Tamiya Lexus LFA and Revell BMW 507 in 1/24

[mattbacon]

Two very different cars, but inspired by the Japanese sports car duo. Both the 240ZG and the 2000GT were designed by the same guy, Count Albrecht Goertz. The 507 was also a Goertz design (probably his best -- it's undeniably one of the best looking cars ever built. So good-looking in fact that apparently BMW pulled an advertising campaign for the Z8 which paired it with the 507, because the older car made then new one look like a bit of a dog). And the LFA is, like the 2000GT, a collaboration between Toyota and Yamaha, which builds the engine...

The 507 is an older Revell kit, dating back to the 90s, but looks nicely detailed in the box. The LFA is Tamiya's uber-kit, probably the best they've done (at least until the LaFerrari appeared)

First job on the LFA is paint -- colour matched Zero Paints Pearl Blue (don't let the web site fool you, Steve DOES have it made up). It's a three layer colour.


Silverish base coat


Translucent, slightly pearlised top coat


2-pack clear coat.

The 507 is going to be built as John Surtees car, which is fitted with a factory hard top. Since the Revell kit comes with a removable ragtop, that seems like the best place to start...



That's all for a while, since I'll be away from the bench this week.

bestest,
M.

[da_ashman]

That Blue looks awesome!! Cant wait to see more!

[derekb350z]

Awesome paint job! I'm looking to purchase a BMW 507 kit myself as my next build.

[Tompidom]

Oooh man am i drooling over the blue paint on that LFA.........................

Could you please tell me how you ordered the bleu paint from steve?

[Khier]

I think you are mixing the Z and the Fairlady prototype

This is not to deny Graf von Goertz (I do not know if Count is the proper translation) remarkable talent, but he is not the man behind the Z. Many argue about the influence and inspiration of the Toyota GT (originally a a project of Nissan by GvG), but fact is the Z design team was formed two years after GvG departure.

http://www.datsunhistory.com/Roadsterstory.html

Now to your WIP. The paint of the LFA is simply perfect. I never liked this car but those incredible WIP make me fall in love with the kit.

Try to search for older releases of the 507. Revell of Germany released a hardtop back in the days to the bottom and lid box design. The kit came with a separate hardtop which made two tone paint really easy.

[mattbacon]

Thanks, guys. Life and work have rather got in the way of modelling over the last couple of weeks, but I'm back on the go again now. The hardtop has had rather a lot of iterations to get to this state:




I now need to think about glazing and how to reproduce various bits of chrome trim (there's a very visible "gutter" over the door and side windows...)

I also want to have proper grilles at the front, with a "see-through" effect, rather than just painting the solid parts black. This took some figuring out how to do...




I sanded from the back until the moulded grille would just pop out. A quick trial suggests that it will work, more or less... (there aren't enough grille elements on the moulded parts -- they should have seven horizontal bars). I'm trying to decide whether to lose the chrome and spray the whole thing chrome silver when assembled instead...

bestest,
M.

[drunken monkey]

looking good.
I'm in the process of deciding what to do about the silly moulding and heavy chrome on those parts too.

[mattbacon]

The paint is on the body now, and the interior started with "carpet" applied using Plastikote Velvet. For once, I'm keeping it he colour it comes out of the can, more or less..



Test fit of the top shows that it will fit nicely -- but also that it's too "beetle-browed", bulged up at the front. So it's out with the sanding sticks again. The body is going into the airing cupboard in a plastic box for a couple of weeks now.



It feels a bit one step forward and two back, but the real thing is quite elegant, and my version... wasn't.



I'm happy with these now. The sharp eyed will spot in this photo that the "verticals" are in front of the horizontals on one side and behind on the other. I didn't figure on the "handedness" meaning that I'd have to use the front and back of the sprue grille I'd made -- I though I'd just turn them at 180 degrees to each other. However, they're teeny-tiny in real life, and I don't think that it'll be too obvious when the thing is together. I've achieved what I wanted, though -- you can see through them!



And just to prove that the LFA is also under way... It's so crisply moulded and the fit is perfect: you could slot the engine together without glue if you wanted to!

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

These are the LFA wheels. They're supposed to be "Smoked Chrome", so I sprayed them with Humbrol Metalcote Steel (which has a superb shiny metal finish when buffed) and then hit them with a thin layer of Tamiya Smoke. I thought that any brighter chrome finish would have to be smothered in smoke to be dark enough, whereas the steel is pretty grey out of the can.


The "gutter" on the 507 hardtop is made from solder. It's the most tractable material, I reckon. But to get the "square" section, I rolled it on a tile to flatten it somewhat.


And this is what it looks like in place. There'll be a bit of sanding to get a smooth surface, then primer over everything. Ultimately, I'll BMF it when the hardtop is silver again!

The 507 engine is progressing off screen...

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

The BMW engine is now wired (for ignition at least). I drilled out the core of the distributor and cut a Postbox-like slot across it at the back (the wires really do emerge in a line from the side, not the top). That gave me something to stuff the ends of the wires into.


The Lexus engine is bigger, but not as much as you might think... The transmission is under construction as well.


The 507's seats have distinctive "rollovers" at the top -- or at least they do in all the pictures i can find. Some sprue gives a starting point...

bestest,
M.

[guillote68]

Great work, this 507 is awsome
Keep posting progress
Thanks for share .
Guillermo

[mattbacon]

Thanks, Guillermo...




That's the BMW engine finished...




The LFA power train is fantastically detailed, but in relatively few parts. The carbon torque tube is painted with Tamiya semi-gloss black. gently buffed with graphite powder.


Close-up compare and contrast...

bestest,
M.

[generationx]

Your detail work is looking excellent.

[mattbacon]

Thanks! It's been a very busy couple of weeks with relatively little bench time, and what I have had has mainly been devoted to progressing lots of individual pieces that need painting, but aren't very photogenic! Anyway, there's finally some progress to report...




Once again, mocked up for test fit, and I think it's heading in the right direction. It'll be critical to set the windscreen just right at the correct angle, and get the hardtop to settle down properly, but at least I'm now convinced it will all fit together!




The engine is now sitting in the floorpan, and as shown above, it does all fit nicely into the body with a satisfying click...




The engineering on the LFA is just incredible. There aren't that many parts (and they often need painting four different colours because one moulding has several different components depicted). But they are literally a press fit in many places, with just a touch of thin superglue to hold them in place permanently. Awesome!

Should get some more done tomorrow -- the interiors are being painted, bit by bit...

bestest,
M.

[Some_Kid]

Stunning work. What silver did you use for the BMW?