rx79guntank Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 With the completion of the Jota, here is the next build: Tamiya's 1/24 Renault 5 Turbo. I had never ever heard of this kit until I set my eyes on it at a sales on Mercari. As a rare kit junkie, and also a fan of it quintessential 80's looks I just had to buy it. Never been reproduced since by Tamiya, you can however still find it easily on Yahoo Auctions Japan. It was on a two-fer with a tamiya F1 2002 and came from a smoker's home so it was incredibly cheap. Didn't have much interest in the f1 kit so sold it off handily for a profit to cover the costs. 20231119_012751 by df0084, on Flickr As I mentioned it was from a smokers home, so you get a heavenly whiff everytime you open the box. But I kind of like it...? It reminds me of those old hobby shops in Japan where the owner is a old ornery modeller building a kit at the counter while an old anime or some city pop is playing on the speakers, and you slowly take your time browsing his Aladdin's treasure cave of a shop. Yeah, it really brings me back, that smell of cigareets, old carpet and cardboard boxes. Can't wait to go back there. 20231119_012810 by df0084, on Flickr The kit is from the early 80's from the age when Japanese car kits were beginning to standardise and go into the full scale model route like their american counterparts, instead of being scale models masquerading as motorized toys. As a result, it still has the gears and stuff needed for the motorization. The bodyshell is impeccably thick, compared to the Jota, presumably to survive being played by a ham fisted violent child. As a result, some details are obtuse, but the heavy duty moulding means there is a lack of sink marks, a problem that took up a lot of time on my Jota build. 20231119_015814 by df0084, on Flickr As you can see from the bottom, details is sacrificed to accommodate the motorization, wont bother with filling them all except for one hole that will be visible from the side. Also I'd like to keep some of them as a reminder of it's roots or something. 20231119_012505 by df0084, on Flickr 20231119_012610 by df0084, on Flickr 20231119_012629 by df0084, on Flickr That Gandini dashboard is a literal work of art..... Tamiya sure went the distance for a motorized toy. 20231118_214612 by df0084, on Flickr 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 5 hours ago, rx79guntank said: Can't wait to go back there. I'd just like to go once - my paternal great grandfather was Japanese so I'd love to see the country - and those model shops you so evocatively describe! Looking forward to the build, I've built the rally version but never managed to get the street one. The real car was an insane pocket rocket! Stance looks good in the mock up! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 I'll be interested in seeing this one come together. The third 1/24 model I ever built (I was only 12 at the time so not built particularly well) was the Monte Carlo rally version of this. Just dug it out now and it looks remarkably similar to the road going version you have with probably just some small part differences between them. For the main body, the only difference I can (maybe) see is that the rally version has some NACA ducts on the wide rear wings. Meanwhile the chassis looks identical - it may be that it looks so similar on yours because Tamiya have just used the rally version with all it's guarding covering underbody. Incidentally, of those 3 holes you circles, it looks from mine that it's only the middle one which is used on the motorised version, so may be worth checking that the other two aren't meant to be there. It certainly looks as though you've made a good start though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx79guntank Posted November 26, 2023 Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 On 11/19/2023 at 10:54 PM, keefr22 said: I'd just like to go once - my paternal great grandfather was Japanese so I'd love to see the country - and those model shops you so evocatively describe! Looking forward to the build, I've built the rally version but never managed to get the street one. The real car was an insane pocket rocket! Stance looks good in the mock up! Keith Thanks, Do go! I feel a modeller should at least make a pilgrimage to Japan once in his life, lol. Reading up on the Renault 5 turbo, its a real crazy thing, a real crazy product of the Group B era. I'd really like to build its other French counterpart too, the Peugeot 205 turbo if there was ever a kit of it road version, lol. On 11/20/2023 at 5:13 AM, Spiny said: I'll be interested in seeing this one come together. The third 1/24 model I ever built (I was only 12 at the time so not built particularly well) was the Monte Carlo rally version of this. Just dug it out now and it looks remarkably similar to the road going version you have with probably just some small part differences between them. For the main body, the only difference I can (maybe) see is that the rally version has some NACA ducts on the wide rear wings. Meanwhile the chassis looks identical - it may be that it looks so similar on yours because Tamiya have just used the rally version with all it's guarding covering underbody. Incidentally, of those 3 holes you circles, it looks from mine that it's only the middle one which is used on the motorised version, so may be worth checking that the other two aren't meant to be there. It certainly looks as though you've made a good start though. I wouldn't put it past time to reusing the stuff, kits from this era are very toylike. At least I can confirm the underside look somewhat correct in a way for the road version though. Renault_5_Turbo-5 by df0084, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galaxyg Posted November 26, 2023 Share Posted November 26, 2023 On 11/19/2023 at 9:03 AM, rx79guntank said: so you get a heavenly whiff everytime you open the box. I have several such kits bought from exactly these shops in Tokyo. The smell of the brown coloured boxes reminds me of being on holiday and so much enjoyable time browsing the corners of these shops. Uncommon kit this Renault 5. I'll look forward to seeing it build up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx79guntank Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 After a while here are