Displaying with a Removable Body for Shows?

[lghtngyello03]

Hi guys. My Next build is going to be this beast.....the Tamiya Pennzoil R34 Skyline. 

 

This will be a first in this style of build for me. As some of you may know, who follow some of my builds, I usually do street cars.  The plan is to build it as close to the real deal as possible, ie: carbon decals for the interior where they need to be, and carbon Kevlar decals underneath where they should be as well, etc. The plan is to have this one built for an upcoming show in January.

If the end result is what I hope for, and it looks good enough, I would love to have the option of taking the body on and off without any trouble to display it. 

I'm looking for some advice on how to do this without any fitment issues where it will still look great when placed on top of the chassis. Do I just need to cut off the mounting tabs on the inside of a Tamiya kit? Or just not glue it and carefully take it apart?  My only worries with not gluing it is over time it may cause me to snap something that I wouldn't want to break when removing the body to display for a show.

I grabbed the pic below from the Nascar section as an example of what I'd love to do.

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks!!

[stitchdup]

The fit of tamiya kits is pretty tight sometimes so you may need to trim the sills and back edges of the bumpers too for easy removal. You may find though that the body hangs lower than you want when it is on too as it would be sitting on the cage. Whats your plans for the engine as I dont believe this kit comes with one which may spoil the effect you are after. I hope I'm not putting you off though, this sounds like a really cool project and I'll be following

[Tom Geiger]

As Leslie said, you could trim the fit between the body and chassis so it slides off easily.  As far as needing resting spots for the chassis, you could add Evergreen strips to the inside edge of the body. I do that on kits to create a glue point.

One thing I am planning on trying, is using magnets to hold things in place.  I've been looking at those magnetic business cards companies give you to post on your refrigerator.  Thin and could be cut to work.

[lghtngyello03]

21 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

The fit of tamiya kits is pretty tight sometimes so you may need to trim the sills and back edges of the bumpers too for easy removal. You may find though that the body hangs lower than you want when it is on too as it would be sitting on the cage. Whats your plans for the engine as I dont believe this kit comes with one which may spoil the effect you are after. I hope I'm not putting you off though, this sounds like a really cool project and I'll be following

 

Dang, you are right, lol.. I haven't even opened the kit yet and have had it for 7-9 years.  I don't know why I didn't think of that as almost all Tamiya stuff is Static display.

Edited October 8, 2019 by lghtngyello03

[stitchdup]

2 minutes ago, lghtngyello03 said:

Dang, you are right, lol.. I haven't even opened the kit yet and have had it for 7-9 years.  I don't know why I didn't think of that as almost all Tamiya stuff is Static display.

there's a few resin engines for the r32 and the tamiya nismo street car has a nice one too. I dont know off a r34 engine but theres a good chance someone makes one given how popular skylines are but it would probably be street engines

[Anglia105E]

Not sure if this helps you, Scott...... but every scale model car that I build, especially the 1:24 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud's, I never glue the body to the chassis. This allows me to remove the body fairly easily, should I want to add or change some part of the build or indeed display the model car at an exhibition that I go to once a year for Rolls-Royce.

As someone pointed out, the Tamiya kits are usually a very good fit, and also a very tight fit. I have a Tamiya Jaguar MK II where the body fits so tightly and precisely to the chassis / floor pan, that it is not at all easy to remove the body. I guess you would have to trim away some of the sills plastic, or front end / rear end to reduce the tight fit.

David

[lghtngyello03]

Thanks guys. I would love to put an engine in this one, but it may take a little longer than I want to complete.  I will remember this if I do another one, or on the other Motul skyline build that I have.