Group 5 Celica LiftBack

[Scale-Master]

I picked this kit up in Japan at Tamiya (on my second TamiyaCon tour).   A good friend had asked me to snag it as it wasn't readily available in the U.S. at the time.  It's been patiently sitting for over 18 years and is now on the bench for that friend's collection.

It's a reissue of the 1/24th scale '78 motorized kit; sans motor.  It will be built out-of-the-box.

I'm amazed at how thin the wall thickness of the body is and delicate the molding is.  While that is impressive, it is a concern due to the fact that the dark blue plastic is excessively brittle.  (This I know firsthand…)

 

A few hours of scribing new and rescribing existing lines plus seam and sink mark removal resulted in this primer ready body.

[Scale-Master]

The wheels were painted and the tires hand-lettered with Tamiya acrylic colors.

[iamsuperdan]

Watching this for sure.

I have this one on the bench right now too. Built it (poorly) when I was in junior high school. Found another kit last year for cheap, and just started it a week or so ago. Still getting the body ready for primer and paint.

 

 

[Scale-Master]

The taillight panel is clean but the lights are a bit simplistic.  Tamiya transparent colors over chrome.

 

[Scale-Master]

The "battery cover" or rear section of the interior.  It's just three pieces so I hand painted the details rather than mask anything. 

[stinkybritches]

I'm liking everything. I love Group 5 cars. They are just so aggressive looking. 

[Scale-Master]

I shot the body with some age appropriate Testors enamel, 1111 Blue.  A fresh bottle from about 40 years ago; only a little younger than the tooling for the kit.    It dried pretty nicely overnight, but this will have to set awhile to cure…

[Scale-Master]

This is Harald Ertl.

[steveracer]

No no!  That is Tamiya.  Ertl sold out years ago.... /Joke  

 

Nice work on a nice kit.

[Scale-Master]

The instrument cluster has some detail molded into the gauges.  Keeping with the theme of building it straight out of the box, I hand painted them; mostly dry-brushing silver over black.  And a drop of clear for the gauge lenses.

[Scale-Master]

It was easier to install Harald around the steering wheel, then slide the seat under him.

The interior is not overly detailed, but then it was a motorized model/toy.  The gauges on the console received the same treatment as the dash.

[Scale-Master]

The chassis/underside is no more detailed than the interior, but a little detail painting and mild weathering serves it well.

[Scale-Master]

The side window trim was done with Warbird Decals Chrome Stripes.

The windshield banner decal was the first one I applied to the exterior of the car, looks like they are on the brittle side.  A small piece chipped out during application.

I filled it with a drop of acrylic black and sanded it smooth.

[Len Woodruff]

Nice

[Mattilacken]

Looks beautiful as always!

[Scale-Master]

With that issue brought to light, and a little extra caution, the rest of the decals went on pretty well.   
They are matte finish so clear coat (already planned) needs to be used.  
I knocked down the blue paint with 1500 before decaling it.

[iamsuperdan]

Looking good!

 

Will have to be careful with the decals on mine.

[Scale-Master]

The dull sheen of the decals absorbed the clear more than I expected so a little more clear was put down than originally planned.  Sure does wake up the color.  Plus being in direct sunlight…

[Scale-Master]

Once the clear had cured I was surprised how much die back it had on the white panel decals.  Since they had to be sanded/polished out the whole car needed to be as well.  Made for a much nicer overall finish.

I used Hasegawa Flat Black Finish for the windshield frame.  It works a lot like BMF but is a vinyl material.  A hair dryer is helpful getting it to conform.

The glass, headlights grille door panels etc. were installed too.

[Mattilacken]

Looking good!

[porschercr]

Looks great.

 

[iamsuperdan]

Body turned out fantastic. Hoping the decals on mine hold up as well as yours.

 

[Scale-Master]

On 12/20/2021 at 7:18 AM, iamsuperdan said:

Body turned out fantastic. Hoping the decals on mine hold up as well as yours.

 

Just be gentle with them.  They don't want to release from the paper as quickly as some decals.  Give a good 90 seconds to two minutes for them to slide easily.