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1/24 Tamiya Eunos (G-Limited)


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I'm on with my first new build since... checks calendar... November last year. Gosh, didn't think it'd been that long. 

 

I had a bit of a splurge the other week and couldn't resist a Tamiya Eunos, a kit I first built when it was a brand new release. That'll be 33 years ago then. That exact model survived until recently when I found it again in storage. Realistically, I can't keep everything and I can do better now, so I scrapped it for spares. Before I did so, I made sure they were still available new. The one I built back then must have been the MX-5 kit No. 24082 because it was left hand drive. These days only No. 24085 is available new, representing a right hand drive Eunos Roadster. 

 

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The new purchase:

 

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Since 1989, many things have changed. However, one positive is that my partner owned a Japanese import Eunos Roadster G-Limited for a couple of years, so we got to have fun whilst these cars weren't really worth much. The one we bought had been half-heartedly modified with stupid enormous wheels and knock-off "Lexus" lights so we brought it back to how it should have been. It drove much better after we'd fixed it and got the tracking done. Importantly, G-Limited spec meant a limited slip diff which meant it was suitably pointy with a bit of right foot. Here's the car in question, not actually going sideways for a change:

 

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For various reasons, the time came when we sold it on in favour of a bargain basement three-litre Jag, The Eunos didn't last long with its new owner and dropped off the DVLA database in late 2016. Who knows what happened but it was in decent nick when we sold it. Oh well, 21 years on the road isn't bad. 

 

Having bought a Eunos kit and wanting to test a Tamiya metallic shade on a cheap kit, it was obvious what I was going to do. TS-53 is a passable match for Eunos Satellite Blue. Let's see how it goes. 

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Flippin' 'eck, doesn't time fly - I hadn't realised at all just how long the MX-5 had been about! My boy and I are thinking of getting shot of the Mini and looking for one to do the occasional sprint and hillclimb in (well it'll probably be him driving and me watching, old age is catching up!)

 

Looking forward to the build! :)

 

Keith

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Believe it or not Keith, an early 1600cc MX-5 is now HRCR historic legal. Shoot me now. 

 

Onwards, our particular G-Limited had a Mazda option rear spoiler, without which the powerful 1800cc model would surely have flipped in the air or something. The Tamiya kit doesn't include such an item so I'll have to make one. I cunningly fashioned a piece of plasticard...

 

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Into this... passable I think.

 

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The side repeaters are moulded in clear but the chances of me fitting them cleanly once the shell is painted are non-existent. Hence, I glued them in place before applying Tamiya Fine Surface primer. I'd only have to paint them silver before tinting with amber anyway. 

 

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And here it is primered. Good stuff, the Fine Surface product, not cheap but worth it.  

 

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The body mould is pretty clean. No flash to remove but a few lines to contend with on the rear wing tops and bumpers. 

 

Next up I'll apply the TS-53 metallic deep blue. I've read that the Tamiya clear coat can be troublesome so I plan to clear coat it with some Halfords lacquer I have in stock. It's not something I've done before so any real life guidance is welcome as experiences seem to vary. I'll let the paint properly harden before lacquering but should I flat it before lacquer, or just apply straight and polish the lacquer coat?

 

Anteater

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1 hour ago, Anteater said:

should I flat it before lacquer, or just apply straight and polish the lacquer coat?

 

 

I find it depends on how well I've got the base paint coat down. I actually clearcoated a Fujimi Cayman shell this afternoon using Hycote laquer out of a rattle can. I'd airbrushed that shell with gravity paints laquer and it was beautifully smooth (unusual for my paintwork!) so I didn't flat it back. The clearcoat is looking OK so far! Other times if I've got a lot of orange peel or dust in the base coat then I do wet sand it before clearcoating.

 

1 hour ago, Anteater said:

Believe it or not Keith, an early 1600cc MX-5 is now HRCR historic legal.

 

That's interesting, I think that would be fun!

 

Keith

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That TS-53 is the same colour as I used on the XJ-S. I cleared that with TS-13 and had no issues (make sure you apply a couple of mist coats first just to be on the safe side though, but that applies to any paint) so if you like the Tamiya Clear there's no reason not to go with it..

 

The spoiler looks excellent - very nice work there and it's already shaping up to be an excellent model.

 

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I took advantage of the decent weather to shoot some TS-53  onto the body and it's gone unusually well, despite a pigeon getting into the spraying room. 

 

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My plan had been to lightly paint the body, remove the two masking circles and locate the spoiler, then spray onwards. Same with fitting the door mirrors, my logic being any glue marks or blooming would then be dealt with by top coating in blue. But now, I don't think it needs any more blue...

 

I'll let it harden for a few days then polish it and see what it looks like. I might not need to clear coat after all; I mean the original car wasn't super-shiny to start with. It would benefit from picking out the panel lines either way. 

 

Plenty of time yet for something to go wrong. 

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Looking really good so far!  Thanks for using TS-53 by the way, I'm planning to use it for my next big-scale build (1/16th scale '64/65 Ford Mustang AMT kit) but hadn't seen the colour in the flesh, so to speak.  Great colour.

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3 hours ago, Neddy said:

Looking really good so far!  Thanks for using TS-53 by the way, I'm planning to use it for my next big-scale build (1/16th scale '64/65 Ford Mustang AMT kit) but hadn't seen the colour in the flesh, so to speak.  Great colour.

