1980s Tamiya Honda Today

[Spottedlaurel]

This one is intended to be a quick, fun build, which I started by accident........

1:24 Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Quite a rare little kit here, I don't recall seeing many/any others since I purchased this one off eBay a few years ago. Body and some of the interior had been brush-painted, but none of the lights or glass had been touched and being a snap-fix kit there was no glue to worry about. It had the motor installed, I think I might have given it a brief run. It's very basic but still looks effective - @Italianhorses did a lovely OOB build on one last year which shows how good they can look, although mine won't be anywhere near Alex's standard!

After taking a few photos last summer rather than put it back on the shelf with some other WIPs I ended up chucking the shell into a spare tub of brake fluid, and there it sat for a few weeks. I've never had a problem with leaving anything in there for a long time, and the thick enamel paint needed lots of help to shift it.

1:24 Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

After being washed this is what I ended up with. The scribing tool, wet-and-dry paper, a sharp blade and my thumbnail managed to get rid of everything necessary.

1:24 Tamiya Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

With not everything fully disassembled, this is what the kit contains. The box is comically small. My chosen colour is TS-41 Coral Green, in a rather old tin. Honda offered the Today in a very similar shade, it feels like the sort of fun, vibrant colour they'd have on a kei car such as this. Wheel choice as yet undecided, maybe a set of 13" Watanabe/Minilite-style 8-spokes like this facelift 1:1 example: https://shakotantoday.com/home/2018/10/27/honda-today-ri-z Lowering will be easy at least, as the suspension is just metal axles front and rear.

1:24 Tamiya Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

To give an idea of its diminutive size, here it is alongside one of my other projects.

Having got the shell primed I couldn't wait to see the colour:

1:24 Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Just what I was after. That being said, the paint itself was borderline useable - the pressure in the can seemed quite low, perhaps unsurprising after so long, and it came out rather unevenly and with a lot of splatter. However it seems to be drying out OK, and I think with some sanding down and maybe a bit of clear it should give a tolerable finish.

Thanks for looking.

[thomascoffey1959@gmail.com]

  Looks like it might work. You're pretty brave trying something with paint that old, but if it does work you can always drop it back in the tub. Unusual subject . 

[Italianhorses]

Yup, its a cool little kit. I enjoyed building mine.

[Spottedlaurel]

On 2/28/2021 at 9:45 PM, thomascoffey1959@gmail.com said:

  Looks like it might work. You're pretty brave trying something with paint that old, but if it does work you can always drop it back in the tub. Unusual subject . 

Foolhardy, or even stupid, might be a better description than brave.....

On 3/1/2021 at 4:43 AM, Italianhorses said:

Yup, its a cool little kit. I enjoyed building mine.

Very simple but looks decent. It'll sit nicely alongside the Honda City and Suzuki Alto I've already got on the shelf.

After a wet sanding I gave it a few more spattery coats of the Coral Green. After a couple of days of drying out in a warm cupboard it flattened out remarkably well and I gave it the Micromesh treatment this morning:

1:24 Tamiya Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Tamiya Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Still debating whether to give it some clear, might just live with it - it's just meant to be a fun build to look good on the shelf. Tried it on the 13" Watanabe-style wheels that came with the Hasegawa Sunny Truck I built last year, they should suit it well painted dark bronze/gunmetal.

[Spottedlaurel]

I'm adding a very modest update to this thread for the sake of completeness, as it's now finished and I'll post new photos Under Glass later today.

1:24 Tamiya Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I needed some centrecaps on the new wheels. I realised that the head of some plastic pins from an old toy would do the job perfectly. There are hundreds of them, a lifetime's supply! I drilled out the wheel centres and painted the heads silver.

1:24 Tamiya Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Basic interior brush-painted in varying shades of grey and black.

1:24 Tamiya Honda Today kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Modest parts count before final assembly. The exhaust section pictured here is wrong and turned out to be from another kit, what I actually needed was a piece I hadn't previously been able to identify (but luckily hadn't mislaid or thrown away).

Yesterday was mercifully the final day of black trim around the windows, with just some final touching-up today.