Auster racer project

[willimo]

I hate you. You made me cuss on Christmas. Those door panels are insane. Insane!! The first time I saw them I thought they were real, the second time I thought they were real, the third time I noticed the paint jars in the background, and expletives ensued. I cannot, cannot, cannot! voice how impressive that is to me. I was planning on doing two-sheet-laminated-hole-cut door panels for my RX-7 but it was going to be arbitrary, simple, and just enought "to look right." Now I hate you more because you've raised the bar. I doubt I could do that, but I want to! Those are insane. They took my breath away! Seriously! Ok, enough brown nosing, I have to go hide under the bed now. Your detail and accuracy is freaking me out.

And you're going to add the actuator bars and levers? Insane! Those are incredible.

Edit: Oh my goodness I can't beleive them.

Edit again: Still can't belive them. Can't.

Edit two hours later: I... uh, yeah, still can't beleive them. Yarr! I am a pirate.

[slk320]

Originally Posted by willimo

I hate you. You made me cuss on Christmas. Those door panels are insane. Insane!! The first time I saw them I thought they were real, the second time I thought they were real, the third time I noticed the paint jars in the background, and expletives ensued. I cannot, cannot, cannot! voice how impressive that is to me. I was planning on doing two-sheet-laminated-hole-cut door panels for my RX-7 but it was going to be arbitrary, simple, and just enought "to look right." Now I hate you more because you've raised the bar. I doubt I could do that, but I want to! Those are insane. They took my breath away! Seriously! Ok, enough brown nosing, I have to go hide under the bed now. Your detail and accuracy is freaking me out.

And you're going to add the actuator bars and levers? Insane! Those are incredible.

Edit: Oh my goodness I can't beleive them.

Edit again: Still can't belive them. Can't.

Ahhh... yeah,,, what he said.

[tonioseven]

Those door panels are better than any model I've ever done! I'm through modelling for a long time!!

[SchuberT]

hey dude, you should make door for money! lol...

those door panels are bangin, and i want one in my car

[labandabonnot]

Hey, guy! You managed to make us dream with such a project! It's not a supercar, it's not a Ferrari, and more than that it's not a Skyline! lol!
How incredible!

That's all I have to say!!!! Blessed are you!

[WeaPoN [X]]

Amazing! Definatly "Best of Show" material.

JeFF

[flyonthewall]

This project is coming along great. Those interior door panels are superb, thats something i've wanted to do on a project for so long now but a lack of refference makes it difficult. The refference you have and knowledge of the car makes all the difference for something like that.

[willimo]

Bump

Where'd you go? I miss you. And by "you" I mean the Auster... of course.

[flying finn]

That makes two of us..

[ratdat]

Life's thrown up a few problems of late which has kept me away from the models but I have still managed to do some work on them. The Auster's interior panels are fitted and trimmed and I started on the cage. That's done apart from the upper front section. It looks pretty nice at present. I'll upload some pics after I prime and paint it. I've yet to build the mounting for the steering column...that will be some kind of "V" brace from the cage. There's still a few parts of the chassis to complete before it's ready for paint such as the radiator support panel and slam panel.

The DR30 Skyline kit I'd hoped would donate an engine didn't so I'm back on with the scratch build. The kit did have a nice Bride seat (with decal)in it though which I'm sure will find a home in another model

I've also now got some p/e detail parts for it such as hood pins, wipers, harnesses as well as various wires and hoses.

Pics soon

[86_SR5]

thought the car had an engine Eddie, the skyline that is? Oh well, drop an RB26 in it and say fudge it. j/k. hope your paint turns out well, which I'm sure it is, and keep your lids peeled, the blitz 4dr drift machine will be up soon, done with half of the decals!

[ratdat]

Okay, here's a bit of an update

Here's where I'm at now. The body needs a few defects sorting then it's a quick sand and re-prime in white primer....



The interior panels are fitted and the rear shelf has been modified somewhat. I've done most of the cage too. This is made from a chopped up Tamiya JTCC Primera cage ( it was too long and too wide to fit straight in) and some styrene rods. I still have to add a few bars and make the bars that run up the screen pillars (I couln't do those until the dash was done). I'll add some padding when it's fitted for the final time...







I made a dash from some styrene. I will be adding a secondary instrument panel between the dash and the top of the tunnel. I have yet to add the steering column support as I have to convert the Revell 510 steering box to RHD. I will be making the instuments and switches as separate pieces...



On the chassis I have added the radiator support panel. This, again is made from styrene sheet. It was impossible to exactly copy the one on the rear car as the profile was just too complicated and in light of the fact that most of it won't be visible when it's assembled I decided to simplify it a little....





I have modified the original grille too. The Auster grille on the model box art is the high spec version complete with extra driving lights.



I figured this wouldn't be right for a race car as the presence of the lights would limit the available grille opening (and be unneccesary weight). Also the grille in the kit was so badly molded that the center area where there should be thin horizontal bars was totally smooth! So, I carefully cut the center out of the grille and made a new center for it to match the lower spec grille. The damned thing was very fragile once the center was out! This was just made from styrene , the bars are cut with a razor saw. This will be a pain to paint as the grille surround is graphite, the bars black, the headlight surrounds are silver and there's fine chrome bits that will be BMF I've also made some reflector bowls for the headlights from some milliput. These will be BMF'd and polished before fitting. I'll take some pics of them when they are done as the putty hasn't set yet.





Finally, I am thinking of using these Technoracing TV-R rims as they are very period looking and have semi race tyres on them (they look like Advan A008R's). The centers will be painted. What do you all think?

[ratdat]

Originally Posted by 86_SR5

thought the car had an engine Eddie, the skyline that is? Oh well, drop an RB26 in it and say fudge it. j/k. hope your paint turns out well, which I'm sure it is, and keep your lids peeled, the blitz 4dr drift machine will be up soon, done with half of the decals!

So did I. It has an opening hood but no engine! It's an Aoshima kit..this one...



I wanted the kit anyway to replace the awful body in the Fujimi Group A Tomica race Skyline kit so it's not too disappointing. I'll be using the Fujimi decals on this one. It also came with two sets of wheels and some other goodies.

The Auster may yet be in a completely different color scheme to that which I originally planned as I have a few new ideas

[Layla's Keeper]

I agree with those wheels compared to the RS Watanabes. The Watanabes just looked too spindly under that bulky body.

The car still looks spectacular. It's going to be one for the ages once it's done.

[86_SR5]

looks good eddie. nice cage, what rod size you used? I find .100 rod works the best for me. those rims look hot under there, go with them they have a deep look in the bak.