1/25 Civic Hatchback, another one...

[Doc305]

Hi, I started with the Revel kit 85-2388 which is a 2000 Honda Civic Si. That’s the car I have IRL so I wanted to build that one really nice. A long story cut short, I tried to make working fog lights and headlights and it was hard and eventually I got pissed and stopped the project. So now I have the Revel kit 85-2389 which is a Honda Civic Dx Hatchback. I haven’t build a model in almost ten years and back then I would only buy Tamiya kits but this Revell one is pretty good IMO.

GOAL: My goal is to have this hatchback lowered, working fog lights and add more realism to both grilles, oh and the best engine/engine bay I can do.

1st. Chassis: I decided to add weight to my model so I used 3M Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty. I added a thin layer of bondo to the inside of the gas tank, in the depressed area. Warning: Bondo will melt your lil plastic model so don’t apply thick coats, only thin ones and let it fully dry. This took me a few days of thin layers to complete. I tried to add weight to the Coupe model but didn’t know better and added a thick layer of bondo, next morning the rear seats melted and lost their shape. Yeah I learned the hard way. Eventually I glued both the interior and the chassis together. Added more bondo to the wheel-well (4).
Bondo underneath the rear seats

On this pic you can see Bondo behind the rear seats. The little white piece is to secure the rear panel (where the speakers go) at the right height. A hole, slightly larger than the diameter of the metal exhaust tip was made on the muffler cause when I pet the body the exhaust didnt align well.

2nd. Engine Bay: Removed the battery, brake fluid reservoir, power steering, all cables that were molded onto the driver-side (by the shock tower). Removed all molded cables from the firewall and glued it to the chassis. Then I carved out the mounting place where the bottom of the intake manifold goes attached to. Yeah I’ll have to make scratch built motor mounts, brake fluid reservoir, and everything I “took” off. I also deepened all holes underneath the chassis.
This is how you're stock, outta-d box engine bay looks like


Here's how mine is so far. You can also see I cut out the opening that leads to the radiator drain plug and the firewall w/o the molded wires/cables/hoses


3rd. Chassis: I painted the bottom semi-gloss black, following the instructions. But the bottom of a car ain’t semi-gloss black, it’s more flat colored and not smoothe at all. At this point it’s staying like that cause I already have the exhaust and rear suspension installed. Yeah, sorry I started the write-up after I started the build. This write-up is catching up to the build.

And since I had an entire spare Civic Coupe, I chose to use the Si’s interior doors but the rear panels didn’t fit so I had to carefully cut the doors from the rear panels. So my set-up will be Si doors, and Dx rear panels. At this point I aligned the doors and glued them. I haven’t glued the rear panels cause I’m waiting for the flockin to arrive. After flockin then I can glue the rear panels in place.

4th. Rear Suspension: I thought of buying a set of photo-etched disc brakes but I’m kinda broke right now. Trying to build my toy car and fix my real car… So no photo-etched brakes for now. Painted the rotors with TS-30 Silver Leaf, calipers with XF-56 Metallic Grey, the rest of the suspension went TS-29 Semi-gloss black, rear sway bar was painted X-7 Red (only one coat was sufficient cause I don’t want my sway bar to be really bright red).

The shocks were given a more realistic look by cutting the molded spring out, drilling about 2mm STRAIGHT into the bottom part of the shock, I happen to always save “little shit” so I had enough length of a metal piece of rod and spare little springs. The top part of the shock assembly was cut and drilled about 1-1.5mm too but I then realized it wont be seen (it wont be displayed with it’s wheels off) so I didn’t use it. I also painted the springs TS-36 Fluorescent Red (a color I happen to have after an attempt to build the 1/12 MP4/6) and at this size the color looks nice, very nice tucked in there.

5th. Body: I removed all molding lines, thinned the fender-wells up front only, deepened all body panel lines, carved out the windshield wipers (I intend to put photo-etched ones but don’t have any at this moment). After those steps I checked for fitment and glued the rear bumper onto the body and thinned the rear wheel-wells, deepened the line from the rear bumper to the trunk door, sanded off the “Dx”, “Civic”, and the Honda logo. It’ll be debadged but I have photo-etched Honda logos so I’ll use those. Cut off the mounting brackets behind the tail lights and the ones up front too. The entire front piece (where the mounting bracket for the body is located, where the headlights would go attached to, the piece right above the radiator) was made thinner, holes were made thru it, etc. Masked the side-skirts and rear bumper lip then I applied a thin coat of TS-30 Silver Leaf throughout. Applied another thin layer about ten minutes later. Off to the bumper… oh noooo..

