Datsun 240Z Super Samuri, Fujimi, 1/24

[Matt Bacon]

There was a row of 240Zs at Donington Historic Festival last weekend, and quite a few of them were Super Samuri high performance models fettled by tuning legend Spike Anderson. Like this:

I decided I'd like one of those on the shelf. In the stash is a Fujimi PS30 "432R" kit, which is the hottest homologation version from Japan. Despite being curbside (the hood is moulded shut) it has full engine and chassis detail and some Minilite-alike wheels (amongst others). It's a very full box of plastic. What it doesn't have is a front air dam or spoiler. Given all of the engines in these things are constantly being upgraded, I figured that starting from a 432R (which has a Sklyline GTR engine) wasn't a too off the wall.

The air dam is not super sophisticated. Looking at a bunch of pictures, mine and other peoples', I worked out that it's essentially vertical, and bends around the corners, but no compound curves. That was a relief...

Looking closely at those reference images and the front of the wheel arches, I decided that the logical place for it to fit was where the valance starts to roll over sharply to "tuck under". I marked the line with tape and chain-drilled it.

Then I sanded it all flat on a piece of sandpaper on a ceramic tile to get an even horizontal plane to mount the plastic card air dam on. I just cut a strip of card 7mm wide, after measuring from the reference images (which I scaled to 1/24). Coincidentally (or not...) this means the bottom of the air dam is level with the bottom of the rest of the body.

I glued it on in stages, starting in the middle at the front, and leaving long "wings" to bend round and meet the arches, which I trimmed off last of all.

I need to finish the blending and work out if there's any hint of the wheel arch coming down onto the rear edge, but comparing these two pics to the reference images above, I think it's pretty much where it should be. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've also cut out the bonnet.... what's the point of having that nice engine and hiding it? I've got a Tamiya 240ZG, so I'm going to copy its hinge mechanism and the engine bay details that aren't included in the Fujimi kit, as well as doing some wiring based on the photos I took last weekend:

best,

M.

 

 

[espo]

Nice looking start and like the front spoiler. 

[ea0863]

Great job so far, and cool project car! 

[redzed]

hey....the brake booster is on the wrong side 😃

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Really looking forward to see your time and thoughtful attention put to good use on this one. The Samuris are much-revered here, but as a British conversion probably not too well-known elsewhere in the world. I don't recall seeing a replica at 1:24 scale.

Great start on the spoiler.

Which version of the kit did you get? It looks like some had two engines, the S20 Skyline 'six' and the L24 which was fitted to the 240Zs as sold here. A good way to get close to the Samuri engine would be to fit the triple carbs from the S20 onto the L24. It has to be said though that the detail on the carb's isn't great, at the very least some separate air intake trumpets would be nice.

Fujimi sell both engines in their Nostalgic Racer Tuning Parts set, Hiroboy has it in stock at present.

Somewhere I have the book written by Spike Anderson of Samuri. There'll be lots of reference material in that. I also have loads of old magazine articles, may even have one or two spare if they'd be of any use.

I imagine very few of them were identical at the time, even more so now with subsequent mod's and restoration work, so you can apply some artistic licence.

How far are you going with the distinctive paintwork and signwriting?

[afx]

I'll be following.

[Matt Bacon]

Well, it's taken a while, thanks to holidays and some actual work getting in the way, but here we are today:

Base coat paint is Zero Paints: BMW Sienna Brown and Henna Red which, I happen to have on hand. I primed with Tamiya Fine White Primer and TS-101 Base White, and then applied the pinstripes using Kyosho 0.4mm R/C striping tape, which is intended for panel line gaps and shut lines on radio control models. Tamiya tape to mask the main areas, and then peel off the Tamiya tape and finally the pinstriping. The gloss coat is still to come, but I'm happy with the overall effect.

The firewall in the kit is half-height and completely flat. I copied the detail from the Tamiya 240ZG using plastic card (which will be a common theme -- I'm doing the same with the engine.)

The beginnings of which you can see here...

It's more orange and less red in daylight, but I think it pretty much captures the look.

best,

M.

 

 

[DoctorLarry]

Looks great. I love the whole Japanese JDM look. Discovery or someone had a JDM tuner shop show on for awhile and even though I don't know much about foreign cars, I loved the looks they got.  Your project is off to a great start. Did the 1-1 in the picture have a cloth sunroof?

[slusher]

Looking Fantastic, nice paint!

[Matt Bacon]

8 hours ago, DoctorLarry said:

Did the 1-1 in the picture have a cloth sunroof?

