Nissan Skyline - The Boxy One

[Spiny]

After a couple of weeks' hiatus, it was back to the bench this weekend. Not that the Skyline saw a lot of action as I was busy prepping/spraying bodies for a couple of future projects.

 

First job was the last touch on the chassis - adding the wheel hub covers. Only a small touch, but along with the nuts they prevent the wheels being a well of blackness.

 

 

A bit more work was in starting on the details for the body, namely adding the black to the window surrounds (careful painting) and the rear window pillar on the glass (masking, so not quite so careful painting!). I'm hoping that the glass stays in place as I've just used Clearfix (which from past experience doesn't provide a particularly strong fix) and the windows are inserted from inside so if I push one in I'll have to get the body off to put it back in place.

 

 

I was hoping to have got the bonnet fixed by now as well, but that will have to wait for next week. But it does at least feel as though the end is within sight on this now (albeit using a pair of binoculars )

 

[Spiny]

A little more progress this week, not so much in terms of work done but certainly from a visual perspective.

 

First up was fitting the bonnet onto the body. I had to drill out the holes in the mounts and sand off the hinge pins, both due to paint build-up, but once done the bonnet went on surprisingly easily.

 

 

Next up was fitting the body to the chassis, and as is par for the course for me (and particularly with Tamiya kits it seems for me) it didn't go entirely smoothly. The first attempt saw me fail to line the back up correctly, and in trying to get it fitted a number of pieces came off including the just fitted bonnet As well as that, the right side windows, rear window, front strut brace, passenger door card, Fred's seat and Fred's head (!) also fell off. So I had to put all that back together before the second attempt. Fortunately this was more successful and I only lost the bonnet, which I was able to fix when the chassis and body were joined.

 

 

After that, it was a case of polishing the body up (Tamiya Fine), then preparing the grille and installing the wipers. Not 100% successful, dropping the passenger wiper has left a small bit of CA on the bonnet which I haven't been able to fully get rid of, but after a repolish I think I'll have to live with it. As a result, this is where I am with the Skyline at the moment. Suddenly it all feels like it's coming together and the end is in sight now.

 

 

Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the likes through the thread.

[Alan R]

27 minutes ago, Spiny said:

Not 100% successful, dropping the passenger wiper has left a small bit of CA on the bonnet

Hi Spiny,

That's why I don't use CA very much!

I tend to fit such small items as wipers with a hi-tack PVA glue, available from such places as Hobbycraft. It holds them well, and if you do drop the item on the body, you can wipe off the glue with a moist cloth or tissue.

 

CA has its uses, but I find it fiddly and messy for some tasks.

 

Cheers, Alan.

[Hamden]

 

Looks good to me, Top Job

 

  Roger

[JeroenS]

Looking good, sorry to hear about your troubles with the marriage of chassis and body. It's always a nervous moment 🙂 .... One thing, isn't it sitting a bit high in the back? 

[Spiny]

Thanks everyone

23 hours ago, Alan R said:

I tend to fit such small items as wipers with a hi-tack PVA glue, available from such places as Hobbycraft. It holds them well, and if you do drop the item on the body, you can wipe off the glue with a moist cloth or tissue.

Definitely something I need to add to my armoury I think. The first wiper I used the cocktail stick to add glue to the hole, but had a small amount of frosting on the windscreen (which fortunately I was able to remove). Adding the glue to the wiper post was my attempt to avoid the CA frosting - not one of my better ideas!

14 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Looking good, sorry to hear about your troubles with the marriage of chassis and body. It's always a nervous moment 🙂 .... One thing, isn't it sitting a bit high in the back? 

At least I got it done second time around - I think it took me four attempts with the Honda! I can see why you think it looks a bit hight, but that is how it should be (the exhaust sits nicely in its recess). It will look a lot better when I get the resin over-arches in the background of the second photo fitted, shoudl also stop the rear wheels looking as though they're sticking out a bit too

[Spiny]

A bit more progress this weekend, and this one is definitely on the home straight. There was a minor scare though as I couldn't find the metal transfers for the Skyline badges on the wing. After hunting high and low I gave up and dropped an e-mail to see if I could order replacements. Of course, half an hour after sending the e-mail, I found the transfers hiding underneath Fred's spare arm!

 

Onto the build, and the first job was to get the lights added to the front of the car and the grille before adding the grille to the car itself:

 

 

With most of the 'standard' bits added to the front of the car, it was onto the back. I spent the weekend before last adding clear red to the rear lights, and another three coats went on this weekend taking it to 8 coats in all. Still a little bit lighter than I'd like, but I can live with it. I also got the door handle, rear overfenders and rear and side chrome trim including taillights added, fortunately with no real issues. And as a sideline, I got some of the decals added - still haven't worked out what the point is of chroming the C-pillar badges then covering with a decal but it's done now. Incidentally, this isn't Fred practicing his stunt driving, just that I took the photo while the Microsol was doing its stuff.

 

[HoolioPaulio]

Looking very tidy, nice work.

[Spiny]

The plan was that I should have been putting this up in the RFI section tonight. And I got so close....

