Skylines and 350 Z

[hondaaccordboy21]

I have nothing against these two cars. In fact they are my two favorites. But I think we make too many of them. I think everytime i come onto this website, I think i always find a new skyline or 350z on here I mean it's nothing against the people who make them. Well i dont know, but thats just what i think.

[Layla's Keeper]

I've said it before, it's not that there's too many of those sorts of cars being built, it's that there aren't enough variations on the theme.

If you leaf through a Scale Auto Enthusiast contest annual, you see a lot of examples of the same kits. Case in point; the Revell '32 Ford Coupe and '32 Ford Roadster kits. There's always at least one of these at every show. But, you very rarely see any two that look alike. Engines, bodywork, detail, features, wheels, tires, concept, theme, display, all of these are experimented with to create unique and incredible models.

Yet, with the aforementioned kits, there's a lot of "safe" modification made. Few risks are taken, and it takes a truly daring builder to say "I want to try this anyways." A good example of this is CADguy's 350Z with its Porsche grille work, targa roof, and whale-tail spoiler. It's new and attractive, and no one else had thought of it, yet through careful planning and meticulous finishing, he produced one of the most appealing 350Z's on this board.

That's more of the modeling that should take place. Creativity, attention to detail, and effort put into quality. It shouldn't matter if we all start out with the same kit, but it's a serious matter if we all only have the same ideas.

[Towelboy80]

Yes, you're right. When I build a model I try to find new variation (example: my 180sx with another rear window system) but some people don't like this because there are "purist" of the mark. I don't care about this, it's only a hobby & not a real car (I'd not do this "experimentation" on a real car ). When you see a cool car with an aftermarket kit it's cool but when you see 10 models with this same kit it's not fun.

This is what I think...

[ratdat]

I think some of this has to do with the quality of the kit itself. the Tamiya 350Z kit is excellent quality so it's reasonably easy to build a very nice looking model from it... the same applies to some of the Skyline kits.

For example, The Fujimi R31 I have been working on is an awful kit. There's bits that don't fit and details that are just plain wrong so scratch building is required. This kind of thing puts some modelers off. A couple of times I have been close to abandoning it but some perseverance has made it into a half decent model. I think if you don't have much money to spend on the hobby you're more likely to go for a kit that will build well, garuanteed ...rather than risk it on a kit that might end in disaster.

That said I would like to see more variety, more old kits from the 70's and 80's being built and more wild ideas on the current themes like 350Z's ... CADguy's being the perfect example.

[Hiroboy]

[quote=ratdat]I think some of this has to do with the quality of the kit itself. the Tamiya 350Z kit is excellent quality so it's reasonably easy to build a very nice looking model from it... the same applies to some of the Skyline kits.QUOTE]
Totally Agree, if Tamiya produced more road cars like the S15, FTO, Honda etc we would build more of those. I have about 25 Fujimi Kits and can bring myself to build them as the quality is not really good enough for me.

[EMAXX]

I just build what I like to build. I really want to build the 350Z and the Skyline. I don't care if tons of other people have built them.
Why do we have this threads? It seems like the pop up once or so every month, and they are useless.

[ratdat]

Originally Posted by Hiroboy

Totally Agree, if Tamiya produced more road cars like the S15, FTO, Honda etc we would build more of those. I have about 25 Fujimi Kits and can bring myself to build them as the quality is not really good enough for me.

I find it terribly frustrating that Tamiya's range is, IMO so dull. They make superb kits but of limited variety and too few road cars. shame. I know what you mean about the Fujimi kits. I have a lot of them as they are one of the few companies that build kits of cars I like but sometimes the quality is painfully bad. I picked up a Group A Tomica R31 Skkyline kit recently and the quality is a joke. The car looks like it's been sectioned and had a roof chop

It's okay getting bust with the putty and styrene now and then but with Fujimi you have to do it nearly every time!

EMAXX: Chill dude No ones saying they shouldn't be built at all... hell I've got two 350Z kits on my shelf too Built what makes you happy!

[CADguy]

Thanks for the endorsements guys!

The main reason I built mine was because they are becoming more and more popular on the streets around where I live. I see 2-3 a day. Without seeing the car in person, I have a hard time building it.

The look of the car is appealing, but the stock catfish mouth front end is just hideous. I'm sure it's a functionality thing, but i just think "yuck".

I had to see a completed model in person (and it so happened it was Veyrons) to be hooked and HAVE to build it.

I agree that seeing many box stock builds of the same car over and over can be boring, the skyline is a perfect example. I have no interest in this car aside from the fact I can kick butt with it on Gran Turismo 3. I've never seen one in person, and don't expect to. Maybe if one was parked next to me at a street light I'd get the urge to build it.

Build something other than the norm, and share. We'd all love to see something new. Seeing Ratdat's Silvia made my chin hit the desk. I never expected to see something like that round here. But I'm glad he shared.

