Nissan Skyline - The Boxy One

[Spiny]

With the Charger finished, it's time for me to jump straight into the next project. This one is going to be a much longer project and I expect it will take most of the summer to complete. As usual for me, the kit is going to be pretty much straight out of the box, and is Tamiya's custom Nissan Syline GT-R from 1970. First impressions of the kit are very good, and appear to justify the excellent things I've heard about it. However, as this is going to be my first attempt at using photoetch parts, there is plenty of opportunity for this one to go all pear-shaped.

 

In truth, work on this started back in the autumn when I set about trying to get the body ready. Fortunately, there were no noticeable sink marks on it, and only small, well-placed mould-lines which took only a little removal. This is the body straight out of the box:

 

 

Needless to say, after a little clean-up, it got a coat of white primer (obvious choice of primer colour since I'm doing this as the white version):

 

 

After that, it got a coat of Halfords Nissan Arctic White. Not really sure why I bothered though, as the colour is near enough identical to the primer. To think white is usually a nightmare to match, and then I go and pick something which is a perfect colour match to the undercoat🙄 But, for completeness here's the body as it was before the winter weather stopped progress:

 

 

As of today, it has had the decals added (all two of them) to the main body and just wants its clear coat now. Can't say I'm looking forward to polishing it though with those creases - they look like prime territory for burning through the paint. The other sprayed parts have had similar treatment, with the bonnet and spoilers having received their clear coats last weekend. The chassis is body coloured on this one, and it has been bugging me all winter that it just looked too bright in this white finish. So today I've had a go at going over it with a dark grey wash, then rubbing off the wash with an old cloth before it dried (I presume this is the correct way of doing it?) For a first attempt, I'm reasonably satisfied with the outcome, and at the very least it's dulled it down a bit:

 

 

With all that done, it was time to make a start on the instructions. Not major progress, just the engine block/gearbox assembled and some paint on that, the sump and the engine cover. But at least it's a start...

 

 

That's where I am at the moment, but that engine cover still needs a bit of detailing prior to fitting onto the engine.

[Hamden]

 

Nice start love the Skyline so will take a seat and watch this progress if you don't mind?

 

            Roger

[JeroenS]

A nice one again Spiny, looking good already! If you're worried about the polish, just go very easy, after all it's a car from way back. 

[Cooper645]

I do love a skyline. Looking forward to this. 

[Alan R]

Hi Spiny,

 

I have this one in my stash as well. My first impressions were also very favorable.

Looking forward so seeing this one progress.

 

Cheers, Alan.

[Snowman]

Classic old school Skyline!😍

 

Nice start, I'll be watching.👍

[Spiny]

Thanks for the comments everyone, great to see so many people interested in it. It seems everyone likes a Skyline!

 

Jeroen - I will be going easy with the polishing, and I think that with those creases the polishing sticks rather than micromesh for the initial polish will be in order.

 

This is the sort of thing I'm aiming for, although the white has come out much crisper and less creamy than the one in the pic - serves me right for going with the colour on the cap of the can rather than remembering that I've actually had a car in this shade of white (and it was a crisp white too). I'm also going to stick with black wheels, although looking at the silver Skyline next to it I am half-tempted to go with the silver rims.

 

[JeroenS]

Tough choice, silver or black rims.... The silver ones do look really good on the white car... just sayin' 😉 

[Spiny]

16 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Tough choice, silver or black rims.... The silver ones do look really good on the white car... just sayin' 😉 

Can't disagree with that, and I do like the Titatinium Gold. I'd like to do a car in that colour, just got to find the right one. But, tempting as it is there's something about this car which is just crying out for black wheels (well, to me anyway) and I'm moving back in that direction after yesterday's dalliance with the idea of chrome rims - I can't help feeling that the black wheels will give it a somewhat meaner appearance. Of course, it helps that the spraying of the wheels last year turned out quite nicely for one of my spray jobs:

 

[Spiny]

Only a little progress this weekend, so little it almost doesn't seem worth posting it up. But, I'll go with the short update. First of all, I noticed that there were still some noticeable seams on the engine block where the two halves were glued together, so I ended up sanding those back and repainting. I also wasn't happy with the finish on the cam cover, so that had another coat of grey before I started detailing it up. What with all that, I only really had time to detail up the cam covers (fortunately the bits to be painted silver are sharply moulded which makes painting surprisingly easy), and then stick the sump and cover onto the engine block. The result is this:

 

 

And that is as far as I've got. What with Easter and family visits, I don't anticipate much progress next weekend either

 

[Spiny]

Amazing isn't it how hitting the detailed painting part of a build coupled with other things going on can drag a project almost to a halt. Given it doesn't look as though I'll get anything done tomorrow, here's the 'progress' made over the last couple of weeks.

