Good morning all;
Figured I may as well get my butt moving on this next build. I’m going to be doing Tamiya’s older 1/24 Gen 4 Supra, with some mild modifications. I’m planning on doing a fairly stock car, with a gun metal body, carbon fiber bonnet, and some improvements to the interior. It’ll be right hand drive as well.
I managed to secure some goodies for this car as well! Some polishing compound, carbon fiber, and I looted a metal transfer from one of my Supra GR kits. I’m not really sure where I’ll go with this build, but that’s half the fun of it!
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Time for the first update, and this update will focus on the body. To begin, I sanded out the mould lines with varying grits of sandpaper, then sanded the body generally to give the primer some bite. I also engraved the panel lines
I primed the body with Tamiya’s Grey Primer (the stuff that comes from the bottle) thinned with retarding thinner.
Looks nice! I then sanded the primer coat with 2000 grit sanding pads to smooth it out. Next, I applied a gloss black base coat for the metallic paint. I used LP Metallic Black, heavily thinned and retarded.
Then it was time to polish the black base. The metallic paint I’m using, LP Sparkling Silver, is very thin, so I had to make sure there were no imperfections in the paint job. This is the final result!
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Lovely finish Martin, excellent work! Great choice on the silver paint as well, it looks to have a really nice scale shimmer.
Looking forward to the next update!
Cheers, D
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Quick update for tonight, I made the bonnet. Here’s what it looks like test-fitted:
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Update for tonight - I assembled the 2JZ engine today at work.
As well, the interior is done. Pretty much bone stock, though I did use embossing powder to add some carpeting effects.
The clear coat has cured nicely on the body and now I’m ready to tackle the rest of the chassis!
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Dennis,
I’m just catching up on many of the builds I’ve missed of late.
Excellent start to the Supra. I’m really impressed with the LP primer coat. I’m assuming that the LP paint is the Tamiya lacquer line that’s just not available here in the states. What a shame that is for sure. Polishing it out to a super smooth and shiny finish really paid off as the Metallic color coat looks great. Did you use a liquid polish or just very fine emery cloth like Micro Mesh?
The interior looks as one would expect a street cars interior to look. I’d say that you nailed it to a tee.
As for the Carbon Fiber engine hood, it sure looks spot on.
joel
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Thanks Joel! The kind comments are always more than appreciated.
To polish the base coat for the silver, I used grits up to 4000, and from there I used Tamiya coarse and finish polishing compounds. It’s a shame about the LP paint availability, they’re definitely my go-to, especially for metallics. Very thin, very strong, and I can add retarder to them to really level out the colour.
Dennis
Dennis,
I had high hopes that Tamiya would reach some sort of compromise and import the paints to the USA, but they just won’t print once again all new labels to meet the USA requirements. Same for their enamel line which will never see the light of day here.
joel
I believe that Hobbyworld USA has the Tamiya LP in stock, limited range.
Tamiya Lacquer Paints 10ml - Hobbyworld-USA
Cheers, D
D,
That’s amazing that of all hobby shops Hobbyworld USA has at least some of the Tamiya LP line. I’ve tried to deal with them for years but his out of stocks has always been horrendous.
I just checked Sprue Brothers and ScaleHobbyist.com and never one carries either of Tamiya’s new lines.
joel
Evening all;
Work has kept me from working on this project, but tonight I finally got some time! Here’s tonight’s progress:
Dennis,
Work certainly does have a tendency to do just that to nearly all of us. Well not me any longer since I’ve been retired, but old age, aches & pains, and the never ending/always growing Honey to Do list does put a major crimp in my modeling and online time.
The Supra minus the body really does look super. looking forward to your next up date.
joel
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Final update!
The kit has been completed, and it’s nice to see the finished product. I may end up posting more photos when I get my lightbooth up and running, but for now here are some pictures of the hood.
Dennis
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Dennis,
The completed Supra really looks the part. Great build. The engine compartment looks great with the detail painting as does the head on shot with the CF engine hood. But we sure can use a full set of glamor shots as your build certainly deserves it.
joel
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Thanks again Joel! Yes, once this photo booth is completed I’m sure there’ll be a bit of a photo dump!
Dennis,
I’ve been working on my portable photo booth for some where near 5+ years, and still it’s just a dream on paper. All I do is tape a gray soft pile towel over my workbench after moving some things out of the way, and setup a 3 light setup. Pictures are ok to pretty good. So don’t let not having a real photo booth stop you from your well deserved photo spread.
joel
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Great build Dennis, really neat work!
Cheers, D
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A cracking build, Dennis! Thanks for sharing 
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What a great looking car. Good detailing and great paint finish. Looking forward to more of those finished pics.
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That really sucks about the Tamiya enamels. Would love to see that over here.
