I was trying for a weekend vintage race look. Pretty much box stock, some foil, but no other extras. If interested, more pictures can be found here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v230/ChillyB1/Tamiya%20Honda%20S800/

My first airbrush was a Badger 350. There's a lot to like about it. However, when I got a second airbrush, a Paasche VL, I stopped using the Badger entirely and eventually gave it away to a young kid who is a modeler. In my opinion, the VL and the 350 can hardly be considered in the same class of tool because the VL is so vastly superior in every category of criteria on which airbrushes can be judged.

Very good to know. I've been wanting to get some diamond plate.

I think this is the key. Using paint or white glue and the like seem to me to be too labor intensive and time sensitive. Use spray can adhesive and you will get excellent results. Bear in mind that you have to mask off areas you don't want flocked before spraying the adhesive.

I agree that Alclad is tough and durable. However, don't use any alcohol in your wash. That is my standard thinner for making washes with Tamiya acrylics. But the alcohol can have terrible effects on Alclad chrome.

I'm starting to see a lot more of these under construction on several forums. Most are of the Tamiya kit, but a couple of Revell builds too. Wes, we are going to want to see more of yours as you near completion.

If I'd come across this claim before last week I'd have said, "Plowboy, you are a big fat liar!" But I read about this in the panel-line thread elsewhere in the forum and tried it for myself. And a big thank you goes out to Plowboy for the tip. The little saw blades I have worked like a charm and never once jumped the lines, which I do every time with my Bare-Metal scriber or the back of a #11 blade. I need to get some photoetch blades because they are even thinner than the saw blades I currently have. And as the others have already said, once the body is painted it is much more difficult to do anything with the panel lines without messing up the paint job. Not a big deal because you can give it a try on your next build.

Talk about your skill-builder kits. I've built several and am generally pleased with the results. Shortly after I got back into modeling my brother gave me the BMW kit that he'd started long ago. It was very challenging to a newly minted modeler. I'm sure I could do a much better job if I were to build it again. The 356 came out rather nicely, if I do say so myself. Also taught me a lot about being patient and test fitting. I'm not all that big a fan of the whale tail Porsche, but I got it in a batch of four of these kits on eBay. I built the 1969 911 as a 912 for a friend of mine who has a real one. Probably not the most authentic replica, but he liked it. I just crammed the engine and wheels of a 356 under the 911 body and interior. I had several more of the Porsche 356 kits and decided to sell them, swearing I'd never build one again. But I couldn't stay away. Now I have a couple of the 356s. It is very near the top of my list of all-time favorite cars so I can't just give up on them because the kits are so fiddly and challenging.

I don't know, maybe you just have really small hands. And this may not really count as Grail because they are out there, but it is my particular obsession. I don't think Tamiya will ever reissue this so I buy them whenever I can; well, when I can at a reasonable price. I first found one in a store still bearing the price tag applied when it arrived in the mid-1980s: $20.00. I sold that to a fellow modeler who made a desperate plea and my kind and generous nature said yes. Then I regretted almost immediately. Now I have several in the stash and will never, ever sell one again. I've yet to build one, but one is in the next-up pile.

I love the car and I love that kit. I'd like to see more and better pictures. Also of that little Honda S800. I'm working on one of those now and I'd like to see more of yours.

The little gasket that is supposed to prevent that is, I'd say, in need of replacement.

I think that what neither of you is taking into account is that one must reduce what one sees to 1/24th (or whatever scale) of the "real" thing. If you stand on the street and look across at a parked car, yes, the panel lines appear very dark indeed. However, looking closely reveals that there are many shades of body color and of grays and blacks depending on where light is coming from. When a modeler paints a model and then simply blacks in the panel gaps it does not look realistic in scale. In other words, the doors, hood, trunk lid, et cetera, just look like they've been outlined. I've not yet found a reliable and consistent solution to this problem and it is one that occupies no small portion of my modeling time. Scribing a deeper line is almost certainly the necessary first step. But even a complete gap, as with opening parts, presents in-scale problems. They don't always look real just because they mimic the real gap on a 1/1 vehicle.