 

...but then there was a small issue of me not having paid enough attention to the instructions as I noticed the "X-26" against the side indicators indicating that they have orange rather than clear glass. And it takes a few coats of clear orange to get the full tint on so I still need to spend a little time on it. This weekend has just been adding on the detail parts on to get it looking finished, and I'm pleased to say that everything else is done apart from those indicators. On the bright side, that should give me plenty of time to get it photographed rather than trying to cram things in around the grand prix.

 

But for now, here's how it stands now:

 

 

[JeroenS]

Fred's looking ready to go! Anyway, this one deserves some nice pics so take your time. 

[Hamden]

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Fred's looking ready to go! Anyway, this one deserves some nice pics so take your time. 

 

What he said!

 

  Roger

[Spiny]

14 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Fred's looking ready to go! Anyway, this one deserves some nice pics so take your time. 

Perhaps if I'd spent less time ironing the photo background and more time reading the instructions...

 

Glad that the three of you like it - it's certainly been a long one so I think the next one will be a bit of a simpler build. But overall, I'm reasonably happy with how this one has turned out.

[JeroenS]

9 hours ago, Spiny said:

Perhaps if I'd spent less time ironing the photo background 

These backgrounds are annoying indeed. I use thick A3 sized paper in black or white, I can recommend it over the cloth background.

[Spiny]

15 hours ago, JeroenS said:

These backgrounds are annoying indeed. I use thick A3 sized paper in black or white, I can recommend it over the cloth background.

Ah, but the cloth backgrounds came free with the light tent. And being from Yorkshire originally, free is just the right price!

[JeroenS]

Well, I don't know about how it is in Yorkshire, but I could pay for that sheet of paper out of my monthly allowance easily 😉

[Spiny]

14 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Well, I don't know about how it is in Yorkshire, but I could pay for that sheet of paper out of my monthly allowance easily 😉

I keep forgetting with your English being so good you're from the Netherlands, but by way of explanation this is from the "Culture of Yorkshire" article on Wikipedia. Sadly I'm in work-enforrced exile now

 

"Traditions and stereotypes

Many Yorkshire people are immensely proud of both their county and their identity, embracing the popular nickname of God's Own County given to Yorkshire.

 

The most common stereotype of a Yorkshire person is as tight with money: there is a British saying that "a Yorkshireman is a Scotsman with all the generosity squeezed out of him", which references how Scots are also stereotyped as being tight but not as tight as Yorkshire folk. This stereotype can also be seen in the Yorkshireman's Motto:

'Ear all, see all, say nowt;

Eyt all, sup all, pay nowt;

And if ivver tha does owt fer nowt –

Allus do it fer thissen.

Translation: 'Hear all, see all, say nothing; Eat all, drink all, pay nothing; And if ever you do anything for nothing – always do it for yourself."

 

 

[JeroenS]

That's some nice cultural background 🙂 I wasn't up to speed on the details, like now, but I understood the gist of your earlier Yorkshire reference. After all, they say pretty much the same things about the Dutch 😉

 

As for me, I part with money a bit too easily I guess... I have a hole in my hand the size of, well... Yorkshire I think 

[Spiny]

And with the indicators painted and fitted, not to mention the wing mirrors reattached after I knocked both off waxing the car, I'm pleased to say that I'm calling this one finished.

 

The RFI thread is here:

 

 

But for those reading the thread, here's a bonus pic.

 

 

Thanks for following - the next build should be much shorter.

[Northern Dan]

Fantastic job with the build, it has inspired me to add it to my shopping list. The engine looks great and I really like the effect with the underside, deffinately something I'll try in the future. 

 

With regards to the darkened panel lines, I've seen a video where they apply black to the panel lines before spraying - I never got to see the end result though but I imagine it would work subtly well on a white finish. 

 

I do have one question though if you don't mind - what type of primer did you use? Was it a Tamiya version? Or a Halfords type? I'm prepping to spray my R34 (first time sprarer) and am still undecided. 

[Spiny]

Of course I don't mind you asking

 

I've only ever used Halfords primers, never had any problems with them reacting with the plastic (although it's worth putting a couple of mist coats on first before you go onto wet coats just to be safe). After that, I've tended to give a very light sand with about 1000grit sandpaper just to get rid of any debris or roughness which might be lurking in there. I tend to go with white primer for lighter colours and grey for the darker ones - if in doubt while in Halfords have a look at similar colours and see which colour of primer they recommend. Be warned though that primer has an amazing ability to show all those mould lines and sink marks you missed when preparing the body, second only to gloss black paint.

 

Also, when you're painting, beware of humidity. On the can, it says to only use above 10 degrees C, but I'm convinced that this is a way to stop you spraying when humidity is high. (I have a thermometer and hygrometer - humidity gauge - in the garage so I can avoid spraying when the humidity is high. Unfortunately, at this time of year unless you're lucky you would probably want to spray inside, but if the worst comes to the worst you can always check the Windows 10 (or other) weather app to get an idea of the current humidity - I try to keep below 70%RH but you could get away with up to 80% if you need to get sprayed.