Aoshima 1/24 Nissan S12 Silvia

[Spiny]

Aoshima are at pains to point out on the box that this kit dates from the 1980s and may not be to today's standards (i.e. it was originally motorised). Unfortunately the same has been true of my building too (not in that the build was motorised, but more that it's not up to today's standards). In some ways it's good that I didn't make a mess of a top grade kit, but I still hate making a mess of things and unfortunately it has to be said that this is probably my worst end product for five years or so.

 

Admittedly it's not been a disaster, but throwing away the headlight covers in a house move definitely didn't help and, as scratchbuilding is not my forte and I had a case of capillary action taking some Tamiya Extra Thin where it shouldn't have gone the headlights are probably a little less than acceptable. If anyone has missed the build thread and wants to see how wrong I went in places, it's here:

 

 

But the RFI thread isn't for text, it's for photos, so I'll hope you'll pardon me if there's too many.

 

I'll start off with a couple to give an overall impression of how the car ended up.

 

 

 

And to follow up a trip around the car to hopefully show the good bits and not the bad bits.

 

 

 

Hmmm, I appear to have missed taking a pic of the rear right 3/4 view from ground level, but I'm sure the earlier shot will suffice...

 

So onto the back of the car for the trip around it:

 

 

 

 

 

And from what is definitely it's worst angle. Leaving aside the headlights, seeing it from face on the mirrors look almost comically large to me too.

 

 

Sadly the one bit of the car which I'm satisfied with is the front of the interior (the back seats are fatally compromised in allowing for the motor in the boot) which is something we all know isn't easy to photograph. I was pleased to get this sort of a shot, even if the outside of the car appears to have been shot in Dustovision^TM

 

 

And that's all for normal shots of the car, the remaining pictures are just me being self-indulgent and messing around with the camera so can be skipped if you want. But I know some people like the different styles, so here goes.

 

First of all, my usual angled shots:

 

 

While I felt the one above came out pretty well (headlights aside), I'm particularly pleased with the following shot.

 

 

I also decided to try to get a pic of it turning into the driveway for Spiny Towers (if only!)

 

 

Finally, and I only got a couple of these as it was getting late, but I recently got myself a nice slab of black glass to use instead of the previous piece of black acrylic which was a complete dust magnet. Obviously there is a lot more scope for experimentation with this, but I like how the first two shots came out (and they show a little of the underside if you squint too).

 

 

 

And that's it for this RFI. Even though it wasn't the most successful build I hope enough of you liked the WIP and RFI to make it worthwhile. And thanks to all who checked in during the build, it's always good for morale when people are looking in.

 

 

 

[Fnick]

Hi Spiny

 

This is a fine effort IMHO. I thinks the headlights have come out really well. Love the interior colour too. 

 

Top notch photography and a black piece of glass does look like a good investment!

 

Nick

[Neddy]

That's a great job, especially the headlights.  They turned out hugely better than you were making out!  Really good result all round.

[Tony Tyreman]

Spiny she looks great!

[Spottedlaurel]

Great to see it finally done after the various traumas you had with it!

 

The masking required to achieve the two-tone black and silver paintwork could have gone wrong, particularly as you've gobne around the arches, but it looks very sharp. When I build mine it will be single-colour......

[othertales]

That looks like a fine result despite the challenges you had. I’m sure in time you will end up seeing it less harshly because it’s a great looking build!

And nice black glass addition too 😎

[SnøMotion]

I agree with the others: I think this looks great! Maybe not everything is perfect, but there are a lot of positives!   I think your black over silver paint scheme is a triumph and the shot of the interior, through the window, shows how great that has come out. Also, the headlights look fine 

 

We all know we are our harshest critic, but I think you're doing yourself a disservice. It might not be your favourite build, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it at all 

 

Martin

[RossFMJ]

Looks like a near perfect rendition of an '80s speed chariot to me , stunning paintwork and ever so realistic dash.

[Davi]

Yeah, really agree with what is said above; I think this is a fine looking model that is not nearly as bad as you describe it. The car has a really good finish, great looking interior, beautiful color scheme, and even the headlights look good in the pictures it seems. If you hadn't mentioned it, I probably wouldn't have known/spotted anything with it. But probably most us have our models that we are less enthusiastic about regarding the result while others don't seem anything wrong with it particularly 😇

[Windy37]

Really good build . Reminds me of the red one that was in our village when I was a teenager. 

Gary 

[Spiny]

First of all thanks to all of you who liked and commented, I'm glad it found favour with you all. I forgot to say in my preamble that all constructive comments (positive or otherwise) are welcome.

 

And to address a few of the points raised...

 

23 hours ago, Fnick said:

Top notch photography and a black piece of glass does look like a good investment!

 

 

I must admit that I'm surprised how much better the black glass has worked for reflections than a piece of black acrylic. There's also the added advantages that it's more scratch resistant and much less likely to use its special static electrical powers to attract mountains of dust than the acrylic sheet. If you're considered going for the reflection shots, I would definitely say it's worth paying a bit extra for the glass (look for chopping boards).

