How to go about starting....

How hard are models to actually build. Can someone with absolutely no experience in modelling (although I did study art at a senior level at high school) be able to do a good job?? I’ve seen an R33 GTS25t Series II model kit and an FTO one that I would really like to do, but am too scared I’ll make a complete mess of it. :(

Are the instructions fairly easy to follow??

Modelling moght seem hard at firs but if you like cars, you should have no major problems. Before you buy anything, you need patience, persistence, determination, and a great buncha modellers like these guys to help with any questions you may have! The instructions may seem hard for the Japanese kits but just study the pictures for a while and things should fall into place. Check out the FAQs or just ask us and we'll help! Any friend of a Skyline, is a friend of mine!!:cool:

Originally posted by tonioseven
Modelling moght seem hard at firs but if you like cars, you should have no major problems. Before you buy anything, you need patience, persistence, determination, and a great buncha modellers like these guys to help with any questions you may have! The instructions may seem hard for the Japanese kits but just study the pictures for a while and things should fall into place. Check out the FAQs or just ask us and we'll help! Any friend of a Skyline, is a friend of mine!!:cool: hehe not sure how much patience I have unfortunately. I can tend to lose my temper and get really frustrated when things don't go right! :o

As for the Skyline kit, I guess one of the hardest parts will be trying to find a colour that's like the colour of my Skyline. (I'm sad I know! :p )

Instuctions for Japanese kits are usually 90% Japanese, but with easy to follow picture steps. Buy the U.S. branded snap together kits with very few parts ( usually 25 pieces or less ) and some spray paints and the basic car detail colors: black, silver, white, etc. in bottles and a decent brush. I think for many of us, the satisfaction and appreciation from others is what keeps us wanting to improve our skills.
SOME DAY, ALL OF US WILL GRADUATE TO BE A PMAN!

Just go to Warren's house and use all his paint and stuff. He's on vacation anyway... ;)

Originally posted by jay@af
Just go to Warren's house and use all his paint and stuff. He's on vacation anyway... ;) What a great plan! :devil:


:D :p

:eek: ....Jay ban this women from the modelling threads....she's trouble ;) ...lol

Fancy seeing you in here old lady :finger: :finger: :finger:

:devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil:


PMan puts up the "BUSY" sign at the front gate just incase :finger: :finger:

Anyway.....buy the kit you want. It will tell you all the stuff you need.
Once you get it, post back in here and i'm sure there will be plenty of ppl who will help out.

:)

Originally posted by primera man
:eek: ....Jay ban this women from the modelling threads....she's trouble ;) ...lol

Fancy seeing you in here old lady :finger: :finger: :finger:

:devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil:

Less of the old, old man! :finger:

As for the other advice, thanks, I'll buy the kit and go from there. I'll see if I can find that R33 one that I saw a while ago, if not I'll get an R34 GT-t. :D

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
Less of the old, old man! :finger:

As for the other advice, thanks, I'll buy the kit and go from there. I'll see if I can find that R33 one that I saw a while ago, if not I'll get an R34 GT-t. :D

Have a look here.. www.hlj.com i get all my models from here as its cheaper then buying from NZ :(

Or just go straight here for some R33's
http://www.hlj.com/cgi-local/hljlist.cgi

Are you for real that they're cheaper than NZ!!!!! :eek: Do they take long to arrive??

I've seen a few FTO kits; someone even had one in their sig for a while...

But I've never seen a face-lift R33 kit... :(

Originally posted by jay@af
I've seen a few FTO kits; someone even had one in their sig for a while...

But I've never seen a face-lift R33 kit... :( I saw one in a hobby shop in Auckland a few months ago. I nearly bought it then, but didn’t. :(

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
Are you for real that they're cheaper than NZ!!!!! :eek: Do they take long to arrive??
http://www.hlj.com/images/fuj/fuj03379box.gif ...i just got this a couple of weeks ago.
$17.80 for the kit and about $10 to post it......The same kit here in NZ if your lucky enough to find it would be around $40-50.
So you see why its cheaper to go overseas now.

ah OK. I see. I guess I'll have to check out that website then!

Well it looks like they don’t have a facelift R33 25t at all : so I’ll probably go for either an R34 GT-t or FTO. It looks like Tamiya don’t make either of those, so what are Fujimi like? Are they as good as Tamiya or are they harder??

Please don't make a pink FTO....that's on my list of to do models. :right: Any color but pink :D

Originally posted by daggerlee
Please don't make a pink FTO....that's on my list of to do models. :right: Any color but pink :D :eek: PINK!!!! Who would make a pink FTO??!!!!! :apuke: :uhoh: It would definitely be black!

Maybe I can relate myself to the situation as I just started not too long ago.

My advice is really to go ahead and build it. You can read for days on all kinds of modeling techneques here (that's what I did, I went thru the FAQ many times), but you will learn a lot more by actually building the kit. You will improve throguh lots of trials and (especially) errors.

Having an art background is a plus. I am an architect with fine art and photography background (this will come into play when you take the pics) so I guess it's slightly easier for me to get into modeling. Being a huge car nut is also a plus (to keep the enthusiasm high).

Pink? now this is an idea. Acutally my gf asked me to build her a Golf with pink finish. This would be very cool.

