Tamiya 1/24 Nissan 240Z (street custom?)

[Justin Porter]

3 hours ago, khier said:

Why is it so difficult to make a kit of the regular 240Z?? If they separated the front spoiler, added the stock carburetors and grill, it could be immediately  built as a show room model.

And stock hub caps/rims of course.

As far as Tamiya is concerned, they DID do a kit of the regular 240 Fairlady ZG. Now they are producing a kit that indirectly ties in with one of the most popular fictional racing franchises (a franchise that spans movies, TV shows, comics, and both arcade and home video games) in their home market. I have no doubt that their market research has shown that globally - and especially at home - this will sell FAR more units than a base model short nose Fairlady Z and particularly more than a USDM Datsun 240Z. 

[Zoom Zoom]

4 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

As far as Tamiya is concerned, they DID do a kit of the regular 240 Fairlady ZG. Now they are producing a kit that indirectly ties in with one of the most popular fictional racing franchises (a franchise that spans movies, TV shows, comics, and both arcade and home video games) in their home market. I have no doubt that their market research has shown that globally - and especially at home - this will sell FAR more units than a base model short nose Fairlady Z and particularly more than a USDM Datsun 240Z. 

Hasegawa did a couple of short runs of their curbside LHD USDM short nose Z car, I built one last year. It's curbside only. I took the beautiful stock wheels from the Tamiya ZG and was going to use them on my Hasegawa 240Z but I didn't like the look of the stock wheels with stock tires; they're beautiful and accurate after I did all the paint/detail including the chrome transfers but my eyes wanted to see less sidewall. I ended up using a set of 5 lug (incorrect, but...) slotted mags from Pegasus and modified them to use the Hasegawa tires as they looked like the wheels that were on many Z cars here in the 70's, aside from being 5 lug vs. 4 LOL. It's built to look like my high school guidance counselor's 240Z, though I used black stripes where her car may not have had stripes or maybe had white stripes. 45 years or so between seeing the car and building the model...

I have ZoomOn's conversion kit for the Tamiya ZG and I'm pretty psyched about this new Tamiya kit. Maybe I build the ZG as a long-nose street custom using the ZoomOn conversion.

Tamiya doing the street custom serves a much wider market than focusing on a stock USDM Z car. I do wonder if there will be any more variants down the road, but being Tamiya I kind of doubt it. 

[Kenmojr]

Love the 240Z, one of my favorite sports cars of all time. There are a few around here powered by small block Chevys and small block Fords, and that is the way I would build it. 

One owner with swapped in a Ford 289 and claims the 289 weighs less then the Datsun inline 6.

Edited May 15, 2024 by Kenmojr

[Spottedlaurel]

6 hours ago, Zoom Zoom said:

Hasegawa did a couple of short runs of their curbside LHD USDM short nose Z car, I built one last year. It's curbside only. I took the beautiful stock wheels from the Tamiya ZG and was going to use them on my Hasegawa 240Z but I didn't like the look of the stock wheels with stock tires; they're beautiful and accurate after I did all the paint/detail including the chrome transfers but my eyes wanted to see less sidewall. I ended up using a set of 5 lug (incorrect, but...) slotted mags from Pegasus and modified them to use the Hasegawa tires as they looked like the wheels that were on many Z cars here in the 70's, aside from being 5 lug vs. 4 LOL..............

That's very nice!

Another option for slot mags would be the old Monogram 280Z road car kit, and they're 4-stud too. Is there also a Lotus Esprit that has them too? From memory they're a bit wider.

As I think has probably been mentioned the Hasegawa nosecone appears to fit the Tamiya shell very nicely, so with a bit of mixing and matching and the availability of the Tamiya Z with LHD that now gives scope to build pretty much any variant with full engine and underbonnet detail without going too far into the aftermarket/conversion world.

[Daddyfink]

13 hours ago, Kenmojr said:

Love the 240Z, one of my favorite sports cars of all time. There are a few around here powered by small block Chevys and small block Fords, and that is the way I would build it. 

One owner with swapped in a Ford 289 and claims the 289 weighs less then the Datsun inline 6.

A couple of guys around here have swapped in the VQ V6 out of the Nissan 350Z and 370Z cars, and they fit quite nicely. Good power and light weight, and keeps is all Nissan!

[Matt Bacon]

7 hours ago, Daddyfink said:

A couple of guys around here have swapped in the VQ V6 out of the Nissan 350Z and 370Z cars, and they fit quite nicely. Good power and light weight, and keeps is all Nissan!

Wonder if anyone's tried putting in a VR38DETT from an R35 GTR for the full restomod 432.R experience... it's only about twice as many horses as the 370Z V6 and not THAT much bigger..... ?

best,

M.

[Spottedlaurel]

9 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

Wonder if anyone's tried putting in a VR38DETT from an R35 GTR for the full restomod 432.R experience... it's only about twice as many horses as the 370Z V6 and not THAT much bigger..... ?

best,

M.