 

14 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

The masking required to achieve the two-tone black and silver paintwork could have gone wrong, particularly as you've gobne around the arches, but it looks very sharp. When I build mine it will be single-colour......

 

I was expecting it to (go wrong)! From memory, I used the paper tape to get the horizontal line on first, then did the arches with Tamiya's white 2mm vinyl tape after (less chance for paint to get under doing it that way as the paper tape is thinner). There was still a little bit of paint crept under in the corners, but it was small enough to be removeable using a cocktail stick dipped in IPA. I also cheated a bit - on the real thing the line is just above the rubbing strip but I used the rubbing strip as a divider between the black and silver to make it easier for myself.

 

11 hours ago, SnøMotion said:

I agree with the others: I think this looks great! Maybe not everything is perfect, but there are a lot of positives!   I think your black over silver paint scheme is a triumph and the shot of the interior, through the window, shows how great that has come out. Also, the headlights look fine 

 

We all know we are our harshest critic, but I think you're doing yourself a disservice. It might not be your favourite build, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it at all 

 

Martin

 

One thing I can be satisfied with on this build is the photography - I seem have brought out the best in this one That said, I think you might be right in that I have spend the last few weeks of the build just looking at the headlights which are probably the weakest part of the build and that may have coloured my perception of it. Here's an unforgiving close-up which shows better the issues with them.

 

 

However I have to confess that looking over the photos again I'm maybe feeling quite a bit more positive about this one than I was when I made the post. Like many models, I suspect giving a few weeks to forget the extreme close-up will make it seem much better than it does now.

[Anteater]

Congrats on the sharpness of the two tone paint. I wouldn't have noticed anything wrong with the headlamps, something about model makers means we're our own worst critics. 

 

I like the shot of the car at the end of your grand driveway, looks very much like the entrance to my place, what a delightful coincidence! 

[Rob Sutto]

It looks fab @Spiny, those wheel arches can't have been fun to mask. Love the car mag angle shots too 

[SnøMotion]

10 hours ago, Spiny said:

...the headlights which are probably the weakest part of the build and that may have coloured my perception of it. Here's an unforgiving close-up which shows better the issues with them.

The headlight lenses on my 1:1 MR2 looked just like that when I got it at 10 years old and the plastic surrounds had faded from black to a mid-grey. This is 40 years old, so it's looking pretty good. 

 

Martin

[Spiny]

15 hours ago, Rob Sutto said:

It looks fab @Spiny, those wheel arches can't have been fun to mask. Love the car mag angle shots too 

 

The wheel arches were something which I wasn't looking forward to, but they are one of those lovely jobs which come up once in a while which turn out to be really simple but appear to be hard work, primarily thanks to the bendiness of the white Tamiya vinyl tape. If you're considering doing some non-straight masking that stuff is definitely worth buying.

[galaxyg]

Like many builds I think the results are better than the builder sees them. I also tend to focus on the worst aspect or mistake of any build when I'm reviewing photos later. This is a fine looking two-tone 80s JDM car.  Interior as you say - a highlight.

 

That is very tidy masking around those arches.

 

 

Edited June 12 by galaxyg

[Bengalensis]

Looking great, lovely black paint and nicely detailed interior. The photo with road is especially good 👍

[JeroenS]

You're being too hard on yourself Spiny, no reason to do that at all. It's a fine piece of work. The two-tone is difficult to pull off and it looks excellent. The interior looks amazing. Now, promise that next time you'll advertise your builds as what they are, which is just really clean and tidy and up to very high standards. 

[Spiny]

7 hours ago, Bengalensis said:

Looking great, lovely black paint and nicely detailed interior. The photo with road is especially good 👍

 

I must confess that while taking a walk around the local estate I saw the track and my first thought was "That will make a good background for a model". I'm not sure that's healthy 😂 Happily, it does seem to be my most successful attempt at a background to don't be surprised to see it return on future models.

 

5 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Now, promise that next time you'll advertise your builds as what they are, which is just really clean and tidy and up to very high standards. 

 

Seeing as unlike yourself I'm not really up for (or good at) weathering, I'm happy to stuck with clean and tidy, even if it does need polishing. Just need to work on the high standards bit now

 

The nice comments from everyone are very much appeciated though, shows what a supportive site this is.

[keefr22]

I somehow managed to miss the end of the wip and you posting the rfi Spiny, but even though I'm late I have to say I agree with the others that despite your trials and tribulations in the build, the end result is a lovely model - the paint is stunning (we all know how ''easy'' black is to get looking that good!) and the two tone job really suits the car! The rest of the build looks equally as good (even the headlights!) and all round it's a great looking car!

 

Keith

[Spiny]

Thank you, and I'll forgive you   I just wish the black looked as good in real life but the camera has done a (surprisingly) good job of hiding some of the scratches. I tried waxing it with a couple of coats which helped, but the big one on the roof is still there - I've no idea how the camera didn't pick it up. Two tone paints really slow body painting down though, I think it's going to take me all summer with the tricolour paint + decals on that Focus.