S13 Silvia - IN PROGRESS

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Stumbled across these forums whilst looking for something totally different and rekindled a long-dead interest in modelling.
Part of the reason I got disillusioned at the time was the lack of all my favourite Japanese car kits in the UK. Now of course, having found out about HLJ, Hobbysearch and so on, I find myself with a huge list of kits I need to build.

Anyway, enough of that. The first kit I ordered was an S13 Silvia, the Tamiya version. Why the Tamiya one? Well, I actually ordered a Fujimi one too, but the Tamiya one got posted first :iceslolan

I wanted to concentrate on building a replica of a realistic, usable modified car. So if you've come into this thread expecting excessive Wings West bodykits, 10 degrees of negative camber and wheels so big they'd be more suited to a fairground, I'm afraid you will be disappointed.
You are more likely to find a clean, basically stock body, exposed FMIC, subtle wheels and lowering and a mildly modded interior.

First thing I noticed about the Tamiya kit is the upsetting lack of headlamp bowl detail (as well as a few NASTY seams)

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1301.jpg

I might well cut the lamp area out and rebuild it into something a little more detailed. Time will tell.

I wanted to piss about with the front bumper, as well as fit an FMIC. I've seen a lot of Japanese guys running S13 and 14's with no front bumper - presumably to increase airflow and save catching it on high kerbs etc. when drifting. This is a feature I wanted to incorporate on my model. I know, I know, some Fujimi S13's have seperate bumpers, but what's life without a challenge?
15 minutes with a knife later....

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1302.jpg

Argh what a mess! Not only is the Tamiya plastic high in vinyl, making it "shred" when cut, but it also has a tendancy to split, hence the indicator area being a total mess.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1303.jpg

Still, with the body part sanded down, it actually looks presentable, so I can call into town for some plasticard and start replicating the front of the inner wings and attached front panel

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1304.jpg

As you can see, the top corners of the bumper chipped off, so will need careful rebuilding with some sort of model putty. I also want to add a lower splitter/spoiler to give the bumper a slightly more purposeful look. Like I said, it won't always be displayed "on", but when it is, I want it to look a touch more aggressive than stock.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1305.jpg

Last pic for now shows my brake dilemma. The kit brakes are crap (bottom left) and I'm not forking out for photo-etch or anything on this particular kit, so I emptied my long-forgotten spares box and found a pile of awfully painted (what was I, some sort of butcher?) Hasegawa WRC car brakes - Tarmac spec Impreza WRC setup, anyone? :evillol:

That's all the pics I have for now, until I get supplies at the weekend. Until then, comments, questions and so on are welcome :)

very cool project, i have a ridiculous amount of videos of drift cars without bumpers anyone can im me if they want some: trigun star 71

good work so far!!

Heh, good luck on your project. I almost bought that kit today when I went out to buy a 350Z. It was marked down to like, $8. I didn't feel like shelling out the extra for rims though, lol.

Yeah, the stock wheels are quite horrific. I'm only fitting basic Nismo R-6's, but anything is an improvement over the standard ones.

welcome leon, I am liking your style already!

I have thought about doing something similar with my current silvia project as far as detachable bumper, huge highly detailed FMIC. You may already know, but you can always sit those brakes in CSC or brake fluid and it will remove the paint. I'll be watching this project as it moves along, thanks for sharing.

Welcome to AF and thanks fore sharing this project with us!! :)

Thanks for the comments :)

I spent a few days lurking, searching, checking FAQ's and so on, so I picked up the brake fluid tip - got plenty of that laying around so I'll get those various parts soaking (got a shedload of WRC dampers too)

As I can't get plasticard (sheet styrene) until the weekend, I've cut a template from card ready.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1306.jpg
If you look at a real S13, once the lamps, grille and bumper are removed there isn't a great deal left. There is no steel "valance" to speak of, just the headlamp brackets, and crossmember. There's a prominent washer bottle of some sort on the right hand side, opposite where the SMIC normally sits, so I'll have to replicate that with something translucent, maybe a fogged block of clear plastic.
The radiator hides most of the panel (the largest part in the centre of the template), and in turn the intercooler will hide much of the rad, plus the two horns.
I was going to steal an intercooler from an old Evo kit, but I think I'll make a big one like the GReddy job I saw on a Skyline-engined real S13.