Something we can try in 1/24 at least! I don't want to distract myself from the RB26 conversion I'm currently doing on a Tamiya ZG build, but I think I do have one of those engines somewhere.....

[Daddyfink]

16 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

Wonder if anyone's tried putting in a VR38DETT from an R35 GTR for the full restomod 432.R experience... it's only about twice as many horses as the 370Z V6 and not THAT much bigger..... ?

best,

M.

I heard of someone currently trying it out with an engine out of a theft recovery GT-R, should be interesting to see how it fits. 

[John B.]

I see myself building this one with a LS transplant.

[khier]

On 5/15/2024 at 8:28 PM, Justin Porter said:

As far as Tamiya is concerned, they DID do a kit of the regular 240 Fairlady ZG. Now they are producing a kit that indirectly ties in with one of the most popular fictional racing franchises (a franchise that spans movies, TV shows, comics, and both arcade and home video games) in their home market. I have no doubt that their market research has shown that globally - and especially at home - this will sell FAR more units than a base model short nose Fairlady Z and particularly more than a USDM Datsun 240Z. 

They could simply separate the front spoiler and have all market segment satisfied. Ver y simple actually....

[Bennyg]

On 5/16/2024 at 9:11 AM, Zoom Zoom said:

Hasegawa did a couple of short runs of their curbside LHD USDM short nose Z car, I built one last year. It's curbside only. I took the beautiful stock wheels from the Tamiya ZG and was going to use them on my Hasegawa 240Z but I didn't like the look of the stock wheels with stock tires; they're beautiful and accurate after I did all the paint/detail including the chrome transfers but my eyes wanted to see less sidewall. I ended up using a set of 5 lug (incorrect, but...) slotted mags from Pegasus and modified them to use the Hasegawa tires as they looked like the wheels that were on many Z cars here in the 70's, aside from being 5 lug vs. 4 LOL. It's built to look like my high school guidance counselor's 240Z, though I used black stripes where her car may not have had stripes or maybe had white stripes. 45 years or so between seeing the car and building the model...

I have ZoomOn's conversion kit for the Tamiya ZG and I'm pretty psyched about this new Tamiya kit. Maybe I build the ZG as a long-nose street custom using the ZoomOn conversion.

Tamiya doing the street custom serves a much wider market than focusing on a stock USDM Z car. I do wonder if there will be any more variants down the road, but being Tamiya I kind of doubt it. 

I reckon there is potential for the rally version too. 
 

Ben

[oldcarfan]

This is beautiful!

[Daddyfink]

Got a first hand look at the Z, and it is gorgeous! I asked about the front Valance, and the rep said there is more in the works. 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

2 hours ago, Daddyfink said:

Got a first hand look at the Z, and it is gorgeous! I asked about the front Valance, and the rep said there is more in the works.

Good news!

[Mr mopar]

What is the due date for release for this kit ?

[Chuck Kourouklis]

On 6/1/2024 at 9:19 PM, Daddyfink said:

Got a first hand look at the Z, and it is gorgeous! I asked about the front Valance, and the rep said there is more in the works.

On 6/1/2024 at 11:22 PM, Spottedlaurel said:

Good news!

Yup, awesome!  Involved as this tooling is, seems it'd be very wise to wring out another variant or two.  Meantime, the news only makes this one more appetizing.

?️

[Daddyfink]

2 hours ago, Mr mopar said:

What is the due date for release for this kit ?

Tower Hobbies shows it available, yet everyone else says coming soon.

https://www.towerhobbies.com/product/124-nissan-fairlady-240z-street-custom/TAM24367.html

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Daddyfink said:

Tower Hobbies shows it available, yet everyone else says coming soon.

https://www.towerhobbies.com/product/124-nissan-fairlady-240z-street-custom/TAM24367.html

When I visit that link it shows it as"'Pre Order'. That's not the same as in stock. The price seems reasonable compared to Japanese online vendors considering  the shipping cost from Japan.

[Rob Hall]

I have one on Pre Order at Hobby Link Japan..they have it listed as an August release, but as with anything, that may vary...

[Daddyfink]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

When I visit that link it shows it as"'Pre Order'. That's not the same as in stock. The price seems reasonable compared to Japanese online vendors considering  the shipping cost from Japan.

Huh, where does it say Pre Order? 

[Rob Hall]

2 minutes ago, Daddyfink said:

Huh, where does it say Pre Order? 

In the box on the right, gray oval.  Above the Tamiya logo and description.

[peteski]

3 minutes ago, Daddyfink said:

Huh, where does it say Pre Order? 

[Daddyfink]

3 hours ago, peteski said:

Go it! 

[Mr mopar]

Now out on the shelf !

[Justin Porter]

Expecting these in this coming week at my shop. Amazed that Tamiya put the MSRP at $49 on this release given that the 240ZG was in on an MSRP of $71. This will give a LOT more people a chance to enjoy the great design of the Z kit.