Aoshima Pajero conversion

Am planning to do this 1/24 Aoshima Mitsubishi Pajero conversion from the flare fender type to the blister fender type, and as a mini-me for our 1:1. Thanks to jzx100 for getting me to start this thread :)

I know this thread will take a long time, since I've started on this project years ago and it's been an on-and-off thing for me, though I hope this picks up once things are done with my postgrad stuff.

First off, here's some pics of the 1:1
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2796/james4hy6ym.jpg
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/1912/p7220103od8.jpg

and here's the base 1:24 kit
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/3724/x5it.jpg

First step is to shave off the sides of the lower body. Fortunately, the backside of the lower body is thick.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6461/2v3o.jpg

And since the kit's rims were 15" and of a different design, i filled in the holes with 2-part epoxy, sanded it flush, then drilled holes, carved it up and enlarged the rims (used some plastic sheets to do so) to resemble the 1:1's 16" rims. I'll just think of a way to add the 6 bolts later. Once all that's done, I'll be recasting this for a total of 5 copies (4 + 1 spare)
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2157/lpws.jpg
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1719/dtqq.jpg
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/1721/ynp0.jpg
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7711/94cm.jpg
http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/6594/jl7s.jpg

Of course, since the rims won't fit inside the tires now, i had to carve out some rubber off the tires.
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1482/72vt.jpg
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/2336/ivym.jpg

I'll post the other pics later or tomorrow...my 'net seems to be wonky at the moment... :uhoh:

Good conversion work!

thanks generationx!

On to more pics...

So I also needed to cut the 3rd-row glass since the 1:1 had the 2-pc sliding glass (which, based on experience, gets your stuff stolen easily, ugh). Started off by marking the glass edges so i'd know where to cut it off from the rest of the glass canopy, then trimmed them off using the back of a sharp hobby knife.
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7004/x3sk.jpg
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/411/iq8t.jpg
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6097/fmml.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5537/cipj.jpg

Annoyingly though, when I was separating the sunroof's plastic as i'll be sealing it off as the 1:1 did not have a sunroof, I cracked the front windshield area and had to get a replacement from aoshima.
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/821/iukx.jpg

Built the chassis and interior close to as-is, with the exception of "wood" trim on the door handle surround and dash panels, two-tone leather trim, and the removal of the 4wd gear lever since the 1:1 was only 4x2 (FR). Fortunately for me, way back I swapped out the stock 3rd-row side-facing bench seats with a friend's 3rd-row front-facing seats and now the kit's 3rd-row seats were accurate...LOL!
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/2963/igue.jpg
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/7456/a7gh.jpg

And on to the body...

I originally made the conversion using epoxyclay putty but wasn't happy with how the paintjob turned out, so a soak in 99% alcohol took care of the paintjob...and made the epoxyclay turn soft like jelly. Unfortunately, those pics were on my dead hard drive so the pics you'll be seeing here are from my 2nd attempt, this time using tamiya putty. In some of the pics you'll see the front doors masked off so that it won't get affected when I do the putty work. The hoodscoop though was still made using epoxyclay putty as it isn't as fragile as tamiya putty when carving it up.
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7820/xq2o.jpg
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/9145/fzqn.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6475/7k3h.jpg

In retrospect, I shouldn't have shaved off the door handles - I should've cut them off for future use. Now i had to carve out a portion of the bodywork so that I can put in recast door handles from a tamiya pajero and also for the left-side fuel filler door. Also had to carve out the holes on the front fenders for the turn signals, and fortunately, the recast from a fujimi lancer evo VI fit the bill nicely (fun fact...the blister fender pajero and the CP lancer share the same turn signal actually). If you'll also notice in one pic, one of the pillars seem odd...because it is. i accidentally broke off one of the pillars during handling so i had to make do with a trimmed-off toothpick.
http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/3162/ay14.jpg
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/545/h28p.jpg
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5112/4qv7.jpg
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7923/ewwl.jpg

And here's the donors, with oyumaru stuck onto them to copy the needed parts lol.
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/9766/jioo.jpg

Had to redo the raised roof strips as well after the alcohol soak, and removing the old ones also made it easier to finally level the sunroof gap. Roof strips were made of thin plastic card.
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8638/3di3.jpg

