Projects I’m currently working on appear below. More photos are added as each progresses. Completed projects get moved off this page and into the Build Diaries.
updated 6 July 2019
1988 Taka-Q Toyota 88C-V (Tamiya, 1:24)
The Toyota 88C-V is a Group C sports prototype entered by Toyota in the 1988 All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It was designed and built by Dome and utilises a 3.2 litre turbocharged V8 engine.
While the box, instruction booklet and decals have yellowed a little (it is, after all, a 30-year-old kit), I’m hoping the decals will still be ok when it’s time to apply them.
This will be a standard out-of-box build.
The parts in Tamiya kit #24083, Toyota 88C-V: 2 black sprues, 1 yellow parts sprue, 1 yellow body (2 x pieces), 1 sprue of clear parts, a bag of tyres, tyre marking sheet and one big decal sheet.
1998 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Dale Earnhardt (Revell/Monogram, 1:24)
I’ve had this model jammed up the back of the kit stash for years, and after doing the recent ‘Quick Build’ of a Revell ‘Pro Finish’ NASCAR kit (see the Build diary HERE), thought it would be a good time to build a proper NASCAR stock car model.
This Revell-Monogram kit depicts Dale Earnhardt’s Richard Childress Racing Goodwrench Chev Monte Carlo from the early season races of 1998, which includes that year’s Daytona 500 that Earnhardt famously won.
Kit components. Everything is molded in white, except for the clear windows and rubber tyresNot sure if this is just a bad example, or whether it’s typical of Revell-Monogram kits – there is a LOT of flash on parts and heavy mold lines. There’s a lot of work ahead to clean up every part in this kit.Flash around the front of the bonnet (sorry, the *hood*)This is supposed to be one of the roll cage bars with paddingI’ve used a marker pen to identify the mold lines and imperfections that need to be sanded and/or filled before paintingI use Tamiya putty for filling gaps and sink holes. Unfortunately it shrinks as it dries.After initial putty and a hit of primer, it’s time for… more putty.Left: an original kit tyre. Right: Tyre with the tread sanded to remove mold marks and give a driven-on texture.All the rims required the outer edge to be cleaned up. The wheel on the left has been prepped; the one on the right was the worst of the lot as many of the slots had to be cleaned and opened up as well.All parts are now prepped and the body/chassis/floorpan primed.The decal sheet includes the silver & red lower banner that runs around the bottom of the car. I’ve decided to spray the silver, then (hopefully) use just the red part as the separation.Masked and ready for silver.The silver was then masked ready for the gloss black body colour.Basic engine in flat aluminium (oops, aluminum) colour.The instructions call for “Chevy Engine Red’ as the colour for the roll cage. It’s at this point I realise this model is most definitely not of the Daytona 500 winner. Earnhardt’s ‘500 win was at the wheel of a car with grey interior and very different grill mesh arrangement on the nose. This kit’s box art depicts red interior, so I went with that. I found the colour at Autobarn and got lazy and used direct from the can. Big mistake! The spray is far less controlled and far heavier than a Tamiya TS rattle can. It was very hard to do light mist coats to get things started, but the initial coverage didn’t look too bad and was reasonably smooth and glossy while still wet. However, it looked far worse once dry. See the sandy look below.After (or during) drying, a weird ghostly residue formed on several areas for no obvious reason.The residue seems to have polished out ok with a soft cloth. These pics also show how bad the paint job is. I really should have decanted this and run it through the air brush, or mixed some TS to get the right shade. Oh well, it matches the quality of some of the moldings… 😮Progress on detailing parts and fitting out the chassis. Engine is pretty much done. Main body has had it’s first coat.Roll cage starting to come together after the two main side pieces are fixed in place. Interior parts have to be fitted before any more bar work gets in the way.The real car has a fine red line around each rim edge, The kit does not include this, so I had a crack with a paint pen. It’s not too bad, but too thick for the scale. Wheel hub and lug nuts have been detailed by hand.The kit does not include any method for locating the rear parcel shelf at the correct angle. After lots of dry fitting with the body, I used a shortened toothpick as a temporary brace to set the angle while the glue dried.These race cars have basic trailing arm rear suspension with coil springs as mandated by NASCAR. The kit includes belt-driven pump off the front of the diff.At least there’s one part of this kit I’m happy with – the dashboard! I used a really fine brush to pick out the needle, face markings and rim of each gauge (the detail is cast into the part), then used Kristal Klear for the lenses. $2 coin gives an idea of the size.Underside taking shape. Once the rear end was in, I fitted the tailshaft, then the engine. The instructions call for the tailshaft to go in last, but that would have been impossible because, with a mounting pin at each end, it’s longer than the available space! Revell-Monogram label this a ‘Level 2’ kit, but if a novice builder just followed the instructions, they’d get this step messed up.
1988 Coloni CF188 (Tameo, 1/43 scale)
I bought this Tameo kit from a shop in Adelaide in the late 1990s. The previous owner had made a start, painting the body and floor, plus assembling the front and rear wings.
They’ve done a decent job of the body, but there are numerous other parts that should be the same colour. I’m going to have to try and find the right yellow to match, or perhaps strip the existing work and re-spray to get a uniform look.
Tameo kit #75 has been started by someone else. Will be finished by me.Gearbox drilled to accept the drive shafts which have been cut to length for fitting the wheelsEach rim is two pieces and then requires photo-etched spokes and wheel nut to be glued in place. Wheels nuts are about 2mm wide… Tyres have had the edges lightly sanded.Fitting the spokes inside the rims, which have had some black paint added. Each wheel will be sprayed semi-gloss black.