 

First up, the body got it's coat of clear coat which has given it a little more of a shine (even if it does look hardly any different to the pic above, there is a top coat on now - honest!). In truth, the orange peel is no different to how things normally seem to end up straight after the spray can, but for some reason the camera has decided to massively exaggerate this here. A little clean up later on should have it looking much better... and as I fully expect to not need the body for a couple of months there should be plenty of time to do that.

 

 

Meanwhile, the engine has crawled forwards with some paint going onto the auxilliary parts to the engine, some of which have even made it onto the engine itself:

 

 

As I said, little progress here and even less to see. Fingers crossed I get a bit more done next weekend.

[Spiny]

The good thing about Bank Holiday weekends is that you get the chance to make a bit of noticeable progress (in amongst all the other things you're required to do). Happily, I was able to take this opportunity this time, even though most of the pieces were quite small so the amount of progress visible is somewhat less that the amount of work done.

 

First up was to add the panel washes to the body. I used dark grey for the panel lines, which has come out much more stronger than it did on the Corvette a while back (although the photo makes it look worse than it is). I'm hoping that it will fade a bit with polishing and waxing, but I can live with it as it is. The scuttle grille was done with a black wash and barely looks any different to the dark grey.

 

 

Meanwhile, in the engine bay, a first for me as I applied the first of the kits photoetched parts. It's the first time I've used photoetch, and I must admit that I was expecting the process to be much harder than it was - definitely happy with the result, and the air funnels also seem to have fixed more strongly than expected. As proof of how strongly they have attached, I (accidentally!) dropped the engine on the floor and it all stayed together - no food for the carpet monster today.

 

 

The other side of the engine saw the exhausts painted and added along with the belt system (usual long-winded painting job on that) and the fan. The instructions want it done in matt white, but I've gone with semi-gloss as I felt that looked a bit more like plastic. Still not 100% sure I did the right thing there, but the engine is complete now, and has all gone together extremely smoothly in line with Tamiya's reputation.

 

 

The final job was to get that engine into the body. For some reason, the instructions want the interior floor painting semi-gloss black, but I've gone with matt black to better represent carpet. I think this is the first car I've built with a single skin floor, so the floor does imitate the underside a bit - as this is the kit for a custom version of the Skyline I wonder if this is meant to represent a car with the carpet stripped out? Anyway, the engine slotted in just as nicely as it built up.

 

 

So far it's lookign like just as good a kit as its reputation suggests.

[JeroenS]

The engine looks very nice Spiny, good bit of detail on it too.

[Spiny]

Thank you, although the credit for the engine must go to Tamiya. This is as it comes straight out of the box and all I did was add a bit of paint and glue as in the instructions. Have to admit I'd be lost without the magnifying lenses though - I think my age is catching up with my eyes this last year

 

[JeroenS]

12 hours ago, Spiny said:

I think my age is catching up with my eyes this last year

Or is it the other way around 😁

[Spiny]

There's nothing like a multi-coloured part to really put the brakes on things, and last weekend I had two - the belt assembly on the front of the engine which made it onto the model last week, and what I think is the steering column and assorted bottles which didn't. (I have a couple more reverse action tweezers coming soon which should mean that's less of an issue in future). But, that's all painted and on now, so here's another pic of the engine bay:

 

 

After that, it was on to the front suspension. A bit more photoetch in the shape of the brake discs, but the only bit here which was even mildly tricky was holding the struts in place while I fitted the sub-frame over. All sorted now, and this is where I stand at the moment (progress wasn't helped by being distracted by that sudoku on the newspaper making up my work area!)

 

 

What with waiting for paint to dry, most of my modelling time this weekend was spent micromeshing. The spoilers and bonnet are complete now, but the body is only at 8000 grit stage with the 12000 grit still to come. I got some of the micromesh pads having used the sheets previously, and they do allow much more control - already the paint is looking quite good here and the only place with a burn though it is on the edge of the rear wheel arch which is a) very small, and b) will be covered by the overfender anyway. So a big thumbs up for the micromesh pads. I won't put up the body as it stands (who wants yet another white body pic?), so instead here's the bonnet with one half "before" any work, and the other half "after" the 12,000 grit to show the difference. I think I need to get better at my spraying - would save a lot of sanding!

 

[Schwarz-Brot]

That's a huge difference! I never seem to be able to sand my paint that smooth. I'll rub through way too fast.

[Spiny]

1 hour ago, Schwarz-Brot said:

That's a huge difference! I never seem to be able to sand my paint that smooth. I'll rub through way too fast.

I think it shows the difference seeing it side by side with the before - if it was on its own I doubt it would be so noticeable. But I'm glad you noticed - makes the effort worthwhile.

