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So here is one of my entries for the GB:

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I do like an oddity and an ugly duckling so I think this fits the bill, also I'm a bit of a Roland fanboy so it's cool to see some of their advertising back when they weren't the global company they are today.

 

So the Dome Zero was a Japanese attempt at a super car, in true 1970s wedge styling. The 'RL' stands for 'Racing Le Mans' for this racing version. Unfortunately they didn't fare too well,  with both getting the approvals for the road version into production or the Le Mans racing versions, This kit is a model of the 1979 entry, with decals for no. 6 and no. 7 cars, Neither had a great run and both failed to finish the race (no. 6 one running out of fuel at lap 40 and no. 7 with engine issues at lap 25) - but god loves a tryer as they say, and so do I.

 

Finding reference material is a little on the hard side, but the company is still in existence working in racing, I'm not sure if the 1979 cars still exist, they were possibly recycled for the future Le Mans attempts with the wedge shaped Zero reappearing in 1980 and 81.

I did find a few YouTube videos:

https://youtu.be/VryFfXFG15Q

https://youtu.be/Vo9w7Ci8vxA

https://youtu.be/ZRaKzEqu3QI

 

In terms of design it has an open cockpit at the front to aid driver visibility but testing showed large amounts of wind buffeting in the cockpit, so the roof was modified leaving a large gap to the back for ventilation. The main image shows the roof in the 'open' configuration (no it's not a growth out of the guy bending over) which I guess is how the driver would need to clamber in and out.

 

Anyhow onto the kit...

It's not an overly complex affair, Scalemates shows it dates back as far as the actual car to 1979, though it appears to have had a few tweaks along the way, being originally motorised, then a static model and at some point having some extra engine detail added (maybe then). This particular kit is from the latest reprint (2002).

 

The instructions are a fairly typical old style folded paper sheet in black and white.

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The parts aren't too numerous given the age of the kit, nicely with most individually bagged...

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The chromed parts actually look quite nice too.

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There is quite a detailed engine (Cosworth DFV) though I think most of it won't be visible when finished, although it looks like the rear section will be hinged.

 

The decals - I had worried they had yellowed with age but it seems it was just the greaseproof sheet that yellowed. There seems to be a bit of a crease in one corner and some scratches on the big spoiler decal but hopefully they are useable.

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I noticed there is some gunk in the shell (dried mould release?)... guess I should give it a wash before painting. The white plastic parts have yellowed slightly with age too.

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I decided to make a start, the chassis still bears the marks of being 'electrified' with a battery compartment and what appears to be some kind of slide switch for locking the front wheels (parts in top right of bellow image)? Annoyingly they left the battery cover which doesn't sit flush so I'll attempt to build something from plasticard to fill the two holes in the chassis more flushly.

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I glued the front suspension arms piece in place - hopefully I can gently bend them enough to fit the wheel hubs in later without snapping them.

 

For the body I glued in rear spoiler as it might need a little filling before paint (actually from one of those video clips it shows that the spoiler isn't attached to the extended rear sides in real life). I also fitted in the small parts behind the light fittings and two side intake ducts - these will need a bit of filler towards the front edges. I've also 'protected' the rather fragile pointy bits towards the ends of the front body shell part from me damaging them with some bits of lolly stick and masking tape.

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The main part of the engine block I've built up too prior to paint (see above) and done some dry fitting. It seems that the whole rear wheels / section is attached to the front via 3 mounting points on the engine block so maybe a bit fragile (the rear shell has a hinge though attaching it to the front). 

I think I'll attach the inner tub to the chassis before painting (I generally like gluing stuff together before paint), though it seems I might need to add some additional sides to stop the inside of the side vents, etc. being visible from outside. It's hard to know what would be visible without any reference photos - I imagine it would be pretty bare bones for weight saving but feel they would have had some kind of sides to seal the cabin?

The instructions aren't overly clear on colours - e.g. the interior of the shell isn't mentioned and the instructions seem to call out that the interior should be white and silver. Given the age of the car, clues in the paint guide and general modelling appearance I'd guess the construction would be an aluminium monocoque tub with space frame front/rear and sheet aluminium panels for the chassis/underside with a fibre-glass / GRP body.