Thanks. I was just about to try that on a Ferrari I'm starting but I was afraid it would result in disaster. I'll give it a shot.

Hey, I thought clever punning was banned on this forum. I should report you. Anyway, panel lines are both important to me and one of the most persistent challenges of the hobby. I agree that first and foremost deepening the panel line engraving is step one. This, however, is very often easier said than done. For example, try scribing around the fuel filler on the front fender of a Fujimi Porsche 911 or on the headrest of the Hasegawa Ferrari 250TR. I'm not very good at rescribing regardless of what tool I try; some of you get great results with the back of a #11 blade and I love my BMF scriber, but I still have a tendency to jump the groove with disastrous consequences. I've never had much luck trying to use a Micron or other pen to darken the lines before painting. I do like the preshading technique with my airbrush, but that is not always possible when going for the factory fresh look, my preferred mode of building. I've tried using thinned Tamiya acrylics capillarily applied after painting a body. But I've ruined more than one paint job that way. It always overflows the gap and I can't wipe it off or sand it off and it sometimes affects the paint. Maybe I should be thinning it with water instead of alcohol? I'm still looking for the best way to get realistic in-scale panel lines. I've avoided painting any car with light colors because of this problem.

All Xuron products are great. And these things are the best thing available for cutting and trimming photoetch parts. They are sharp, cut with unbelievable precision, and won't bend or warp the photoetch parts.

Yes. I've done that many times when trying to glue photoetch windshield wipers together. I attach each of the two pieces of the wipers (the blade and the arm) to a toothpick or similar item with poster tack. Then the alligator clips hold the toothpicks and I position them so that the two wiper pieces mate the way I want them. A tiny bit of CA where they meet and I'm done. But I also use my magnifier constantly. My eyes are still 20/20 but I find it much easier to use a magnifier when doing any sort of detail work, be it painting, drilling, or gluing. If you get one be aware that you may have to repair the magnifier's ring (or clip or rim or whatever you call the part that goes around the glass and attaches to the base. I got mine from Radio Shack and that part was apparently the absolutely cheapest possible solution for the manufacturer; it is an unconscionably shoddy part. Needless to say it broke about eight minutes after I got the thing. My repair was to use a hose clamp (with worm screw) big enough to surround the glass, with a gasket cut from an old bicycle tire innertube between the clamp and the glass. That assembly was CA glued to a bolt that then fits into the original part on the stand. (Does that make sense?)

I'm pulling up a chair in the front row for this build. I, like many others, love these cars. And I'm really happy with the Fujimi kit. I'm not going to be building it any time soon, so this build will be helpful when I do get around to it. Keep us posted with your progress.

Two words: windshield wipers!

I use regular lacquer thinner for those. I'm talking about Plasti-kote brand paints. They come in a one ounce bottle with the little brush, too. These paints are very susceptible to blushing if you paint in humid conditions.

I replaced the original photos with pictures I took today, while the sun was cooperating. These pictures (now in the first post) much better reflect the actual colors of the model.

First, take that Gunze version and pitch it into the trash; that's all it is good for. And second, I was cooking up a plan to do the same with this kit. Those little fourgonnettes are very cool and I'd very much like to build one. I don't have much in the way of scratch building skills, but it seems like a fairly simple conversion. Something like this shouldn't be too difficult:

Not just your eyes and I'm glad you noticed. I did try to very subtly weather it. Tires got sidewall dullcote, lots of washes of thinned Tamiya smoke, some weathering pigments underneath and on the exhaust, plus some lightly airbrushed Tamiya acrylics in dust and dirt colors. Thanks, everybody, for the comments. I consider this a rough draft of this kit. I have three more of them and will be able to improve build quality a bit with each one. There are some frustrating things about the kit that I'll be aware of next time. Oh, and I highly recommend the kit to anyone with the slightest bit of interest in the subject. I know Revell's recent release of the 2CV is supposed to be a very high quality kit, but I'm sure there are ways in which this Tamiya version is still superior.

Basically out of the box. Tamiya TS German gray, I think. The kit really captures to the look of this car. It has a funky suspension that mimics the real version to great effect. I was able to take better photos today that more accurately reproduce the actual colors of the model.