Fujimi - 1:24 Mazda RX-8 VeilSide

I don't know why I bought this model, maybe I was attracted by its exaggerated modification.  The model is in so and so quality, the interior is the usual Fujimi medium detailed models, tub-liked molding, with very little detail for the door panels.  The wheels are nice but too small for the car, I think.  There are totalling 11 parts made up for the main body.  Since this is an average detail model, I am not going to spend time to do any significant modification but build it straight from the box.

[Progression]
Day 1 [16/7/08]: Detach all body parts and sand with 400-grit sandpaper.  The surface of the rear wing has serious sink marks, I used a rougher sandpaper (around 200-grit) to sand the surface smooth rather than applying putty because I want to decrease the thickness of the wing.  Since the entire rear wing need to be colored, there are no place to attach the holder, so I assembled the wing before spraying.

Day 2 [22/7/08]: Thinning the body edges with milling tool.  Glue the side skirts to the main body, and prime all the body parts with gray primer.

Day 3 [23/7/08]: Sand smooth the primed parts and paint everything in black.  Put on side decals, I was planning to finish the whole car in matt black, however, after put on the decals, I think it should looks better in gloss black.  I also apply a thin layer of clear coat to settle the decal afterward.  After I put the clear coat, I notice that the color of the decal doesn't match the color as shown on the box.  The decal on the box is in silver grey, whereas the decal is in beige.  After the second look at the decals, they don't quite match the black color body, but it's too late to remove them.

Day 4 [24/7/08]: The pump problem still keep me from finishing the final spraywork for the car body, so I turned to assemble the other parts.  I start assembling the cockpit, the cockpit is (like Prosche 959) a tub-like piece, that is the door panel and rear seats are molded in one piece.  The door panel has nearly no detail at all, so I just spray the whole tub, seatsn and dashboard with flat black.  The chassis is rough too, everything underneath is molded on, again I spray the whole panel with flat black.

Day 5 [25/7/08]: Continue assemble cockpit, front and back suspensions (actually the brake disc only since the model doesn't have suspension details.  I accidentally discard the plastic axle for the rear wheels which located in sprun A.  I don't realize that Fujimi not even provide a metal rod for the axle.  As such, I have I have to customize one using the plastic rod (pic 1).  Put a second layer of clear coat to the body.
pic 1

Day 6 [28/7/08]: Sand the body with 2000 grit sandpaper and apply Modeler (2000) and Fujimi (8000) rubbing compound.

Day 7 [30/7/06]: Put on other small parts to the body, such as the head and rear lights, side air outlets, rear wing etc.  Mission completed.

Fujimi vs Gunze Sangyo - 1:24 Ferrari 250 GTO (analysis)

My most favorous Ferrari car and long waiting Ferrari 250 GTO model from Fujimi ("FJ") is finally here.  Yesterday, I found one in WaiLx in Wanchai, I bought it right away without second thought for $238.  I don't know if it is a good deal or not, if anyone found a better deal in the market, please let me know as I want to buy two more boxes for painting in different color and different degree of modification.
The kit's building layout is quite similar to the one I bought earlier by Gunze Sangyo ("GS"), a discontinued model introduced in the 80's where I bought from eBay for more than $500 four years ago.  However, my GS kit has no engine detail but has a lot of white metal & PE parts, and preassembled PE wire wheels.
Both kits have their pros and cons, I really cannot judge which one is better than the other without building them first.  But by the glimpse of the body shape, parts and the way of building process, I think FJ is closer to the real car than the GS, it is not surprising due to the improvement in measuremnet technology after 20 years.
The GS is still a very detailed and collectible model kit, it required certain skill to make the end product looks marvelous.  It's a model that you would admire from top to the chassis.  There are no other manufacturers in nowadays who use white metal and PE as parts of the kit, which gives a better quality feel to the model.

Air compressor problem

I went to shop for a new air pump yesterday.  However, according to my budget, I don't have many choices.  I saw one in a shop selling art materials quite impressive, it has air filter, barometer, air tank for steady pressure of airflow, and pressure adjustment for different spraying purposes, however, it costs more than $1,800, which is way out of my budget.  My budget for the pump is within $1,000, it seems the best choice is the same pump I have in the past.  I really don't want to buy a same one again which doesn't last long.
For the existing ones, after my inspection, I think I know what's gone wrong, however I don't have the skill and tools to fix it.  My modelling works are still held up by the broken pump.

Tamiya - 1:24 Porsche 959 progression report (part 1)

I was rushing my class assignment last week, so I stopped all production.  Now, it's time to start the engine again.  As I look at the models piling up in my upper bungle bed, I got a headache, I unconsciously bought a lot of models in the past, mostly 1:24, I doubt if I could finish them all in my life.  I try to clean up those which have been started but not completed and found this at the bottom of the stack.

As I recall, I buy this model because one of my friends who like the car very much and ask if I can build one for her.  As the building  proceed, I got stuck with the rear hood and aero-wing.  In the real car, both hood and wing are in one-piece, whereas the model is made up of two parts.  The connection gap between the both parts is so obvious and wide.  Although it can be covered by putty and sand smooth afterward, it is so difficult to render a best result especially the gap underneath the wing.  So I put it aside and forget about it, and so is my friend...

