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Tamiya Nissan Leopard TR X Turbo


galaxyg

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I bought this in December last year from a member on another forum that I've known (via several forums) for quite a few years. I've been after one of these for a while. It has it's original "Beatties" sticker on the end of the box, as well as a mostly peeled off one on the front. And the RIKO of course. It's a fairly simple kit so hopefully won't be a long build. There are some interesting details (to me anyway) about what's in the box.

 

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Despite all 4 tyres being in the same bag, two of them have collected this white residue, which I'm going to guess is related to getting them out of the mould. Whilst the other two have not. It comes off with water anyhow.

 

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The 50cc Honda Tact scooter that comes with the kit is not some extra pack-in, it's part of one of the main sprues that also contains car parts. I'll be building it too.

 

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The driver however won't be taking part in this project. I'll save him for a race car, especially since he inexplicably is wearing a 4 point harness, not standard equipment on the Nissan Leopard :)

 

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I'm starting with the interior as I know what colour this is going to be, two-tone brown and beige. I have some ideas on the car body (gold being the most likely), but I'm not 100% sure on that yet.

 

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Edited by galaxyg
typo
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Seen this kit advertised on the auction site, but don't think I've ever seen one built so it will be interesting to see this come together.

 

Good to hear that the white residue comes off with water as I have a Tamiya Bluebird I want to rebuild at some stage and all four tyres have the same thing developed over the years. I'm very glad it's an easy fix.

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Back in the day I think the Tamiya catalogue was my introduction to weird JDM cars that we didn't get over here.  Gold with a brown and beige interior sounds just right and I'm looking forward to the finished result.

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33 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

Back in the day I think the Tamiya catalogue was my introduction to weird JDM cars that we didn't get over here.  Gold with a brown and beige interior sounds just right and I'm looking forward to the finished result.

Mine too, a kid at school always had the Tamiya catalogues. Toyota Soarer, Subaru Alcyone, Nissan Leopard, Honda City and Nissan Skyline Hardtop are the main ones I recall from the time.

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In the spray booth

 

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Although I wasn't 100% sure of using gold (Tamiya Titanium Gold in this case) on this car, as soon as it was out of the can and onto the body, I knew it was the right choice.

 

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It is going to be a two-tone body however, so masking begins.

 

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And here's the result. It's subtle but I like it. The lower colour is Ford Ginger Ale Metallic, a kind of greenish gold.  I'll let the body sit for a week now to get full dried out before I think about going near it with clearcoat.

 

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Meanwhile, back at the chassis I've blocked up all the battery/motor holes.

 

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Most of the underbody assembles, except for the petrol tank. There are not a lot of parts but it's quite well detailed. If there's one thing I'd change about this kit, it's be to not have the exhaust pipe moulded in.

 

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Now with petrol tank and weathering.

 

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Wing mirrors have sink marks, so get some filler.

 

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Door cards all finished and with chrome trim.

 

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How very 80s. A brown digital dashboard.

 

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I really like Titanium Gold as a colour, been wanting to find a car which it will work on. With the Leopard I'd say you've found it, and the two-tone sets it off perfectly. Even though it's a simple kit, the extra detail means this one is shaping up very nicely.

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Completed interior. I've added rear seatbelts and seatbelt retainers.

 

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TURBO!  Having examined images of the real car, indeed the TRX-Turbo is reversed. I can imagine only so you can let the person in front of you know in their mirror you're packing a TURBO.

 

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TURBO TURBO. Is there a more 1980s word?

 

 

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6 hours ago, galaxyg said:

TURBO!  Having examined images of the real car, indeed the TRX-Turbo is reversed. I can imagine only so you can let the person in front of you know in their mirror you're packing a TURBO.

 

I think that was exactly the reason. I know the BMW 2002 had the same thing with Turbo reversed on the front air dam and it wouldn't surprise me if there were others too.

 

Keep up the good work on this one.

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What follows are a series of photos going from freshly clearcoated (top) to the first look at combined body/chassis. Via a lot of polishing and masking for the black parts and annoyingly - and on one side only, the TURBO decal I thought should be protected by clearcoat, pulled off by the mask. Shame BUT - the kit does come with a second set of these decals in black and for a while anyway I've been wondering if that would have been the better colour choice anyway. Now I'll find out. 

 

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Headlights and tail lights, the car gets it's face.

 

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These wheels are *very* chromy.

 

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A trick I've used before. Mr Hobby Flat Matt. Turns chrome into aluminium in one coat.

 

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The wheel centres are intended to be black with giant hex decals to cover the chrome (decals can be seen at far left of photo). But this seems not the best way. Mr Muscle soon gets the chrome off. and I'll trim out the badge part of the decal to use on semi-gloss black instead.  What can't be seen on this image is the new *black* TURBO decals down the side. Turns out Black was the best colour after all, so happy accident.

 

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As is often the case with my builds, the mirrors are the final part to go on. In this instance Tamiya has even moulded in the small mirror wipers of the original car. How useful these are in real life, who knows but it's amazing the amount of great and/or weird engineering that used to go on with Japanese cars and also - how much of that cool stuff they kept in their domestic market only.  This is the last photo in the WIP, completed photos will follow as soon as.

 

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Edited by galaxyg
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