JeroenS Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Well, those seats do look good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redstaff Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Looking good mate Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 At least in a convertible your carpet efforts will be on view. I spent several evenings trying to make good the splits in the seat decals of my 370z, which now it is only just possible to see that there are seats at all! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted July 4, 2022 Author Share Posted July 4, 2022 Thanks all for the encouragement. Now, one notable feature on the real car was a chromed "style bar" behind the seats. It was in place when we bought it and it was rubbish. It specifically wasn't a roll bar as it gave no structural advantage and would probably positively contribute to killing you in the event of a rollover or rear-ender. We never got round to replacing it so, stupid as it was, it must be replicated. I'm using 2.4mm L-shaped styrene and 1.5mm styrene rod, co-incidentally about as strong as the original materials. Dry fitted, and after a coat of shiny silver... Not precisely replicated but probably better looking than the original. Next up I need to mount some intertia reel seat belts on said "style bar" (the originals bolted through the bar into the factory top seat belt mounting). Rather than make a mess of it I've bitten the bullet and ordered some PE and Resin parts from Hiroboy; very reasonably priced in fact, or at least until I loaded my basket with other stuff that will come in useful. ANTEATER waits for postman. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted July 5, 2022 Share Posted July 5, 2022 9 hours ago, Anteater said: I'm using 2.4mm L-shaped styrene and 1.5mm styrene rod, co-incidentally about as strong as the original materials. 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 The Postman Cometh. #checkit But first, this. A dab of paint gives the impression of a thinner style bar horizontal, erm... bar. After a second coat it was good for adding some top mounts and belts to. I supplemented the belt mounts with some 1.5mm tube to give the illusion of the plastic bolt covers that road cars have. Not perfect but I'm happy enough with that. It's the little details that make all the difference, innit. Speaking of which, time to turn back to the body shell to install the front indicators and side lights. Every other Eunos build I've seen leaves these clear/silver. Now I don't know about all markets but the UK and Japanese cars have distinct orange turn signal in the centre of the light. It's more subtle than painting the external surface orange, so I dug out some old Revell clear orange which is more of a gloopy pinky orange than the really very amber Tamiya clear I have. Applied to (what would be) the lamp reflector. Let's see if this works when it's fully dried. Kipping time. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 Interior is looking great! 👍 Keith 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toftdale Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 Great work on the cosmetic roll bar - Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted July 10, 2022 Author Share Posted July 10, 2022 Not much to do on the dashboard. Minimal Japanese-ness. The location angle isn't super-precise, hopefully I've got it right. The steering wheel should be a Momo but we won't worry about that when there's a war in Ukraine and inflation means it'll be a cold winter for anyone without an open fireplace. The wheels are nicely moulded and decals are provided for the centre caps. They're a bit shiny OOB so I dulled them down with matt-coat. You probably can't tell the difference from my photos but they do look better. The centres are convex so the decals look centralised from one angle but off-centre from the next. Honest! The camera is unforgiving as usual, I'm better at doing undersides than bodywork... I spent some of today riding around in an MG Midget which was an MX-5 equivalent from a previous generation. It reminded me that hot sunny days are no good for convertibles. Oh, for some shade... 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 15 hours ago, Anteater said: It reminded me that hot sunny days are no good for convertibles. Oh, for some shade... Only ever driven a convertible once - a rental car 'upgrade' on a family holiday in Florida. Only put the top down once - for as long as it took to put it back up again...!! 🤣 I think you do yourself an injustice on the bodywork, I think it's looking really tidy. As does the dash. Keith 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 6 hours ago, keefr22 said: Only ever driven a convertible once - a rental car 'upgrade' on a family holiday in Florida. Only put the top down once - for as long as it took to put it back up again...!! 🤣 I think you do yourself an injustice on the bodywork, I think it's looking really tidy. As does the dash. Keith I've driven a variety of convertibles and bright, hot sunny days probably aren't the best weather to go topless. But a good convertible (something like a Honda S2000, Porsche Boxster or Mazda MX5) can be a delight even with the roof up or in poor weather. This model looks like it's coming along very well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 At least the seats nowadays aren’t vinyl! Shorts were a bad idea unless you left a towel or whatever covering the seats. Eunos coming on well, must get on with building my RF in model form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toftdale Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 23 hours ago, Anteater said: It reminded me that hot sunny days are no good for convertibles I think the lesson to learnt is that convertibles are not for you 😁. The year before Covid (I get confused when that actually was) I drove the Caterham down to Spain and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The one exception was we got stuck in a small town (there had been a small bump at the traffic lights ahead), the misses and I were feeling a bit warm when she noticed the thermometer on the local pharmacy was reading 37 degrees! Let's just say at that point the shorts and leather seat combo started to loose appeal. When we got back to our villa, removed my wallet from my now very sweaty shorts and jumped straight into the pool...heaven. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 2 hours ago, johnlambert said: I've driven a variety of convertibles and bright, hot sunny days probably aren't the best weather to go topless. But a good convertible (something like a Honda S2000, Porsche Boxster or Mazda MX5) can be a delight even with the roof up or in poor weather. This model looks like it's coming along very well. Even worse is when that hot sunny day turns to a thunderstorm. Got caught like that passengering in a (90s) Lotus Elan once - fine as we were on the motorway and doing 70 as all the rain just deflected over the top. But when we had to slow down.... ☔ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 1 minute ago, Spiny said: Even worse is when that hot sunny day turns to a thunderstorm. Got caught like that passengering in a (90s) Lotus Elan once - fine as we were on the motorway and doing 70 as all the rain just deflected over the top. But when we had to slow down.... ☔ The handy thing about the S2000 is that the hood takes about six seconds to raise, although you do need to stop the car before the electric motor will do its thing. The Boxster's hood is pretty quick too but I've never had to use an MX5's hood, but the 3rd gen folding hard-top worked well. But a friend of mine has a Triumph Spitfire, it's his pride and joy so doesn't generally go out in the rain, but if it does start raining it's the same story that you're better off keeping going as you'd get wetter trying to put the roof up. The car also has a tonneau cover that's more convenient (and possibly more waterproof) than the hood for when you park the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepboy Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 Watching carefully as I have the kit and the car and one day, one day, the kit will be built....it will, honestly... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted July 12, 2022 Author Share Posted July 12, 2022 Ah, the old "drive fast enough and the rain will go over the top". It's true though. The hood on the Eunos was a doddle to operate, possible to flip it back without leaving the driver's seat but it was best practice to unzip the plastic rear window first to save it from degrading with a fold line. As such, our was hood down 99% of the time, best on a cold day with the heater banged up 😀 Still a shame they never made a Coupe version though. There were a very few MK2 Coupes produced for JDM but none of the earlier cars as far as I know. A hardtop is a partial solution for those of us who prefer to keep the sun off our heads. That or a hat... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted July 13, 2022 Author Share Posted July 13, 2022 So then, it's at that stage when small changes suddenly make a big difference. BECC number plates front and rear; suddenly it looks like our old car. Getting quite nostalgic, it didn't last long with the next owner for whatever reason, last taxed December 2016. We replaced it with a valuetastic 3.0 S-Type Jag of all things. You'll notice I've stuck the door mirrors on. I always hate doing this bit, far too much risk of it going wrong. Latterly I've taken to putting lots of masking tape around the target area so if I drop a gluey mirror down the door I should get away with it... Not pictured, but the interior mirror is moulded with great big sink marks so I've had to cut a mirror insert to go over the top of it. All four wheels are on and it sits square. Phew. Nearly there now. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted July 13, 2022 Share Posted July 13, 2022 Always satisfying when things suddenly come together isn't it. And as you say, suddenly this is looking nearly finished and is going to be good by the looks of how it's shaping up. I know where you're coming from with the mirrors too. At least you have a recess to fit the mirror in, but for that it's probably safer to put the glue in the recess (yet another job for the all-purpose cocktail stick!) rather than on the mirror for precisely the reason you mention of the risk of introducing a gluey blob. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 10 hours ago, Spiny said: Always satisfying when things suddenly come together isn't it. And as you say, suddenly this is looking nearly finished and is going to be good by the looks of how it's shaping up. I know where you're coming from with the mirrors too. At least you have a recess to fit the mirror in, but for that it's probably safer to put the glue in the recess (yet another job for the all-purpose cocktail stick!) rather than on the mirror for precisely the reason you mention of the risk of introducing a gluey blob. Part of the fun of model building is definitely trying to determine on which part to apply glue to reduce the risk of glue going where you don't want. Glue in a recess is good because you can't accidentally touch the part to the wrong place and leave a mark, but too much glue will spill out. And for wing mirrors you can't necessarily use the old standby of extra thin cement because that will likely make a mess of the paint and maybe not stick the part in place. Then you potentially need to watch the mirror closely to ensure it doesn't start to droop! The MX5 is looking really good, it should be a cracking model. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted July 14, 2022 Author Share Posted July 14, 2022 I'm calling this one done. I'll put an RFI up later. Watch this space... ANTEATER 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted July 14, 2022 Author Share Posted July 14, 2022 And here it is. 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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