You’re right… I didn’t spot that at the time, when I took the picture. There must have been a decent proportion of the Samuri’s made on the field there; I think there are only 25 or so real ones, and there were at least 8 at Donington. Most in the orange and brown original colours…

best,

M.

[jaymcminn]

Much as I love the timeless look of a stock 240z or a Fairlady ZG, these 70s custom versions are awesome in their own way. Great job on that bodywork and paint!

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, guys. Got the clearcoat on -- Zero Paints 2K Diamond. This is straight out of the paint booth. There are a couple of spots to clean up, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:

You can see in the pictures above a few places where the pinstripe looks a bit rough. It isn't. This is because the reflection from the daylight LED lamp directly above from the crease in the body falls almost exactly on the painted white pinstripe. I don't think this is a coincidence! I hadn't figured it out when I first eyeballed where the lines went, or with the matt base coat on, but like this it's pretty clear that it's what the paint scheme is aiming for. Where it's not quite right, it's my pinstripe masking that's at fault. Overall, though, not bad, though I say it myself... The panel gaps are low-lighted with a sepia microtip pen and Citadel Agrax Earthshade wash in places.

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

Something I wanted to check as soon in the build as possible: using the Motobitz 15" Minilites intended for a Ford Escort rally car on Samuri:

OK, so size-wise they look good and I have figured out how to fix them. Only mocked up at the moment so the track needs to be adjusted front and rear. But the rear end looks more like a Safari Rally setting for the suspension!

Nothing's glued at the back yet, so it can drift around a bit, but a bit of redrilling the top mounts gets us here, and that is a lot better, I think.

Time to get on with some nitty gritty, like the engine and interior...

best,

M.

[Spottedlaurel]

Nice work so far Matt, the distinctive colour scheme looks spot-on.

By chance I was unpacking some books at the weekend and I found the Spike Anderson biography. He describes the paintwork as a "nice dark bronzy colour" over the standard Datsun 110 orange/red. The white pinstriping was added to make the bronze stand out, otherwise they merged into each other.

[Matt Bacon]

Thank you! Progress has been a bit slow thanks to weather, family and work commitments, but time for an update...

Cabin parts are done, in various shades and finishes of black. The kit decals work well for the instruments, once you've trimmed off the extensive carrier film. It helps that the Samuri has a pretty standard cockpit, even with a radio and glovebox, unlike the stripped-out 432R.

Wheels finished in Stynylrez silver primer, which works well for alloys. Tyres Tamiya Rubber Black washed with Citadel Nuln Oil (which I also used to around the rim to give a neat edge). Lug nuts are chrome, and the Motobitz wheels even have a filler valve.

A tale of three engines. The white one is the S20 from the 432R, which I'm building up because one day it'll go in the Tamiya kit to make a detailed 432R (though the Tamiya kit is much more petite than the Fujimi, so I'll need to wait for someone to make a standard short-nose to replace the ZG front clip in the Tamiya kit -- you can't just cut it off a Fujimi or Hasegawa kit). The silver one is the Tamiya L20 engine, built to copy as much as possible. The painted one is the "regular" L20 from this Fujimi kit.

3D printed twin Webers bought from the 'bay. Very nicely detailed, and I have six -- the other three will go on the S20, which is a crossflow design.

Essential wiring crib sheet. 1-5-3-6-2-4 or "too young, too old, just right" as I'm reliably* informed antipodean mechanics remember it...

In position with a touch of chrome for the intakes and a wash. Looking like a proper engine, I reckon. I'm working on the heat shield most of my reference pictures show between the exhaust headers and the carbs, for good reason, I suspect.

best,

M.

* (or at least that's what they say on the internet)

[Spottedlaurel]

Nice progress. The engine is a lot cleaner than the 1:1 L24 I have in my Laurel.....

[Matt Bacon]

Progress is glacial, but at least there is some:

Chassis and wheels assembled and test fitted into the body. That's pretty much as I want it to look. Phew!

And that's the engine wired and heat shield added (aluminium foil and cigarette packet paper for texture...)

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

Normal service will now be resumed.... Refreshed from holiday, and mojo working again, I tackled some of the jobs that I couldn't face before...

I hadn't realised how much of the inside of the engine bay would be visible, so that had to be painted orange to match the rest of the car. That entailed a lot of masking, and would have been so much easier if I'd just done it at the same time as the rest... Also the window trim needed doing. The all-chrome side trim is A*Stand "Bright Aluminium" over Mr Color Black and Gloss clear. The A*Stand paint is near-as darnit Alclad. It calls for "one medium coat at 10-15 psi, and that's what I gave it. And It works really well... The front and rear screens are Molotow chrome pen over Edding 330 black marker, because there's a lot more rubber in those trims. With luck, I won't need to mask *almost the entire body* again...

