Tamiya Mazda RX7 1:24

[Funkychiken]

I have been furloghed, and can't work for 3 weeks, not all is lost, I have 2 builds on the go, but they require a lot of scratch building, so I wanted to start something that was quick, not too detailed - so here's the Mazda!

box art and sprue shots first

[Funkychiken]

The colour I'm looking for is a kind of deep, dirty orange.

[Funkychiken]

I've done a spoon test.

All Alclad II; on the left is Steel Base, and on the right is Dark Aluminium, then both with Candy Orange.

I've decided to go with the left, not as dark as i was looking for, but I want to go with paints I have in stock at home...

[espo]

I have not built one of those, but it looks like a very good kit. I like the color you've chosen, have you considered trying a Gold Metallic base coat ? I have only done this with a Candy Red but the Gold base coat gave a dark richer tone to the finish coats. Either way this should look great. Stay Safe. 

[Cpt Tuttle]

I think that shade is going to look great!

[DiscoRover007]

Looking forward to this. Be mindful of the rear window hatch. I noticed that the mold line of the trunk doesn’t run evenly on both sides. Took some time to correct with putty and sanding.

[matthijsgrit]

Lovely car, great color choice!

 

[Intmd8r]

I like where this is going.

fantastic car choice and awesome colour!

[Funkychiken]

On 4/6/2020 at 1:06 PM, Intmd8r said:

I like where this is going.

fantastic car choice and awesome colour!

 

On 4/6/2020 at 12:43 PM, matthijsgrit said:

Lovely car, great color choice!

 

 

On 4/6/2020 at 6:09 AM, DiscoRover007 said:

Looking forward to this. Be mindful of the rear window hatch. I noticed that the mold line of the trunk doesn’t run evenly on both sides. Took some time to correct with putty and sanding.

 

On 4/6/2020 at 5:55 AM, Cpt Tuttle said:

I think that shade is going to look great!

 

On 4/5/2020 at 6:58 PM, espo said:

I have not built one of those, but it looks like a very good kit. I like the color you've chosen, have you considered trying a Gold Metallic base coat ? I have only done this with a Candy Red but the Gold base coat gave a dark richer tone to the finish coats. Either way this should look great. Stay Safe. 

All - thank you very much, i' eagar to get htis done quick!

James - thanks for the tip, i'll test that out tomorrow!

David - i will go with the steel base, as that's what I have in the house right now, and I'll try the gold base another time, thanks for the tip!

[Funkychiken]

The body had some weired melt on it, so that needed to be filled and sanded, not sure where its come from.

lots of parts stripped, primered, and painted, mostly with Tamiya Acrylics, but some of it with Alclad II metals

Chassis is base coat painted, a lot of masking and spraying coming up.

[espo]

The mark on the door looks more like it was exposed to some sort of heat. I'm sure you inspected the body when you opened the kit and this would have been noticed. just my thought, but it looks to me as if the body came out of the mold before it should have been or was exposed to a heat source and was rubbing on something. I guess paint damage is possible but I think the damage would appear differently. This shouldn't be to hard to repair. I like how your color on the chassis turned out. 

[Funkychiken]

1 hour ago, espo said:

The mark on the door looks more like it was exposed to some sort of heat. I'm sure you inspected the body when you opened the kit and this would have been noticed. just my thought, but it looks to me as if the body came out of the mold before it should have been or was exposed to a heat source and was rubbing on something. I guess paint damage is possible but I think the damage would appear differently. This shouldn't be to hard to repair. I like how your color on the chassis turned out. 

thanks David, I'm thinking it was something I did too, but I don't have any chemicals or heat sources that would melt it, like you said, it shouldn't be too difficult to fill, i'm on the 2nd go of that right now!

[Belugawrx]

Liking the colour Atin..

funny how Tamiya show the whole engine on the box, then mold the oil pan and trans into the chassis....(shrug)

Looking forward to more ?

[Funkychiken]

On 4/9/2020 at 3:37 PM, Belugawrx said:

Liking the colour Atin..

funny how Tamiya show the whole engine on the box, then mold the oil pan and trans into the chassis....(shrug)

Looking forward to more ?

Thanks Bruce, I've busy on this! some progress, and agree that it's a pain that some of the engine is moulded in, it makes it far more difficult to paint.

First, the seats, I wanted a splash of orange in the interior, so I've put some Tamiya X-6 Orange. It's a bit bright, but I think it's better than a dull  interior.

Masked ready for the X-18 Semi gloss black

[Funkychiken]

Chassis was painstakingly masked, I did the front end and front wheel wells earlier in the week, today its the drive-train

[Funkychiken]

So with a bit of patience, some Alclad Dark Aluminium, and some Tamiya X-18, I've finished the chassis.

I orginally coated the chassis with Zero Gloss 1K, this makes a smoth surface that other paints do not stick to, so some areas did peel when I removed the masking, and so I've touched up by hand (i may have to remask and spray tho...

Following this, the only painting left is seatbelt buckles & the body shell... so assey will start soon

[Dann Tier]

Great kit! -FANTASTIC work!!!

[Belugawrx]

Nice masking work Atin..

Looking forward to the finish   !

Cheers

[Funkychiken]

10 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Great kit! -FANTASTIC work!!!

 

9 hours ago, Belugawrx said:

Nice masking work Atin..

Looking forward to the finish   !

Cheers

Thanks Bruce and Dann!

[beeRS]

Good work on painting the underside there. Its a shame Tamiya moulded in so much underside detail, but your painting skills has really made them look the best.

Fantastic choice with the candy orange! Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[Funkychiken]

On 4/13/2020 at 6:51 AM, beeRS said:

Good work on painting the underside there. Its a shame Tamiya moulded in so much underside detail, but your painting skills has really made them look the best.

Fantastic choice with the candy orange! Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

thanks Sonny!

I kind of wanted to do an OOB build, but then saw that the engine bay is really empty.

That has slowed progress right down, i've spent a few days in detailing this.

Engine Bay - i've swaped the 2 "things" on the fire wall, as I'm making a right hand drive car, and beleive one of these to be power steering system and the other, probably brake fluid system, but i'm not sure...

So i've alo added a few details from reference pics found online.

the first photo is that of the kit supplied air intake and battery box, the 2ns shows the mods I've made... Minor, but i feel they make a difference!

[Belugawrx]

It's just those kind of small details, that add so much to a finished model...well done?

[beeRS]

Nice extra detailing. Its worth the extra effort.

[Dann Tier]

Bruce, and Sonny are right, Bud!....and i'm loving your clean details!!!!

[Funkychiken]

On 4/21/2020 at 6:42 AM, Dann Tier said:

Bruce, and Sonny are right, Bud!....and i'm loving your clean details!!!!

 

On 4/20/2020 at 5:41 AM, beeRS said:

Nice extra detailing. Its worth the extra effort.

 

On 4/19/2020 at 5:32 PM, Belugawrx said:

It's just those kind of small details, that add so much to a finished model...well done?

Bruce, Sonny & Dann, thanks for the comments!

I've been powering on, and have now completed the engine bay & the Chassis is complete.

the engine bay was only tricky due to the wiring, these wires are about 0.6mm diameter, but they hold their position once bent, so they were not very compliant during assey.

This is a very old Tamiya kit, the build "engineering" is not great, so the contact points, stack errors are present that wouldn't be in a modern Tamiya kit. this means that if you don't clear up some of the flash, they build into an offset error further down the line. I may have rushed this build a little in that respect, so the chassis build up was a little more troublesome than expected. I'm hoping that the stance and wheel heights are ok though - we'll soon see.