Still undecided on what to use for the intercooler piping, possibly solder wire?

Solder wire is good for piping, but only if you can find it big enough. I'm sure there is some big enough out there, but I don't have it and my piping tends to look a little small, like something you would use to pipe a daily driven turbo Civic, not a killer Nissan. People have good luck with aluminum tube, but I cannot bend it to save my life. Failing solder, I have used old sprue. I like the silver paint on it anyway, its more like the heat resistant coating thats on most piping like that.

I really like this no-front-bumper idea. It's going to look hardcore. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Oh...for those not knowing what I'm on about with the "bumperless" look, here's a very short clip. (these are S14's)

Right click, save as (please excuse the poor quality, but it should give you an idea)

Bumperless Drift Cars - 900kb (http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/Drift.WMV)

you got a hell of a project on your hands. might as well dump a turbo sr20 in there! hope this turns out great. love the look of bumperless drift machines!

Well, this is the first kit I've built using aftermarket parts, customisation and so on. Before I've only ever made them out of the box so it's all a bit new to me.
I thought long and hard about making an engine, but in the end decided I wouldn't have the skills I needed.

However, when the kit arrived I was pleased to see that the sump, base of the bottom end, turbo and so on are already in place. Hmmmmmmmmmm thanks a bunch Tamiya now I have a dilemma.

I might end up scratching a head for the engine. Until I'm happy with it I won't cut the bonnet - that way, if it looks awful I can leave the bonnet shut and pretend it never happened ;)

Looks good so far. If this is your first time customizing, and engine might be a little more than you want to bite off. Once you get into the grove of customizing model cars, and you've built a few, then you might want to try. Keep us posted on how the build goes.

very nice dude

Rough cut boot

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1307.jpg

Much better sanded

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1308.jpg

There won't be anything terribly exciting in here, I just want to try out some carpeting techniques and get back into building with plasticard :)

cool~

Very good project so far! Keep posting us!

With the bootlid removed, I needed to create some supports for it to rest on. Two small strips of plasticard and a dash of primer later...

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1309.jpg

Still needs more tidying, but I need to buy some needle files first.

To kill time I fitted a new, larger radiator ahead of the kit part. I just cut two notches in the chassis rail and slid it in with a little cement. It's a mod I've done on real cars with good results, so I thought I'd duplicate that here :)

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1310.jpg

Unfortunately this rad has a small oil cooler moulded into it, but it won't really show once the whopping FMIC is added :ylsuper:
No idea why the primer looks so "dusty" in this shot!

I also need to pop back to the model shop for some styrene rods to add some substance to the now-exposed front panel - not a lot, but enough to make it worthwhile. As the Silvia doesn't have a "valance" as such, there isn't a whole lot of detail to be added in this are. Next up, washer bottle (although it can wait to be fitted after painting)

what color are you gonna make it?
I look forward to see more of this
keep up the good work

so far so good

speaking of large FMIC's have a look @ this, not mine of course, got it from model car battle site, http://home.kimo.com.tw/tokyor246/devil.htm

speaking of large FMIC's have a look @ this, not mine of course, got it from model car battle site, http://home.kimo.com.tw/tokyor246/devil.htm
That looks wicked, not far off the look I'm going for.

Sprayed the body with a dust coat of Toyota Super Red II (all I had to hand) just to get an idea of how it looks with a bit of colour. After I rubbed it smooth again I decided the colour might be a touch too dark, so I might go for a really bright red like Audi Laser Red used on the new A3's. What do you think?

