Mazda Miata MX-5 2.0 RF

[Bengalensis]

Well here is again something that wasn't planned at all, but it happened anyway just a few weeks ago. I bought this kit:

 

 

So to build it correctly I had to buy some references:

 

 

 

Or if it was that I bought the car, and therefore had to buy a suitable kit...

 

Anyhow, neither was really planned. As some of you know I'm an avid Miata MX-5 driver in the summer. Now since some time we have seen the need creeping up to move the daily driven all year cars down a step and get a new one to do the main work. But all new cars within an allowed price range have been far too high and far too bulky with far too weird engines, transmissions and fuel sources for our taste. But there at my favourite dealer, behind (below?) all the cars we did not want to buy, this little one sat in a corner. The idea of a new Miata MX-5 doing the daily all year work hadn't occurred to me before, but it had a solid roof (well sort of) and ticked most other boxes. The boxes it didn't tick were quickly deemed less important. Enter the ND-generation MX-5 2.0 RF.

 

With this being a current generation Tamiya kit I expect a fairly quick (at least in work bench hours) and easy almost OOB build with no problems and only minor tweaks added. The first kit of the ND roadster was released in 2015 and the parts to make the RF version are dated 2020. As expected the parts looks very well tooled and options are included to cover both LHD and RHD cars and some differences for various markets in the world.

 

 

Luckily there are both the correct wheels (right) and correct seats (left) for my car included.

 

 

The paint is called "Soul Red Crystal" (all those fancy paint names...) and has a very bright and deep shine to it, varying with the light, and is quite striking in real life. When washed and clean. When dirty it gets a bit less Soul and Crystal, leaving the Red more on its own. The paint involves a trick base coat and a red tinted clear coat. I will try doing the paint job using the original touch up paint set thinned and air brushed. My Mazda dealer kindly supported me with a few paint sets for this project.

 

 

The car is rolling on 17" wheels, optional Mazda BSS black for summer and stock ND dark chrome for winter, but when measured Tamiya's BBS wheels surprisingly come out to under 16,5". The outside diameter of the fitted tyres measures well to 205/45x17 and the width of the tyres is also good. A quick mock up with the complete wheels under the bodyshell looks OK, so I won't bother further. Black rims will also help.

 

 

 

So the work to bring the 1/24 shelf up to date with the 1/1 stable has started. I've been playing with the bodyshell and wheels for a week or two, but only started serious work this Friday. I have quite a bit of "real" work to deal with now, so progress may not be very quick right now.

 

 

The rims are a bit too wide and I never like that unrealistic thick inner edge Tamiya and many other makers apply to their rims. In this case if the tyre is pushed up to that edge the tyre also ends up sitting too far in.

 

 

The edge had to go. I sanded down the backside until the edge was gone and then thinned down the inside of the edge. I'm much happier with this look and fit.

 

 

The bodyshell is cleaned up from all fine mould lines and then given a final light 1200 grit sanding for the primer work. I still have some minor detail to fix later.

 

 

This is how the small black lips under the front corners are supposed to fit.

 

 

To reach that I had to thin down the inside edge of the bodyshell just closest to the wheel arch, allowing the lip to come out just and little and release tension in the fit.

 

 

Despite the trick key-less locking system the car thankfully still has a traditional key hole in the driver's door handle. To avoid supplying double sets of door handles Tamiya provides a silver decal dot, a bit cheap. I drilled out the small recess and I may add a photo etch parts at the bottom.

 

 

All parts for the exterior are cleaned and test fitted, it's all very smooth and straight forward. All the lights are built up from two or more quite intricate parts and they all look very promising. The low rear fog and reverse lights on my car doesn't match what the instructions tell for their "European" LHD version when it comes to paint and decals, they are much more like the instruction's "Japanese" or "US" versions. I'm not sure if it has to do with some 2022 model change or the country the car was destined for. It's however something that can be dealt with later.

 

 

Then I started preparing the interior parts, first the dashboard. It's full of details and shapes but the parts looks cleverly thought out and capture it all well. The chrome parts for the climate control knobs and air outlets are too bright and will sprayed with some Alclad Aluminium shade.

