Tamiya Nissan Silvia K's 1:24

[Funkychiken]

Another kit that has been started over the last 2 months is Tamiya's Nissan Silvia.

Its not a car I remeber on the roads in the UK in the 80s or 90s, but it kinda looks cool from that era.

Its a simple curbside kit.

I do really dislike the moulded in exhaust and transmission in the chassis, but hand painted with Tamiya Acrylics and then coated with semi matt clear means it looks acceptable.

I'm building straight from the box, I'm not even adding the usual belt and buckles, I'm keeping this one nice and simple.

I'm also going to try out these new Tamiya Lacquers for the body shell, it'll be finished in 2 tone silver and gun metal.

The only annoying thing to do was to fill in the back of the seats, these take time to do with plasticard and filler - then multiple sanding & re-filling events...

Next up is assembly and spraying the body.

[Spottedlaurel]

Nice start there, very clean.

We didn't get this 2-door model with the open headlights in the UK, I think it's more attractive than its 3-door 200SX sister car with pop-up lights that was sold here instead.

I've built this one a couple of times, it goes together nicely and I can't think of any problem areas.

[Funkychiken]

Thanks Nigel!

 

[Funkychiken]

This has been assembled now for a few weeks, only got the body to do - which is ready for primer...

Typical Tamiya Quality, goes together nicely and quickly. I'm just slow...

[Funkychiken]

So this is going to be the colour of my Silvia

 

[Funkychiken]

My first use of thinned Tamiya LP-71, and it sprays OK, maybe not as nice as Zero Paints, but the finish is very nice - an in-scale sparkle.

its Champagne gold

need to mask and do the bottom half in Tamiya X-10  gun metal grey, then clear coat.

 

[beeRS]

That’s looking good. The in-scale sparkle is something I’m always looking for in a paint. With Zero paints, sometimes I find you get the correct sparkle, and sometimes you don’t. 
I’ll have to try this Tamiya colour, as I have a project in mind that would look great in Champaign. 

[Funkychiken]

On 8/9/2023 at 6:33 AM, beeRS said:

That’s looking good. The in-scale sparkle is something I’m always looking for in a paint. With Zero paints, sometimes I find you get the correct sparkle, and sometimes you don’t. 
I’ll have to try this Tamiya colour, as I have a project in mind that would look great in Champaign. 

I agree with Zero Sonny,  it's hit and miss. I also find that sometimes I have to add thinner to zero paints, especially their primer

[Funkychiken]

Body is based coated,  I've also added some of the decals, next step is to clear coat

[ea0863]

Atin, I wouldn't sweat the lack of detail in some areas. Different models give us different kinds of satisfaction. In this case, I think the beautifully finished body is going to be your greatest enjoyment. BTW; I agree with other posts in wishing this car had made it to the US, even though I did like the 200SX too.

[Pete75]

Super-clean work, Atin. Looks great ? 

[Funkychiken]

I've clear coated this body now with Zero 2K. But didn't use Mr color thinner (with a retarder) so its quite bumpy/orange pealy. But annoyingly, it got lots of pitting. I'm assuming its because I've either put too muh thinner in, or I went too heavy too quickly.

Either way, my strategy is not to respray, I'm sanding through it. It's not going to be perfect, but perfection is not what I'm looking for...

[Funkychiken]

this is a view of some of the deep pitting

[Pierre_tec]

At least you got the correct thought, not looking for perfection!

I have damaged so many paint jobs in search for perfection, that only one can see. 
nice color choice

[Funkychiken]

And I cannot believe this bit of fluff in the paint, hopefully it'll sand out...

[Funkychiken]

And you can see how much pitting there is on the bonnet after using Tamiya 1000 grit paper, it've quite bad!

[Funkychiken]

And this is what the roof looks like after:

Tamiya 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000

then cloth paper 3200, 3600, 4000

then Nuvos polish level 3 & 2... 

lots of effort, but it looks good in the end, and only slightly the pitting can be seen

[Funkychiken]

I ended up burning through the paint to clear this bit of mega dust, so I have masked & resprayed with Acrylic Gun metal grey, and next up is clear coat - I will do this at the same time as I do the body shell for the MX5

[Spottedlaurel]

Good recovery, at least it was just the lower part that needed a partial respray.

[Funkychiken]

somehow I had posted updates to my Mustang post, nevermind, its now ready for final assembly and will be in "under glass" soon