This week's victim

[samdiego]

I still need to address some paint issues and install the stuff that has to wait for that process. I'm giddy over the 5 ball shift knob, I love it when lightbulb moments work out.

Edited June 10, 2011 by samdiego

[LAone]

looks good so far. the shift knob does look good in there.

i want to get me one of these. one day i will. looking forward to some more.

[robertw]

Far out. I've never seen another Honda S800 kit built and I just finished one a week ago. I wasn't able to find one of the Tamiya kits so built mine using the old Nitto kit. It was supposed to build the S800M but I back dated it to the earlier car. It wasn't a bad kit but I'm certain was not up to the standards of your Tamiya kit. I look forward to seeing your's finished.

[Erik Smith]

Very cool. One of my favorite cars. I like the roll bars and color.

Edited June 10, 2011 by Coyotehybrids

[jbwelda]

that really looks excellent, great clean but detailed look to the engine and compartment and realistic

looking from the outside.

i dont want to intrude on your thread but for robertw who thought no one else had built the kit,

heres another one! i built this from the race car version along with the two other micro cars

shown:

again, great build there samdiego, i always love to see these almost forgotten hondas. you know

they were chain drive, right? like a motorcycle! at least the 600cc versions were i forget if the

800s were.

did you lower it or is it sitting out of box height? i seem to remember i dropped mine a couple

scale inches. and i sculpted up a driver figure to fit in there, that was fun!

[Erik Smith]

you know

they were chain drive, right? like a motorcycle! at least the 600cc versions were i forget if the

800s were

500s, 600s and early 800s were chain drive. Later 800s were solid axle. The stock tamiya kit is a chain drive 800 and the racing version is a later solid axle.

[samdiego]

Yup, this one has a drive shaft and a solid rear.

JBWelda, I always hope to attract photos of other builds. I'm going to start including "show me yours" in my headers.

I'd like this one more if it did sit a little lower, I may do that in the future. The late 90s were not a high point for Tamiya's quality, although they were still pretty good. Some of the engraving is a little soft. The decals were stiff, only reacting a little to Super Set. The clear film was way too big for the gauge bezels. I love the adhesive backed photo-etch.

[Guest Markus355]

Where/how did you do the shift knob?!

[samdiego]

Shiftknobs are details that I've always liked to have fun with. The key to this one was finding the tiny 5 decal on Revell's Thumper Firebird sheet. Looks like it may have been an inspection sticker. An alternative is the fine print at the bottom of some decal sheets, if it has been printed on a carrier film. My printer hasn't printed in years so that was out. The shifter is a pin that already had a large, plastic head. I dipped it in Testor's Orange enamel, maybe three times, rotating it as it dried for a day or so between dips. The white is a dot of paint. It was better before I dropped it twice with fresh clear coats, but you can't really tell without a magnifier.

Two recent knobs

Edited June 12, 2011 by samdiego

[robertw]

Thanks William for the small car diorama it was sharp. Over the last year years I've developed an appreciation for the little or odd cars that few modellers build. I've done up most of the Gunze series Sprite, TR3, Elan, Isetta & KR-200, and several other small cars. Right now I'm converting a Revell Smart car kit into a Smart cabriolet even though some of the models features won't be 100% correct for the real Smart soft top.

Thanks again.

rob

[Chillyb1]

Sam, what did you do for the windshield surround/frame? I'm working on this kit right now and am unsure what I intend to do. I'll probably end up shooting Alclad. Yours looks good in the photos.

[samdiego]

BareMetal Foil. Kind of a difficult app. It's really easy to flex the windshield too much and produce flex cracks.

Edited June 16, 2011 by samdiego

[samdiego]

A little progress. Most of this stuff is white glued while I wait for the testor's to cure.

Edited June 16, 2011 by samdiego

[Dr. Cranky]

Wonderful subject matter, and I love the color and the details in this one.

[Sixx]

Cool build!! AWESOME work on the shifter too!! Sixx

[Chuck Most]

I've wanted one of these kits for a while... so I can stuff a big, honkin' V8 in it!

[Jackson]

That's the way a car should be - light, simple, and fast!