The new Rocket Bunny S14

[willimo]

Everyone has surely seen the renderings of Rocket Bunny's new kit for the S14 Silvia. If not, look here for pictures of what the car is supposed to look like. There are some pictures of the actual 1:1 under construction on the internet out there, but I am trying to get this done before any transkits are available!

As it turns out, it's just going to be "inspired" but the renderings of the 1:1, as I'm not that great at body work and there are some things I want to change to my own taste.

I know a lot of you want me to get started on the Eightyone81 Civic RR, so if tradition holds up, this WIP thread will kill my momentum and I will give up on the Nissan, and get started on that

Forgive me for the pictures, as these were all taken with a cell phone...

First, I cut off the rear bumper and boxed in the body work, and began adding the ribbing pressed into the sheet metal. I also added some flares from Fujimi's detail-up set. I thought they would be too small, but when I mocked them up and then glued them on, they were perfect. I have had these wheels laying around in my stash for years, decades even, and never knew what I would use them on. Good thing I kept them, they are perfect!





I was going to try to build up my own front end but two efforts were pretty awful, so I decided to order a Revell Challenger to base the new body work on. You may have noticed the to plastic strips along the edge of the fender, I will use them to line up the Challenger nose and to help form the more defined line as it extends back and into the bodywork of the Silvia.



It needed to be narrowed, the front bumper needed to be made shorter, and the front valance was going in the trash. I narrowed the Challenger's front end, replaced the front bumper with some styrene, and fleshed out the valence. I added a piece of sheet styrene to the Silvia's hood, to extend the character bulge down the length. I puttied it all up and sanded. Then I drew the vents and things on the front end and cut them out.













I added the front fender flare. I decided to mold the flares to the body instead of making them look bolted on. Mostly because I am not great at body work, but also because I thought it would look a little cooler if it were a smooth transition. (Also, I drew the 9 on the side because when I was measuring out stuff that number kept showing up, and I might put it on the model at the end.)



Then, prime and sand, prime and sand, prime and sand, prime and sand, prime and sand....













You'll notice I extended the character line from down the side and around the back of the car, to the front ahead of the wheel arch, something that Rocket Bunny didn't do.









Oh, also, spoiler. Easy enough, just a piece of styrene along the edge and a thick fillet of putty, sanded smooth.



Then some white primer...



And paint! Woohoo! TS-85 Bright Red Mica, same as my Rocket Bunny FRS, for a family look.





Looking good, oh ye--



Oh noooo!!!

Oh well, quick repaint. While I waited on that to work itself out, you know, putty drying, primer drying, new paint drying... I got started fooling around on the interior. I wanted a "full" interior but with a bare package shelf and a roll cage. I cut the kit's package shelf off and built a new one, cutting and drilling holes and adding strip styrene for the ribs stamped into the metal. I used the roll cage from a Tamiya Porsche 911 GT2 as a jumping off point, providing the sides. I made the rest with styrene rod, with the major parts pinned with thinner styrene rod.









Seats and steering wheel and shift knob are all Hobby Design parts. I added some decals from a Hobby Design set for the FIA stickers. I used a digital gauge cluster from the same decal set, as well. I wanted to leave some red body work showing through the center console and the package shelf, so the chassis plate was painted red before I put it all together. Not really shown, but I made new door cards too. They are a piece surrounding an open space, like on a Ferrari F40, with the wire as the door pull and everything. You can see them in pictures later.







The body freshly repainted, and polished, ready for detail work. You can see how the red pops behind the body work, and barely make out the door cards I made. I still need to build the front headlight/grill assembly though I am not exactly sure what I am going to do for it. I feel the same about the rear diffuser - it will be important to get the look right but I want to do my own thing to integrate it with the exhaust. I also have to build up the suspension, and I am going to do this more "correctly" than I usually do, and not just use epoxy to stick it wherever I want to make up for a lousy ride height.













That's where it sits now. Any comments and criticisms welcome! I know I am not the best at body work but I think this job is coming out well. I have started using a new putty called Apoxie Sculpt, and it has been a revelation for me!

Thanks for looking!

[avd]

That look amazing. Can't wait til to see its finish

[da_ashman]

Amazing work, Looks awesome!!! Love the Wheels!!!!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Wow. Much cool. The model even has that subtle hint of BMW E9 going on.

There's a guy on the Model Cars forum who really wants to build this car, but he's completely hung up on his inability to deal with a curbside. He knows so little about Japanese cars much less Silvias and he doesn't even know the nomenclature. But it has to have a little lump of full-detail plastic playing "engine" under the hood, otherwise it'll never happen. I assume...it will never happen.

Meanwhile, you're merrily taking care of business and we're seeing a killer model being created. Keep going!

[circuitR]

Amazing work Will!

[GTRfan01]

this is AWESOME!
i really like this car and youve done a great job so far,
thanks for sharing

[tonioseven]

Fantabulous! This is typical of the fantastic work you regularly produce yet downplay your capabilities on. Lol Thanks for sharing this with us!! Willim Clness!!

[willimo]

Thanks y'all. Those are kind words! I am struggling a bit now that I have moved back to a humid climate - I have had to learn to paint all over again. But y'all are as encouraging as you are inspiring so I am happy and am not losing momentum yet!

[tonioseven]

I went through a similar situation when I moved back to Ohio. I had to re-learn the techniques I once left behind. I'm still not there yet but I'm making progress.

[nugundam93]

very nice conversion work!

[sportracer02]

great work, looks fantastic

[GTRfan01]

great work so far, i love it!

[nascar49]

Awesome work so far

[generationx]

Excellent work on a great looking car.

[accord2k2]

not to take attention from this build, but would you mind posting some pics of the green EK in the background?

BTW killer build! you have always built some cool kits!