Mitsubishi FTO

[kaho]

Fujimi kit, one of the best looking Japanese cars design, I think.
Planning to build the late model GP version R, but I will have difficulties with decals.




Apparently if I start drilling holes through the front bumper I will lose the front chassis-body mounts, so the first thing that needs work are new mounting points. These mounts uses the space directly above stock points.

[rockinanko]

Ah, very rare subject...the FTO.

i'll be watching this...

[tuned.by.twenty]

I like the FTO.
Good luck with the project!

[sileightsix]

so next the FTO gets the treatment?

Should be enthralling, no less.


A masterwork in the making. Such attention, and skill.

[kaho]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

The center hole has been opened.



Added the inside wall to give the hole some "thickness" before applying putty of any kind. The kit had the early model front lip engraved on the lower front bumper, which I now removed with a carving knife.
These are basically just the opening steps to prepare the body for milliput tomorrow.

[aacikgoz]

be carefull about the lights.. they are horrible...

[kaho]

Thanks, I will keep an eye on that!

Side holes (fog lights, signal lights) opened. With the styrene tubes installed it should be easier to sand when the time comes to shaping the entire bumper, especially the inside of the tubes

[janositamas]

Impressing job so far, nice mods!
May I ask you what size of tubes are you using?

[kaho]

The tubes are Evergreen brand, 5mm outer diameter, 1mm thickness, so holes are now 3mm. I don't have exact measurements of the real car light sockets so I only eyeballed them in pictures.
The process of drilling holes to fit those tubes were pretty risky, There were huge amount of twisting force on the body when the drill bits bit on the jagged plastic and tried to spin the whole car over while I was holding it.

First layer of putty applied, the center hole will need some major filing since I can't smooth the putty out with my fingers, and it's getting late at night.

[sileightsix]

yeeaah!

Brilliant idea with the tubing to preserve the inner portions of the bumper.

Keep it going.

[janositamas]

Thanks for the answer, keep this good work up, mate!

[kaho]

Frist layer of grey primer:


Second layer of grey primer after second layer of milliput



Now trying to get the inner wall of the center hole the right and symmetrical shape.

[kaho]

Almost there, I think.

Hopefully the center hole looks symmetrical enough.

Headlight lenses now have a better fit with the putty work done.



The rear wing was made with absolutely no measurements, but every attempt was made to make sure both ends are symmetrical. The assembly was very fragile.


With life got on the way of modelling this past month and death(read: back to school!!) getting in the way in the coming few days I really have to pray to get this done before the end of this year. I had thought many times to cut corners on this project but in the end I figured it's not worth it to save a day or two on body work. The result was spending 1.5 months on a front bumper and rear spoiler mod

[jano11]

Excellent progress! Keep it up!

[rod_k2]

Somehow when I clicked on this topic,something like "This is going to be COOL" ran through my mind!

And yeh,I was right!

It looks awesome!!