Cool Hand

Inquiring minds asked about about a pointer in a build thread The pointer. Seen alot of videos on Youtbe showing techniques and paint materials that builders use on the Gunpla. And was intrigued and wanted to see what the kits where like to assemble. The pointer is from this Bandai kit. The kit has optional parts to hold weapons etc. So borrowed one for a pointer. This pic was taken during build process. The level of detail and the engineering that goes into the injection molding is unlike anything ive ever experienced. Every part fits perfectly no glue and after built fully movable into many poses.. Detail is insane. All parts had Tamiya black panel line accent applied and cleaned up. After assembly and sticker application, an over coat of Alclad Klear kote Flat was applied. It would be impossible for me to detail paint the figure, way too small. Not what we do around here but thought id share after being asked about the pointer.

Not sure about Wilwood, but if you have look around the interwebs for some Hobby Design disc brakes they make some nice aftermarket sets

Time well spent on all the prep work, got a good foundation for the paint now.

And if all that didnt work, there was a Plan B. Glad that was not needed and thankful wont be having to cover the velocity stacks.

Needed to sort out the engine situation, as it will have to be in the right place to make a fire wall and other parts of the interior. Made some adjustments to the engine mounts. This is where it started Worked out the area that needed a notch cut into it. Used this carbide burr to grind the notch. Also needed to remove some material from the gear box mount. And to make sure the engine would be lowered enough, removed some material from the mount on the engine. Cut away with the chisel blade. Test fitted the engine, and the oil pan/sump was sitting on the cross member. Which left a gap between the two mounts. LOL! Using a sanding drum in the Dremel removed some material from the sump. Refined the surface finish in preparation for a re paint. Masked. Primed. Re painted Attached some 0.020 3mm x 2mm squares to make up some of the gap and lift the engine to clearance the cross member and touched up the paint with some decanted TS-29 applied with a brush. Moment of truth and the engine fits under the bonnet now.

Thank you Jim, will keep trying to update daily after each session at the bench. Cheers Ben, check in daily should be something new to see. Appreciate it Anton, constantly mocking up helps with motivation and to think of a plan how to achieve the next task. Yes, the inspiration car provided the idea for the rear suspension set up. Not as scale accurate or as good as the inspiration car, but yeah it turned out to be a cool visual feature.

New metallic black looks good, noticed you blacked out all the engine. Is that a base coat in preparation for a coat of another paint ??

Started to work on the interior. Measured the distance from the top of the chassis frame to the top of the door That helped to work out a rough height to trim the box stock interior tub. Turns out that the step in the side of the tub was very close to the measurement and a good place to start. Transferred the line around. And using a razor saw cut that section of. Also need to remove the rear seat etc. Made a temporary brace to support whilst cutting. Cut out using metal saw blade in the Dremel Micro. Cleaned up all the cut edges with a coarse sanding stick. And did a test in the body and over the chassis. Surprised it fit reasonably well. But will need to remove about 3-4 mm more from the tub, so lower edge of the rocker panel will be level with the bottom of the chassis frame. Not all things go as planned, hard to think everything all at one time. As something can be easily overlooked and situations arise. Didnt think of the height of the engine in early mock up stages. Going to need to lower the engine by trimming the mounts a couple mm. Hopefully that will bring the rocker covers under the bonnet. LOL! If that dont work il modify the bonnet/hod.

Thanks Joseph. Yeah give it a go, il keep an eye for your build. Cheers for the comment Jonathan.

Looking to be a great build with the combination of parts and the source of your inspiration.

Masked up the engine and painted the intake TS-88 titanium sliver, it was decanted and shot through the air brush.

Thank you Anton, more details will be added at a later stage. Just needed to get the base down first and build up from that.

As others have said, excellent job on the weathering, in the right setting it could pass as a 1:1.

Well done. good job with the detailing.

Going by your Pennzoil R34 build and the products you have purchased to go into this build, looking forward to watching it progress.

Assembled all the painted suspension components to the chassis. Overlooked/forgot to paint the under side of rear suspension support plate. Will have to do some tricky brush work. Started to get engine and some of the components painted. Base paint for the engine is TS-44 brilliant blue. Injectors painted with T-29 semi black

Amazing machine work, the attention to all the fine detail work is incredible. And is super cleanly assemble. One of the best scale models cars I think ive ever seen on a forum. Please share more of your builds.

Good job piecing together an incomplete kit Jim. As always really nice paint work and shiny.

Interesting build, some great imagineering. Makes me think of the cartoon Wacky Racers I use to watch as a kid.

Interior looks the part. Well done. Victory pipes, outrageous LOL!

Done some work on the engine to help keep motivation for the build going. Engine needed a better intake system, stock wont cut it. Used the poor mans milling machine to shave down the manifold. Had a bit of a mishap, the bit grabbed came loose and gouged a hole. But progressed along drilling some holes for the intake tubes. Smaller pilot hole first then to the required size. New intake tubes will be 3.2mm styrene tube. After the holes were drilled, manifold was shaped further down and blended towards the heads. Needed to cover the gouge, so a masking tape template was made and transferred to some .5mm styrene Not shown, but this piece was then attached the lower valley of the manifold Temporarily set the tubes in place. And created a layout on the edge of the work board, to help make some injectors. Injectors are made with 1.2mm styrene rod. Set them in place and glued, after that cut to length. Quick mock showing injectors in place. Also attached another piece of styrene over the .5mm. Fuel rails made from 1.6mm aluminium tube. Mock of rails temporarily in place. Will use these stacks to top of the tubes, but they will be cut down in size at a later stage. They are another The Parts Box item. Also added a few other details to the new intake set up. And pieced a few other parts together for a rough mock up. Wont be using the headers, just an idea of how they will look. Custom set will be made.

Chassis painted Tamiya TS-29 semi gloss black. Broke one of the top link mounts whilst washing. Did not notice until after it was painted, eyes arent as good as they use to be. Repaired. Repainted the diff, so had to wait for that to dry which held up the chassis work. So moved onto something else.

Thanks for commenting Tom, very much appreciated. Thank you Rodney, doing the best I can with the skills I have.

Nice work with all the body mods, looks way better all smoothed out.

Looks great Roger, I like the custom work and the blue and chrome.