Next project:Feels civic h/b

Here is my next project. I always wanted to build LJ Garcia's feels widebody civic hatchback (not the yellow one). I liked it better when he first built it (deep blue). Since Chris made the rest of the feels kit, I had to buy one. Then after getting the SAS kit, I was sondering how am I going to get the Racing Hart C-5's, then Aoshima came to the rescue. They made the wheels for their lowrider toyota pickup truck line. Here are some progress pictures.

Mock up of the kit on the body.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic.JPG

Door panels.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic2.JPG

Interior and engine bay.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic3.JPG

Front seats. I don't have any Recaro seats, so I just used the stock ones.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic4.JPG

Carbonfiber hood. I still have to trim the excess off, then clear coat the whole hood.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic6.JPG

First few coats of House of Kolor Cortez blue. I had a hell of a time trying to get rid of the door moldings. My crappy body work would always show through the primer, and even the color. So I decided to flatten the door as much as possible, then I shot a coat of clear to seal it. Now I will shoot a couple more coats of color to even everything out, apply the door decals, then clear the whole body.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic5.JPG

For those of you who don't know who's car I am talking about. Here is a picture.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic7.JPG

Sorry for the crappy quality picture.

Looking good so far Wade. Getting all the decals too?

Looking good so far Wade. Getting all the decals too?

Thanks Malcolm. No, I wish. The only one will be the "racing hart" on the door minus the "c-5". Those decals came with the toyota pickup.

Sweet!! The Yellow car was used as reference when making the kit, never saw the blue one before though! Looks awesome, shame if you don't add the decals, i'm sure one of us with Alps printing capabilities could help you out.

Sweet!! The Yellow car was used as reference when making the kit, never saw the blue one before though! Looks awesome

Thanks. Nice huh? I first saw it in the winter 1999 issue of Import Tuner. Here is a pic of the cover.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic8.JPG

shame if you don't add the decals, i'm sure one of us with Alps printing capabilities could help you out.

Sounds good. Any one willing to take on the challenge?

Here is a pic of the almost finished interior.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic9.JPG

Looking :smokin:

If you're airbrushing the Cortez blue, it might be the solvents that keep your bodywork reappearing-anywhere you removed a detail, keeps "ghosting" in every time you apply more lacquer. If this is a problem, Gunze Mr. Color Thinner works like magic w/Black Gold paints...it mixes perfectly and allows you to lay it on like enamel, w/o any of the lacquer issues. No more ghosting, the clear doesn't blush, the mold lines don't reappear.

Sweet!!:sunglasse

I read that magazine!! That is one crazy civic. Good job on matching the colour exactly!! I like it. Keep up the good work! :D

oh man i love that civic looks very cool keep us update
:smile: :smile:

Personally Im not a fan of the real car. But your build is amazing! I love the 2tone interior and how well you have painted it! the engine bay looks very nice as well!

looks reallly cool, i hope you can get those decals

Not bad at all, i like it, personaly, the blue HB is no where the greatness of the yellow one, i have the issuse with his yellow HB. i want to find a scion Xa to replicate his scion

yo thats crazy nice man cant wait to see progress

wow this car will be hot..

never seen the civic hatchback as an hot car, but you will show me one

very cool idea, always thought that car was crazy and still clean

I have not seen this car in blue form in a long time! I forgot how good it looked like this (looks better than the yellow I think) all though I still do not like the body kit in 1:1 I am anxious to see this one done. good luck and coming along great so far!! :)

Amazing build! It sucks that LJ didnt sign with a company like revell or tamiya ( dont know hwo that would work) instead of Modifiers :mad:

Thanks everyone. I have a little more done. I am almost finished with the engine. All that is left is the headers. Anyone know how to weather them? To make them look tarnished? I also did the springs/struts. I made them look like a Bilstein/Eibach combo. Not sure what kind of a set-up he had, but I am imporvising. :D On with the pics.

Engine
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic10.JPG

Suspension
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic11.JPG

Looking really nice so far, can we see the wheels.

hey man that thing is going to look sweet! Keep us poste on the progress

Looking really nice so far, can we see the wheels.

Thanks. The wheels are nothing special. I am using the ones that come with the new Aoshima Hilux mini truck. I wish they were bigger, but they will do. Unless FOTW wants to make a 19" set. ;) "hint" "hint". I will post a picture of the wheels later tonight. :)

i love that engine detail

wow, coming along very nicely.

Wow i love the motor. Yellow is the color.

I like the idea. I'm sure you'll make it work.

Ok. Here is a picture of the wheel. Phatmitsu posted a pic in his for sale thread. It is kinda small. It uses the same size (narrow/ultra low profile)tires as the Revell kits. The only difference is the tires are real rubber.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/44270racinghart_c-5-med.JPG

those are HOTTT rims, cant wait to see this project done

Small update. I cleared the body and the hood today. Here it is mocked up with the interior and the engine. Gonna have to fiddle with the suspension next, to get the right ride height.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic13.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic12.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic14.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic15.JPG

I am going to wait about a week, then on to the polishing........

One word....wow...

wow

Wade, have most of the artwork for your decals complete now, here a pic (this is just a low res jpeg though).

http://www.scaleautostyle.com/images/AF/Wade_decals.JPG

damn dope as hell!!

thats sweet! nice CF job on that hood, thats cool that FOTW is helping you out like that

Wade, have most of the artwork for your decals complete now, here a pic (this is just a low res jpeg though).

