ShawnS

No. The two cars weren't that closely related. Thanks everyone for the kind words. Not a massive update for you all today. I did however get around to casting the interior tub this weekend. I glued the sides of the tub to the floor and filled any gaps that were left over, shot it with primer and cast it. The original part. The mould I made. It's just a two part squish mould. and the end product. A part thats identical to the original. I am quite happy with the way it turned out. There was very little clean up to do on it and it's ready to go. I will be working on the engine bay next. Thanks for looking Cheers ShawnS

Better and more accurate tyres for all kits. With a wider variety of tyre types.

That's great stuff right there. I like the smoke coming out from under the hood too, it's a nice touch.

You did a brilliant job Niko. Those Hasegawa VW's are basic but they turn out nice.

Very very good. A truly original Model A.

It's great. Looks like it has been on a 6 month cross country tour, just needs some interior clutter. Nice work Jared.

Nice. I agree with everybody else, the white was a good choice for that model. A well executed build.

Thanks all, yeah we do say "bonnet" here in OZ but as the term "hood" is more widely used on this forum, I chose to use that instead. Infact the term "hood" is slipping itself into our language more and more so it's not completely out of place for an Aussie to say it. Cheers ShawnS

Hi guys. I have been on a break from building for a few weeks but now I'm slowly getting back into it and have something to finally show you all. I wanted a cut and glue task to help me get back into it so I started working on the bracing for under the hood. The first thing that I had to do was remove the hood from the resin body. The hood off the body was too thick to use so I made another one from evergreen sheet. I then cut another piece of evergreen sheet that was slightly thinner than the hood. I checked my references and drew the bracing onto that piece. I cut out the shaded areas and cleaned it up with some sandpaper. Then I glued it onto a very thin piece of evergreen. When the glue dried I cut out the areas that needed removing. I glued that onto the hood and added some more bracing to it. I also added some more detail to a few other areas and shot it with primer. It's not as full detailed as the 1:1 version but it has the right look to it. I will add hinges at a later point. The next thing I need to do is cast the interior tub then I will be able to start work on the engine bay. I think that's it for the moment, hopefully I can continue to build momentum and get some more done soon. Cheers ShawnS

Thanks guys. I wish I could give you a new update but at the moment I am taking a little break from building. I hope to resume work on it soon. Cheers ShawnS.

It turned out brilliant. All of the effort that you put into getting it to look good and sit right has payed off. Well done. I always wanted a few of those Jag kits but I have yet to actually come across one on any website that's not called Ebay. It has become a holy grail kit for me. Cheers ShawnS

That is a faultless clean build. Brilliant work Paul.

Another fantastic stock car build. Keep up the good work Scott.

Great job Scott. Perfectly timed for the start of the 2012 Nascar season. Lets hope it's a Petty car in victory lane for Daytona. Go #9

Outstanding Curt. I love the look of those types of race cars and this model captures that look perfectly.

Thanks Uncle Potts, I'm glad you popped in for a look. To make the bend in the upper body I lightly scribed a line and secured the panel to my steel ruler. then I gently bent the body over the edge of the ruler. Then you will see that a V groove is the result. Once you have made the angle you need, fill the V groove with some evergreen strip or stretched sprue. Once the glue is set all you need to do is sand the area flat. Sand it along the length of the bend and be careful not to sand over the bend or it will round it off. Unless that's what you want. For the lower body roundness I did the same except I scribed two lines parallel to each other, Bent and glued them separately and then sanded it across the bend to round the area off. The lower area was thicker than the top of the body so I had alot of styrene to be able to sand into shape. You can see in the pics that I made 3 lines but I only used the top and the bottom ones. You can also see that this was done at a late stage in the construction of the body. I was making mistakes and fixing them as I went along. I hope that explains it. If it doesn't, I will be happy to try and clarify it for you. Good luck with your scratch building project, If you have any questions don't be affraid to ask. Cheers ShawnS

I'll make them with regular evergreen styrene like everything else and then I will cast them in clear resin. Thanks Ian, It feels good but there is also that feeling of unfinished business. Still plenty to do. Cheers ShawnS

Thanks Zac, No I won't cast the engine. Too much time and expense for something I won't really need after this project. Cheers ShawnS

Thanks guys. The kit does have an engine. The engine block and transmission itself are nicely detailed but it lacks in so many areas that it makes you wonder why Tamiya even bothered to do it. There is also next to nothing in the engine bay to go along with it. I wasn't into engine details at the time so I glued the hood shut. Problem solved. cheers ShawnS

Hi all, This is Tamiya's R32 GroupA racer. It is the car that won the Bathurst 1000 in 1992 in the hands of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife. I made it many years ago. It has DMC decals and the wheels and tires are from Tamiya's PIAA Honda JTCC car. It's painted withTamiya Italian red and has Sakatsu hood clips and modified Tamiya Ford Sierra mirrors.The DMC decals went on ok but there was some silvering in some areas. I count that as my fault for not removing the carrier film from the areas where it wasn't necessary. Thanks for looking Cheers ShawnS

In that case, sent $1000 to this address................... Just kidding..unless you wanna do it. :lol: Thanks again for the kind comments. Here is the last of the catchup updates and anything from here on is what I have actually been working on. I managed to cast the body and clean it up. Not too many issues except the mould rubber that I use seems to make it's own air bubbles from out of nowhere and of course they find the stupidest places on the body to call home (mostly on undercuts), so there was a little more cleanup then I would have liked but it's all good. You can see some small round blobs in several places, that's where there were bubbles in the mould rubber. Even though they cleaned up easily, I will change a few things in any future mould making processes to try and prevent that from re-occurring. I have started making sure that everything in the interior fits where it should and have also cut off the hood and begun work on the engine bay. I regard casting the body as the half way point in this whole deal. I still need to; cast the interior tub (priority) do the engine bay and everything in it make a chassis for any future curbside version make the headlight lenses mount the engine make the exhaust manifold and pipes/muffler Make the front suspension and steering setup finish the drivetrain finish the wheels make some decals make the wipers make moulds and cast everything that I need for more versions make windows paint and detail All of that and more... so settle in for the long ride with me to the end folks. Thanks for looking and I hope to add more to this thread soon. Once again I'm always open to questions and comments. Cheers ShawnS

Thanks for the continued support Zac. Thank you RommelR. I hope you all will be with me till the end. Don't be affraid to spread the word so that no-one else misses it. I will be pulling it apart. At the moment it's only lightly tacked together so i can make sure it fits where it should and when I'm ready to paint, it will come apart easily. Thanks Adamo. It just takes a image in my head, a lot of evergreen styrene and glue and a whole lot of patience. Being crazy doesn't hurt either. I must be crazy 'cos people have been calling me that since I started it. Ok, now for the dashboard. Here is the finished part. I had 2 failures before I figured out how to get it right. I printed out a lo-res dash readout and put it behind a piece of clear sheet. The radio face is from a Tamiya VW Beetle and the aircon/heater controls are from a MCG PE set. I made a steering column and added levers from evergreen rod and strips. The finished unit with steering wheel. The top has vents. The real thing There is still a bit of fine tuning to do like adding an ignition lock and putting more of an upward angle on the steering wheel. I'm also feeling that the steering wheel may be a bit oversized so I'll have to fix that. Anything else like the seat belt buckle stalks and the floor mat will be done during the final detail stages. to be continued.. Cheers ShawnS

Anyone who can turn a Fujimi enthusiast kit into something as beautiful as that deserves to be called a LEGEND. That is an amazing model. Well done Jason.

Perfect. Great build keke.

Very tidy. I like how you have captured the period look with that nice color too.