1994 Nissan Fairlady 300ZX

[Kila2000]

Hi all
I've been hanging round this site for a while but thought its probably about time I contributed. I've been working on a Fujimi Nissan Fairlady 300ZX for about the last month or so.
Box art.JPG
I should mention that I newly back into the hobby after a break of a number of years. In the past I knew nothing of things like removing mold lines, using primer and even using an airbrush having never owned one. I had also never altered a model in any way. This kit and what I've seen online has changed all that.
Firstly, this kit had a few faults, main one being some damage to the rear pillars, both were pushed in and deformed a bit.
Broken pillar.JPG
I have sorted that with a bit of styrene glued inside the pillar and sanded down a bit to allow the window to still fit.
Next was the seats, I didn't like the hollow backs and so filled them in with some styrene, putty and a few coats of Mr Surfacer. Heres a before and after shot.
Seat backs.JPG
And the last main problem was a test fit of body and interior revealing a rather large gap.
Large gap.JPG
Once again I used styrene to sort this out and although I don't have a pic to back it up, the results were very satisfying.

Using my new airbrush I sprayed the spare whell housing and sump on the chassis Gunze silver followed by a mostly successful masking and spraying of flat black. Only a small amount of touch up was required around the silver. This was followed up with my very first attempt at dry brushing.
Chassis drybrushed.JPG
I then moved to the interior. I used a custom mix of paint to get a tanish colour for the upholstery and a light grey colour as a contrast. I'm hoping to flock the interior too, something else I've never done.
Seats painted.JPG Dash.JPG
The black parts have been lightly dry brushed too in an attempt to bring out some detail.
And finally I got to the body. I know most people start with the body but for me it was the part of the build I was most nervious about so I kept putting it off. I can now see the benefits of doing it first though, takes awhile for coats to dry and set allowing the next steps to happen.
Body.JPG
Still have a way to go, next up is learning how to polish the body. I have a few things to try out there.

Well, thats where I'm at. I'll hopefully post more when I get more done in the meantime I'm keen to get any comments and suggestions anyone is willing to share.

Thanks

[Zachary Zoomy]

very nice!

[InsomniacZ32]

Not gonna change the exhaust? 300zxs have true dual exhaust from the exhaust manifolds back. That's my main beef with Fujimi's z32 models.

[Kila2000]

Like the Tamiya kit has?
Two problems: 1, I've already glued the exhaust in place and 2, I wouldn't even know how to make it have two anyway.
Didn't know this was the case for this car so I'll have to live with it. Thanks anyway

[InsomniacZ32]

Yea, silly Fujimi. I've also never seen a slicktop z32 model before, I have several Fujimi Zs, but they all have t-tops, unlike the one you have.

Nice work so far though, if you need any reference pics lemme know, I have tons of my own Z and others.

[Kila2000]

Hi guys, remember this build?
Well, after a failure with the first paint job I decided to strip it back and re-do it. Unfortunately I re-broke that broken window pillar again. After that I shelved the model. Its now a couple of months later and I pulled it back again after thinking I'd like to give a custom body kit a go.
Now, I have never done any kind of scratch building beofre and I'm not reallly that experienced at modeling anyway but I still wated to give it a go. So, Last week I started on this and heres whereI've gotten to.
So far 95% of the work has been on the front end of the kit. I looked online for pics of 300ZX body kits and then just started making one up as I went along but still using some eliments of what I found. Heres some pics:
This is the original front end:
Front end original.JPG
And after a bit of work I got it to this:
New front day 2.JPG
New front day 2 - side.JPG
And then decided to add some more styrene to make a meatier bumper:
New front day 2 - wing.JPG
I don't have pics yet but I have added more styrene to that and make it thicker which will allow me to shape it more. I also plan to add some 'teeth' to the sharks mouth.

The lights below the headlights were made from a clear strip that wrapped around the bumper:
Original lights.JPG
I didn't really like it so I cut out the middle leave just the lights part:
New lights.JPG

And while I've been waiting for glue and putty to dry I took a look at the exhausts. Heres the OOB exhaust:
Exhaust original.JPG
And after a bit of a search I found some old AMT sprue thick enough to make a decent big bore:
Big bore part.JPG
After a bit of clean up and th removal of the kit exhausts I came up with this:
Big bore mock up.JPG
I might change this again though, unsure yet.

Now, none of this is following any set plan, its all what I think will look good so its far from accurate. Hopefully in the end I get a decent looking custom vehicle.

Thanks for looking in
Any advise and critique is welcomed
Cheers
Wil

[DabHand]

to get a symetrical professional looking kit the best thing to do is do some idea sketches first, then mock them up on cardboard to use as templates then make the 2xbumpers 2xskirts wing etc seperate. if you do everything as you go along, the design is inconsitant and you`ll find that the end results are disappointing.

good luck with it though

[MidMazar]

I like your progress, you should post pics instead of thumbs. The bodykit looks good, seems like you can sand some of the openings a little more as they aren't symetrical. Either way looks like itll be a sweet zx. Keep us posted.

[Kila2000]

How do you post full size pictures?