WOW. Chris, that is unreal. Looks good. I can't wait to see them on the car. Thanks again for helping me out like this. :) I will post more pics tonight. The engine bay is done, the f/r suspension is in, I am working on the exhaust right now. Got rid of the stock Revell muffler, and I am going to use a Fujimi metal one just like the one I used on my Wings West accord. Windows are just about ready to go in.

that is really nice!

Ok, here is a picture of the engine bay. I still have to touch up the head lights (chrome missing from top of lights from sprue), and glue them in.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic16.JPG

Here is the exhaust system with the muffler I am going to use.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/42491civic17.JPG

Very nice car, I like the contrast yellow/purple...

nice nice, looks really nice, i am just not a fan of the purpleish blue color and the yellow inteior seem to me liek they clash, but hey what do i know

nice replica.

nice nice, looks really nice, i am just not a fan of the purpleish blue color and the yellow inteior seem to me liek they clash, but hey what do i know

Actually, the real civic is just a deep blue. I didn't have that same HOK blue, so I used a blue close to it. The color starts out purple, but as you add layers it starts to turn blue. And the interior, yeah, I am not a fan either, but I am just building it like L.J.'s car in the magazine. :)

yea, i think his yellow civic with the yellow and black interior is way better

Here is a picture of the wheels. I was gonna leave them all chrome, but the real car's one isn't. So I masked the centers, and outer lips, and sprayed the spokes aluminum. They came out pretty close to the real ones. I also put on the C-5 decals on the spokes. Sorry for the crappy close-ups. They look much better now. :)

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic18.JPG

A little more progress. I finished the window rubbers, glued the brakes to the suspension, and screwed the chassis to the body. I am finally almost there. I have to respray the upper hatch spoiler though, cause only after I cleared it, I noticed that there wasn't enough blue on there.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic21.JPG

I really liked how the wheels came out. I am glad I painted the centers.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic19.JPG

a shot of the interior with a little something I made. ;)

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/42491civic20.JPG

Looks very nice. I am not usually a fan of these, but your clean craftsmanship and attention to detail made me a new believer! Cheers, as this is probably the best looking Civic I have ever seen on these boards!

Really nice Civic hb man. That mag idea was pretty creative. Nice build!

Whoa loving the magazine and those rims are seriously hot. Keep up the great work and im really looking forward to seeing this car done :evillol:

This is looking cool, the cortez blue is great, awesome color choice!!

Thanks everyone for the comments. I glued the exhaust to the piping today. I also painted the taillight lenses. I am undecided what I want to do now. I polished out the roof, but I can't get rid of the fine scratches. I used Novus, and even car polish, but I can't get rid of them. I think I am going to mask just the roof and shoot another coat of clear. Do you think I should do that? Or should I just leave it? Unless someone has another method of getting out the scratches. What type of finishing waxes/polishes does everyone use after they finish with the 12,000 grit? Any help is appriciated. :)

I think I am going to mask just the roof and shoot another coat of clear.

I'd strongly advice not doing that for risk of damaging your model. I did a similar thing when I masked around the hood of a model to spray clear over the carbon fiber I had added, the clear seaped though the masking tape and attacked the paint underneath. Luckily I managed to sand and polish out the mess and in hindsight better masking could have prevented it. The best approach is to sand out the scratches with the micromesh system of fine sanding cloths from 3600 to 12000 grade. I highly recommend the double sided pads (http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=81601) available from Micro Mark, much better than the original system (http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=80939) IMO. Buying a set of the disposable sanding sticks (http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82964) is worthwile too, good for getting into the hard-to-reach areas.

The best approach is to sand out the scratches with the micromesh system of fine sanding cloths from 3600 to 12000 grade.

That is what I used. The only thing is, the set I have is by Alclad. They use the same Micromesh polishing cloths, but it does not come with the little bottle of polish. So I am using Novus 2 after I finish with the 12,000 grit. What kind of polish do you use when you are done with your 12,000?

That is what I used. The only thing is, the set I have is by Alclad. They use the same Micromesh polishing cloths, but it does not come with the little bottle of polish. So I am using Novus 2 after I finish with the 12,000 grit. What kind of polish do you use when you are done with your 12,000?


Was using Autoglym resin polish and/or Tamiya compound. I now have the new Tamiya compounds which I've not tested out thouroughly but initial try out was impressive.

With the Micro-Mesh system the scratches should be eliminated by the time you reach 12000 although with a coarser polish/compound you can skip the last few finer cloths. I've acheived good results going as far as 6000 then onto polish/compound. The Novus 2, although i've not used it, I understand is for very fine scratches. If the scrathes you talk of are more harsh, caused by the coarser grits and were not eliminated by the finer grits, then this may struggle to remove them.

Sweet model dude! I love those rims.

Very impressive detailling !
This will be an exact replica of the -stunning- model.
:bigthumb: :bigthumb:

perfect job. dont say this often, but I feel you deserve it!!

nice work! the picture with the wheel looks real. the paint on your seats looks very nice and smooth.

awsome car (mag not really to scale) if its a poster its the perfect size... that car looks beautiful

awsome car (mag not really to scale) if its a poster its the perfect size... that car looks beautiful

Thanks everyone. I was trying to make it a magazine, but yeah, it is too big. I am still waiting to add more color to the upper hatch spoiler, then I am pretty much done. Just have to put the lenses on, then wait for Chris to send me his finished decals. ;)

looks cool! wheels are great!
i like the idea of the magazine