JayMesawitz

Sorry, Don. I have no experience with this kit. It sounds like you already have the body painted. If it were not you could try test fitting using a temporary glue like elmers or Formula 560 Canopy Glue. It depends alot on the kit. I have done what you describe on my last build (Skyline GTR) A critical aspect is how the interior mates up to the window glass/openings when secured to the chassis vrs the body. Best of luck & remember to share some pics.

Progress this weekend. With the hinges looking better than expected. I need to dress up the underside of the doors. I filled two deep sink marks. I added a strip of styrene to the outer door edge to give the hinge a wider area to secure to. Each side has a trap door for fuel. It's underside detail (hinge & latch) is replicated in PE with additional styrene. On to the engine. I secured the headers and started working on the trans axle suspension area. I replaced all the longer connecting rods in the kit with styrene rod. It is a very subtle difference but I preferred them over trying to remove mold lines from the kit parts. I was also able to locate those four (two each side) very difficult to install engine support rods that pass through the headers. I rebuilt the coil over shocks with wire springs (solder). They appear to not reach the lower control arm but the upper control arms are not yet secured in their proper position in this pic. Thanks for looking, comments welcome.

Cool way to keep in the action. I've not tried one of these before. 100% paint technique 0% construction... interesting. I can see the attraction.

That is cool. Well thought out. I could see it turned into an aftermarket 'wing fold like' insert piece/set.

I have answered my own question. The parts are NOT best left on the tree. They turn out fantastic with just a little forethought and technique. The parts have been annealed by holding over a lighter flame until they glow red. When done, the once bright nickel finish is burnt metal in appearance and very easy to bend. And LESS likely to break from repeated bending. Here is my setup. One piece of tape sticky side up (horizontal piece) and two to hold it down. The first PE piece is positioned on the tape to keep it from wandering during the process. The brass rod is over sized and held down with the yellow tape. Notice the intended daylight between the tabs for the second half to fit for the next step. I used an eyeglass flathead screw driver to roll each leg and force it back into the rod nice & square. I am not concerned about the small amount of the tabs that sort of hang out after the fact I don't dare try to trim them and cut through the whole thing. I had to lift the first half up a bit to slide the second into position but it fit without any trouble. I was surprised by how easy this fit. I though for sure it was going to be a trouble spot. After rolling the legs of the second half over in the same manner, I folded it closed and pressed the halves together tightly with a smooth jaw pair of pilers to set the shape of the thing. This is what makes the hinge/rod raise off the same plane as the bracket part of the hinge and give it the proper dimensional look. The final assembly all trimmed & ready for install is quite nice. It even operates as a hinge should. Thanks for looking, comments welcome.

Just a quick update. I received the PE set this week and am rather excited by one unexpected aspect. They have attempted to reproduce the piano hinges for the side body sections(doors). I hope this is not one of those parts best left on the tree and perhaps it is a bit gimicky but I'm going to build them up to see how they turn out. Wish me luck/skill. PS: I will be annealing(heat treating) the parts before attempting to make such tight bends. I will also be using brass rod to replace the too thin & flexible wire supplied with the set.

I agree that annealing something so small may be an issue. I'm not a 1/700 ship builder but what I have seen is that most of their PE frets are brass and brass bends / rolls / forms pretty easily without heat. (...What Ron said) The other thing that annealing does is it litterally makes the part smaller. Some material burns away, perhaph not molten glob but definite shrinkage. Good luck, Let us know how it turns out. Pics !:)

Well I have the padding done on the front section of the body. I really like the way this effect has turned out. While I was in the neighborhood I filled a couple underside seams that are visible in this pic. Those two nasty sink marks are gone too. Since the body will be loose I imagine it will be picked up and looked under more than usual so I better put some effort here. The front body panel does not pose the same challenge as the rear in that it can be put on and removed easily without the plumbing beneath interfering with fit. It is a rather loose fit though without any positive contact points. There is nothing to really hold the panel in place, It just rests there. Well I would rather it sit in place properly and not show the warp if I can help it. Here I have used some brass rod to produce a latch for the part of the body that meets the chassis. I will do something simple & similar to the front edge where it meets the intake area next. Thanks for looking, Comments welcome.

Thanks for the comments Ralph. I intend to go body off and I'm already going down the braided wire substitution path. And the PE set is on its way. I was being cheeky with the OOTB comment/question. Thanks again!

So I have been told that there is a PE set for this kit. Booger! Now I have to wait for it to get here...Or do I ? ? ? I was looking at the underside of the body panels and noticed sink marks in a patterned area. Well there will be no filling them without loosing the pattern. The pattern represents some sort of quited insulation. I have an idea to recreate this that might be a bit nicer than the kit original. Here is what I started with: I cut up some pieces of the box the kit came in and with a burnishing tool, scribed some rounded lines in the card stock. The first one looked pretty good. I used a thick gooey craft glue to attach it to the under side. With all of them formed, in place and primed, I think the result was worth the effort. Next on to the underside of the front body panel for a repeat of this effect. This poses a curious question. Does using the kit box to produce additional features knock it out of the OOTB category?

Dude! I bought this kit off you???