I'm not sure I agree on the instructions calling out white on interior (think this maybe more to reduce the amount of painting needed) I feel if the aluminium panels were painted they would be black to reduce any possible glare/distraction for the driver, also in one of the videos linked above it briefly shows it as black with some unpainted aluminium parts (though that is the later car).

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Minor update.

 

I sealed up the holes in the bottom with some plasticard sheet, slightly better than the random battery cover and useless slide switch. Not the greatest fit, I've added a little filler too but it's better than what the kit came with.

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Body shell halves I've primed with Zero Light Grey primer and given a coat of their Gloss White...

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I was upset with how 'speckly' and textured it appears (and it's not even got full coverage, so I'll need another coat) however after leaving it overnight it has settled/levelled down a bit, compared to the picture above which was maybe half an hour after spraying. I'll give it another coat but might try thinning it with some self leveling thinners (it's pre-thinned, so I'm worried about how far I can push it)

 

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Interesting choice, I was not aware there was a Fujimi kit of this car.

Looks to me like you're not putting enough paint on? IE the surface layer is not wet enough to allow the leveling agent to do its stuff.

With pre thinned Zero paint I have found you can really lard it on compared to Tamiya spray cans.

As always - the trick is stopping just before it runs!

 

Chuck it in the 99% isopropyl and have another go, IMHO trying to add more paint at this stage is a waste of paint and time!

 

Malc.

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So being northern I didn't fancy wasting the current paint so gave it a bit of a light rub down on the worst lumps and bumps with some Tamiya 'fine lapping paper' then thought I'd try another coat or two, I went for some Mr Color GX-1 white, initially quite heavily thinned (3 parts self-levelling thinner, 2 parts paint) then a more usual 1:1 mix.

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I think it's workable - still a bit textured but once the decals are on hopefully a good coat of clear will help level it all out.

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  • 1 month later...

A small update: -

 

Given the complex shapes around the front wind break (if that's what it's called) and the rear side 'wings' behind the cabin I decided to risk masking them off and airbrushing black rather than trying to get the decals to conform around the angles (and that air intake on the front).

 

This made life a lot easier as I could just snip off the log details and attach as needed.

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Hopefully the masking around the front light cells lines up nicely too once the glass is in. Some of the photo reference shows them being what appears to be black in some cases and white in other, there's also other images with the tops halves looking like they've been taped over, I decided the black would look best.

 

I've been slowly adding decals when I get a small amount of time here and there.

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Given the age they seem to have surviced well (though are somewhat reluctant to leave the backing sheet, needing a bit of soaking) - I presume as they were in a sealed bag that's helped them.

 

Getting the rear wing decal on was going to be a pain, since I'd glued the wing in place and it's a single decal to cover the entire surface (front and back), I had visions of it crumpling/folding up on itself, etc. So I decided to cut it down into a section just larger than the top piece to start with, that way I'd only need to content with getting enough to cover the top and front edge initially.

It was actually slightly wider than needed so I ended up needing to trim the edge on one side which made a bit of a mess so I trimmed some of the remaining orangey red panel to make a slither to give a nice edge. The underside I then cut into smaller sections and attached, unfortuantely it's not 100% coverage there but it's not going to be overly visible.

 

Getting the duct decals in place was also a bit of a faff as it's a single orange/red piece that runs from the front wheel arch and into duct, unfortuantely it seems slightly too small and there are some gaps visible (where the black line parts, attached to the rear section decal) don't quite meet. I'm not sure if I should leave it or attempt to mix up an approximate colour and touch up the areas.

 

There are a few points where the black masked section didn't quite go far enough but I'll just snip some slithers of the provided black decals to fill those tiny gaps.

 

Then I need to worry about clear-coating it!

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  • 1 month later...

Nearing the finish line for the GB and hopefully I can sneak this one through!

Engine parts were built up - I painted them in various shades of AK Xtreme Metal but they are all very similar (I reckon it's just a difference between the amount of black pigment that differentiates a lot of the metallics)...

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The kit comes with some rubber tubing to use for the radiator hoses, I decided to take the plunge and also try some ignition wires - after a lot of faffing around I got something that seems reasonable (even though it won't really be visible)

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I decided to pick out the callipers in red, since otherwise it would all look very metallic. The interior is to be painted white, according to the instructions but I've gone with flat aluminium for the cabin - I reckon for a race car they wouldn't add extra weight where it's not needed, the firewall (still to fit) I will do in white.

 

 

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