Kaminari Celica progress

So far i have been working on lowering the front suspension, i decided to do things a little differently. Rather than chop up the shocks, i've extended the mounts for them, upwards. I marked, then sliced off the tops with a razor saw. Then added spacers made from squares of .030 plastic sheet which were then trimmed and sanded flush. I used 3 of these spacers on each side to raise the suspension a level i was happy with. There wasn't much room to go any higher anyway coz its just about touching the underside of the hood. I had to discard the original tops coz of this and used thin plastic sheet instead. I also added two small spacers to the lower arms, these were made from styrene tube.

It works out to be less hassle doing it this way. The spacers mean you ensure an equal level each side and theres no messing around with chopping up the shocks etc.

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The next problem was with the track, the wheels are restricted to how far they go in by the springs on the suspension.

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The simple remedy was to fit thinner tyres, which were from a Hasegawa Lancia Delta kit, and the rims were trimmed to the same width. I used a compass to score a line to provide a guide for the razor saw.
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The rims still didn't tuck in as far as i'd like, so i also filed down the the face of the hubs which come into contact with the rims. Its a blurry pic, but u should see the difference between the original on the left and modified on right.

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This is the result:)

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Geez Chris, there is just no end to your skill is there, another wonderful effort on your part!!

Can't wait to see more :)

Ray

u dam sure better keep us posted on this project:eek::eek:

This thread and your tutorial on converting rims gives me ideas on my SAS 180SX for the future. :D

Excellent job, very innovative!!

Wow, your really creative. I would have never thought of something like that. Keep on rollin' in the good ideas!

Looks very good. :)

looking good so far!

good thinking on the front suspension. You make it all look soo easy

speechless......

thanks Chris!!! :ylsuper :ylsuper :ylsuper

Originally posted by daggerlee
This thread and your tutorial on converting rims gives me ideas on my SAS 180SX for the future. :D

Excellent job, very innovative!! Darn! I thought I was the only one with that one!:p

Damn chris that looks sweet... I wish i had thought of the same idea for my tamiya celica even though i dont have your body kit.. thats a great idea for the lowering!

good good good!!
that is the good idea to low down the car. i love it! and i learn it! thank you!
but if the wheels are not big enough. i think the suspend will touch the rim.

lol ure a bastard for small details :D

That's impressive stuff Chris!

Great stuff Chris:flash: :flash:

So technical!!! keep it up, it is looking very sweet. You are so creative with the way you "engineer" your models.

What a simple, yet effective way to drop your celica, I'm going to give it a shot with my civic.

Excellent work, Chris.

Well noted for the suspension lowering.

That's an interesting method you have of narrowing the wheels. When I have trim down wheels, the method I employ is to measure the width of the tyre, then transfer that width to a strip of masking tape. Trim accoringly and stick that to the wheel, using the outside edge as a border. Then cut along the other edge of the masking tape.

Look forward to seeing this one finished.

W:eek:W
You can probably teach us all the details we want on here:)
Can't wait~

good stuff........having fun making ur own kit! ehhh lol

After a few days of contemplation, the method i've opted for to lower the rear is based upon a very simple way used by many modelers. I guess its really a cheats way of lowering car models coz it doesn't involve altering the suspension arms or shocks in any way, so its hardly realistic. I'm not a fan of chopping up 'A' arms or shocks anyway coz it just weakens the parts for you to break them as soon as the wheel is pushed on. Anyway, this appraoch involves repositioning the brake disc/polycap housing further up the hub, but this is not so straightforward on the Celica coz of the parts involved, here's how it was done.

What i'm doing is extending the part and started of by fitting some styrene to the back for strength. A hole was cut for the connecting strut.
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I then sandwiched some more styrene together, to the same thickness of the part and then cut out the shape to fit.
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The locator for the brake disc is removed with a razor saw, taking care to remove it flush with the surface. There is no pic for it here but once removed, i glued the locator to some .010 styrene to compensate for the plastic that is sawn away. It was then trimmed accordingly.
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By playing around with the whole assemblely and doing lots of dry fitting and double checking, i decided on the correct height and maked a new positon for the locator. At this stage i also filled in the original hole with 2mm rod (A) and I also altered the track. This was done in a similar way to the front by filing down the face of the hubs (not shown), I also needed to grind away the back of the wheel arches to allow the tyres to fit and it was noted that the new ride height and track width caused the bottom of the rims to catch, so the conflicting area was filed down (B)
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The rims really are a tight fit at the rear, there is not a great deal of room to play around in. The height i wanted meant the wheels are as low as they can go and literally touch the top of the wheel wells.
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This is the result...

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great job!!!

God that's a tight fit!

Are those rims from the Fujimi Altezza?

What colour are you going for on this one??

Originally posted by exhaust smoke
God that's a tight fit!

Are those rims from the Fujimi Altezza?

What colour are you going for on this one??

Yes it was a very tight fit, and that's with the alternative thinner tyres on 17"s too, i don't how the guys adding 18"s will manage???

The rims are from an Altezza, not sure wether to try and open up the spokes or not though???

Colour is to be Toyota Super White, got a can from Halfords for this. The inspiration behind the build are these two cars. Mainly based upon the white car, but with the Altezza style lenses on the silver car.

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Chris,
Everything is looking good so far, I like the ride height you have there.

