Tamiya 1/24
Entry, Singapore Tamiya Competition 2006

How shall I describe a stunning car (model)?

It’s like a beautiful woman. So much so that it seduces you with every curve and no matter which angle you look at her, she sets your heart racing. Her body (shell) tempts you to touch it, feeling the smooth curve of the perfectly sculpted body…

But like a beautiful woman, she is temperamental, demanding that you treat her like a princess. Perfect is the only way to treat her. No mistakes to be made here, for if any, her beauty leaves you before you next blinks your eyes.

So are you up to it?

Foreword

Firstly, I gotta say that I have not made a perfect model. As much as I wish to and taking care every step of the way, I couldn’t. After making military and Gundam model for so long, I wish to declare that car models are really so much more difficult. Why? Because every mistake you make, every bit that you decide to put second-standard on sticks out like a sore thumb.

But I’m glad that I did this model. Well, believe it or not it’s my first car model. I never did managed to finish any before that and I had trashed 2 expensive Tamiya cars already… Sad to say that car models are not my game.

But I had to take up the challenge, to convince myself that it is possible to complete a car. Well, I did it! But I sure as hell won’t be making any more real soon.

Construction

BTW, this is the Special Edition Kit which includes Carbon Fiber (CF) decals and photoetch set. The CF does add a dimension of detail to the model but I feel the patterns are too heavily done. Nonetheless I did like it over plain black surfaces.

The model is basically OOB but I added Scale Motorsport’s 1/24 Racing Harness set because the kit belts are just decal which looks ridiculous. It’s not exactly the easiest to assemble but I did some simplification and it worked out fine. The belt shoulder cushions are actually thick paper that are painted and the nismo logo are from the original belt decals.

The overall assembly of the car was quite straight forward.

Painting

I tried following the ItalianHorses method of painting gloss surface but I didn’t have much success in the first place. Until I found out that you have to thin your paint real thin. I use GSI Creos lacquer paints and my usual thinning ratio is 1:1 paint and thinner. But to do gloss finishing, you have to thin it like 1:4 or 5. This is to allow the paint to be more flow and settle down as opposed to thick paint which couldn’t flow much at all. Use Mr. Levelling Thinner which is less violatile.

Additional Images