 

It is a very good colour, I used it on the XJ-S and was very pleased with the results. One thing which unfortunately doesn't show too well on the pics above is that it is a metallic and has very fine flakes so you have the added benefit that the flake looks pretty well in proportion, even in photographs which have a tendency to exaggerate the flake effect. If you're looking at using it then I can only encourage you. The only thing to watch for is that like all metallics you're best off trying to paint all parts in one go - I ended up with a slight mismatch between body and bonnet as a result of forgetting this.

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You're right, I've already learned that one the hard way!  I've used Tamiya TS range rattle cans quite a bit and love them but as you say you need to spray all the body components together to get evenly matching panels.  Where I goofed was to damage the surface of one door of the Miura after the whole lot was sprayed and had to strip it back and respray it.  It took ages to achieve an acceptable match.

The flake should be just the right size and density for the Mustang as it's a 1/16 scale kit so significantly larger than yours.

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The metallic effect is definitely there, but I expect lacquering will bring it out most effectively. I plan to flat it a little before clear coating, hopefully the metallic effect won't be lost but I don't see why it would be.  

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Nice paint.  🙂  I wouldn't flat a metallic - it will never look even.  No problems using the standard Halfords clear over Tamiya paint in my experience.  I prefer their petrol resistant lacquer over Halfords base coats, because it seems to dry harder, but I haven't tried that on a Tamiya base yet.

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I've had mixed results with Halfords clear lacquer over Tamiya paint.  I've used it successfully over Tamiya's Candy Lime Green from a spray can and some airbrushed Tamiya acrylics; but when I clear coated a Honda NSX that I'd airbrushed with Tamiya Gunmetal the paint lifted and the plastic underneath was ruined.

 

This is the result of a recent experiment on a plastic teaspoon.

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The spoon was primed with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, then painted with TS-49 Bright Red, half over-painted with TS-17 Gloss Aluminium.  The top third is TS-13, the middle is no clear and the bottom is Halfords Lacquer, which seems to have attacked the metallic paint slightly.  Maybe I was too heavy handed?  I tried starting both clears of with a couple of light coats.

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the Eunos come together, it looks like a nice kit.

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I neglected to add that I still have my '92 NA6 and while it's less than a pristine example I would be happy to snap reference photos for you should you have need of them.  Both cars share the same underpinnings.  BTW, the paint looks great.  Oh, and if I'm not mistaken, your car had single stage paint i.e. no clear coat up to a certain model year. 

36823176-10211183318971132-8647966214418

 

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Blimey, it's high stakes stuff! Good job it's a cheap kit.

 

That was exactly my concern about flatting a metallic @Six97s, but if what happened to @johnlambert occurs, it'll be a problem either way.

 

@mikevillena I've got enough shots of the old car for reference but thanks for the offer. Satellite Blue was a mica paint so I assume it must have been clear coated. Our particular car was several different interpretations of Satellite Blue. It had seen a bit action over the years, and I added yet another shade when I had to replace the nosecone...

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  • 2 weeks later...

A quick update on the G-Limited. We're having some pretty disruptive building works done to the house so there's masonry dust everywhere, not ideal conditions for painting. Ergo, I elected not to lacquer but to polish instead. I know I should probably have found an undusty corner in which to spray the clear coat, but using cutting compound on the blue was easier and quicker. Believe it or not, it worked quiet well.

 

Exhibits A and B; 

 

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My photo skillz are obviously lacking as it does look more metallic in real life, but the effect is pleasingly subtle and relatively true to scale. The real thing wasn't super shiny anyway. If I was being completely prototypical I'd need to paint every other panel a fractionally different shade... 

 

ANTEATER

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I know what you mean about the metal flake in this paint being quite close to scale and looking quite realistic, that was my thought too. The only thing I did find was that in photos the flake had a habit of looking like small dust particles in the shot.

 

Good work on this so far.

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My glacial pace continues unabated with the addition of rear lights. 

 

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They were smoked on the real thing so I painted red and amber tint on the inside and over coated that with a gun metal and silver mix. Glad I got the reverser lights roughly circular as nothing sticks out more than a wonky circle. More drama coming soon (ish). 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Back on with the Eunos, and 6 weeks from starting (I could have built a real one in this time) I finally found a few hours to get the chassis done. 

 

Here it is in its natural state, with only the half-engine picked out in aluminium paint. I think Revell did a version with a full engine but this Tamiya is a simple kerbside kit and the part count is pretty low. Therefore it didn't take too long to get from this;

 

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... to this;

 

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It might be an old moulding but it falls together with no problem. I bet with the number of these Tamiya have knocked out over the past 33 years they must have replaced the tooling to keep it fresh. Needless to say, it all locates perfectly and everything looks straight; straighter than the subject of this build which never ran exactly true anyway.  

 

There now follows a short interlude while I find some more spare time...

 

ANTEATER PAUSED

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22 hours ago, Spiny said:

You talk about glacial pace, but I think your build rate (and result) is comparing favourably to mine at the moment.

And mine!  Great work,  although all those odd angles on the exhaust pipe is upsetting my OCD! 😅 - Andy 

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BOOM!

 

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WALLOP!!

 

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What you can't see from these gloomy photographs is how much time I've spent cutting bits of carpet from DC Fix black velour and tinting them grey. And you definitely can't tell how much time I've spent tinting the seats a very subtle blue-grey on the front faces then spaying them with matte coat. In fact, this lighting does me no favours whatsoever. 

 

I don't know why I bother...

 

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