Rather complicated way of adjusting the ride height, but it looks good at that is what matters :)

Ray

Here's how the structure now looks after its been trimmed and tidyed up.

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looking great so far

SO AWESOME!!!

GREAT WORK!!! I just have to hand it to you, great work and great effort resulted in a great job. Man that is just Some awesome thinking.

I'm clapping. http://students.washington.edu/leprakon/dtm-af/smilies/bowdown.gif

How long did that take you to think of how to lower it.

You must have been like http://www.fastcarforum.com/forum/images/smilies/bang.gif

wow that looks so clean :eek:

ure still looki9ng good

Originally posted by bah humbug
SO AWESOME!!!

GREAT WORK!!! I just have to hand it to you, great work and great effort resulted in a great job. Man that is just Some awesome thinking.

I'm clapping. http://students.washington.edu/leprakon/dtm-af/smilies/bowdown.gif

How long did that take you to think of how to lower it.

You must have been like http://www.fastcarforum.com/forum/images/smilies/bang.gif

I had to mull over this one for a few days, then it was more like :thinkerg: :jumpie:

You really are a credit to the modeling world. thanks for sharing!! wish i had the time to model more than i have been lately. its always refreshing to watch your updates tho... cant wait to see more

Great stuff Chris....ive yet to see how mine turns out as i'm still working on other parts of the kit.
But you have given some really good ideas here to think about
:cool: :cool:

Cant wait to see it all finished

why the hack do you post update pics:bloated: now i can't resist..i need...to...order...but..no money at the moment...ahh....:bloated:

Hi Chris,
nice job and lower frame....it's a pleasure to see your great work....
We learn always a lot of things with you...
Thanks....:D :D :D :D
Laurent

damn




<------ is lost for words

Excellent work so far Chris, and most of all impressive progress thread.
Will continue to follow this one with great interest.

Just something to make my Celica look a little different from all the others being built at the moment:D These are are based on the carbon fiber wing mirrors found on the APR widebody Celica (http://www.aprperformance.com/whatsnew_2003_gt300.htm). They are completely scratchbuilt, the base or rather the part that attaches to the car are from the original mirrors, they were sawn off and sanded flush.

I will be making some similar ones to go my ITR in the near future, so if your interested in seeing how they were done i will put together a tutorial;)

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damm u n ur creative skills!!
is there no end 2 ur genisus??:confused:

good job as always chris!
can't wait 2 see it finished

1

Great work on the mirrors

this is crazy, like 2 weeks ago i was trying to make these type of mirrors, but came out real craappy, i wasnt reallly suure on how to make them, and now, hriss makes them perfect, u need to make a how to chris!!!

simply amazing! cant wait to see them on the celica

Now your starting to "Show-off" :finger: :finger:

:D ..j/k

Looking good so far.
I say get another "HOW TO" thread up :cool:

Originally posted by flyonthewall
I will be making some similar ones to go my ITR in the near future, so if your interested in seeing how they were done i will put together a tutorial;)

OK then!

very very good! i love this mirror.:D

I painted the interior last week after finally deciding on the colours you see here. I also sprayed the body but did a seriously lousy job of it, so progress shall be stalled for a short time while the Celica sits in a bath of dot4:rolleyes: :D It's just as well really, coz when i was painting all the parts ready for assembly, i realised that i completely forgot to convert the exhaust and add some gauges to the dash. I think i'm gonna have to start writing things down, glue and putty fumes are starting to effect my short term memory... Why am i writing this again? where am i?:bloated: :confused:

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That interior is sweet, Chris!!:cool:

Great colors Chris! :)

Nice choice of colour, what are you doing the outside? have I missed the answer to this question in a previous post if so forgive me for asking. Also why is your cutting mat so clean? mines full of all sorts of cr*p:)

Nice colour for the interior.

Originally posted by RONALD SOLE
Nice choice of colour, what are you doing the outside? have I missed the answer to this question in a previous post if so forgive me for asking. Also why is your cutting mat so clean? mines full of all sorts of cr*p:)

You haven't seen my other one yet! That mat is only a couple of months old, the other is in a bad state.

The Celica is was being sprayed Toyota Super White from Halfords, gotta be done all over again now!

Nice...I really need to buy some flat tamiya colors...maybe someday i will give up an order of models and spend my money on some supplies

Also like your colour choice for the interior.
Light tonality and they combine real nice.

its coming along good!

Looks good!
:bandit:

Should match up good with the outside colour

Finally I've been able to breath some life back into this project. It was stalled after a an appaling paint job, it was promptly dunked in a bath of dot4 and was resprayed a couple of months back. I'm now getting around to adding finishing touches and final assembly. Hoping to have it finished by the weekend.

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Toyota coolness!! :sunglasse

Dust free!!! Great stuff, Chris! Does the "Alc. 5.2% Vol." stuff help you at all? :biggrin: :lol:

what did we tell you about drinkin on the job!! :banghead:

thats right, make sure you bring enough for all your co-workers, or in this case co-modelers. :cheers:

somehow I doubt the fumes are the only thing effecting your short-term memory :smokin: brotha.

its obviously not effecting your modeling skills, you've been quite busy lately and everything looks great including this celica!! I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say "lookin forward to a finished product on this one"

now if I could only get some NISMO stripes and that silvia kit out of ya I'd be ready for an order. lest I even mention the SR20DET :crying: