Justin Porter Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 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. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenmojr Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 (edited) 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 by Kenmojr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 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! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Bacon Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 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..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B. Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 I see myself building this one with a LS transplant. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khier Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 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.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bennyg Posted May 23 Author Share Posted May 23 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 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldcarfan Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 This is beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 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. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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