In Progress - Tamiya 300ZX convertible

Excellent, your paint skill makes plastic look like metal... very realistic.

Thanks for the comments.. The polished Alclad II doesn’t photograph just as you see it. The picture shows the paint with some hints of black in it.. I’ll be fair, it’s not that weathered on real life, the picture is telling a few fibs.

This picture here, it looks very black. With the top cover on as well, it looks almost totally black.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7164/p71501238am.jpg

This top down picture shows the Alclad II in a much different shade. Still looks like metal, and looks fantastic, but it can be mis-leading. The car will be made to look like it has been driven only for a few weeks, as already pointed out, so I must be on the right track.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2796/p71501265uf.jpg

Captain_Mark, I didn’t buy any Humbrol Brass for the cover, as recommended, I just mixed some gold with silver, touch of white and used that. I added the red to add some colour to the engine, as it was all starting to look a little black and silver. I WAS tempted to use some clear blue on the cam covers.. Nearly did it.. Just need to dry brush some silver on the nissan logo, and then my engine is painted. Needs fixing with glue yet.. So can take this apart, and the fan will be white. Still drying.. :smile:

The cover colour is very close, well done!
I can't remember if the NISSAN wording is actually silver or not, but can't hurt to do that on your build. Will add a nice touch of colour.

Nice progress.
That body paint is awesome and nice detail paint on engine.

good thing i saved my engine from my yellow z, your engine looks very real, nice weathering, wanna see this one done.

Nice painting work. Keep it up.

Nice project so far, clean building-style, good looking colours !!!!!!!!

Update, engine is now assembled, and fan installed. Looks very good, but I'm sure it could be better.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32616

Also done the masking for the underchassis. It took a good few hours to do this, and by the time I was done tonight, it was way to late to get some outside pictures. Gives you all an idea, but you can't see the fuel tank and the nice texture I got with the black. Looks just like the real underchassis stone chip protection stuff they apply.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32622

Also notice that the interior is now completed.. I didn't attach any seatbelts in the end, due to lack of materials, and not knowing what to do.. It looks OK, but I'll get better as I go along.

And, if you want to, I've opened an account that allows me to upload all the pictures I've taken thus far. Starts from the raw parts, to where I am now.

http://www.blurryimage.com/show_gallery.php?gid=1953&o=0

Hard to think this was just a box with some plastic in it, and that I've built it..

Started to get on pretty well with this build now, below is the chassis with the fuel tank detailed, and all black trim work completed.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32803

And this is the chassis now, with all the parts fitted and just needing the wheels attaching.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32809

Interior is completely done, and just needs attaching to the chassis.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32805

And the engine bay is now completed. I haven’t done any engine wiring, as TBH I’m starting to get a little bored of this build, and just want to get it completed without anything major going wrong, and if I started to tinker with wires I might have messed up. So decided to just concentrate on getting it completed, and it looks nice anyhow.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32810


http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32811

Front radiator was a git to fix in place, and the hoses do not line up very well. Bit disappointed with that, as normally Tamiya kits fit pretty snug. I messed around with it for about 30 minutes, and decided this was the best it was going to be, without extending the hose pipes. I even had problems gluing it in. Needs a small touch up at the base, where the glue leaked out.. Other then this, went together without issue.

I’ve done the glass trim, however it has a decal that goes across the top, sun visor by the looks of it. Decals are old, and they are breaking up. I’ve saved nearly all of them, but the sun visor has small hairline cracks that can be seen, but not a lot I can do about it. Decal saver saved most of them, but the sun visor is bad. Also, with this kit being old, the fantastic Tamiya Window Masks are not there, so had to break out the old pencil, masking tape and sharp knife.. Hate doing the mask templates like this, but I don’t know any other way. I scribe a thick soft lead pencil line around the edge you need to paint, then place tape over it, and cut the line through the tape with a sharp knife.. It’s like taking a bull into a china shop. One slip, and you could get a bad mark in the glass. Looks OK ish. Be OK once it’s installed, and the window wipers are in place. Nightmare..!! LOL..

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=32812

Just got to trim the black in the body, do the panel lines, wax the body, attach all the body parts that are done and ready to install, and this model is “on the shelf”..

Keep watching.. It’s getting near the end.

And, all the progress pictures are here. From start to where I am now.
http://www.blurryimage.com/show_gallery.php?gid=1953

The intake hoses should not line up or connect to the radiator. They should extend pass the radiator but the kit has it too short. The kit ommited the upper and lower radiator hoses coming from the engine.

