1/24 Fujimi 1986 Alpina B7 Turbo Coupe

[e30lover]

 

Hi all,

 

My latest build is one of Fujimi Enthusiasts series - E24 Alpina B7 Turbo Coupe. This had been released twice (86 and 97) and this is likely the second release given the decal is still alive.

Mold detail is almost as good as new releases from Hasegawa. So much detail! 

 

I started scribing the panel lines, wet sanded the body with 1500 grit then adjusted panel gaps for hood and trunk. 

 

I then laid grey surfacer, wet sanded again with 1500 to get rid of any flashes, laid silver then painted the base coat.

To simulate one of my favourite BMW colours Malachitgrün (Malachite green), I mixed Mr Color’s GX metallic green, black, silver and gold. 

One of pitfalls of this kit is stock Alpina rims that feel a bit too small. The kit simulates E28-based 6 series but the wheel  looked like smaller ones made for older E12-based 6 series. So I ended up ordering custom staggered 17” alpina with correct tires from USCP. 

 

I was scared of dried decal but most of them were good to use straight out. I laid Super Clear III and wet sanded the thickness and repeated that three times.

Here's the shot after 3 layers of clear, before any wet-sanding and polishing.


 

While the body was getting fully cured, I started the other stuff. M30B35 and Getrag 265 are faithfully shown - so many parts and so much details!

 

I masked the airbox to paint the rubber/sponge seal in red, and used silver sharpie for valve cover letterings.

And this is how engine looks after assembling - quite nice even without any detail-up parts!

I painted all the suspension bits, wheels and tires..

 

And cleaned up all the interior bits.

I wanted to do green on green so I chose to simulate BMW pine green for the interior by mixing flat black, IJN green and IJN gray. I used lighter shade of mix for carpeted area. After assembling the dashboard I made cluster cover using clear acetate. 

This is probably as good as injection-molded kits can go. Now I'm going to polish the body and move onto the final assembly!

[Rich Chernosky]

This is a great kit. Your WIP makes me want to finish mine. Your engine and chassis are real sharp. This will be a great finished model.

[mrm]

One of the greatest Bimbers ever made. And a great kit to boot. You are definitely doing it justice. 

[nickfzr61]

I’ve been waiting for you to do another build with great anticipation. Looks fantastic so far. Thanks for sharing. 

[1972coronet]

I positively love the colour choices ! Gorgeous build-up ! Now I've gotta track down one of these bad boys...

Should I get one, I'll paint it like the one I'd see around years ago : white-on-white with dark red accents.

Keep up the great work !

[SpikeSchumacher]

Excellent work on this!

[Musclecarbuilder]

Fantastic job!

[e30lover]

17 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

This is a great kit. Your WIP makes me want to finish mine. Your engine and chassis are real sharp. This will be a great finished model.

Thank you! Finishing EM kits always feels super rewarding.

16 hours ago, mrm said:

One of the greatest Bimbers ever made. And a great kit to boot. You are definitely doing it justice. 

Thank you! I love the E24!

14 hours ago, nickfzr61 said:

I’ve been waiting for you to do another build with great anticipation. Looks fantastic so far. Thanks for sharing. 

Thank you so much! It's always the assembly that makes these kits super tricky - I'll try not to make any mistakes!

12 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

I positively love the colour choices ! Gorgeous build-up ! Now I've gotta track down one of these bad boys...

Should I get one, I'll paint it like the one I'd see around years ago : white-on-white with dark red accents.

Keep up the great work !

Alpina B7 definitely commands premium but 635csi had been recently re-released so they should be easier to find!

1 hour ago, SpikeSchumacher said:

Excellent work on this!

Thank you!

1 hour ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Fantastic job!

Appreciate it! 

[iamsuperdan]

Looking amazing!

 

[espo]

Beautiful looking paint and detailing of the engine and interior. 

[TransAmMike]

Out standing work Chang as always.  Gonna be a beauty!!

[beeRS]

Stunning work so far. This EM kit is truly fantastic, and you’re really doing it justice. I built this kit back in the 80s when it was a new release, and my skills weren’t great. It still made a nice model which is still on my shelf now. Watching your WIP, makes me want to build another now. 

[polybius]

Beautiful work on a rarely seen build of an intimidating kit!  Very nice indeed.  Inspiring!

[Sonorandog]

Beautiful subject and great color choices for it.  You are doing an amazing job on it.

[David G.]

It's a beautiful looking kit and you're doing a fabulous job with it.

