Brian’s 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse from (The Fast and the Furious)

[adamelvis]

This is a project that I am doing as a tribute to Paul Walker and the first 3 cars (Eclipse, Supra & Skyline) driven by his character “Brian O’Conner in the films “The Fast and the Furious” and “2 Fast 2 Furious”. 
 

The 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS was first seen in the opening clips of the movie “The Fast and the Furious”. The bright green paint scheme got my attention right from the start and like others, I was an immediate fan (of the soon to be franchise).

The Mitsubishi Eclipse model was soon produced by both Revell & AMT.  I wanted to build the best version of this vehicle with the most accurate & detailed parts. 
The solution was for me to use the Revell kit as the primary and combine parts from the AMT kit as well as a bunch of after market parts and photo-etched goodies. 

The rear interior of both kits did not accurately show what was behind the front seats, so I decided to add all the missing details to this model and used the AMT’s rear interior and amalgamated them both. 

I will remove the stereo amplifiers and place them in the rear hatch. The back seat mounted sub woofer wall will be converted into a sub woofer box and will also be moved to the back hatch area with the amplifiers. The rear seat wall and hatch cover will be repurposed into a deck that will cover up the rear seats and provide a place for the two NOS bottles to be mounted to. 

 

[happy grumpy]

A great way to honor a promising actor gone way too soon.

[Zippi]

Nice looking pair of cars.  Should be a fun project.  Since you have both the Revell and AMT, give us your thoughts of the quality of the Revell vs AMT.  

[Mattilacken]

Nice! Was it a big difference between the two kits body wise?

[slusher]

I will reall enjoy your build. I have loved the F&F series..

[adamelvis]

On 11/2/2021 at 1:59 PM, Mattilacken said:

Nice! Was it a big difference between the two kits body wise?

Hi Anton,

The body, interior and wheels were very similar in both kits. AMT had more realistic detail in the kit, which was more true to the vehicle in the movie, however, I prefer the Revell kit. 
 

Adam

[adamelvis]

On 11/2/2021 at 3:53 AM, Zippi said:

Nice looking pair of cars.  Should be a fun project.  Since you have both the Revell and AMT, give us your thoughts of the quality of the Revell vs AMT.  

I have always preferred Revell kits over AMT, as I think the Revell kits have cleaner molds. However, this AMT kit was released in 2004 and the quality is much better than their earlier releases. 

The AMT kit has more parts that are true to the movie car. Examples would be a more detailed rear deck wing, aftermarket rear view mirrors, hood pins and aftermarket engine gauges installed in the passenger airbag location.

The decal sheet for the Revell kit has more decal options and the colour blue is more true to the blue on the original car (but still not accurate). I have attached some photos that show the differences in the two kits below.

The Revell kit (above) has a two-tier wing molded into one piece with the legs as one solid piece.  I will use the AMT wing, as it is far better with more detail. 

The roof vent on the AMT kit is molded into the body and looks better that the “peel & stick” one from the Revell kit.  I will be molding this part into the roof and changing the angle of the front vent from 90 to 20. 

Overall kit bodies are very similar.

This was a very obvious fail. I will have to scratch build a faux vent to install onto the rear body kit. 

The Revell kit decal sheet had higher details and options for a alternate version Eclipse to build. 
Overall, I will be building the Revell kit and using parts from the AMT kit and choosing decals from both kits as well.  Also adding various aftermarket parts to make this the most detailed and correct Eclipse from the first F&F movie.

TCB,

Adam

 

[Dennis Lacy]

This looks like it will be an interesting model to watch come together. I never knew that AMT had their own O’Connor Eclipse. Did they do any of the other movie cars?
 

I’m not a F&F fanboy but I was 21 when the original movie came out and I saw it in the theater with my friends (and we left making non-stop fun of it because of the awful dialogue and we were all 5.0 Mustang guys!) ? Now 20 years later I look back on the first movie with some nostalgia and enjoy watching it from time to time. These tuner cars had a certain style and charm in the late 90’s and early 2000’s that I enjoy now too (but also made fun of at the time!) A few months ago I randomly came across Craig Leiberman’s channel on YouTube and have watched almost every episode. Getting the back story on all of the original Hero cars and the movie in general was really fascinating. 

[Mattilacken]

Thanks for that comparison!
And both have engines. That might be a future swap for the lancer evos, just a bit to small but hey, have done that before.

Is it just me or is the AMT(green) body taller especially in the back? 

edit: just noticed by watching pictures here on the forum that the engines are very different. The Revell one seems right for the Eclipse, cam drive on DRiver side, and the AMT one seems right for a lancer, cam drive on passenger. Have I understood this right?