Hahahaha, don't ask! :flipa: :finger:

Anyway, I'd just pick up any kit as long as it's a Tamiya kit. Also, although doing your own car can be very interesting at first, it can be very frustrating if your model doesn't live up to your expectations and comparisons to your real life car. A Tamiya R34 would be a great kit to start on, IMO.

Originally posted by daggerlee
A Tamiya R34 would be a great kit to start on, IMO. They only seem to do GTRs though, not GT-ts. I guess I could always do one of those instead and do my car later.

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
They only seem to do GTRs though, not GT-ts. I guess I could always do one of those instead and do my car later. I've seen a Tamiya R33 GTS 25t:
http://www.hlj.com/images/tam/tam24132box.gif

Dunno if that helps... I think this may be the one you mentioned before...

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
hehe not sure how much patience I have unfortunately. I can tend to lose my temper and get really frustrated when things don't go right! :o


Typical women then!:flipa: :right:

Model making is not so hard, start with a Tamiya kit and u can't go far wrong. I hope u go ahead with it coz it will be great to have a model making chick onboard! Do u have any more car loving lady friends?

;)

:) Aoshima makes a R33 gts25t It could be modified slightly perhaps (?) http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/514050gtst-1.jpg http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/783545gtst-2.jpg

Originally posted by flyonthewall
... it will be great to have a model making chick onboard! Do u have any more car loving lady friends?We already have at least two, Hiro and VideoNasty. ;) Haven't seen Hiro (Jenny) online in about two months, though... :( Hope she's still out there...

Originally posted by jay@af
I've seen a Tamiya R33 GTS 25t:
http://www.hlj.com/images/tam/tam24132box.gif

Dunno if that helps... I think this may be the one you mentioned before... That one's a series 1. I've seen a series 2 but it wasn't Tamiya.

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
That one's a series 1. I've seen a series 2 but it wasn't Tamiya. Does Series 2 = facelift version like yours and Moon's? I've never seen a kit of those...

Originally posted by jay@af
Does Series 2 = facelift version like yours and Moon's? I've never seen a kit of those... Yep mine and Moon's = Series 2. I only ever saw a kit once (or maybe I was hallucinating :p ). I know that it definitely wasn't a Tamiya one though.

I would take you model shopping this weekend but I'm going bush.

You would be best to start with a cheaper kit just incase it does get stuffed up.


If you have any probs just give me a call

hehe I've just been informed that I was indeed hallucinating and that I haven't seen a Series II R33. Moon informs me that we would have definitely bought it if we had seen it. :o

Not sure what drugs I was smoking that day! :p :o

R34 it is then I guess. :D

and thanks Tazdev, maybe next weekend??

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
Well it looks like they don?t have a facelift R33 25t at all : so I?ll probably go for either an R34 GT-t or FTO. It looks like Tamiya don?t make either of those, so what are Fujimi like? Are they as good as Tamiya or are they harder??
Haven't tried Tamiya, but Aoshima seemed far superior to the Fujimi I did - all the pieces seem to fit automatically whereas the Fujimi I did had a cheaper feel and didn't fit nearly as well. I have seen tons and tons of Tamiya Skyline kits on eBay - don't know my Skylines, though, so I couldn't tell you R33 or R34.

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
How hard are models to actually build. Can someone with absolutely no experience in modelling (although I did study art at a senior level at high school) be able to do a good job?? I?ve seen an R33 GTS25t Series II model kit and an FTO one that I would really like to do, but am too scared I?ll make a complete mess of it. :(

Are the instructions fairly easy to follow??

Start with a model you don't care about.
Check your local hobby shop for a discounted car kit
and start on that one. That way it doesn't matter
much if you make a mess of it. Easy way to build
confidence !

A more expensive way of 'buying insurance' against
messing up is to buy two identical kits. Build one,
keep one for spares. If you don't mess up
you can either build the other one or sell it.
When mail-ordering kits I usually buy one extra
in case a kit gets wrecked in the mail.

Instructions depend on the manufacturer, most
japanese brands break down assembly into steps
using pictures and arrows, sometimes
the painting instructions are in japanese though.

HTH,
-- Eric.

I've had this site bookmarked for ages and i've only just realised that this R33 has be converted to the series II version. Don't know if this is available as a transkit but when i put it through i translator, it did hint that this was the case.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Bingo/1302/toya/tpya_skyline33.htm

But where would you be able to buy the front bumper?? The first one is a pic of a model kit, but the second one is an actual car. Has anyone done the conversion in a model kit??? That would be awesome if it was possible to do. :D

Oops just looked further down the page and it looks like someone has actually done a Series II model kit. Wish I could read the language that it was in! :(

Originally posted by Spec2 Girl
Wish I could read the language that it was in! :(

Here (http://babelfish.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=ja_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.co.jp%2FPlaytown-Bingo%2F1302%2Ftoya%2Ftpya_skyline33.htm) u go honey! Still don't make much sense though!:D

Originally posted by flyonthewall


Here (http://babelfish.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=ja_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.co.jp%2FPlaytown-Bingo%2F1302%2Ftoya%2Ftpya_skyline33.htm) u go honey! Still don't make much sense though!:D Thanks :) that’s better than the previous one even if I still can’t understand it. :p Probably too hard for a newbie modeller like me to attempt anyway. :( A shame cos it would awesome to have a mini replica of my car. :)