 

 

The interior tub is the same for both LHD and RHD and therefore the passenger foot well is compromised and too deep. Also the drivers left foot rest is missing. If this is a problem can be discussed as I'm quite sure you can't see much down there in the end, but I opted to build up the shapes from sheet styrene and filler. Also the clutch and brake pedal assembly needed to move about 1-1,5 mm to the right to better match the real thing. There were also some ejector pin marks to sand down and even fill.

 

 

The back of the seat head rests are moulded hollow. I understand why, but I'm missing some parts to add to close them up, as this is visible from the rear. But it was easily fixed with 2-part filler.

 

 

I also added the knob that adjusts the front portion of the driver's seat and the small loops beside the head rests that the seat belts runs through. Some simple excuses for the seat belt locks were also made from Evergreen bars.

 

 

The rest of the smaller interior parts are done. Again the chrome, here on the bezel ring around the gear lever boot, is too shiny and will be sprayed with Alclad.

 

 

The last interior parts were the door panels, again nicely made and capturing the real shapes. The top section is cleverly made separate as it's a hard part painted body colour. Opinions may vary, but I quite like the contrast it adds inside the car. It's a very cosy place to be in.

 

 

The controls for the windows and mirrors are supplied as decals; again to easy cover both LHD and RHD versions. First thought was again so-so. They are however quite flush with the surrounding surface, except the mirror knob, so I think I might use the decals and just add the tiny black knob on top.

 

[cmatthewbacon]

I like your style. I have a couple of E-Types to build, so let me just go explain to my wife that I need some decent reference…

best,

M.

[Toftdale]

Another fantastic start,  I'll be watching with interest.   It's just a shame that one of the greatest British Roadsters made is not made in Britain! 

[Bengalensis]

1 hour ago, cmatthewbacon said:

I like your style. I have a couple of E-Types to build, so let me just go explain to my wife that I need some decent reference…

best,

M.

As simple as that, go ahead, just put the blame on me 😎😁

 

46 minutes ago, Toftdale said:

Another fantastic start,  I'll be watching with interest.   It's just a shame that one of the greatest British Roadsters made is not made in Britain! 

The guys from Mazda really knew where to look to learn how to make the almost perfect roadster, it's so clear when coming close to the early NA cars, and not least driving one.

[Spiny]

A good start to the model here, and a very nice looking full-size model to go with it. I don't think you're wondering too hard as to whether it will be suitable for a daily car, but if my colleagues experience with a Mk2 MX-5 is anything to go by the answer is yes (apart from the usual rotting sills which shouldn't be a problem for you).

 

I'll look forward to seeing it come together.

[cmatthewbacon]

That candy red is definitely the one to have. We have had silver grey, white and red locally, and the other two are, frankly, boring… I’ve had my Tamiya kit long enough I have an aftermarket resin conversion, and the Zero Paints red, so I really should get on with it!

best,

M.

[Bengalensis]

12 hours ago, Spiny said:

A good start to the model here, and a very nice looking full-size model to go with it. I don't think you're wondering too hard as to whether it will be suitable for a daily car, but if my colleagues experience with a Mk2 MX-5 is anything to go by the answer is yes (apart from the usual rotting sills which shouldn't be a problem for you).

 

I'll look forward to seeing it come together.

Thanks a lot. I've had this one given the full Dinitrol rust protection program as an extra care, with yearly touch up inspections to come, so with a bit of extra washing and general care I hope it will survive well. Time will tell.

 

12 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

That candy red is definitely the one to have. We have had silver grey, white and red locally, and the other two are, frankly, boring… I’ve had my Tamiya kit long enough I have an aftermarket resin conversion, and the Zero Paints red, so I really should get on with it!

best,

M.

Thanks a lot. Yes, I don't understand the choice of white myself. There is a dark gun metal type grey metallic that I quite liked, but that red shine is something else.

Indeed there is/was a resin conversion to create the RF, I had forgotten about that. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

[Neddy]

Another beautiful build in progress! 

 

Now, you are probably WAY ahead of me but did you know that Tamiya's TS-95 Pure Metallic Red was produced specifically for modelling current Mazdas, even down to using a finer metallic flake for as close a match as possible?  Details here.

 

Just thought you might find it useful.

 

[malpaso]

I will follow along.  I have the RF30AE so bought the roadster kit and aftermarket RF roof and some HD Rays wheels to suit.  I was just gonna have to ignore the Recaros aspect then!

Needless to say Tamiya announced their RF kit 3months later so I bought it and even more needless to say haven’t built either. 🤦‍♂️

The HD Rays ZE40 wheels unfortunately are 5 stud so I won’t be chroming my nuts!

 

PS I expect the Tamiya wheels reflect the 16” wheels of the 1.5 which was supposed to be the only engine choice until the US complained.  Mine is a daily and pre-Covid was looking at 16k a year with motorways a lot so 2-litre made sense.  But having driven both engine types I think the 1.5 is more fun as a weekend toy as it needs and wants revs, so sounds more enjoyable and more stick-stirring required.

[HOUSTON]

Jörgen, 

Fantastic  way to build a model of a car!

To have a 1:1 beautiful Miata  MX-5  on hand for detailed references , I guess you can't put a foot wrong  and or  cannot go wrong. You have all that you desire in the sense of details ,  what the engine looks like, the wheels  etc etc is mighty IMPRESSIVE!!

 

This should be an AMAZING  build ..

 

[Bengalensis]

8 hours ago, Neddy said:

Another beautiful build in progress! 

 

Now, you are probably WAY ahead of me but did you know that Tamiya's TS-95 Pure Metallic Red was produced specifically for modelling current Mazdas, even down to using a finer metallic flake for as close a match as possible?  Details here.

 

Just thought you might find it useful.

Thanks a lot! Yes I've noted that Tamiya spray, it just beats me how it should create the right finish from just that single can given how the real finish is made. I haven't seen it used in real life though, only on builds on the web, not quite convincing me. Also I'm not sure what year Mazda changed from "Soul Red" to "Soul Red Crystal" (they do look different), if it was before or after the first ND was introdused. But we'll see, I'll have to do some spray testing before it's time for the bodyshell. The real thing is very different from traditional metallics with almost no "flake effect" to be seen. I may be in for problems, but it will be an interesting excursion. I hope... 😎

 

7 hours ago, malpaso said:

I will follow along.  I have the RF30AE so bought the roadster kit and aftermarket RF roof and some HD Rays wheels to suit.  I was just gonna have to ignore the Recaros aspect then!

Needless to say Tamiya announced their RF kit 3months later so I bought it and even more needless to say haven’t built either. 🤦‍♂️

The HD Rays ZE40 wheels unfortunately are 5 stud so I won’t be chroming my nuts!

 

PS I expect the Tamiya wheels reflect the 16” wheels of the 1.5 which was supposed to be the only engine choice until the US complained.  Mine is a daily and pre-Covid was looking at 16k a year with motorways a lot so 2-litre made sense.  But having driven both engine types I think the 1.5 is more fun as a weekend toy as it needs and wants revs, so sounds more enjoyable and more stick-stirring required.

Ah, you've got that orange edition; sweet 👍 you need to start building the model 😉 Then you should have the same 184 hp 2 litre as I have, it's got more of a torque peek and rev-happiness than the first 160 hp 2 litre from 2015-19 had, although it's still supricingly forgiving at low revs. I haven't compared with the 1,5 litre though. But again, just as yours this is the daily 365 day entertainer, and so far a very impressive compromise. For open top summer time bashing of windling roads the -90 NA and -98 NB 1,8 are more than happy to serve 😎. But I'm looking forward to next summer and testing the new ND on some of my well known local curvy special stages roads for a comparison.

 

I think Tamiya just made slightly small rims in this kit, as the ordinary 16" 8-spokes from the first convertible edition of the kit measures out to under 15,5". We'll see what happens, but so far I don't think it will be a problem.

 

5 hours ago, HOUSTON said:

Jörgen, 

Fantastic  way to build a model of a car!

To have a 1:1 beautiful Miata  MX-5  on hand for detailed references , I guess you can't put a foot wrong  and or  cannot go wrong. You have all that you desire in the sense of details ,  what the engine looks like, the wheels  etc etc is mighty IMPRESSIVE!!

 

This should be an AMAZING  build ..

Thank you very much! I hope I can make it justice and reach the expectations with my work 😁

[keefr22]

This should will be good, so will be eaten!

 

Keith

[klubman01]

Another build of yours for me to follow - Yay!  I don't see any resin or 3D printed parts yet!  Looks a great car, and to have the ultimate reference is brilliant.  One in the garage, one in the display cabinet.

Trevor

[JeroenS]

That's a nice little car Jörgen, what a sweet deal! I can't recall having seen it in real life, or maybe I did and didn't recognize it for what it was. The colour is really nice, I'm curious to see it on the model. Those black rims look quite tasty on it.

Too bad I build trucks, I don't really have the space for a 1:1 reference 🙂 

[Bengalensis]

On 21/11/2022 at 21:58, keefr22 said:

This should will be good, so will be eaten!

 

Keith

Thanks a lot Keith! I just hope the build will be as good as the popcorn 😎

 

On 22/11/2022 at 15:09, klubman01 said:

Another build of yours for me to follow - Yay!  I don't see any resin or 3D printed parts yet!  Looks a great car, and to have the ultimate reference is brilliant.  One in the garage, one in the display cabinet.

Trevor

Many thanks Trevor! I hope I will get away with only the kit parts and a little work on this one, but time will tell.

I always try, when remotly possible, to build scale models of my own, my father's or possibly some friends cars.

 

On 22/11/2022 at 19:02, JeroenS said:

That's a nice little car Jörgen, what a sweet deal! I can't recall having seen it in real life, or maybe I did and didn't recognize it for what it was. The colour is really nice, I'm curious to see it on the model. Those black rims look quite tasty on it.

Too bad I build trucks, I don't really have the space for a 1:1 reference 🙂 

Thank you very much Jeroen! Black BBS are never wrong in my world, so as they where available it was an easy decision.

I must admit that I'm lucky in some respects of life and I do get away with a whole lot in the way of 1/1 cars, not only as mrs is a lovely person, but also shares my passion to a large degree. But I wonder what she would say if I came home and told her; "I just had to get this AE500 Magnum, I always wanted one and it's in such good condition..." Well I've got the kits so we'll see... 😎

 

 

Not that much progress on the build to report I'm afreid. I've cleaned up some suspension parts, but nothing worth a picture so far. The real thing made it's debute in snow and slippery roads yesterday, we had a flawless and enjoyable 160 km drive in the misery.

[Bengalensis]

There is no inner structure in the door interiors, just an open hole into the empty bodyshell. Again not much will be seen, but I made some pieces to be painted and create a structure closer to the real thing.

 

 

All the chassis and suspension parts have been cleaned up and I put together a front and a rear sub assembly before painting. The main chassis part is acting as a jig while the glue dries.

 

 

These parts are now also ready for paint.

 

 

I drilled out the two end pipes as much as possible. There is a mould technical compromise where the two end pipes comes out of the rear muffler, which I removed and rebuilt with 2-part filler.

 

 

It's now time to start pinning up parts for painting and spraying some primer on the body parts that will be red.

[Bengalensis]

It wasn't quite ready for spraying; I had two minor details I almost forgot. Being the modern car it is it's filled with some gimmicks, some slightly visible. First the reverse radar sensors or whatever they are called. It's the first car I've had such things on. OK, the rearward view is limited, so they have some value on a daily driver. I fitted some small photo etched dots I had laying around.

 

 

Then there are the washer nozzles for those high tech headlights. They actually started life as photo etched brass 1/43 F1 brake pedals. Cut down and filed slightly to shape they at last found a purpose after 25 years or so in the PE spare box.

 

 

Then I could spray some primer. Building all those odd resin kits I do I sometimes forget how straight forward it is with a good modern Tamiya OOB kit. No further surprises to deal with at all. I threw in a test piece to try building up that red paint on before I make a serious move.

 

 

All the other parts have also formed the usual mess of pinned parts on foam blocks, and the day has seen the first major spraying session.

 

[Hamden]

 

Nice progress0

 

Stay safe      Roger

[keefr22]

23 hours ago, Bengalensis said:

First the reverse radar sensors or whatever they are called.

 

Parking sensors in the UK Jörgen. Wish I had them on my Suzuki Grand Vitara, as I've got older seeing behind has got progressively more difficult - and so has parking the thing...!! 🤣

 

Mazda is coming along well, looking forward to seeing her in her red dress.....

 

Keith

[Bengalensis]

I'm into a very busy working period again, but I have been painting, and masking, little by little. Progress has been slow, but at least some progress. I have mentioned numerous times that masking is not my favourite modelling pastime, but I'm happy to say I'm finding it a bit more enjoyable in recent years. This model is testing me though, with some parts needing masking being very small and tight while others need some four or five colours sprayed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are today with the main parts for the underside ready for a little bit of black wash.

 

 

The interior parts have received a little black wash here. Still some parts need a little more work.

 

 

Today I have also been digging into that red paint at last. It's proving to be an interesting excursion so far. I decided to crack two of the three paint sets I got. This being original touch up paint for small stone chip damage means it's way too thick for air brushing.

 

I pried the transparent red clear open first and poured them both into a traditional 30 ml glass jar. To get the most out of the original containers I poured a little of the automotive thinner I expected to work in and sure enough it mixed perfectly. 30 ml transparent red clear ready to spray.

 

I expected the same with the metallic base and poured them both in another glass jar. I poured a little thinner in the first container to wash it all out, and the remains instantly turned into a thick messy useless glop... I wasn't expecting that. Apparently the two paints are very different formulas. Surprise.

 

I then took a little of the paint and tried the Ultimate Modelling Products acrylic thinner for acrylic model paints. It mixed very nicely. Maybe it would work? Test spraying with the air brush worked very well. Sigh of relief. I decided to go for it and thinned all the paint into another 30 ml ready to spray.

 

 

Spray testing then. Here goes: The base is a light grey primer and the metallic red base is in the pot.

 

 

The base is sprayed. It had to be sprayed in several light coats, but at least on this small area it wasn't difficult to get a uniform colour. The transparent red clear is in the pot to be sprayed next.

 

 

Here we are after the red clear coat. The red clear is very tacky and takes a little while to dry and it proved to be a formidable dust magnet. Not that I was very careful in this test, but anyway. As I understand the painting of the full size car it is finished with a coat of traditional non tinted clear. Hopefully that means I can lightly sand any small problem and finish it all off with some very thin 2K clear. This test piece will be left over night and then I will sand some small spots and spray clear to see what happens.

 

 

The effect of the paint needs larger surface areas, as on a real car, to fully come to life, but it I think it will be ok.

 

 

On the real car in the garage it looks close enough for my need. We'll see what a final coat of clear tomorrow will bring.

 

[klubman01]

Looks really good. Hope it works just as well on the Mazda.  (BTW, is that a GT40 being used a s a test piece?)

Trevor

[Bengalensis]

2 minutes ago, klubman01 said:

Looks really good. Hope it works just as well on the Mazda.  (BTW, is that a GT40 being used a s a test piece?)

Trevor

Yes indeed, it's the remains of another poor GT40 shell that donated the sills/tank covers, latches and other details for other GT40 projetcs...

[JeroenS]

That looks like a beautiful colour. 

[malpaso]

The Mazda racing orange touch up I got was two little bottles of orange paint and clear finish - and both clean up with water!  So presumbly acrylic and why motor thinners turned it to gel?

[Bengalensis]

1 hour ago, JeroenS said:

That looks like a beautiful colour. 

Thanks, It's stunning in real life, but it will never be that visible on such small areas as on the model.

 

9 minutes ago, malpaso said:

The Mazda racing orange touch up I got was two little bottles of orange paint and clear finish - and both clean up with water!  So presumbly acrylic and why motor thinners turned it to gel?

Yes, that is indeed the case with my red metallic base, water based acrylic, but it was a surprice it was not the same as the transparent red clear. I was fully expecting both paints to be the same basic formula, but not in this case.