 

Other than trimming off a lot of carrier film, the instrument dial decals worked very well. Boy, do I need to dust that interior? What you can see above as well as the dust is multiple different "blacks" in action to give some variety and texture to the cabin.

...I'm starting to believe this might just work...

best,

M.

[slusher]

Looking sharp and awesome engine and interior detail..

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, Carl. The slow progress continues... slowly...

Ever get the feeling you know too much? Having the Tamiya engine to hand is really helpful, but it brings home that  the kit engine needs some extras. (Mind you, it's only intended to be viewed from underneath in a semi-curbside kit, so in that respect it probably has more detail than necessary!) The upper water hose connection to the engine is missing completely. The lower is moulded on as a stub. There are no hose fittings on the radiator at all. Heat shrink sleeve will represent the pipes, but it needs something more structural to make it stay in place and connect the right places in the right way. The silver "wire" is nicely malleable solder, which the sleeving will slip over.

The man who knew too much Pt. 2. I was going to just put the bar I could see on my photos across the engine bay ahead of the radiator (hence the orange rod). However, I thought I'd just check the interweb, It turns out that the "radiator support frame" is prone to rusting to dust on the real thing, so there are a lot of threads about repairing, replacing, and crucially fabricating one. Someone had posted a dimensioned drawing, and I couldn't unsee it. So I scaled it 1/24, and then rescaled it to fit (it needs to be a bit shorter than scale, to account for the inch thick armor plate of the hood and fenders in the model. I stuck a printed drawing onto some plastic card, and used it as a template to cut out the bulkhead, then added the horizontal bracing top and bottom. This will all need to be orange. But it will make the front end look a lot less empty and distract attention from the inside of the grille..

Several of my reference cars have braces between the suspension towers. These are fabricated from aluminium tube and fuse wire, and the mounts built up from plastic card and rod. The top one is the front, the lower one the rear. I'm not sure I can get the front one in... in real life it is bent slightly upward to clear the top of the engine and ignition wires, but thanks to the thickness of the hood, I'm not sure there's room for it. (This is why the mounts are much more slimline -- they need to fit between the wheel well and fender-tops). It's not critical... only some cars have it, but it would be nice if I can get it in, because it's cool...

The rear one goes in easily enough, with a bit of fine tuning of the length.

And this is how things stand tonight. The battery and brake booster are stolen from a Revell Land Rover and need some more work. But I think the next task is to get the support frame painted and then the radiator fitted and plumbed.

best,

M.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Matt Bacon

[beeRS]

The super detailing work on the engine is superb. Using solder wire for hoses is one of my favourites. 

[Matt Bacon]

A bit of a milestone, I think:

I had to add a couple of plastic strip shims to the chassis rails to raise the radiator and frame to the height of the  engine fan, which also brings the upper frame corners "close enough" to the fender tops.

This means the engine is now firmly fixed to the chassis in its final position, so I can do some wiring and plumbing around it tomorrow, when everything has fully cured.

That's a relief... the hood will close fully with that radiator, ignition wiring and the shock strut in position.... phew!

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

Now... where does the rocker cover breather hose go when you have three side-draft twin Webers? On regular cars, with an air filter manifold feeding the normal twin carbs, it just connects into the airbox. I assume it goes somewhere, though one of my reference cars just has a little right-angled filter "mushroom" sprouting from the breathing hole... I think that might foul the hood, though.

best,

M.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Matt Bacon

[Kenmojr]

Pretty car. Love these Datsun Z cars.

[Matt Bacon]

Those nice folks at Model Car Garage have come up with a photo etch detail set for Z-cars. I lucked into it while looking for a source for the "Datsun" scripts for the lower fenders. UK models, which became Samuris, don't use the "Fairlady" branding, but they do have all the badges in the same fonts. Fortunately this set includes ALL the options for the body badges and many, many details. Some of which I will use on this build, some I will save for later.

The etch is crisp and deep (and even...), so a once over with Tamiya Matt Black acrylic, wiped off the raised detail after it's dried with a cloth lightly dampened with X-20A thinner brings out all the detail and looks "just like the real thing"... I decided to do one window part-lowered, for a better view of the interior. Both side windows are cut from acetate, but the main screens and quarter lights are the kit part.

 

best,

M.