Tamiya Land Cruiser VX 80 Limited (Progress)

Hi! This is my first progress thread in AF, and I'm going to show you my Tamiya 1990 Land Cruiser VX 80 Limited.

As for history, this model of the Land Cruiser was the first in a beautiful series of the Toyota Land Cruiser that ran from 1990 - 1998. Until the Prado variant came out in 1999 (correct me if I'm worng), this LC body shape was used by Toyota and Lexus as its premiere SUV model.

The kit was bought way back in 1995. :eek: Two years later I decided to start on this model, but I knew little of car modelling back then and straight out spray painted the body without sanding, priming, nor even cleaning the kit! Talk about a bad case of orange peel! I then made the stupid mistake of misplacing the kit decals :biggrin2: (which were misplaced in school stuff) and never found it until 3 years later (whereon I thought about continuing the kit. Later on I lost a rear spring coil of the kit, which is a very important part of its suspension, thus my other thread in this forum regarding that matter.

Now, another 2 years later, I found out about AF.com, and I must admit I got encouraged to continue my kit because of this forum, especially hearing how people praised Tamiya kits. I figured I shouldn't waste this kit, so I've gotten more hope now, and this is it. :bigthumb:

Here are the "before" pics of that orange-peely-spraypainted body of the LC. Don't be fooled, that surface might look smooth but it's not! It also has bad masking tape residue after being baked in my closet (way before I discovered Tamiya masks). I live in a warm tropical country, which is sometimes model-unfriendly.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/768009LC-body-before01.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/810029LC-body-before02.jpg

Dont worry about the front grille and the bumpers, I did NOT make the mistake of attaching those at once :lol:

Because I work as a programmer who spends way too much of my day in front of the computer, I won't be able to deal with stripping the paint just yet. Tonight I decided to tinker with painting the front grille. It was beautifully chrome plated by Tamiya, but it had to have some black on it. After putting out my thinner, little brush, and Tamiya semi-gloss black, I came up with this:

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/251835LC-Grille-01.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/113151LC-Grille-02.JPG

Still have to pick out some details however, like scraping the paint off the "turbo" engraving beside the word "Toyota."

As with above, it's not glued on yet (even the headlights). Looking forward to this weekend for the stripping....

Great to hear you're gonna give it another go! Welcome to AF!!:bigthumb:

Originally posted by tonioseven
Great to hear you're gonna give it another go! Welcome to AF!!:bigthumb:

Thanks :biggrin:

Can't wait to see more progress.

:iagree:

:iagree:

I'll be messing with the suspension tonight, so I'll have a couple of pics up soon, maybe tomorrow :biggrin:

keep it up pare :bigthumb:

ill be following this thread for updates :)

Some people might think it weird so I'll post a pic of the LC newly primed. It's not everyday you see a model here primed after it's already painted :thefinger

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/836141Reprimed.JPG

That's it. Still working on the suspension. I'm currently stuck at looking for a big enough clicky pen spring or substitute springs from the hardware to replace the rear coil spring. :icon16:

Wow, looks much better in primer. Do you plan to modernize it a bit with new wheels and tires or are you retaining the stock look? Also, what color choices are you exploring?

Very nice restoration so far :bigthumb:

Bigg "E"

I think I'm going to stick with the stock look for now. I'll stick with the old color I used. (TS-39 Red Mica) Right now am just concerned with coming up with a decent looking model, and I'm considering this big bugger my "practice" run for better projects in the future. :wink:

dude.. LIFT IT!!!!!!!!!!! :biggrin:

Originally posted by CamaroSSBoy346
dude.. LIFT IT!!!!!!!!!!! :biggrin:

That might be a good idea :sunglasse

Would look nice slightly lifted and done Paris-Dakar Rally style.
Or in a nice dark green with 20 inch rims and tan leather interior, nothing outrageous, just classy.

Either way, your choice, if stock is what you like. I just never build anything stock. :smile:

Bigg "E"

Originally posted by subyfanatic
Would look nice slightly lifted and done Paris-Dakar Rally style.
Or in a nice dark green with 20 inch rims and tan leather interior, nothing outrageous, just classy.

Either way, your choice, if stock is what you like. I just never build anything stock. :smile:

Bigg "E"

I'll look into lifting it. Am dry fitting to see if I need to modify any parts if I do that. I'd probably need to extend some suspension parts...

I'm not sure if I'll simply get extra rims for this one, because tax over shipping from HLJ usually doubles the price in our country. Have to figure if I can squeeze that out of my paycheck! :biggrin2: