Nissan 180SX

[CarlBear]

After the mk1 Golf cab came out better than I'd expected I wanted to add some different modelling techniques, some scratch building, nothing extreme though. 

I've decided to build a 180sx based on a 1:1 car. No engine this time. 

The 1:1 car is this one (its actually a 240sx i believe)

The body kit will be slightly different, but again, I'm just basing my build on this, not an exact replica. Anyway, lets get started.

The car has interior panel and carpet up front along with bucket seats, and is striped out in the rear, this is where the scratch building will be, making the rear interior.

I need to add some small details to these parts, then I will start building a roll cage.

Edited April 20, 2017 by CarlBear

[CarlBear]

Made a start on the roll cage last night, and I have started shaping some of the bits I've added so the edges aren't so harsh. 

[Draggon]

I like what your'e doing with the interior!

 

[rsxse240]

I love it!!!!  Makes me want to go finish mine!

 

as for you doing something simple...  I think I'd rather build an engine and detail the engine bay than to fab up an entire "stripped" interior.

 

Keep it up, I can't wait to see this one done!

[CarlBear]

Thanks. It's been easier than expecting to get to this stage. I'm guessing that tidying the joins and making it all look smooth for paint is going to be harder. 
 

[CarlBear]

A bit more work done.

I was planning on working on the door bars for the roll cage, so I test fitted some seats to see how much room I had between them and the door cards. The answer was none.
Originally I wanted to keep the front section of the interior tub, to act as the carpet and to keep the door cards, but with no space between the seats and door cards I couldn't build the door bars. So I needed to work out a way to get more room.

As you can see from the picture above, the centre console/tunnel is excessively wide (on the interior tub part anyway), so what I thought I'd do is cut this part thinner, to match the width of the centre console, allowing me to move the seats inwards giving more room at the door cards.
To begin with I was going to just cut the excess off and replace with a strip of plastic, keeping the base of the tub. But this meant several cuts in arkward places and also I'd need to cut/modify the seat mounting points. So, I decided to cut the whole tub base out.
I put the centre console mounting part back in to keep the console and dash height correct and then used some thin plastic sheet on the floor to act as carpet. Once I get the seat I want to use I will make some seat mounts.

Now that was done the seats could be mounted closer to the centre giving me enough room to build the door bars. I started with 1 diagonal and will do the X once this one is dry. I also got the horizontal bar done in the main loop, this is where the seat harnesses will mount to.

more updates soon.

[CarlBear]

Just took delivery of a few bits I ordered for this build. Seats, wheels and steering wheel. 

[Funkychiken]

I like the idea of building some skills on this model, it's looking good...

[CarlBear]

I like the idea of building some skills on this model, it's looking good...

Thanks.

[CarlBear]

Did a bit more on the car. I think, after trial fitting the seats, the roll cage sits slightly too low, will need to sort that.
I modified the seats slightly so that they look more like the reference car seats (couldn't find an exact match anywhere).

 

 

[mynio76]

Looking good. Cant wait to see the finishing product.