Fujimi Toyota S800

[NOBLNG]

I picked this one up at the flea market for $15. It is a super tiny little vehicle…here it is next to a Mazda MX-5. They are both 1/24 scale.😳

It was barely started thankfully so I was able to disassemble it fairly easily.

I wasn’t intending to do a build thread so I don’t have a lot of progress pics…not that there’s much to see….so fast forward, the 2cylinder flat, aircooled engine is done and the chassis is completed.

The bumperettes have some wicked sink marks, so I stripped the chrome and puttied them up.

Thanks for lookin’. All comments welcome.

 

 

Edited March 29 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

There is a spare tire included, and the trunk lid was only partially attached, so I cut it open and am currently obsessed with trying to make some operating hood hinges for it. I don’t like the one-piece exposed hinges that can only be attached to the hood and trunk lid.

I’ve tried a number of different methods, but they are so tiny that it’s pretty difficult.😬 I think I have it beat now, but I have to wait for more 0.016” drill bits to arrive, cause I’ve snapped all of mine. I first tried using some ear ring parts from Michaels, then a couple of brass versions. This is where I lost of most of my bits.😕 Now I am working with some 0.04”x0.062” aluminum bar. They will be a little larger than scale. But at least they will work. The little chrome thing between my brass ones is the kit piece.😳

 

They are delicate little things even on the 1:1.

Edited April 3 by NOBLNG

[lordairgtar]

My eyes would go bats working on those hinges. Add in my 70 year old arthritic fingers...well, you know what I mean. I have the kit but I want to build it.

[Steve H]

Holy schnickey those are small! Nice work Greg. That is some seriously small finicky bits…

[NOBLNG]

I had to add some 0.020” Evergreen to the trunk lid to close the gap. And I had to fix the lip above the tail light that I broke while carving a ledge for the trunk lid to sit on.

I scribed the door lines deeper.

And I ground out the molded in door handles and replaced them with some 0.020” craft wire, and drilled a divot for a door lock.

 

 

Edited April 1 by NOBLNG

[DJMar]

I am not a huge fan of Fujimi/Nitto kits of this vintage, but the S800 is such a cool little car.

I'm impressed with those trunk hinges. I would've given up and glued the boot closed.

[NOBLNG]

31 minutes ago, DJMar said:

I am not a huge fan of Fujimi/Nitto kits of this vintage, but the S800 is such a cool little car.

I'm impressed with those trunk hinges. I would've given up and glued the boot closed.

I still may do that.😳 Depending on how well my hinges work out. I am still waiting for a shipment of microscopic drill bits to arrive later today.

[Badge73]

Nice work, this coming together nice. Scribed lines are clean and the handles are fire.

[Bainford]

Cool little car. I'm digging the hinge work. I like the door handles, too.

It's a cute little thing.

[slusher]

Real nice little car,Greg it’s nice to see something different…

[NOBLNG]

I didn’t like the kit hinges which I think are undersized for the recesses in the body and can only be glued to either the hood or the body. So I finally got some hinges made after trying a number of different approaches. The earring parts were just plain big and ugly! The brass ones could have worked, but it is harder to work with and drill than the aluminum that I eventually used. Plus, the brass would need to be painted or chromed whereas the aluminum can just be polished. Rather than post the entire process here, I put it in the Tips, Tricks and Tutorials section. Link here for anyone interested.

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/199916-making-some-freaking-tiny-hinges/

I still need to clean up the excess glue. They are still removable with the hood and trunk for painting. Hopefully I can mask them or clean the paint off afterwards to have the polished aluminum look.

They are a little out of scale, but I think they look better than what Fujimi gave us and I don’t have the ability or patience to make them completely accurate.🤯 Thanks for lookin’.😎

Edited April 12 by NOBLNG

[LennyB]

Nice one Greg, it looks like fun making those hinges.  😜

[Bullybeef]

Neat little project there Greg, the detail you’re adding is awesome. 

[SpikeSchumacher]

Impressive work as usual, Greg! 

Mathias

[DJMar]

Those look really good. You've got way more patience and skill then I do!

[Steve H]

My eyes are crossed…. Great work on those hinges Greg! My eyes and hands would not cooperate to do that. They may be a touch out of scale compared to the 1:1, but they look fantastic and don’t look too big by my eye. Excellent stuff.

[slusher]

I have to agree great work on thos hinges!

[TheBEAUMONTGURU]

Amazing, were you a watchmaker in another life?

[NOBLNG]

Thank you all guys!🙂 I got a couple of blemishes on the body and around my hinge mounts fixed up well enough so got some primer on it the other day. Then yesterday I gave it a few coats of Vallejo red. I am heading out to the garage later this morning to shoot some clear on it.

 

Edited April 9 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

Amazing how a clear coat brightens up that red!🙂 Behind the clear outer headlight covers Fujimi just gave us some flat chrome headlights. I had some spare clear headlight lenses so I glued them in over top of the chrome ones. I think they look a lot more realistic now. I gave  the badge decals a few coats of microscale liquid decal film since the guage ones disintegrated on me and managed to get them on with minimal damage.

[DJMar]

Looking great!

[NOBLNG]

I got the foiling done and the body and chassis mated. I used some photo etch seat belts instead of the kit pieces. The wire door handles turned out better than I hoped.🙂

 

Edited April 12 by NOBLNG

[Belugawrx]

That looks great Greg! You've been a busy boy...is that a fully wired engine I see...?  Lol

[Steve H]

I agree with. Rice above 👆, you’ve been busy!! Looking really good, and that clear did make a BIG difference. The wire door handles and hinges are very well done sir.

[Belugawrx]

1 hour ago, Steve H said:

I agree with.Rice above 👆

???