Search the Community

This is my build of Tamiya’s very nice Mazda MX-5 ND RF kit (#24353). This kit has the larger option wheels and has been painted Tamiya TS-49 Bright Red to match my NA to ND series. The model was enjoyable to build and nicely completes my collection. Grant. With its “standard” convertible sibling The collection of MX-5s

Finally got around to starting this I'm going to do the red version It's taken a while to put together the engine - lots of different paints involved for something that will mostly be hidden when complete Looking forward to getting this built 🙂

Chaps. Having spent way too hours lately on my 1:1 MX5 NC (3.5) PRHT Sport Tech, I've realised I don't actually have a kit of "My" car. I have the MK1 and MK4 Tamiya kits (a mk2 is available from Aoshime I believe..), but I'm not sure you can get a mk3? Can anyone enlighten me? Ideally 1/24th, but would consider other scales, just not another 1:1! Rick.

All imges in this first post were completed within one week. I was curious how far I could progress a model kit with a concerted effort in a week. Quite far it turns out. This Aoshima kit is building well so far. The front bumper joints are a bit small and need reinforcement but otherwise, very good. It's a converted-curbside kit, so the engine parts are all about 3/4 depth and match up (more or less) with the original curbside foor pan and lower engine. Not quite as good as if it'd been engineered from the start, but given how many kits are only ever curbside, the presence of the engine is welcome. It'll be Vauxhall Breeze Blue from a Halfords Rattle Can, and I'm not using the kit wheels. I plan to add extra details where I see it necessary - especially in the engine bay where the converted-curbside nature led to me to construct a filewall/bulkhead behind the 13B engine. Below: I do like how it looks in this colour. I'd tested it out on the livery builder in Gran Turismo Sport, then looked for a car paint that was similar. Below: Starting to make templates for carpets, which i will do with my usual method of spray painted sandpaper to give predictable and sticky (when used with double sided tape) texture.

Hi All, Finally, it's finished. Not without some problems, mostly of my own making... I sprayed it with a mixture of Tamiya Black (X1) and Mr Color Levelling thinners using my Iwata air-brush. The biggest problem was that I managed to get blobs of Tamiya silver splattered all over it that needed dealing with. Don't ask how, it's too embarrassing! After some effort, I managed to tidy it up without having to re-spray the whole body ... again! 🤬 So, here we are: The tail-pipes were painted with the Molotow Chrome pen, as was the rear-view mirror. The bonnet was dislodged during the photo-session. It actually fits very well. A few minor blemishes, but nothing too bad. On the whole, I am quite pleased with the result. As usual, any criticism, comments welcome. I always seek to improve my skills. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Morning All, Another one I found in my stash. I was looking through my model boxes, as one does, and I found this, in an advanced state of assembly. It was one that my son had partially completed, and I just tidied up the 'edges', if you like. On the whole, he did a great job, given that he was probably only 15 at the time and hadn't done a great deal of modelling. Anyway, here are the pictures: The box top. Tamiya box top art is usually very simple and elegant. This in my opinion is no exception. This is where I have got with the body: It's all primed and ready to be top-coated. The primer coat needed a little bit of preparation, but not much at all, just a quick rub down with very fine (1500 grit) wet-n-dry. The interior & engine all assembled. The chrome tail pipes of the exhaust were painted with Molotow chrome, decanted and brushed on. Seemed to work. It all looks nicely weathered. That's just 6 years of shelf dust! Next step, top coating the body. I think some kind of metallic black would look good. Thanks for looking, Alan.

From the information on the All Japan Model & Hobby Show page on the Tamiya website: http://www.tamiya.com/english/THS/ths2015index.htm Andrew

Hello all, I've recently got back into this hobby as I now work part-time. After a short wait for some metallic paint, I should really make a start! I'm quite rusty so I think I'd better re-learn the basics on a cheap kit... ^ This Mazda Eunos Roadster was £8 during the Hobby Craft New Year sale, it's very reminiscent of the wonderful 1960's Lotus Elan. I like this Eunos version rather than the MX-5 as it comes with the Hardtop option. There really isn't much to this kit, so hopefully I can get it done in a week... ^ Yesterday, I started on the running gear. Despite the flare like reflection, this isn't the fabled Alcald lacquer. A few weeks ago, I did a quick test spray with the Tamiya metallics I bought with the kit and they leave a bit to be desired as the metallic powder is far too coarse for the scale. I needed an alternative that preferably wasn't a Lacquer. After a bit of searching, I bought some metallic paint by Coat D'Arms, this paint is a water based acrylic paint. The finish is absolutely superb and the metallic powder is very fine, very close to Alclad even. It was a challenge to spray at first though. I used de-ionised water with flow enhancer as a thinner, which was great for brush painting but without a retarder for spraying, the paint often dried on the tip of the airbrush. Lower PSI and spraying 'wetter' coats helped reduce this. ^ Suspension sub assemblies done, then attached to the underside. The engine block/gearbox has been brush painted and the result is quite impressive to my eye. I didn't paint the black parts because the plastic is black and I couldn't be bothered. I did paint the rubber areas rubber black though... ^ This morning, it was onto the interior. The seat was a challenge as it's two tone, plus it has different finishes/textures. I couldn't figure out how to mask off properly so I just brush painted the semi-gloss black areas. A flat brush and thinned Tamiya acrylics brush paint very well. I went over the door cards and dashboard with a semi-gloss clear coat, just to contrast with the flat finish of the tub and seat fonts. For no reason this evening, I felt the need to drybrush the details on the centre console and steering wheel, which turned into a disaster. Much too messy looking, I'll go over it with semi-gloss black later. Thanks for looking.

Not so much a walkaround of an individual car but a look at the differences across the range, pics thanks to Alex Gordon.