Tamiya 1/24 Nismo Skyline GT-R Z-tune

[hrtpaul]

Apologies if I’ve asked this before (old timers disease) but have you ever built an open wheeler model? Be great to see your skills applied to one of those.

Thanks man. Nah mate I haven't built an open wheeler. This is only the second car I've built with the other being that shitbox Lambo. Maybe one day but I have a lot of Skylines and Amreican musclecars to build first. I think the sponsorship decals and colour schemes scare me the most about the open wheelers. But I do like pretty colours so never say never

[hrtpaul]

Update #3746 or something like that

Yesterday I got the dash finished with the PE pedals and instrument decals fitted. I forgot to take a pic but I'm happy with how it looks. Today we finally got the Midnight Purple 3 on the car and all I can say is holy shit. I know why I love this colour. The Splash paint sprayed absolutely beautifully straight out of the bottle. The colour is just sensational and the pics don't do it justice. And I haven't even got the clear coat on yet The paint isn't shiny out of the bottle but it's not supposed to be. This is a paint that needs a clear coat over the top, the same as real car metallic paint. I had a battle trying to find some sun to take the pics and it'll be even harder to photograph once the clear is on. But as it stands right now, I love the colour just in case you didn't know.

I'm getting serious about keeping the dust off the car



Anyways here it is















This shows how the colour changes under slightly different light.

More of a red purple



More of a blue purple



And how's that flip I didn't think I'd get it before the clear went on.





Yesterday my little man picked that I'd painted the back seats a little wrong. So if he found it I'd better fix it.



All fixed



Hopefully my BNA order is delivered tomorrow as I wanna detail paint the exhaust with a few different colours of Alclad. I've got to do some testing with some different semi gloss clears before I spray all the seats and door trims. Still haven't primed the wheels yet either so maybe tomorrow. I'd also like to continue the gearbox/diff cooler plumbing as well. We'll see how we go. Stay safe peeps

[Ansett A330]

Stunning job.

Well done.

[hrtpaul]

Thanks mate. The clear coat will be sprayed as soon as the new airbrush turns up. I'm hoping that'll be tomorrow

[hrtpaul]

More done on the Skyline over the last couple of days. Anyhow today was a reasonably productive day. I finally got the wheels in primer I'm still waiting for my new airbrushes to arrive so the body won't be clear coated till they arrive. I got the intercooler and screen fitted too. It' looks better IRL but it'll do.





Also got the gearbox/diff cooler lines finished today as well. I managed to paint the red and blue AN fittings in the lines as well and they look ok from a distance. I'm really happy with the results of the whole cooler setup.











I weathered the exhaust today as well with a combination of transparent Alclad colours. Once again it looks better IRL but ya get that.



Here's the exhaust just sitting on the car to test fit it. I'm waiting till I get the body fitted to the chassis to fit the exhuast tip as that way I can centralise the tip in the cutout of the bodykit.





Tomorrow I want to give the wheels a gloss black base coat in preparation for a few coats of Alclad black chrome. I also plan on giving a few spoons a coat of a random SMS colour for my clear coat test before spraying the interior. I might even get to mask ans paint the windscreen and windows. Anyways that's it for now so stay safe peeps

[hrtpaul]

Small update tonight. The wheels were painted with Alclad gloss black and they looked great. I was seriously thinking of leaving them black but that will be for my next Z-tune. After trying a decal on a spoon painted with Alclad black chrome, the decal carrier film was too obvious so black chrome wheels ain't gonna happen. So I had to find another colour. With this dilemma, any self respecting Dad would ask a colour expert so I asked my little man Brock. I'd previously sprayed 10 spoons different colour Alclads.



Brock picked the same colour that I liked so I sprayed a wheel in Alclad Jet Exhaust. We're both very happy with the colour. I like that the wheels change colour slightly, much like the MP3.







Once again they look better IRL. I also picked Gunze semi gloss to clear coat the interior.

Now today I had a delivery I'd been hanging to get. My birthday pressies turned up and I'm stoked.



This is the same airbrush that I already have. I wanted another one for spraying exclusively clear coats so they won't be contaminated by any other colours. My current airbrush has now been assigned to metallic colours only.



I've been wanting one of these for ages. It's basically the same as the previous airbrush only made from aluminium instead. The cool thing is that all the spare needles, nozzles, orings etc from the other airbrushes fit this one as well. This airbrush is gonna be my everything else airbrush. I'm looking forward to giving it a crack.





Tomorrows optomistic plan includes painting the rest of the wheels, clear coating the interior and maybe do the carpet. But the first thing I'll be doing is gloss coating the body. I can't wait to see what the colour looks like once it's been clear coated. Stay safe peeps

[hrtpaul]

Big update time. About a week ago I plucked up the courage to spray the SMS Super Clear on the body. If you thought I loved the colour before, with the gloss it looks f*&kin AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out the colour flip















The interior copped a semi gloss clear coat followed by the red Alcantara being flat coated.



So yesterday I got a bit more done. Finally put the exhaust on and the last chassis brace which finishes the chassis build. The exhaust tip



It was then time to try something new. I used black embossing powder for the carpet. I first tried painting Tamiya X22 first but the gloss still came through after putting the embossing powder on. I then tried using Tamiya flat black enamel to stick the powder down. It seemed to work a bit better. The parcel shelf needed a few touch ups but came out the best.




Following the carpet I fitted the seats, door trims and dash to the tub to almost finish the interior. The only thing left is to paint the belt holes in the seat backs.






After leaving the wheels to dry for a few days I fitted the tyres and painted the wheelnuts chrome. I couldn't help myself and fitted the wheels to the chassis. I'm stoked how it sits and all the wheels are actually touching the desk




Last task for tonight was painting the windows. I used the kit supplied paint masks and they worked extremely well.



I want to leave the body clear coat to harden for another week before giving it a sand to get rid of some slight orange peel. Then I'll see if I'll gice it a few more coats of clear or just polish it. The Z-tune is getting close to being done so the difficult decision of choosing the next car. I need to get onto the B-25 and also start my copper chopper for Expo next year. Stay safe peeps

[Ansett A330]

Fantastic work.

This is more like an episode of Wheeler Dealers where the car gets rebuilt from the ground up. Hopefully we might get to see it “in the flesh” at next year’s Expo that is if it goes ahead and there’s not heaven forbid a third or fourth or fifth wave.

Next car? Can’t wait to see!

[hrtpaul]

Fantastic work.

This is more like an episode of Wheeler Dealers where the car gets rebuilt from the ground up. Hopefully we might get to see it “in the flesh” at next year’s Expo that is if it goes ahead and there’s not heaven forbid a third or fourth or fifth wave.

Next car? Can’t wait to see!

It'll be at Expo but don't expect too much. The next car? Not sure yet but maybe a Tamiya Supra that my Dad had a long time ago.

[hrtpaul]

So following the house move and setting up the model room, work is progressing finally. The clear has been hardening for only 9 months I sanded the clear using my Micromesh pads all the way down to 12000 grit. There's still a few defects in the paint but there's not much I can do about them. Here's what it's like so far.

This is the boot before sanding. The whole car had this kinda surface.


This is the roof about half way through


Here we have what the whole thing looks like after 12000 grit


I put the first of the metal logo badges on. The NISMO badge is very hard to photograph. I've been asking a few questions on FB as to when to actually put them on. I think I'll put the rest on once I've polished the body.


More to follow after this weekend