Tamiya 1:24 Mazda MX-5 with bodykit
Discussion
I was in the Bourton On The Water Car Museum gift shop & spotted a kit of a car I currently own, the Mk1 Mazda MX5. It's not a very complicated model to make, there's no real engine to speak of (some detail from below) so I've decided to really complicate it with some resin details such as a Garage Vary transkit, Sparco seats, seat belts & 16" Diamond Racing Steelies from Hiroboy.com.
First thing was to chop off the original front & rear bumper & pop up headlamp covers. Looking at the picture from the hiroboy site I wasn't sure about the the headlamps but in for a penny.....
Steady but tedious scraping with my panel line scribing thingy & all was off. Bit of a tidy up with some 800 grit emery got the burrs off. Then a quick test fit.......
I tried the rims & side skirts but didn't realise the skirt was on backwards, hope I remember before really fitting it. The skirts need some real work to fit, they're warped slightly so will need a bit of fettling.
The resin parts are much thicker than the kit parts so need some trimming down & cleaning up. There's some sink marks in the front bumper to fill also. Apologies for the blurry shots.
So far it's not going too badly but it's early days
First thing was to chop off the original front & rear bumper & pop up headlamp covers. Looking at the picture from the hiroboy site I wasn't sure about the the headlamps but in for a penny.....
Steady but tedious scraping with my panel line scribing thingy & all was off. Bit of a tidy up with some 800 grit emery got the burrs off. Then a quick test fit.......
I tried the rims & side skirts but didn't realise the skirt was on backwards, hope I remember before really fitting it. The skirts need some real work to fit, they're warped slightly so will need a bit of fettling.
The resin parts are much thicker than the kit parts so need some trimming down & cleaning up. There's some sink marks in the front bumper to fill also. Apologies for the blurry shots.
So far it's not going too badly but it's early days
Did I mention the side skirts were 'slightly' warped?
I fitted the replacement front bumper, unfortunately it's a little narrower than the body so will need fill it out slightly. I tried to squeeze the body to fit but couldn't get the right shape on both sides. I used cyanoacrylate to bond them together but my glue's a bit on the thin side & tended to dribble out everywhere. This is becoming slightly more work than I'd originally anticipated.
I've thinned the side skirts as much as I dared without breaking through. Having seen the good doc's resin thinning I could have gone further but I'm too nervous to go that far.
I fitted the replacement front bumper, unfortunately it's a little narrower than the body so will need fill it out slightly. I tried to squeeze the body to fit but couldn't get the right shape on both sides. I used cyanoacrylate to bond them together but my glue's a bit on the thin side & tended to dribble out everywhere. This is becoming slightly more work than I'd originally anticipated.
I've thinned the side skirts as much as I dared without breaking through. Having seen the good doc's resin thinning I could have gone further but I'm too nervous to go that far.
dr_gn said:
Which bit of the skirt are you thinning?
Pretty much all of it, the shape of the 'inner' skirt doesn't follow the contour of the body & the bottom part where the skirt goes on the outer sill's way too thick. I'm worried of going too thin or breaking the skirt in half while I sand it down. I've flattened the body detail to more easily accommodate the skirt but fit's pretty poor.
dr_gn said:
72twink said:
It looks to me like the resin part is supposed to replace the kit part rather than fit over it.
Same here.The skirts are badly warped though, any tips???
Red Firecracker said:
Cut the body first, that needs to be done whatever. Then you'll see if the sideskirts are actually warped (good chance, if I'm honest) or if they're right. Bit of hot water should see then pliable enough to manipulate.
They are, it's rather spindly so I guess it gets pulled out of the mould that way??After having to move house & a bit of elbow surgery, I've finally got round to doing some more to this.
Following the advice to cut out the body to fit the side skirts I realised that the skirts where ruined by my thinning & shaping, plus hideously warped. I purchased a a C1 models kit to replace them instead. These appear to be a much better quality resin moulding & no warping
I'm going for a lowered look so having to alter the front & rear suspension. Through mostly guesswork & good luck it turned out reasonably close to how I wanted.
Front Suspension
Rear Suspension
Do need to alter the wheel arches to get the body to fit.
Thanks for looking.
Following the advice to cut out the body to fit the side skirts I realised that the skirts where ruined by my thinning & shaping, plus hideously warped. I purchased a a C1 models kit to replace them instead. These appear to be a much better quality resin moulding & no warping
I'm going for a lowered look so having to alter the front & rear suspension. Through mostly guesswork & good luck it turned out reasonably close to how I wanted.
Front Suspension
Rear Suspension
Do need to alter the wheel arches to get the body to fit.
Thanks for looking.
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