And here it is after the 1st coat of urethane primer...and it's on the 1:1's hood. Thought I'd shoot primer on it as I was painting the 1:1's bumpers due to tons of scratches, mostly arguments with our gate.
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/365/erd9.jpg
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5523/zv7g.jpg

Wetsanding with 1500grit showed some imperfections in the surface and they had to be puttied-up.
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/4713/4awr.jpg
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2513/tkrh.jpg

And here it is after another primer application.
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/3182/oqp6.jpg

And here it is with a silver urethane basecoat. Ran into trouble after the 1st silver mistcoat as the AB started spitting out paint - turns out, i didn't clean it that well after the last session. Everything went OK after that.
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/8297/71u8.jpg
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/2019/0z3x.jpg

The details on the door handles though disappeared, so i'm thinking i'll just scribe the outlines of the handles on the doors, carve the handles off and recast new ones and attach them only after all the painting.

Also started working on the interior details, like the grab handles on both the front (C-shaped) and middle row (D-shaped) where 2 of these will be glued into one piece, and modify the 3-spoke steering wheel into an airbag-equipped 4-spoke steering wheel.
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8840/nmo4.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8745/34l4.jpg
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9502/dhgo.jpg

The 1:24's grille also had 3 horizontal bars while the 1:1's only had 2, so I cut them off and glued back 2 of those bars and used a plastic sheet card as backing.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8041/cpdp.jpg

Maannn you got some GREAT skillz. When you told me about your idea I didn't picture it to be this perfect. I just love the attention to each and every detail you put into it and the level of accuracy. Starting from the changes you made to the third row glass, the roof, the shifter to everything are so precise. The quality of your body work is outstanding and that hood scoop is just crazy man. Your pajero will probably make my one look like crap :shakehead. Nice job bro, real nice.

You should work for Lexus :) coz you know their tagline right? Before it was 'Pursuit of perfection' and now its 'Engineering the impossible'. You got both of the qualities in you.

:thumbsup:

Thanks bro. Didn't wanna settle for "this'll do" since this is the mini-me to the 1:1 lol :)

Thanks bro. Didn't wanna settle for "this'll do" since this is the mini-me to the 1:1 lol :)

The Pajero in the first two pics is your ride? The color is quite rare and unique.

I didn't settle for "this'll do" with my Supra project either but with my Pajero project "anything will do" :rofl: to make it look right lol. I wanna see if I can actually make a quality model which can stand up against tamiya/aoshima pajeros using a toy which was never meant to be a model in the first place.

Waiting for new updates.

yup it is. 1st pic is from a mitsubishi club meet, 2nd pic is while waiting to enter a resort, along with friends from a nissan x-trail club. this kind of green is a color for the later 4x2 models. the 4x4 ones had a darker shade of metallic green.

i've only sanded down the body today, some portions had reacted with the paint and had a wrinkly effect, and i'm checking if i can sand them down or if i'll need putty. and i won't forget to take pics :lol:

well these are what showed up after sanding...
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/3117/6tnx.jpg
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5965/5jff.jpg
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8397/18j6.jpg
http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/9228/4yu5.jpg

hopefully, i'll be able to spray some silver again tomorrow, then let it dry for a few days then shoot the metallic green.

Mind-blowing build!! Great job!!

I agree ^, mind blowing stuff you got goin on man.

:smile:

yup it is. 1st pic is from a mitsubishi club meet, 2nd pic is while waiting to enter a resort, along with friends from a nissan x-trail club. this kind of green is a color for the later 4x2 models. the 4x4 ones had a darker shade of metallic green.

i've only sanded down the body today, some portions had reacted with the paint and had a wrinkly effect, and i'm checking if i can sand them down or if i'll need putty. and i won't forget to take pics :lol:

oh ok.. that's why the color seemed rare to me. The pajeros I have driven were all V6 4x4, can't recall driving a 4x2 model. Is it like the 2.7 liter 4 cylinder Land Cruiser Prado power and acceleration wise? As for the Prado I found the power pretty decent for city runs and light off roading too.

Anyway, waiting to see some new updates.

oh ok.. that's why the color seemed rare to me. The pajeros I have driven were all V6 4x4, can't recall driving a 4x2 model. Is it like the 2.7 liter 4 cylinder Land Cruiser Prado power and acceleration wise? As for the Prado I found the power pretty decent for city runs and light off roading too.