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1311.jpg

I'm initially thought the Nismo R-6 rims would look too small but I think they're just right for a road car - none of these 21" VIP jobbies :loser:

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1312.jpg

The wheels will be finished in bright Appliance White just like on my Gran Turismo S13 :iceslolan

Although I chose not to really lower the car a great deal, I'll sit the chassis above it's designed mounting points which saves cutting up dampers and lower arms. I've filled the topmount holes ready to redrill them slightly inboard for a small amount of negative camber too.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1313.jpg

Next up - spray the chassis, fit suspension, build intercooler!

Awesome project. Can't wait for the next update.

Awesome project. Can't wait for the next update.
If it turns out looking 1/10th as good as your S13, I will be over the moon. :)

I'll be keeping a close eye on this project.
Great stuff so far

Awesome. Keep us posted on this project. I just bought this kit today.

did u primer everythign? is that primer in the above pic?

tamiya/

did u primer everythign? is that primer in the above pic?

tamiya/
Yes, I used normal automotive Plastic Primer.

looks real cool,pix more!

After a break of a few days I got back into it.

First off, sprayed the chassis with a good coat of Halfords satin black. Halfords paints seem to give a much finer spray than Color Plan/Duplicolor which is great for modeling (not so much orange peel)

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1314.jpg

I'm going to go back to Halfords to get a new tin of red for the body, as the color match isn't coming out very well. So I guess that means another evening with the wet n dry :banghead:

Got the rest of the suspension components painted, using a combination of Humbrol Metalcotes and satin black shades. The only notable deviation was a dusty gold colour for the lower arms, to represent magnesium alloy and just bring a bit of interest to the chassis. This will all be dusted over lightly with brown mist when I eventually get my airbrush back to tie all the components together

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1315.jpg

Beautiful. Great attension to detail.

This is turning out to be awesome!! :)

Okay, got a bit more work done.

Drilled new topmount holes further inboard for a little bit of camber - given the choice next time I either wouldn't bother with this or drill them slightly closer to the originals - the angle is a tiny bit too steep for my liking and stresses the front suspension components.

Painted and built up the running gear, all except the backbox which I need to drill out (not a fan of huge pipes)
It all went together easily enough, oh and I ended up using the standard kit brakes because I like the caliper design better than the whopping great Impreza six pots.

Here's the kit "mocked up" on standard wheels. As you can see, I wasn't happy with the paint one bit - LOADS of orange peel :banghead: so a full respray is in order tomorrow!

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1316.jpg

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1317.jpg

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1318.jpg

If you look closely you can see the tyre through the front end - this is because the kit arch liners don't come out far enough, so I need to extend them with some plasticard or maybe just cut them right back so only the topmount remains.

My girlfriend is off to Nottingham this weekend, I'm sure I remember someone saying a shop there sells Evergreen styrene so I'll be able to make my intercooler at bloody last!

Oh, and disaster struck the other day. I was cleaning my brushes and knocked over my bottle of white spirit into the box, splashing a few parts. No big deal, I wiped them down and let them dry without any bother. However, it had a terrible effect on the front light/grille bar (the only clear part affected)
The plastic dulled, and then crazed over and literally crumbled at my touch! So I guess I need to contact HLJ and get a replacement clear sprue. No biggie, just a delay....or I could always run without headlamps :dunno:

A few chassis pics.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1319.jpg
Front brakes.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1320.jpg
Rear brakes. Hub faces will be sanded back to plastic as I might end up glueing the wheels fixed in place if the female-male conversion goes wrong :p

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1321.jpg
Front suspension assembly. Yes, I know the gearbox still needs painting but I need to run into town for some flat aluminium first.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1322.jpg
Rear suspension assembly. Instructions say to paint the diff black, but they're normally alloy housings in real life so I went with that.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/model/S1323.jpg
Underside. Exhaust needs fitting, 'box needs painting, after that I'll dull it down with a mist of flat brown to make it look used.