Hey guys, i'm new in this forum and new in modelling as well. Probably most of you won't read this, but i'm going to say it anyway. This is my fourth model kit ever. One thing i can assure you fitting this HobbyDesign engine to this kit has been absolutely frustrating. The engine itself is great, but my God it's so hard to put it in the engine bay. I've made thousands of little adjustment not just to the engine kit itself but also to the chassis (cutting out the molded parts such as lower engine and the gearbox is eye watering), muffler, suspension, the glass and everything.
For your information i'm just a complete noob making only totally OOB kit (while still managed to make complete mess of it). There is time when i felt like i've had enough and almost throw the whole thing to the trash. But then i remember the time when i cut out the hood that there is no way back, i have to make this work. So i carry on. You may think i'm hiperbole-ing the crap out of this, but trust me, it is like that. Later in the process i said to my self like "I've gone to all the complicated things cutting the hood and many other stuff out. So, f**k it, let's go all out". So i went online and bought myself some seatbelt and red interior flocking (Which is extremely rare in this rather unpopular country in south east asia). Anyway here it is. Hope it's automotiveforums worthy (yeah, i'am often jealous with everyone's work here, i'm afraid that my previous work isn't anywhere near this forum standard, so i kept the picture for myself, you guys are absolutely amazing modeller !).
So many "first" going on in this S2000 build. First time posting in this forum, first time making non OOB kit, first time cutting the hood out, first time cutting the molded parts out, first time using ribbon to make the timing belt for the engine, first time using putty, first time using PE parts, First time using wax and polish material, and lastly first time doing the seatbelt and interior carpeting of the car. Thanks to this build, i'm now can open my mind to endless possibilities. Hope you like it, well if you don't, at least i'm proud of it
. I paint this kit using a normal TS-26 Pure White straight from the spray can and the rest of it is brush painted with tamiya enamel paint.
Verdict on this HobbyDesign F20C Engine Kit is. If you're not an expert or at least not comfortable cutting things apart, scratch build here and there, use putty to fill gaps, etc. I do not recommend this F20C engine kit from HobbyDesign for you. Is all the transkit avalaible on the market requires big modification like this? I'm not an expert so i'll definitely think twice before doing something like this again in the future. Peace