Anyway, waiting to see some new updates.

some of the early flare-fender pajeros they sold in the philippines did have the 3.0 V6 gas engine, but an overwhelming majority were 2.5 I-4 diesels. the later model blister-type ones though had the 2.8 I-4 diesels, and eventually had the 4x2 models (had we bought a pajero a year earlier, we could still have gotten one of the last remaining 4x4 models). i've driven a landcruiser prado (J120) which had the 3.0L diesel, and it pulls harder than the pajero's 2.8. then again, the prado's price here is twice that of the pajero's, so comparisons are apples to oranges :)

anyway, back on topic... i'll try to post pics later. the tamiya spraywork compressor decided to spray in spurts and spit grease while i was painting a 1/32 die-cast porsche 918 and when i had it checked at my local tamiya dealer, turns out one of the bellows on its pump was torn, and that the gearbox was kaput. fortunately it was a quick fix, and i've just started spraying again. laid the final primer coat, then i'll spray the few silver mistcoats later this afternoon.

So here it is after the final coat of primer:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/834/zf2o.jpg

After the coats of silver:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/89/62zs.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/5/iiz9.jpg

Bottom half masked so I could spray the metallic green on top:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/199/zwbo.jpg

And after a few mist coats of the metallic green:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/593/xif6.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/706/7q8s.jpg

I'll let this cure for a bit and then i'll spray the final green coat tomorrow. I'll try to work on the grille's emblem later, along with chopping up the windows.

So here it is after shooting the final green coat and taking the tape off:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/547/yeoq.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/545/dv8y.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/856/vblg.jpg

I'll just let this be before I spray clearcoat. I still have to chop off the door handles on this and recast new ones - am planning to reattach them later on as I'll paint them chrome silver first.

Looking fantastic so far!! KUTGW!!

Is that a Sazabi in the background? Beautiful color!

Thanks hondasan!

Yes, that is a sazabi. It's a GMG formania conversion kit that uses a MG Zaku II ver 2.0 skeleton. It's already has its last 2k urethane clearcoat on, just don't have the time to polish the paintjob...heheh.

is that the latest porsche from welly? It is diecast, no? I am really interested in doing that kit. Could you please post some detailed pics of the skeleton and the interior?

is that the latest porsche from welly? It is diecast, no? I am really interested in doing that kit. Could you please post some detailed pics of the skeleton and the interior?

i'm not sure if it's from welly, though it is 1/32, diecast and already assembled (its gimmick are lights, startup/rev sounds and alarm sounds) and it's one of the models you can get as part of a local gas station's promo. i'll be doing a WIP of it soon in the diecast section, i'll let you know asap once it's up. :)

Am planning to do this 1/24 Aoshima Mitsubishi Pajero conversion from the flare fender type to the blister fender type, and as a mini-me for our 1:1. Thanks to jzx100 for getting me to start this thread :)

I know this thread will take a long time, since I've started on this project years ago and it's been an on-and-off thing for me, though I hope this picks up once things are done with my postgrad stuff.

No problem man and I gotta say this is one of the best conversion work I've seen. Outstanding job with the body and the paint work is coming along nicely as well. People from Aoshima won't ever believe this came out from their factory lol. :)

Hondasan, here's the sazabi (still have to polish the paintjob, i'm thinking i'll do this the same time that i do the pajero) and the pajero's just had a few coats of clear:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/833/4rhc.jpg

So after another few more coats of clear:

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/593/k1c0.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/826/7h8s.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/845/owy2.jpg

I'll start on trimming (narrowing) the underside of the hoodscoop as it is terribly off-scale, and figure out a way as well to do the "2800 intercooled" decals on the rear quarters, then figuring out as well to do the revised stepboards. Only then will i shoot more clear and start polishing...

...but back to my thesis first. LOL. :runaround:

Wow... Both look amazing!! Can't wait to see them polished up! That Sazabi is absolutely gorgeous!! Good luck with your thesis!

Not too much progress since i'm working on the thesis, pinch-hitting as delivery driver for our store, and other stuff from reality just keeps coming up (lol).

Just sprayed a few more layers of clear earlier, at the same time as the 918 diecast.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/202/1z6n.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/801/y3y6.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/89/bbmi.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/809/k60n.jpg

Looking good with every update.