The model has already started, the engine, chassis, front/back suspension have been completed.  Since this is an aged model, the door panels and rear seats are molded to the cockpit (tub-liked cockpit), it would be difficult to color the interior, especially the rear seats which should have different color strips.  The tub-liked cockpit make the coloring works more challenging.  Nevertheless, I was thinking to change the color usage in the interior because the interior looks very 70's in the real car.  I am thinking to "modernize" it, let's see.

[Progression]

Somedays ago: The engine, chassis, and fromt/rear suspension have been assembled.  they have been put in place.

Day 1 [12/7/08]: Apply putty to the connection line between the rear hood and wing.

Day 2 [13/7/08]: Sand off the excessive putty.  As I mentioned previously, the excessive putty underneath the wing is hard to reach to sand.  However, I finally manage to sand it with a great effort and time, the result is not satisfy (pic 1), as you can see in the below photo, air bubbles formed when the putty dried up, so I have to repeat the putty process.  While waiting for the putty dry, I wash the rest in soap water and paint the small parts.
pic 1

Day 3 [14/7/08]: Sand smooth the rear hood and ready to prime all the parts with gray putty.  However, when everything is set up for spraying, I found the air pump is not working properly, which might need to replace.  However, I don't want to replace it as it already the second pump so far and it has not been using for very long.  I really doubt the durability of this kind of pump.  Anyone who plan to buy the mini aircompressor for the first time, the one below is not an ideal choice, although its price is at the low side.  The air compressor can be found in many model shops, including Tri????? and Wa? L?.  The spray works need to be stopped until I get the pump's problem solved.  Damn!!
pic 2

TBC.

Related Article: Tamiya - 1:24 Porsche 959 (Part 2)

Tamiya - 1:24 Nissan GT-R (diary)

I plan to build the model straight from the box.  Since I have overbuy the model and it is not my most favourious car, so I didn't buy the PE parts which sell separately.

Day 1 [11/6/08]: Spray the chassis. It mainly made up with two colors, s-g black (front and back) and flat aluminium (centre).  To be precise, the back panel should be made of carbon fibre, but I didn't use the CF decal because it would not be seen when finished.

Day 2 [15/6/08]: Assembling the front and back suspension systems, they are simple and required little paint works.  I didn't put on the discs yet because the ones come with the model are too fake and I still haven't decided whether to buy the PE parts.  I also grave the body's panel lines with a sharp needle.  As I look at the engine bay, I can't stand the flat flooring, so I mill it off with the milling tools (pic 1).
pic 1


Day 3 [16/6/08]: Work on the interior, I spray the entire interior with s-g black and the top of the central console with silver.

Day 4 [17/6/08]: Continue assembling the interior, I found the interior looks kind of plain with all black, so I painted red straps to the front seats as suggested by the instruction (pic 2), although the front seat for the white body version should be all black.  I also prime the body and separate body parts with white primer.
pic 2

Day 5 [18/6/08]: Spray the entire body and the separate body parts with super white.   However, the humidity is too high, the moisture condensed to water spots on the surface.  I would make sure the humidity is low when I apply the clear coat.

Day 6: [19/6/08]: Spray the front nose with metallic gray color.  Mill out the solid mesh portion part at the rear bumper (pic 3)
pic 3

Day 7 [20/6/08]: Spray the front nose and the skirt around the car with s-g black (pic 4&5).  I found that the metallic grey I spray at the nose is too light when compare to the real car.  However, I leave it as is.
pic 4pic 5

Day 8 [21/6/08]: Wash the chrome off the wheels (pic 6) the wheel will be colored in metallic grey; assemble the tail lights.

pic 6

Day 9 [22/6/08]: Paint the brake discs (I've decided not to buy the PE parts).

Day 10 [24/6/08]: Covered the body parts with white pearl.  Prime the wheels with gray primer.

Day 11 [26/6/08]: Paint the wheels with burnt iron color.

Day 12 [27/6/08]: Colored the headlight housing.  Hand brush the interior car interior in flat black.  It has been raining whole week this week the humidity is high, which keep me from applying the final clear coat to the body.

Day 13 [30/6/08]: I can't wait for the weather to turn dry for applying the clear coat.  I put a lamp with reflection bulb next to me so that as soon as I applied a layer of clear coat, I can put it under the lamp using the heat from the reflection bulb to vaporize the humidity on the surface and, touch wood, it works. Now I have to wait for a couple of day for the clear acrylic to dry before I do the final touch to the body.  When I inspect the smoothness of the paint work, I found two little indents on the hood, I carefully fill in the indentation with small drop of clear acrylic, hope they don't look obvious after the final touch (pic 7).
pic 7

Day 14 [1/7/08]: Spent most of the day wrapping up the model, including final touch and polish the entire body, put on the metal emblems.  Below are photo of the completed model (pic 8,9,10,11).
pic 8pic 9pic 10pic 11

Modifications:
1. Mill out the flooring in the engine bay;
2. Mill out the solid mesh at the rear bumper and replace with the mesh provided in the model;
3. Get rid of the chrome from the wheels and paint them in burnt iron;