some updates: 20240108_093732 by df0084, on Flickr the body has been fully cleaned up, primered and ready for painting. some usual car model kit housekeeping was done, such as rescribing deeper panel lines, and also narrowing some of those vintage canyon-like panel lines. Other stuff was done like sharpening up some soft details on the vintage kit. Also the long delay was partially caused by me testing out on how to apply decals and polish them properly. I can say from the results here it worked quite well. they've seamlessly blended into the body. 20240126_230147 by df0084, on Flickr 20231231_160744 by df0084, on Flickr Having a bad feeling, I tried using the old decals with the results as you expect. It took two whole days of soaking to coax those mummified-harder-than-those-mexican-aliens decals off the sheet and they were super fragile. I screwed up the renault elf decal to my consternation, but I do have to say, it does look the part of an old sticker left out in the elements on the windscreen from the 80's I have ordered some dodgy replacement ones off ebay as an insurance, but we'll see when they arrive if I'll use them or stick with the old ones. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbostream Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 On 11/26/2023 at 6:53 AM, rx79guntank said: Reading up on the Renault 5 turbo, its a real crazy thing, a real crazy product of the Group B era. I'd really like to build its other French counterpart too, the Peugeot 205 turbo if there was ever a kit of it road version, lol. You and me are not the only ones who would love to see a full detail road version of the 205 GTi. Also a full detail version of this Renault would be great I like this car very much. Anyway great build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx79guntank Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Update: Finally got the paint and the decals on with the clear coat. Now it's a 2week wait for the clear to dry. Dealing with the vintage decals was an absolute pain and an eye opener. the replacements were totally not in scale and a waste of money. I was lucky the turbo side decals went on fine but the Renault hood logo was screwed and I replaced it with a spare. 430803419_10161079406832192_876437364593860440_n by df0084, on Flickr 430751508_10161079406937192_6108499810130571276_n by df0084, on Flickr 430775423_10161079407127192_8370253363230963678_n by df0084, on Flickr The spare logo. the old one totally disintegrated upon application. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galaxyg Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Nice. I think "Turbo" is the most 1980s word ever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx79guntank Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 22 hours ago, galaxyg said: Nice. I think "Turbo" is the most 1980s word ever. Lol I'm a big sucker with card with big stickers that extol their virtues like Turbo, Dohc, sohc, etc lol they seemed to have been in vogue in the 80's but not anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 This Renault is coming nicely together. 80's Turbo was everything.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 8 hours ago, rx79guntank said: Lol I'm a big sucker with card with big stickers that extol their virtues like Turbo, Dohc, sohc, etc lol they seemed to have been in vogue in the 80's but not anymore I don't know, look at the number of cars with Eco-something stuck on the back (says the driver of an Ecoboost!) Sorry for continuing the drift off topic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx79guntank Posted March 9 Author Share Posted March 9 On 3/8/2024 at 4:47 AM, Spiny said: I don't know, look at the number of cars with Eco-something stuck on the back (says the driver of an Ecoboost!) Sorry for continuing the drift off topic. Lol they seem to be a bit ashamed to be advertising that. On a more sombre note, The great Akira Toriyama , the creator of Dragonball and Dr Slump has passed away. He was a real model fan and that passion could be seen in his works where he would pepper his art with drawings of Tamiya kits of the day. The Renault 5 Turbo seemed to be a favourite of his, so with new drive I will be completing this kit in his dedication. R,I,P Akira Toriyama. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttyng0904 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Here's images of some models submitted to Tamiya contest by Mr. Toriyama himself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx79guntank Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 Latest update the wheels and interior is done. car underside 20240311_184113 by df0084, on Flickr Wheels. I love how they turned out. 20240313_100004 by df0084, on Flickr Dashboard's done 20240312_213333 by df0084, on Flickr 20240312_213540 by df0084, on Flickr Testing how it all looks with body attached. Looks good but its far from done. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anteater Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Looking great and you've made a nice job of that dashboard, even if that bizarre L-shaped single spoke in the steering wheel would seriously jangle my head. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Got to agree those wheels do look nice. What did you use for them? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx79guntank Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 17 hours ago, Anteater said: Looking great and you've made a nice job of that dashboard, even if that bizarre L-shaped single spoke in the steering wheel would seriously jangle my head. Thanks, Incredibly odd choice for me too, In fact I think the interior does not match the rest of the car at all. lol. 14 hours ago, Spiny said: Got to agree those wheels do look nice. What did you use for them? Thanks, I used Tamiya lacquerLP38 flat aluminium with a bit of gaia starbright silver. Then washed with Tamiya enamel semi gloss black. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyChiken Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Great progress, cool subject! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Looks really good. We really need a new kit of this car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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