Your work looks so clean, I'm very impressed.
I'm not sure how you managed to mask up the fuel tank to paint it black, but that's an awesome job you've done, on the whole under-side of the car in fact.
And that interior flocking is superb!

Can't wait to see the finished product!

Your work looks so clean, I'm very impressed.
I'm not sure how you managed to mask up the fuel tank to paint it black, but that's an awesome job you've done, on the whole under-side of the car in fact.
And that interior flocking is superb!

Can't wait to see the finished product!

Masked the fuel tank with Tamiya Masking tape, but it took around an hour to mask it off, very awkward. Thanks for the comments guys. And as for the hose pipes. I honestly thought they were meant to line up better, shows how much I know about cars.. :lol2:

Masked the fuel tank with Tamiya Masking tape, but it tooks around an hour to mask it off, very awkard. Thanks for the comments guys. And as for the hose pipes. I honestly thought they were neant to line up better, shows how much I know about cars.. :lol2:


The only reason I know this about the pipes is because I owned the twin tubo version of this car for 5 years. And I am in the final stages of completing the Turbo version of the kit myself.

Wow, your work is wonderful! Everything is soo neatly done. Great job !

Great job on the engine!

This could be the last update to this build progress. I’ve trimmed the body, done the panel lines, installed the lights, installed the windscreen, and all that is now left to do is attach the windscreen wipes, fix the door mirrors with glue and put the chassis and body together, then wax the entire model, and it’s on the shelf.

Oh, and if you are using white glue to attach windscreens, to make some cheap extra hands, ordinary household clothes pegs work just fine.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=33005

And some shots of the car in an almost completed stage.

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=33006

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=33007

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=33008

Oh, also need to apply the front Nissan Logo. Job done..!! Thanks for all the comments and support. Keep an eye out for the completed thread coming soon.. Fingers crossed..

glad to see it almost done! it looks great! i still really like that color.

OK. This is a little teaser..!! It's almost done. Front light covers need to be glued in, wipers and wing mirrors, place the front nissan decal - oh and re-install the front fog light.. It popped out when putting the body on.. Which was really silly actually, as I had to spread the body apart to make it fit.. Scary moment that was..!!

Then final wax, and she is done..

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=33098

Are Looking PERFECT!

The build is completed, but I'm not about to take a load of pictures until it stops raining outside, and there is better light. So, I'll show this one picture, as I think this is my best work todate, and will post better pictures taken outside, with the roof up and down, the bonnet on etc, so you can all have a look at my latest model.

But for now, her she is..!!

http://www.blurryimage.com/pic.php?mode=O&pid=33099

Phew, I did it.. The first build since taking model building back up again without nothing going REALLY wrong.. Only took me 6 models..!!

Wow, you built it so quickly!
And the finished product looks excellent, especially that engine!

I don't know if you've put up a 'completed' thread, but I hope you do, I'd like to see a few different angles on this build.

Cheers!

Wow, you built it so quickly!
And the finished product looks excellent, especially that engine!

I don't know if you've put up a 'completed' thread, but I hope you do, I'd like to see a few different angles on this build.

Cheers!

I am planning on taking a load of completed pictures at the weekend, and will post as a completed thread once they are done.. Keep an eye out.. My mate has seen the finished model, and the look on his face was enough for me.. He couldn't even say in words how impressed he was, and just said in shock, "how in the world did you get that looknig so real, the engine looks like metal". I'm really proud of this one.. After the very harsh learning curve of the past 9 months, I've finally got a model that didn't go wrong and not ending up fixing loads of mistakes.. Not to say this trend will now continue.. But it gave me a boost..!!
:lol2:

looks super!! Really well done - congratulations :)

Sweet work Mick! Look forward to seeing finished pictures!

Very nice!

I'll have to finish mine so I can say I've built something this year.
I just need to get all the RC cars off the work bench now...
:p

that's beautiful ! stunning paintwork and the engine bay if just fantastic. the flocking and interior looks soo real, its incredible. i love the detail painting an everything, truly a perfect build here ! does this one come with a naturally-aspirated engine ?

I can't see any pictures :)

I am using www.pictureparking.com to host my images, and pinging their web domainname is timing out, and their URL is not resolving DNS to IP. Take it the webserver is either down, or their IP routers are having VERY bad packet loss.

Either way, sorry guys. No pictures until the site I was using to host my pictures is back online, or I find another image host.

EDIT: Pictures are working again now. Must have been an outage from the web image host I am using.