6th. Front Bumper: Like I said, it’ll have working fog lights. So first I cut the support bracket right behind the front lip, after a few days of careful sanding I was able to obtain a see-thru lower grill, see-thru fog lights, and cut out the inside of the upper grill. I started by making the holes larger on the headlights so 3mm LED could fit but I gave up on the working headlights cause then it’ll impair me from doing a nice engine bay so only fog lights this time. Painted the headlights using XF-1 Flat Black, leaving the chrome for the headlight and the turn signal. Turn signal was painted X-26 Clear Orange. Then I checked everything for fitment and glued one side of the bumper to one fender. Let dry. Glued in the headlights and glued the other side of the bumper to the other fender. So I only have two mounting points for this bumper since I cut off the back of the grill and the under-side of the radiator support. I added two small pieces of plastic, glued right behind the headlights attaching/reinforcing the bumber/fender/headlight.
Once the bumper and headlights were attached I placed masking tape on my work bench so I can draw on it to align the lights. With tape, I secured the body/shell in place leaving the engine bay clear so I can work in there. I used 3mm yellow LEDs. Placed a very small amount of crazy glue to the bottom of the LED and inserted it into it’s place. Once the crazy started to dry I didn’t have to hold the LED with tweezers and this allowed me to move the LED slightly in order to align it. Once one side was aligned, I removed the tape and released the body, applied more crazy glue to the same side LED for further reinforcement then placed it back on the same position it was. Turned on the LED and marked its outline on the masking tape with a pen. Then I did the same process for the other fog light and once turned on I was able to align it just like the other one by marking its outline.






**NOTE: I apologize for the low quality pics. These are from my phone. I'll post higher quality pics once my friend lends me his camera but for now I'll do my best to describe my processes.**

[MidMazar]

Cool progress, keep it up. Hopefully some Honda fans will enjoy. Keep us posted. Welcome to AF.

[prortiz80]

I agree....Cool progress, keep it up....... My question is why add wait to the model? good job on cleaning the engine bay, i like the fog lights and headlight idea. you just got to do it before i did. i was thinking of doing the same. but looking forward on how you work yours out......Good luck with it

[Doc305]

Prortiz80, It's not so much to add weight but once it's done, I dont want the outside of the door panels (the side that's not visible once the body is in place) to show, I want it smoothe all around. And I did it before while attempting to build the Coupe version but as I mentioned, I messed it up. This was my 2nd attempt at Bondo-ing a model and it worked better. I still messed up a bit. Bondo melts plastic and I slipped a bit but it's prob fixable. I'll post a comparison pic so you can see my 1st and 2nd attempt at Bondo sometime Saturday.

I made a hole for the LEDs on the headlight but I got ahead of myself and then realized that if I were to add LEDs to the headlights, this would impair me from making an engine bay look real. The radiator support brace would have to be almost paper thin for me to fit the LEDs back there so No LEDs on the headlights, only fog lights. So this hole I made... Well it's there already so Imma have to think of a way of making a reflector shield or glare shield (the shit that covers the headlight bulb). The flockin has arrived so the interior is getting done tomorrow, for most part. I'll have pics up.

[Doc305]

Ok, I was able to borrow a camera so here you go...

Some goodies I'll be adding along the way
Fan

Nuts and Hood Pins (and other stuff I might find a use for

More stuff

Honda Logos (many different ones. I think I got it for $8, it's worth it cause I can use them on other honda models of all sizes)


In the beginning...

more cutting...

Sorry for thebad quality. Eventually that little tab under the radiator support came off.

Fender well Bondo-ed.

Painted

In the process of de-badging

Here I carved out the middle part, in between the shiter rods

Here you can see I took off the mounting brackets to lower the ride height. Once the tires go in, they will be touching the fender-well but it's ok. I'm not playing with it...

Rear Suspension. Still need to give it a wash and add photo-etched nuts.

Here you can see I cut an opening on the muffler so that the metal piece (included in the kit) can be aligned with the rear bumper

Checkin for fitment


A little accident happened today, thanks... Well, as you see here the LEDs are NOT connected to one another so I connected them. When I tested to see if they were working, one didn't. Yes, I had previously checked them before even gluing them but... So ok, I'll take it off and swap it. No problem. Well, I removed the working one by mistake so both came off. But it's a good thing I didnt realize before because I still need to give this bumper a few more coats and with the LEDs in place I'd have to mask the entire foglight/cover. So Imma paint it (sometime) then glue'em back on.

I'll give it a few more coats before installing. You can see I drilled the cup holder holes and the little compartment in front of them.

[Doc305]

Last night's progress... Considering it's my very first time using flockin (and photo-etched parts and scratch built stuff) I'm pleased with the outcome so far.

Here I put on the dashboard to double check fitment and you can see how close it is to the very top of the firewall (2nd pic, also in this pic you can see the battery suppor)... well, the doors being in that position will cause me lots of problems so Imma have to take off the doors and move them a tiny bit back


The bad thing about moving the doors a bit back is that I added extensions to the rear panels to "fill-in" the gap in between the door panel and rear panel... I'll fix it.

Here's the radiator support from the Civic Si. I just carved out the radiator overflow tank from the Hatchback kit and glued a small piece of a sprue... a little sanding, bondo, and sanding even more will make it look close to real.