I have gotten past some of the initial construction frustrations. The major body panels are assembled and have the first coat of primer. The chassis plate is assembled and has been primered, painted gloss black enamel & given the alclad chrome treatment. It looks a bit gaudish all by itself but I think that once some alternate shaded components get added it will look the business. A little engine work has also been started. This kit has a kind of cool aspect in that much of the plumbing is supplied via two parts trees formed in black & metallic grey vinyl. I may try to improve some of these parts with braided wire and better fittings. Some look just fine as they are though. My last bit of progress is the assembly of header pipes. Painted flat white, brush distresses with brown & black chalks and flat coated over the top. Thanks for looking. Comments welcome

This is my next project. I built this kit about 5 years ago. It did not turn out as nice as I would have hoped. The paint was semi-gloss at best. The metal finish areas were flat. General fit and construction... just not that good. Because of all this, I tossed the thing in the trash not long ago. I believe that my skills have improved over the course of time and since I got a great deal on a secont kit, I thought I would try it again. Right away I recall what a crap kit this was. I wish I had a proper memory. Thin soft warped plastic every where. Nothing fits together the way it should. Here is the rear section. The right side is glued in place. The left side is nowhere near close to where it should be. Holding it in position takes more effort than you would expect. I need a third hand just to apply the super glue. "Oh Honey! Could you come in hear please?" The chassis plate and side wall fit is no better. Here the center side walls are glued up. Notice how far out both the front & rear are from meeting their intended positions. Good thing I love the build process more than the final product. Low confidance on day one does not bode well for final result.

great WIP. One of those 'no one will know what effort went into it unless you document it' kind of things. I'm tuned in and sure to pick up a couple of building tips along the way.

This project is complete. I am very happy with the engine bay area. It came out better than my initial vision. All four wheel sit firmly on the ground so that is a plus. The body finish is a little weak. The clear coat is just not as smooth as I would want. And sadly that is a killer on contest day. I may polish the clear coat a little more to see if it will buff out but my hopes are low. Here are two shots and a slide show of the build start to finish. Skyline Gtr build slideshow Thanks for all the kind comments and thanks again for looking.

Chris, so here is my auto body paint stand. It is two wires threaded through four holes. This prevents the out-turned prongs from spinning when under a load.

Chris, my rig is not as great as i would like. but I'll snap a couple pics anyway. I have my eye on the Tamiya paint stand (spring loaded). It looks superior to my so-so design and only runs about $18. Not as cheap as a scrap or 1 by 4 and a coat hanger but not bad either.

I made some significant progress on this project over the weekend. I completed final installation of the engine, mounted the tires, finished up the interior, painted the body and applied about half the decals. The rest of the decals, clear coat & final assembly is all that is left. It should be complete for Thursday nights' IPMS meeting. Thanks for looking

On another forum a member asked how I was going to mount the hood. My reply... I guess I was going to leave the hood loose until you posed the question and got me thinking. So here is my solution. The hinge on these things are little more than pivot points back at the windshield. I decided to ignore them as they are really pretty small and basic but I did install a hoop prop. The prop swings up & down for open/closed position the hood simply sits in place. The kink in the wire is to navigate around the radiator when in the closed position. Pretty effecting overall look I think.

MikeH, Thanks for sharing. The orange body turned out great as did the alclad chrome wheels. I kind of see a gold tone on the wheel centers did you paint that or is it a light/shadow effect? The tire markings stencil or decal? One good thing about no engine is that there are not any engine cover fit issues when it's all closed up. I like what you have done! I have the tamiya kit (Rothman livery) in my started pile. It's actually one of those "i started this but got over my head" gift kits. I hope mine turns out as well and i can get past (redo/ignore) the things I would have done differently. Jay

It seems I've let this one sit for a while. My best excuse, I took a long weekend to go to Montreal to see my favorite music group put on a three day event. MARILLION. They played a three hour set each night and only covered about a 1/3rd of their life's work. Talk about value, the event tickets were only $160, travel expenses add up though. For those who remember this group from the early 80's and their big hit in the US "Kayleigh" they have been making fantastic music ever since. 15 Albums now. Artistic, Unique, Mature. But I digress. I have completed the under carriage, Front & Rear suspension. And only just begun the interior. I ground off the molded in seat belts and installed one made from Tamiya tape strips & generic PE hardware. I added texture to the seat and steering wheel grip with micro-balloons filler. You brush paint the surface, dredge it in the MB filler (white powder) while it is still wet then airbrush the final finish. The roll cage is assembled and with the interior is all primered up and I have begun some plumbing & wiring. There are more pics in my Fotki album. Thanks for looking.

Thank for the insipring work. Very impressive. Your web site shows you've gone off the deep end into lighted projects. I've not tried to work with lighting before. I build cars but there doesn't seem like enough room to do what you do!? Maybe I don't have the knutz! Forever a fan.

just a quick little update showing the front suspension. I'm trying to represent a bit of rust on the edge of the brake rotors. I'll need to darken & dirty them a bit to get the final effect.

still plugging along slowly. here is the brake resivoir and ABS module. I have a wiring harnes in the works and started the front suspension. Not much to it. mayby a pic later. next stop will be the interior.

welcome to the group. Great looking kit you have there. Really fantastic!