Finished: Tommy Kaira M30 Skyline

[ratdat]

Believe it or not I started this Fujimi kit about 4 years ago Back then I tried painting it with some kind of purple pearl paint which reacted bady so it went back in the box and got forgotten about. Here's how it looked at the start...



Seeing 86_SR5 doing his Drift Skyline prompted me to dig it out and resurect it. I decided not to try to strip the paint, figuring as it had been on so long that might not be sucessful, so carefully I sanded it off and repainted it in Citroen Wicked Red (honestly, that's what's it's called!)

The kit is truly terrible. Most bits are badly fitting and they got the headlights completely wrong. Fujimi provided the clear lenses for projector bean headlights and the back part was for normal twin headlights! I chopped some reflectors up from another R31 kit, I also ditch the rear wing they provided as it was junk and fitted decent rims and brakes. Inside I changed the front seats, added a few details and, to make it a little different from other R31 models, my car's now LHD :o)

I'm amazed I actually finished it as it's been one disaster after the other in the build. I spilled thinners on my worktop which soaked the clear tail light panel, melting the surface which took a hell of of lot of time to fix. Then just as I finally polished it back to life I snapped it in half
I also got it wrong the first time I stuck the windows in. I used 60 second epoxy and glued them in in the wrong position
I had to cut and carve all the epoxy away with a scalpel to get them out again. What else? Oh, I got really bad pin holes in the paint down both sides of the car after the first wet coat. (I filled a couple of body moulding lines down the sides) I filled them with paint on a toothpick then sanded them flat before the final wet coats. Because of this it has too much paint on there really but never mind! Also, I damaged on of the stripes when applying it, the they started to wrinkle up when I put the clear coat on ...argh! ...but the application of some heat dried the clear before the problem got too bad, thankfully. So many times I've nearly given up on this one

Anyway, I'm fairly happy with the way it's turned out in the end. I've yet to add seatbelts and I had planned to do the rear wing in CF but the decals I ordered turned out to be junk so for now I've left it aluminium. I also want to tint the rear and side glass a light smoke but I haven't got any film at the moment, only dark smoke which looks way to dark on a model. I haven't waxed it yet as the paint isn't fully hard but I wanted to get the ordeal over and done with and put it in my display cabinet... I'll get and do the last bits some time next month I think . Anyway... here's the pics...

[CamaroSSBoy346]

holy shiznit :O

[ImolaEK]

wow unbelievably cool...im lovin the air freshener hanging from the mirror...lol...great job....

[Sebstar]

that shine is to die for man!!! great job!

[CamaroSSBoy346]

hold on...its left hand drive!? BTW where did you get those pine tree air freshiners?

BTW RB26DETT-GTR nice modifiers, i just got the Modifier Mustang GT

[ratdat]

Originally Posted by CamaroSSBoy346

hold on...its left hand drive!? BTW where did you get those pine tree air freshiners?

The dash came from a Revell AG Skyline kit..the same one that donated it's body kit to my Auster (I'm getting some good use out of that kit ) I couldn't resist making it LHD just to make it a bit different.

The air freshner is made from two pieces of paper laminated together with a fine wire in between. Then cut to shape with a scalpel and painted green.

[86_SR5]

That's a nice red, the wing looks cool, I've got a freshner like that I made, but lost. Nice LHD, and as said many times, skylines are born with GT wings, so it just looks right

*srry* bout the before post, realize I was very immature.

[Zcaithaca]

yo eddie that red is wicked AWESOME! Love the air frener...someone musta let a nasty one rip! haha im immature.and good job...did you forget topaint the calipers cuz they kinda lok resin color...maybe its yellow and its just the camera tho.

[tazdev]

Old Skool Clness

[Layla's Keeper]

The clean look and brilliant finish bely the pains of completion. It is and excellent model.

If there's any qualms I have this is it; I do think the wing should've been mounted a little lower. It does do a good job of breaking up the blandness of the tail end, but it looks a little goofy being that far off the decklid.

But, that's a pretty minor quibble coming from a rivet counter. The car looks great as is.

[SchuberT]

wicked stance for a wicked color with a wicked shine... awesome build... great ressurection

[primera man]

Huge improvement !!

[slk320]

WOW

I love the wheels and brakes, suit the car very well. The paint and interior is awesome too!

[joecwlaw]

SO GOOOOOOOD. NICE details and SHINY.

I love the TREE.

[Ferrari TR]

That's sweet!

Nice mix of an old car with new tuner touches.

Where did the 'tread-plate' come from?