Tamiya Fiat 500F

[GeeBee]

I've had this one sitting on the side for a while, after buying it on eBay, sadly when it arrived the tyres and polycaps were missing, a good friend got in touch with me to say he had the parts I needed, so as I've got a few models on the backburner ready for airbrushing, I'm going to make a start on this one, I've had the paint mixed up for a few years, Positano yellow, which was the colour of my second car, a Fiat 128.

it's been a while since I've built a Tamiya model kit, I think the last one was the Citroen 2cv, I think I need to build more of my Tamiya kits in the stash, the parts fit is superb, just a very fine mould line to remove running along the top of the rear window, but the rest of the bodyshell is devoid of any more mould lines, the engine cover and sunroof are only dry fitted at the moment.

[OldNYJim]

I've wanted to build one of these forever - love these little cars!  I'll be watching!

[GeeBee]

1 hour ago, CabDriver said:

I've wanted to build one of these forever - love these little cars!  I'll be watching!

So have I, I bought one when they were first released, got out of the hobby in the mid 1990's due to starting up a new business venture, and sold all my kits, got back into building models in the early 2000's, I've bought and sold a few of these since, I've had the paint since 2013, it's about time I actually got round to building one.

[Tom Geiger]

 

A fun little build with some minuscule parts! Mine is red, my buddy Tom did the white one.

Check to see if your kit has door cards.. I had to make some for mine.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[Nxr]

I wonder if they have a fiat 600 kit that I could covert into a zaporozhets from the ussr

[Spottedlaurel]

I look forward to seeing you work your magic on this one.

I have one to do someday, it looks such a delicate little kit which Tamiya do so well. I also have a Gunze Sangyo version which has a slightly chunkier feel to it.

Still a shock as to how small these are when seen amongst modern traffic. When I was a teenager and used to hitch lifts to get around and avoid paying bus fares I got picked up in one, I recall it being a bit cosy....

[GeeBee]

2 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Still a shock as to how small these are when seen amongst modern traffic. When I was a teenager and used to hitch lifts to get around and avoid paying bus fares I got picked up in one, I recall it being a bit cosy....

I've never been inside one, we did have to borrow a Seat 133 when our Seat 124 had to go into the garage,  that was small enough, they were built on the chassis and running gear of the older Seat 850, bigger than a Fiat 500, but I wouldn't want to spend more time in it than we had to

 

[Tom Geiger]

2 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Still a shock as to how small these are when seen amongst modern traffic. 

 

It is a tiny little bug.. both of these are 1/24 scale.  The modern 500 is much larger, still tiny! My daughter bought one new and has 135,000 trouble free miles in it.

[GeeBee]

4 hours ago, Nxr said:

I wonder if they have a fiat 600 kit that I could covert into a zaporozhets from the ussr

Gunze Sangyo used to make one

 

[GeeBee]

I'm still undecided what colour I'm going to do the interior,  black or tan....

 

[OldNYJim]

I’d go for the tan if it were mine...the interior is so tiny that it’ll be hard to see if it’s black and all the nice clean work you always do will be less eye catching.

That said, I like the black too ??

[Oldmopars]

I vote for Tan also. It will give more visual appeal. The contrast will show off the interior and also be lighter so more details can be seen. 

To me, the black would just be a dark hole in an nice car. 

[OldNYJim]

The white wheel and gauge surround in the black one is cool though 

(I realize I’m not helping ?)

[Steve H]

Hi Geoff, They are definitely tiny, also fun to build. Nice work so far. Oh.... I’m in the tan interior camp too! I did mine black, it is indeed just a black hole.

cheers, Steve

[GeeBee]

6 hours ago, CabDriver said:

The white wheel and gauge surround in the black one is cool though 

(I realize I’m not helping ?)

I'm pretty sure that the steering wheel and gauge surround were all white on the 500F, the steering wheel on that photo looks like it's off a later 500L, they probably painted the surround to match the wheel 

[GeeBee]

Looks like I'm going with the tan interior,  I've never been a fan of black interiors,  growing up in Southern Spain, the last thing you would have wanted would be black vinyl seats to burn the back of your legs on, our Seat 124 was beige with a tan interior. 

For a while Dad owned a British registered Ford Consul GT, ex police, white bodywork with a black vinyl interior, totally impossible to sit in it after it was parked up for a while, which is why it got sold on.

[Dann Tier]

12 hours ago, GeeBee said:

Gunze Sangyo used to make one

 

This is gonna be COOL!!!! -i have that Gunze kit...its pretty darn nice too -except for the tyres. Looking forward to this, Bud!!!

[Nxr]

I got this die cast in my Soviet communist lot its 1 by 43

[GeeBee]

22 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Check to see if your kit has door cards.. I had to make some for mine.

Door panels are present and correct, you sure it was the Tamiya version you built? I know the Gunze Sangyo Fiat 500D didn't come with them.

Edited November 12, 2020 by GeeBee

[GeeBee]

Started on the engine, boy this thing is tiny, glued the three parts of the exhaust together, after using the engine block to get everything lined up.

 

[Tom Geiger]

I think you are correct! Mine must be the Gunze kit.

[OldNYJim]

I think I picked up the Gunze version once, trying to save a few bucks compared to buying the Tamiya kit...I think my version came with rubber seats for some reason.

I like the race version of this car that Tamiya put out too - I'd like to pick up both of those.  They're definitely gaining value it seems like...

[GeeBee]

3 hours ago, CabDriver said:

I think I picked up the Gunze version once, trying to save a few bucks compared to buying the Tamiya kit...I think my version came with rubber seats for some reason.

I like the race version of this car that Tamiya put out too - I'd like to pick up both of those.  They're definitely gaining value it seems like...

The only Gunze Sangyo kit I've built was the Austin frogeye sprite, that had vinyl seats and side panels, certainty not the easiest things to glue. 

The Tamiya Fiat 500 used to be picked up for around £15-18, now when they do pop up on eBay they go for way over £40.

[GeeBee]

22 hours ago, CabDriver said:

I’d go for the tan if it were mine...the interior is so tiny that it’ll be hard to see if it’s black and all the nice clean work you always do will be less eye catching.

I think you're right, photos of it with the black interior just don't show up.

 

[GeeBee]

Bodyshell and smaller parts in primer,