Great job with those mud flaps, looks amazing.

Post more pics bro :)

Thanks. I'll post some more once the paint finishes curing. My problem now is that the large amount of epoxy I applied on the inside of the body prevents it from flexing to insert the glass canopy, so I'll also have to trim off excess epoxy. Some were even too thick to prevent the completed chassis from mating with the body for a test-fit. hahaha.

nice work on that fieldmaster bro!, can't wait to see it done.:) btw sir what store did you order the replacement window from aoshima? i also need a replacement body of my aoshima hilux.

thanks ton! i contacted aoshima on facebook, they then sent a quotation which i paid through paypal. here's their page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002037270566&fref=ts

i just sprayed black on the rest of the trim, while the chrome on the roof, front windshield, taillights and headlamps will be applied after i polish the body. i'll also be trimming the hoodscoop soon, and casting new door handles. 1st 2 pics was when the black was just painted and the last 2 pics were after the final clearcoat was sprayed on.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/801/egn8.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/835/9wo1.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/854/ns1c.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/827/w3ek.jpg

The paint job looks real nice bro. With every update its looking more and more like your Pajero.

You should put your 1:1's license plate number on this one. :smokin:

for a late update since my thesis and our family business were (oh wait, they still are) placing demands on my free time.

So after spraying the last clearcoat, an hour later I saw this on the roof (see 1st pic) and i thought it would go away after wetsanding to level the paint but it was still there (2nd pic). My friends thought it might have been the too-thick 2k urethane clear attacking the bottom layers to the point that the sunroof's seams started showing up.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/36/m6l4.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/843/vmd9.jpg

Anyway, I decided to start wetsanding everything in preparation for the polishing. Here's the sanded side (right side of the body) versus the unsanded side (left side of the body)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/691/p1j3.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/841/vug6.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/829/0zcu.jpg

I decided to mask off the roof part and just respray the color layer and later a few thin clear coats. Also masked off some parts on the right side as there were some deep scratches (see lower sill) and to fix up the puttied part on the right rear fender. I also cut off the rear doors' door handles.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/837/0duk.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/600/y745.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/703/arkm.jpg

As of this time, I still have to shoot the silver, and clearcoat everything that i repainted, but i have trimmed the hoodscoop to look better.

Good call. You've put so much work into it I think it would hurt your persistence to get it done if you stripped the body and re puttied.

What if you made a roof rack for it? That could hide it nicely.

I love Montero's so I'm following this close. I wish a company would make a 2001 Montero kit or even a Land Rover Discovery. Those are my favorite 4x4's.

If i redid the body...i'd probably put this back in the box and go back to gundams...and take another attempt at this a few years later. Lol. Anyway, the 1:1 doesn't have a roof rack so a roof repaint is the only way to go.

And i do wish aoshima did other pajero models, not just variants of the 2nd gen LWB ones. If they made a pajero evo (both the swb street version and the dakar ones) and the 3rd gen and 4th gen pajeros i'd be the happiest man alive :)

c'mon bro.. quit stalling and get it done. Amazing job so far.. why stop now? :nono:

Its not just any other 1:24, this model represents your 1:1. :smokin:

So get off the couch and get the job done.

Waiting for updates

only update so far is i've resprayed the roof and will wetsand it later on. oh, also trimmed the underside of the hood scoop to make it look in-scale. crunch time with my thesis (submitted it to my critic and if that passes, on to final defense) just made work on all my kits stop. once that's done i'll get back to working on all these :)

best of luck with the thesis and hope everything goes well. :thumbsup:

:smile:

Finally finished my postgrad study and managed to find time to resume working on this kit. Additional motivation came in the form of a local hobby shop's meet-and-greet this coming saturday with the export manager of Aoshima. The hobby shop requested that we bring Aoshima kits and show them how we build it.