David G.

[Funkychiken]

Wow! Looks amazing so far!

[CA Whitecloud]

Immaculate work! I've never seen this amount of detail and parts in a plastic car kit, battleship maybe. Very cool.

[e30lover]

On 9/12/2024 at 11:02 AM, iamsuperdan said:

Looking amazing!

 

Thank you!

On 9/12/2024 at 1:05 PM, espo said:

Beautiful looking paint and detailing of the engine and interior. 

Appreciate the compliment!

On 9/12/2024 at 4:10 PM, TransAmMike said:

Out standing work Chang as always.  Gonna be a beauty!!

Thanks a lot!

On 9/13/2024 at 3:05 AM, beeRS said:

Stunning work so far. This EM kit is truly fantastic, and you’re really doing it justice. I built this kit back in the 80s when it was a new release, and my skills weren’t great. It still made a nice model which is still on my shelf now. Watching your WIP, makes me want to build another now. 

Thank you! I think this is one of the better EM kits vs. some incorrect 911 and Stratos kits

On 9/14/2024 at 2:04 PM, polybius said:

Beautiful work on a rarely seen build of an intimidating kit!  Very nice indeed.  Inspiring!

Thank you! 

On 9/14/2024 at 11:57 PM, Sonorandog said:

Beautiful subject and great color choices for it.  You are doing an amazing job on it.

Hopefully I can assemble all these without any accident!

On 9/15/2024 at 8:07 AM, David G. said:

It's a beautiful looking kit and you're doing a fabulous job with it.

David G.

Thank you!

14 hours ago, Funkychiken said:

Wow! Looks amazing so far!

Thanks a lot!

13 hours ago, CA Whitecloud said:

Immaculate work! I've never seen this amount of detail and parts in a plastic car kit, battleship maybe. Very cool.

Not quite immaculate but I try! 

[e30lover]

After curing the paint for few months (I always cure minimum 1 month), I wet sanded with 3000 > 6000 > 8000 grit and polished with Tamiya three stage compounds and Hasegawa ceramic compound.

Masking the windows were a bit tedious since it has rubber seals between the chrome trims - so I ended up masking three times to paint the each part.

I still need to fix a bunch of imperfections around masked area (touching up + removing any over painted bits with polishing compounds) but it turned out pretty decent.

[TransAmMike]

Whoa, unbelievable finish, oh my?

[Mattilacken]

Thats some shine mate! Great work! I have the M version of this kit and this makes me want to get going on it again!

[beeRS]

Getting those window trims right must have been a lot of work, but it’s really paid off. This is looking fantastic. 

[tkzwolf]

The body really shines.  Nice work on the chrome and rubber seals around the windows.  Looks great.

[e30lover]

On 9/16/2024 at 4:24 PM, TransAmMike said:

Whoa, unbelievable finish, oh my?

Thank you!

On 9/17/2024 at 3:46 AM, Mattilacken said:

Thats some shine mate! Great work! I have the M version of this kit and this makes me want to get going on it again!

Yeah go for it! Make sure you spend time aligning the wheels ?

On 9/17/2024 at 4:34 AM, beeRS said:

Getting those window trims right must have been a lot of work, but it’s really paid off. This is looking fantastic. 

Tamiya curve masking tape is great (and it's got some awesome sealing) but it tends to want to go back to its original shape after applying. So I had to do them all at once..

On 9/20/2024 at 12:25 AM, tkzwolf said:

The body really shines.  Nice work on the chrome and rubber seals around the windows.  Looks great.

Thank you! 

[e30lover]

Hi all, here's the final build update:



Mold qualities are generally great but I had to sand pretty much every single part (the grill part has separate badge part and this driver side wiper has also two parts) before assembling and painting them.



As usual I de-chromed all chrome parts, painted them with gloss black then laid Alclad chrome. 


Actual BMW taillamps have different depth so I applied BMF to the lower section. 


I then wet sanded the windshield with 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 6000, 8000 and followed the same polishing process, then painted the inside with mixture of clear blue, clear green, (lots of) clear to simulate the factory tint. I also added valve stem to the Alpina wheels.



Assembling EM kits are always nerve-wracking because they don't have much support for glue to work its magic. I think I ended up securing front bumper and valence overnight with super glue to make sure they don't sag. To get the right stance, I cut the both front and rear shock and adjusted the camber with white putty until I got the stance I wanted. 

I'll soon post the finished photos - thank you for reading!

Edited October 1, 2024 by e30lover