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1/24 Gunze Sangyo Sprite


Jo NZ

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Painted a few years ago, it's been sitting in it's box because all the vinyl deteriorated and the tyres split. They were crossplies anyway! I finally got hold of some Mk1 Escort rally tyres and cut them down to look like period radials.

 

This is the high detail kit with the cast chassis and wheels, and photo etched badges etc. Sadly the Sprite badge on the back (it looked great) was sacrificed to the carpet god. Other bits and pieces: the exhaust was replaced by aluminium tube, front bumper discarded (it was an optional extra at the time and my Frogeye never had one), and it's painted in BMC Cherry Red - an unusual colour, only used on the Mk1 Sprite, I think. Rattle-can paint was mixed by an automotive supplier. The colours are as my car was (hence the black seats). I used red and orange Sharpies to colour the rear lights - I think I might do it on the next car too, it's really easy to get a good finish.

 

With an 848cc engine (with twin 1 1/8" SUs!) it could never be described as fast, but it was good at overtaking on roundabouts.  I drove one a couple of years ago and couldn't believe how small it was.

 

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That looks brilliant, pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing. In fact, at first I thought the first picture was of your real car, and it was only the lack of soot on the exhaust which gave it away.

Edited by Spiny
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1 hour ago, Spiny said:

That looks brilliant, pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing. In fact, at first I thought the first picture was of your real car, and it was only the lack of soot on the exhaust which gave it away.

Must be a new exhaust pipe! I’ll put some ash grey in it ( no soot, I kept it reasonably in tune, and in those days it ran on leaded)

Thanks for all the kind comments!

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Jo - that's amazing. It must be tiny in 1/24. At first glance I too thought it was a photo of your actual car but then I decided it might be a 1/8 kit. Only when I returned to the title was the truth revealed!

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35 minutes ago, Jo NZ said:

Do you ever get down to IPMS Wellington?

Five and a half hours south on a fast camel, Jo...  No just me and a couple of others up here - but my local Toyworld keeps a great selection of kits !!

 

 

 

Ian.

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41 minutes ago, Ian said:

Five and a half hours south on a fast camel, Jo...  No just me and a couple of others up here - but my local Toyworld keeps a great selection of kits !!

 

 

 

Ian.

The Napier mob make it down a couple of times a year - maybe tie in then?

 

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Great result! The Austin Healey Sprite is special to me since it was the first model kit I ever built (Airfix 1/32 scale) and I have always liked the looks. I have the non high-tech Gunze version in my stash will hopefully get around to building it one day. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...
15 minutes ago, Jo NZ said:

That sounds exactly right!

So, I’m her son...  I’m currently trying to trace the car and it’s history... anything you can tell me about it? She no longer has the car, which she imaginatively called Fod. As far as I can tell it’s been restored and is now green with a 1275 engine... That model looks fantastic by the way, I wish the car looked as good as that when we had it! I have a picture if I can work out how to post it up....

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2 hours ago, Markwk said:

So, I’m her son...  I’m currently trying to trace the car and it’s history... anything you can tell me about it? She no longer has the car, which she imaginatively called Fod. As far as I can tell it’s been restored and is now green with a 1275 engine... That model looks fantastic by the way, I wish the car looked as good as that when we had it! I have a picture if I can work out how to post it up....

@Markwk That's a great story!

 

Re posting pics, try here: 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Markwk said:

So, I’m her son...  I’m currently trying to trace the car and it’s history... anything you can tell me about it? She no longer has the car, which she imaginatively called Fod. As far as I can tell it’s been restored and is now green with a 1275 engine... That model looks fantastic by the way, I wish the car looked as good as that when we had it! I have a picture if I can work out how to post it up....

Yes, like you, I know it’s still around. For pics when I had it look at https://frogeye.smugmug.com/Mk1SpritesFrogeye/Mk1-Sprite-Photographic/ and go for the rego. My first car, I still regret selling it!  I remember your mum making sure that she could fit a child seat in it - I’d already added fittings for full harness  - and whether it would increase in value. I threw in an extra engine - being a student I think I’d got through 3 or so. The first one broke a crank, after that I was into 5 pound engines in people’s backyards. The one your mum got was my next spare ! I too am so pleased it’s still around. They say it’s only two degrees of separation in NZ. One degree more to Aussie, eh!

The reason it was called Fod is because that was it’s name....

 

Edited by Jo NZ
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18 hours ago, Jo NZ said:

Yes, like you, I know it’s still around. For pics when I had it look at https://frogeye.smugmug.com/Mk1SpritesFrogeye/Mk1-Sprite-Photographic/ and go for the rego. My first car, I still regret selling it!  I remember your mum making sure that she could fit a child seat in it - I’d already added fittings for full harness  - and whether it would increase in value. I threw in an extra engine - being a student I think I’d got through 3 or so. The first one broke a crank, after that I was into 5 pound engines in people’s backyards. The one your mum got was my next spare ! I too am so pleased it’s still around. They say it’s only two degrees of separation in NZ. One degree more to Aussie, eh!

The reason it was called Fod is because that was it’s name....

 

Ha! I don’t remember a car seat! Didn’t know they were ‘a thing’ back then. Though to be honest I don’t think it would have made it any safer! Mum said you were sad to see it go when she drove off. A pretty good first car to have had. I hope the link works... the back end looks a mess as I think she sanded down some filler on it one day to find what horrors lay underneath only to find a thin layer of filler over the whole back end for no apparent reason... I have fond memories of driving in it asking to stop so we could unscrew the side windows and take them off, and of being sent into the depths of the boot looking for shopping that had gone missing! Back in the good old days of finding spares- mum spotted a whole car in a field, brought it, swapped the bonnet for its better one and then sold it on! She to regrets selling Fod, I’m trying to find the current owner for her! Certainly seems to have left an impression with people that’s for sure! https://1drv.ms/u/s!AhV6IKZdPHDlgQCV1xBIAKQDs-xY

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