 

I used to go with the Micromesh sheets from 4000, then 6000, 8000 and finally 12,000 grit but found with those had a bad habit of burning through in places after the first two. For this one, I got some Micromesh pads which make it much easier to sand up to a line (I was very concerned I would burn through those creases otherwise), and also started at 6000 before going through 8000 to 12,000. I've also gone quite heavy with the clear to give me something to sand down, which is a good job as I must have spent an hour on the main body with the 6000 plus another half hour with the 8000. My wrist isn't used to that much sanding, but at least I'm not facing a respray

[Spiny]

After a couple of weekends without touching the table, I finally got a bit done on this one, albeit only a very little progress (nice weather and too much else to do ).

 

First up was to get the headlining of the body painted on, then I gave it the final micromesh. It will get a run over with the polish and wax further down the line to bring out the full shine, but this is probably a pretty good indication of where it's going to end up. Next up will be getting the window trim on - given that will be with the chrome pen I think I'll have to do that sooner rather than later to give it ample chance to dry before I start messing with it.

 

 

As for the build proper, the only real additions have been fixing the steering and adding in underbody guards. But, aside from the wheels, the underside of the front of the car is done now.

 

 

Next step is completing the engine. All the remaining parts are in various states of painting progress, so the end is in sight in the engine bay too.

 

I'm conscious that this thread is mostly just "I completed X & Y" with little other commentary - there is a reason for this, namely that (so far!!!) everything has gone together really smoothly with no real dramas. So a big thumbs up to Tamiya, although I am aware I've probably just jinxed it.

[Hamden]

 

Coming together very nicely, looking forward to more of the same

 

     Roger

[Spiny]

I'll try not to disappoint then

 

[Spiny]

Another weekend, another step forward on this, although the first bit saw my first issue. And it was all my fault - basically I tried to install the strut-brace upside down. Fortunately, I quickly realised my mistake, so it was easy to remove the brace before the glue had set, but it did leave a bit of residue on the photoetched ends. I cleaned it up as best I could (fortunately, the superglue seemed to be in a particularly slow-setting mood today), then fitted and touched up. The blue on this is a 30-year old tin of Humbrol enamel, so there was a longer than usual wait for the paint to dry on this, but I got there in the end. With this and the other bits and pieces, I'm pleased to say that the engine bay is now complete, barring any bits I accidentally knock off later in the build!

 

 

In parallel with this, I added window trim to the side windows, masking to try to get a neater edge. The quarterlight pillar and triangle in front of that will need detail painting in matt black, but that can wait until I need to do it.

 

 

I used the 2mm Molotow pen for this and the 1mm for those tricky to access corners. To be honest, this side hasn't come out as well as the driver's side, but it looks ok so long as you don't do something stupid like point a camera at it. Windscreen and rear window surrounds have been left alone for now - the chrome has always taken a long time to harden in my experience so I want to leave it for at least a week before moving onto anything near the work I've already done.

 

 

The final bit today was to complete the drivetrain, and add the rear springs. The rest of the rear suspension is almost done being painted, so I should have that done next time I'm on the table.

 

 

Another little bit of self-inflicted damage was that I forgot to touch up where the alumnium and black meet around the diff prior to fitting it to the chassis. Fortunately, after this photo was taken I was able to get that sorted to it looks a little better there now.

 

Thanks for watching.

[JeroenS]

Neat and meticulous as always Spiny!

[Spiny]

15 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Neat and meticulous as always Spiny!

I think that's one of the things about being an engineer by profession - you have to be neat and meticulous or you end up with some giant expensive mess! The models are just a way of carrying that on with no outside pressure

 

[Spiny]

A bit more progress this weekend, and the underbody is done apart from the wheels and rear anti-roll bar which come later in the build.

 

First up was adding the rear dampers and wishbones - a little bit fiddly when dry-assembling but it all slotted together nicely in the end. The trick was to fit the dampers into the chassis and wishbone set then glue the wishbones to the chassis, A little Tamiya Extra Thin Cement to set the dampers rounded it off.

 

 

After that, it was a case of assembling the rear drums and fixing those and the exhaust to the chassis. There was a minor hiccup when I snapped the off the post from the chassis which the resonator is meant to fix onto, but that didn' cause any lasting issues. The front end of the exhaust pipe needed a little more bend on to fit onto the pipes leaving the engine, but that was easily sorted with a bit of (hand) hot then cold water and some light bending. Far worse could have been knocking over the aforementioned Tamiya Extra Thin, fortunately quickly righted before too much spilled and it didn't get through the newspaper, let alone reach any plastic model parts

 

 

Unphotographed updates are that I have completed the window trims (looks just like in last week's photos) and have moved onto the interior, although so far only stuck the photoetch onto the pedals. Looks as though I'll soon be starting on Fred (the driver) and having a go at the seatbelts which I've been dreading.