rsxse240 - I am, in fact, overjoyed with the subject matter. That's why I'm building it. The idea was to build a car like those you see at the oval track, but all Japanese and without a hotrod 350 like everyone else uses; just like the car that inspired it and blubaja linked. Next time, though, I'll be sure to ask you before I do any cutting
quadzero - If it were all under a fender, I'd've been tempted to just half ass it, but it will be hanging out where everyone will be able to see it, after all. So I had to put more thought into it. I had been taking very clear pictures so you could see the progress on the subframe, but I don't know what happened to them. That's the second subframe I built, the first was made of 6 pieces of styrene sheet. They had the same basic shape as the current subframe, flaring out at the frame rails and being thinner under the oil pan. Basically, I cut two trapezoids for the sides that attach to the frame rails, and a rectangle in the middle, and glued them in place at angles to clear the bottom of the engine, then repeated with slightly smaller parts to give the look of pressed metal. It looked horrible, though, so I ripped it off and built it using styrene rod. Pretty much everything not primered has been built 2-3 times until I was finally happy with it.
Thanks for the kind words, everyone, it means a lot.
Also, two more things I forgot from my update. This is the trunk open, as you can see and as I alluded to, it doesn't open very much. Also, there isn't a lot of pretty under there. The hinges look miserable. My intent, now, is to add an insert under the trunklid, colored like the interior (ie, covered with the same leather) and with a first aid kit and tool kit set into relief cut out of the insert. And probably also another compartmant with a lid where the driver would store an extra quart of oil, cleaner and some rags or whatnot. Just a little something to hide the hinges and clean it up back there.
And what of that Celsior? Leave it for dead? Maybe. Or maybe this will amount to something:
