Tamiya Mazda Eunos - Off Road Edition

[SnøMotion]

Yet another quick update! The clear coat on the seats and light bar reflectors is just curing, so I thought I’d mock up the tub/dash/cage. Really happy with the steering wheel.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Martin

 

 

And yes, there is a smudge of clear yellow on my cutting mat.

[SnøMotion]

My current policy on updates is ‘little and often’. Or is that supposed to be for drinking, I don’t remember…

 

Anyway, I got finished painting the seats! What is going to be the passenger seat didn’t go entirely according to plan when it came to the logo. I was quite pleased that I managed to get paint on the logos at all and hopefully I can tidy it up tomorrow.

 

 

Today I’ve added harnesses to the seats and, once I’ve added the logos to them, I’ll try and get some better photos of them and the steering wheel.

 

At that point I should be able to assemble all the chassis and interior, so I suppose I better get on with painting the body!

[SnøMotion]

Thick AND fast!

 

Okay, so I've quite a bit of progress this morning! I've attached all the suspension and drivetrain to the floorpan and I'm amazed at how rigid it is! I lost a rear brake rotor but, after tearing my office appart, I managed to locate it. Crisis averted! It all went together really easily. The only tricky bit being to get the coilovers to locate at both ends. I actually glued them at the suspension arm end first with everything just held in place on the floorpan and, once that had set, glued the subframes and coilover top mounts to the floorpan. I also attached the exhaust. I won't attach the underfloor strengthening/rock sliders until the body and floorpan are united for the final time. Here are some photos of that.

 

 

I've also added the logos to harnesses I installed yesterday. I've simplified the buckling one these and also glued them to the seats rather than having proper floor/rollcage mounts. It's so tight in the interior tub and the sides are moulded in so I wouldn't be able to loop the harnesses to the rollcage behind the seats as the cage has to be glue in before the seats. Anyway, here's a photo of the finished seats.

 

 

And, finally! Here's a close-up shot of the steering wheel. You may also notice that I've attempted to include the clear screen that overs the instruments. I did this by filling the binacle with UV resin and curing it in my 3D printer curing station. Unfortunately, I dripped the resin in straight from the bottle and there was too much, so it's a bit full. But I'm happy with the concept and have got some syringes for next time (which will be the 'lens' for the light bar). Anyway, here it is.

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Martin

[Neddy]

I have to confess that when I first saw the title of the project I thought it was pure squirrel-food but the way it's developing and the quality of the work are both absolutely first-rate.  I'm intrigued to see how this is going and can't wait to see the end result!

 

[SnøMotion]

Wow, thanks, @Neddy! That’s praise indeed.

 

I'm extremely happy with how it’s coming together and, if I can get the interior tub finished this afternoon, I’ll mock it up with the sand wheels on and take a photo. I did it quickly earlier, without the interior, and it does look a teensy bit bonkers! 
 

I think it’ll look better with the off-road wheels on, but I’m saving that (even for myself) until final assembly.

 

Martin

[Fnick]

Lovely steering wheel! And the clear cover looks very convincing. Looking forward to how the rest of the interior progresses.

 

Nick

[SnøMotion]

Three updates in under 24 hours!!

 

Well, I did manage to get the interior tub finished so, as promised, I stuck it to the floor pan and mocked up the dune buggy variant (minus under floor bracing, light bar and flag).

 

 

Well, nobody can say there isn’t enough arch clearance! 

[SnøMotion]

2 hours ago, Fnick said:

Lovely steering wheel! And the clear cover looks very convincing. Looking forward to how the rest of the interior progresses.

 

Nick

Thanks, Nick! I’m really happy with the wheel. That photo is the first time I’ve been able to see that the logo is kind of legible 

 

Martin

[Neddy]

As I suspected from the outset - totally nuts.  It doesn't half look cool though!

[SnøMotion]

Thanks, @Neddy! Yeah, it’s an unusual vehicle 

 

Like I said, I think the off-road version will look, hmm…, ‘more sensible’. The wheels and tyres and under floor bracing should make the whole package look more solid and the spare wheel rack will hopefully balance it all out.

 

Martin

[Neddy]

I love projects like this - as you probably noticed from some of my previous builds I like going off-piste occasionally and this takes it to the level of an art-form. 😁

[SnøMotion]

6 minutes ago, Neddy said:

I love projects like this - as you probably noticed from some of my previous builds I like going off-piste occasionally and this takes it to the level of an art-form. 😁

Thanks! Yes, I do also enjoy something a little odd on occasion

 

Most of my builds will just have suspension and wheel mods, but occasionally I like to do something unexpected 

 

I was having thoughts about a series one Range Rover low rider, but the unsuccessful Rolls Royce GB got me thinking about a Harrier Pegasus powered, Japanese people carrier salt flats racer. Now there’s a rocket powered proposal for 2026 and I might amend that to cruise missile power for easier packaging

[Neddy]

Y'know, I'm beginning to worry about you...