Started with a mockup of the 2-bar grille (the kit's grille had 3-bars):
http://i61.tinypic.com/2gtzsig.jpg

Also duplicated the door handles from a Tamiya Pajero. In retrospect, i shouldn't have shaved off the door handles on this kit and just cut them off to reattach later. oh well.
http://i57.tinypic.com/2db2c74.jpg

Body and chassis
http://i62.tinypic.com/rwo30z.jpg

Test-fit. Because of the excess epoxyclay that I put as reinforcement on the inside of the body, it was a STRUGGLE to get the chassis inside the body.
http://i57.tinypic.com/sazii9.jpg

The rims. The original one's the silver, while the pink ones are the recasts (I used 2-part epoxy mixed with some talcum powder).
http://i57.tinypic.com/2zzkh0i.jpg

The rims, painted chrome silver but given a polyurethane clearcoat to dull the chrome silver to silver.
http://i61.tinypic.com/11me3kg.jpg

The taillamps painted. I eventually applied aluminum tape to the borders to get a chrome look.
http://i62.tinypic.com/157f6hl.jpg

I am proving to be such a klutz with clear parts. I broke the original windshield in half so I had to order a replacement clear parts runner from Aoshima. When the time came to remove it from the runner, i managed to crack the windshield again, despite using a sharp cutter. ugh.
http://i57.tinypic.com/28wpdtz.jpg

So I made a mold from oyumaru to create a master for vacuforming (managed to have a friend buy 2 big sheets of 0.4mm tamiya clear plaplate for this purpose).
http://i57.tinypic.com/2sb0nqw.jpg

And onto the worst case of RTFM. I bought a spraycan of clear polyurethane and sprayed one mist coat on the hood and skirt parts since I had to refinish them. After 7 hours, I spray the next coat, and the paint simply wrinkled like crazy. In panic, I read the entire label (I only read half of it earlier) and to my horror, it was explicitly stated that to avoid wrinkling, i should either spray the next coat within 2 hours, or wait until the paint fully cures after 5 days. *facepalm*
http://i61.tinypic.com/2mm9xmt.jpg

Here's the rest of the clear parts awaiting surgery. The kit had a one-piece 3rd row glass while the 1:1 car had a 2-piece sliding 3rd row glass.
http://i62.tinypic.com/2vc705e.jpg

Here's the latter part of the 3rd-row glass, sanded down with 1200 and 2000 grit to remove the "frosted" areas it was originally molded with.
http://i57.tinypic.com/jjtp3s.jpg

Here's the main glass body, given the same sanding to remove "frosted" areas.
http://i57.tinypic.com/2yke6tx.jpg

And here's the glass areas after wetsanding with 3k grit and rubbing with a 3-grit (coarse, medium, fine) nail sanding sponge. Polishing to follow. The 1st pic shows the left glass part as polished with the sponge while the right one only had a 3k grit wetsanding.
http://i61.tinypic.com/mw4par.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/29xyuyf.jpg

Masked off one rim with electrical tape as I was about to grind off the center cap for the spare tire.
http://i60.tinypic.com/263hi79.jpg

Here's the body:
http://i61.tinypic.com/23iz7ya.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/alpug7.jpg

I still have to upload the other pics, but as of writing, I've already finished drilling out the rim's center cap, chromed the taillamp edges, added an aluminum tape to the roof and window trim to simulate chrome, attached the side skirts (it's actually visible in some of the pics) and detailed it, and made some decals for the various trim and stickers on the body and glass areas, and put the same tint on the glass areas as the 1:1 has.

I still have to make a replacement windshield - tried to shape one using just a heatgun and it just doesn't work. I really need to vacuform one and use a heatgun to shape it. i've tried using boiling water to reshape the 0.4mm clear plaplate and it doesn't work, probably because it's too thick.

Finally here's the rest of the pics. Managed to actually finish this last year, in time for a meet-and-greet with Aoshima's export manager, Nao-san (hosted by JMN Hobby, a local hobby shop who became Aoshima's official distributor in the Philippines).

Managed to misplace the original grille that I modified, so I had to scratchbuild one. Also in the pic is a recast upper part of the rear chrome bumper from the Tamiya kit. Aoshima's kit only had a flat surface when it shouldn't be.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/673/gOKRPs.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/538/bWUUBe.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/661/olwwvG.jpg

Scratchbuilt interior trim for the 3rd-row windows.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/673/XJDMlI.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/908/Hn2jKJ.jpg

Taped off parts of the front fascia so I could use 2-part clear epoxy to fill in parts of the corner lamps.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/912/ns8XQa.jpg

Unfortunately, I managed to reformat my phone's memory card and lost the other WIP pictures :( The completed build thread is now in the completed builds section. :)