[nis.k.a.]

Iagree with everyone else. I, like Steve, love good quality. No matter how many kits Fujimi makes none of them seem appealing to build as the quality on most suck.

The Skyline and 350Z are top quality cars and top quality models. I expect no different. In fact you guys are gone have another R32 to look at once I'm able to order some stuff that hasn't been released (shameless plug but be on the look out).

Tamiya needs to make more street cars and WOULD IT HURT TO MAKE MORETUNER FRIENDLY PARTS? We all know the atmosphere and support aftermarket parts get in Japan. Look at Fujimi. I think everyone wishes Tamiya put their top quality into most/all kits that Fujimi has. *Sigh* that would be a perfect world.

[simdel1]

personally i dont care about loads of threads of the same car. as far as im concerned this website supports the hobby...not the other way round. im building a red ferrari enzo at the moment. I will do a progress thread when enough interesting stuff happens, but i dont care that there have been like 10 red enzo's done already, im building for myself first, and then posting the stuff on here second.

if people want to build something different to post on here, thats great, but complaining that people are building stuff that they want to is just petty.

sorry, this is the first time iv posted anything even remotely offensive (deffensive?) on this forum, but i just feel that the "your not doing enough interesting things for me to look at" is a bit silly...

im not trying to flame anyone here, just expressing an oppinion. ill probably regret this post after i get flamed by everyone here...

moving onto the other issue raised in this thread, yes...i also agree that tamiyas range is a bit limited, it would be nice to see more road cars...but at the rate im going through models ill be lucky to get round to building another model by this time next year

[Sigmaman]

Who cares,as Antonio says"build for yourself no one else matters.Obviously these cars push the majoritys buttons.Somesday it will be something else.Until then,more power to the Skyline.

[willimo]

Really, who cares what people build? There was a thread a while back about innovation where some people expressed ideas like Layla's Keepers about breaking out of the box of "safe" modifications (in fact, I think he started the thread but I'm not sure, I like to attribute random things to him....). I can agree to this whole heartedly (go ahead and point out my participation in a recent, very large thread and call me hypocritical, but my beef there was different) and thing that innovation is lacking around here. CADguys's 350Z, Veyron's 350Z (that was the GT-R conversion, right?), that yellow heavily modded 350Z (I forgot whose) are all great examples of people breaking out of the box with common models, and I love all three. ChrisMcgee built a slew of common cars, but most exhibit some sort of crazy modification. So who cares about the car used, as long as something cool comes of it. Personally, cars like Ratdat's Auster and Silvia and SLK's 510, very pleasantly break up the selection here. But anyway, I'm not saying this 'cause I want to come here and see anything new and different, I enjoy looking at even stock, blue R34s and Red Enzos. With good execution, those are still great models.

As far as Tamiya's small selection, I agree, I wish there were more. But I can't imagine plastic models as an insanely lucrative business. The quality they produce probably costs a lot, and so they can only develop a few cars that are guranteed sellers, like Skylines and 350Z's. Fujimi probably spends considerably less to develop each model, so they can afford to develop more, more ambiguous vehicles. But yes, Tamiya like Honda will soon miss the boat with tuners if they keep pretending they are so much better than everyone and refuse to play with the other companies. Silly Tamiya.

Oh, and while we're talking about the 350Z, I'll admit that it's a nice kit, very well molded and easy to build (heresay, I haven't built one yet). But metal axles? Single peice undercarriage?? Come on! This is not a great model. It's ok, but not great. Anyway, let my put my soap box back under my bed and just hush.

[ywwong]

this thread kind of discourage me posting my "built-stock" models. blah.

[ratdat]

Originally Posted by ywwong

this thread kind of discourage me posting my "built-stock" models. blah.

What!? Get them posted on here! I'll be posting my completely stock 350Z when I've done it. Nothing wrong with stock built models at all

I think the point of all this is that if Tamiya made the kits Fujimi do we'd all be buying them. However, some people will buy whatever Tamiya currently make, not neccesarily because it's exactly what they want but because they don't want to buy a crappy low quality kit from the likes of Fujimi. I think if Fujimi suddenly started making Tamiya quality kits, but JDM tuner stuff and road cars, Tamiya's sales would fall sharply. The result of that would most likely be some fresh models from them, possibly even some tuner stuff, in order to compete. At present Tamiya have no need to do so as their models sell on quality alone.

I don't think this thread is in any way critisising anyone who want's to build a stock, from the box kit, a 350Z or any of the other popular subjects. In the end we are building models for ourselves, not for others (well some are ) so it really doesn't matter what you build.

[tazdev]

things like this run in phases 1 month there may be dozens of 1 make made but the next there may only be 1 or 2. But in all reality who cares how many are being made as long as we keep seeing stunning examples and new 'twists' on the theme then its all good.

keep em coming team