[SnøMotion]

Since the last update, I’ve mainly been getting the little bits and bobs ready for assembly and painting the body. And I’m pretty happy with how it’s gone 

 

 

Just got to leave that for a week now, to let the clear coat fully cure.

 

Just to add in some more photos, here’s the light bar in situ. This is Tamiya semi gloss black all over, then ProScale Paints chrome for the reflectors, then some flouro yellow dotted in for the LEDs and finally the reflectors were filled up with clear UV resin to act as the lense.

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Martin

[keefr22]

That's some great progress Martin, starting to look really cool! I really like that colour too - very nice!

 

Keith

[SnøMotion]

25 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

That's some great progress Martin, starting to look really cool! I really like that colour too - very nice!

 

Keith

Thanks, Keith! Yes, I’m happy that the colour is pretty close to the Mazda Mariner Blue I was going for 

 

Martin

[SnøMotion]

Well, I’ve been rushing a bit this weekend because I just wanted this done! And as such, I haven’t taken any photos of what I’ve been up to 

 

It's not really been very exciting anyway. This is only the second time I’ve tried panel liner and it was far more difficult on this car than the R34 GTR. I guess some of that is because it’s a bright, solid colour and everything stands out more. So it is what it is, on that front.

 

In the photos below, the eagle-eyed amongst you might notice there is only one side repeater. I had an absolute shocker! I cut the first one from the sprue, cleaned it up and glued it on. The second one was a bit harder to get the cutter to, so I decided to snap a bit of sprue out of the way so I could get a better angle. As the sprue snapped the repeater just vanished!! I searched high and low for about 30 minutes, but to no avail  I’ve actually ordered another kit so I can get one from that and, when I build that as a track car, it won’t have any repeaters.

 

I've also added some ZoomOn chrome logos front and rear.

 

Anyway, here are some fairly rubbish photos (the blue goes crazy with my phone) of the car in dune buggy format. There is actually an attachment that mount in place of the rear number plate that is designed to carry an orange flag on a very long antenna (apparently it’s what you do when playing in the dunes so you can be seen if you’re in a dip), but I was struggling to come up with a convincing flag material, so I left it off.

 

 

And here it is in its final form! This is the first time I’ve actually fitted the off-road wheels and I’m really happy with how they look and how the tyre sag gives it some weight.  The whole vehicle looks more balanced with these on, I think. I also really like the spare wheel rack! 
 

 

I’ll get some proper photos taken soon and post an RFI.

Thanks for looking

 

Martin

 

[keefr22]

That is just too cool! Totally bonkers but brilliant!! 

 

9 minutes ago, SnøMotion said:

I also really like the spare wheel rack! 

 

Me too! But then I really like it all!  

 

And those wheels and tyres are excellent - thye'd look great on a gravel rally car!

 

Top job!

 

Keith

[SnøMotion]

Thanks, @keefr22! Glad you like it!

 

I’m really happy with how the wheels and tyres turned out. I’d need to model a lower profile version of the tyre for gravel rallying, those are way too tall. They’re about 2” taller than series 1 Range Rover tyres, I think.

 

Martin

[Neddy]

This vehicle is utterly, blindingly outrageous - and I love it!

[SnøMotion]

Thanks, @Neddy! I’m pretty pleased with how it’s come out 

 

Martin

[Kiertomäntä]

This project was interesting to follow. This is really easy too see someone replicating in 1:1 form.

 

As for the flag, ship-builders put regular decals on normal tin foil found in kitchen. When decals have dried you can make wrinkles as you wish. Since you only have to paint it orange, could this work?

[SnøMotion]

1 hour ago, Kiertomäntä said:

This project was interesting to follow. This is really easy too see someone replicating in 1:1 form.

 

As for the flag, ship-builders put regular decals on normal tin foil found in kitchen. When decals have dried you can make wrinkles as you wish. Since you only have to paint it orange, could this work?

Thanks, Markus!

 

Yes, actually, the foil would work. From my limited knowledge of the flags, they seem to be quite rigid and are just a triangular pennant. I’d originally thought about just using a flouro orange sticker folded to stick to itself, but they’re too thick. Anyway, I’ve glued the spare wheel rack in now, so I can’t use it 

 

Martin

[HK-500]

21 hours ago, SnøMotion said:

fitted the off-road wheels

and that's very nice , indeed !!👍

 

straight ahead to Daytona Beach , baby !!😁 ( or the Normandy Beach Race in Ouistreham , it's closer😜)

[SnøMotion]

Thanks, @HK-500! Glad you like it!