 

2 edit. Even looks like it’s a SOHC engine in the amt kit and a DOHC in the Revell.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Mattilacken

[tooltime-fan]

Ambitious project.

I will follow and try to lernen something to adopt on my own one  ?

[Zippi]

Thanks for the information on both kits Adam.  Should be a fun build on both.  

[adamelvis]

14 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

This looks like it will be an interesting model to watch come together. I never knew that AMT had their own O’Connor Eclipse. Did they do any of the other movie cars?
 

I’m not a F&F fanboy but I was 21 when the original movie came out and I saw it in the theater with my friends (and we left making non-stop fun of it because of the awful dialogue and we were all 5.0 Mustang guys!) ? Now 20 years later I look back on the first movie with some nostalgia and enjoy watching it from time to time. These tuner cars had a certain style and charm in the late 90’s and early 2000’s that I enjoy now too (but also made fun of at the time!) A few months ago I randomly came across Craig Leiberman’s channel on YouTube and have watched almost every episode. Getting the back story on all of the original Hero cars and the movie in general was really fascinating. 

Hi Dennis,

I was also a Mustang guy at the time the first F&F movie was released. Everyone was street racing for weeks afterwards. LOL. My current vehicle is a ‘15 Mustang GT Premium with the Track Pac.

AMT also released the F&F Supra and Dodge Charger. However, Revell had the most F&F kit releases from the various movies. 
TCB,

Adam

[adamelvis]

10 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Thanks for that comparison!
And both have engines. That might be a future swap for the lancer evos, just a bit to small but hey, have done that before.

Is it just me or is the AMT(green) body taller especially in the back? 

edit: just noticed by watching pictures here on the forum that the engines are very different. The Revell one seems right for the Eclipse, cam drive on DRiver side, and the AMT one seems right for a lancer, cam drive on passenger. Have I understood this right?

 

2 edit. Even looks like it’s a SOHC engine in the amt kit and a DOHC in the Revell.

Yes correct. The Revell engine was another reason why I choose that kit.

The AMT body seems taller only because of the molded in roof vent. In the back though, it is very very slightly taller. 
Adam

[adamelvis]

I don’t like the “peel n stick” version of this roof scoop. So, I will and some putty and mold this into the roof. Here is a reference photo.

 

[adamelvis]

Well, I’m very happy with the results on this roof scoop. It molded in nicely. Not sure if I should prime the rest of the body with the grey primer, or if I should give it a coat of flat white. Or do both, before I spray the primary colour Kawasaki Lime Green on the body? Suggestions ?

Thanks,

Adam

[Belairconvertable]

Wow. The molding turned out very nicely.

[adamelvis]

Need to scratch build the missing details in the rear bumper skirt.

[adamelvis]

I’m satisfied with the result.

Edited January 2, 2022 by adamelvis

[adamelvis]

replaced the strut towers and scratch built a Optimum battery.

Edited January 27, 2022 by adamelvis

[adamelvis]

On 11/7/2021 at 1:05 AM, Mattilacken said:

Thanks for that comparison!
And both have engines. That might be a future swap for the lancer evos, just a bit to small but hey, have done that before.

Is it just me or is the AMT(green) body taller especially in the back? 

edit: just noticed by watching pictures here on the forum that the engines are very different. The Revell one seems right for the Eclipse, cam drive on DRiver side, and the AMT one seems right for a lancer, cam drive on passenger. Have I understood this right?

 

2 edit. Even looks like it’s a SOHC engine in the amt kit and a DOHC in the Revell.

Hi Anton,

After further research, I can identify the Revell kit engine as the Mitsubishi DOHC 4G63-T which was in the Eclipse GS-T

The AMT kit engine is the 420A DOHC 2.0L 16valve which was in the original Eclipse GS (Brian’s Hero Car). 

With some modifications, I was able to do a  engine swap between the two kits and also replace the strut towers.

See photo below.

TCB,

Adam

[Joe Handley]

I was wondering if the AMT kit had the 420A vs the 4G63-T!  IIRC, the 420A is the 2.0l DOHC that was the optional Dodge/Plymouth Neon engine, and I think it was standard in the Neon R/T and the ACR.

[adamelvis]

Shaved off the basic molded in pedals and upgraded to the tuner style. 

[adamelvis]

Suspension work. I removed all the excess material from the rear suspension. Thought it would give it more of an accurate look, otherwise that’s a lot of excess metal.

[Joe Handley]

That looks great!

[Mattilacken]

Huge improvement! Almost looks like a Tamiya part now ?