I think this is the Brake fluid reservior, regardless, there's three similar objects in an engine bay so I gotta scratch build them

Sanded and polished the headlights/removed the 3 little lines running across the lens. (pic is not the final result)

Scratch built Optima Battery test fit in scratch build Battery support. This battery is a piece of cake to make. It was harder/more time consuming to remove the molded battery than to create this one. All it takes is 6 same diameter pieces of sprue glued together, sanded to they are even and flat both top and bottom, and then glue a small/thin piece of plastic on top and sand the edges. For the top part I used that lil plastic thing that keeps the bag of a loaf of bread closed. Cut it to size and sand it and ur set...

[willimo]

Looking well so far. I'm looking forward to seeing all your details as they get built and put in place. Very nice little hatch!

[Doc305]

I haven't done much these past few days cause 1. My real car broke and needs a new heart and 2. For some reason I felt the need to start work on the 1/18 Civic.. Anyways, here are the seats. Cut off the head-rests in order to add the sliders. Dont know yet if I'll make'em work Up/down, prob not.


Since a child I took shit apart. But taking things apart is easier than putting them back together correctly... Over the years eventually I learned how to assemble some of the things I took apart (cameras, casset players, game boy, mp3, ipod, newer digital camera, floppy disk camera, nintendo64, dvd player, etc... lol) But from day one I saved internal things because I always thought "one they I can use these". Kinda like a hoarder, but not anymore, I got a use for these things now, hehehe. Well, I happen to have these. IDK what they are or where they came from but anyways, they resemble the top of a strut and I might use them. They're nice since they're machined.


Ps: I'm posting a thread on the work I started on the 1/18.

[prortiz80]

i like the detail u putting in to this civic. when i make mine i hope we can compare notes

[Doc305]

Sorry but no updates on this build cause I haven't done anything. I got pissed with my brushing techniques so I ordered an airbrush, I still dont know if an air regulator or another air compressor is needed. I already have an air compressor, it's 20gal/155psi, I THINK an air regulator is all I need but not sure yet. I rathre find out b4 I buy another compressor. Once I get my latest tools Imma try to finish it quick cause Im dying to build a 1/12 M1. But I still gotta finish this one, build the coupe version and the 1/18 version at the same time, then I can buy the bike. I dont want boxes piling up or else they'll never get done.

[Twowheelsrule]

Originally Posted by Doc305

Sorry but no updates on this build cause I haven't done anything. I got pissed with my brushing techniques so I ordered an airbrush, I still dont know if an air regulator or another air compressor is needed. I already have an air compressor, it's 20gal/155psi, I THINK an air regulator is all I need but not sure yet. I rather find out b4 I buy another compressor.

Your compressor will work fine. You will need a regulator that works well between 10-50psi for airbrushing. You will also need a air dryer to keep water out of paint it can be found a Wal-mart in the Cambell Hasfield compressor area. The main advantage of a airbrush special compressor is size and they are not as loud other than that air is air.


Mark

[Doc305]

About two weeks have passed since I ordered my airbrush... All this downtime had me searching and dreaming and the result was many purchases LMFAO, I got
*one 1/24 YZR-M1 by Heller w/ Rossi figure.
*two 1/12 RC211V LCR by Tamiya (yes the exact same one cause i gotta good deal on both) but if you want one for $40 free shipping let me know.
*one 1/9 YZR-M1 by Revell
*one 1/24 Enzo by Revell
*four 1/24 RC211V by Tamiya (which I'm selling cause I dont want build stuff but it was a bargain so i had to get it) if you want'em $38 free shipping.
*one 1/12 Mclaren MP4/6, yup "Thee one". It's actually my 2nd one. I sold the 1st one built but unpainted, yeah I know what a disgrace doin that to that car (building it w/o painting it) but this time I'll paint it.
*two different 1/43 go carts by Minichamps. These are rare but when I was a lil kid (early 90's) I had a 1/43 go cart from Senna (of course i broke it) and I also had that 1/18 version of Senna on the go cart (some1 else broke it, till this day all I have is Senna's helmet from that model) Damn, I wish I knew better back then. I'd have a priceless (or very expensive) collection.
*of course my airbrush and some VERY usefull mini drill bits. These two are keeping me from finishin the Hatch. The drill bits for the headrest holes, all around the engine, and future builds, the airbrush to have a good paint job.

and next week:
*two 1/12 Moto GP Helmets by HobbyDesign
*one 1/8 Ayrton Senna Helmet from 1994
*one 1/12 Ayrton Senna Helmet from 1994
*one or two (dependin on $$) 1/24 Williams FW-19 by Revell
*Finisher's MP4 red
*about 20 more Tamiya Acrylic minis

But I promissed myself I wouldn't get started on any of them till the Civic is done. And I still gotta fix the real Civic in my driveway before the summer term starts if not Imma be scarred walkin n shit...

[Mojo_stevo]

Why did you remove the lines from the lights? Do the USDM ones not have the lines?

[willimo]

They do, but not that large. Very overscale detail that Revell included. They should have just left them off.

[dieseldub]

Doesnt look like another one to me,

I really like the way you are taking it and the way you write about it too. Hope you get your stuff soon and continue this great piece.

-D.